Mike Jorgensen: Former Mets Player Raised in Queens (1968-1971 / 1980-1983)

Michael Jorgensen was born on August 16, 1948, in Passaic, New Jersey. He is the only MLB player to be born on the same day that Babe Ruth died. His family moved to Bayside Queens where would grow up.

Jorgensen would go to high school in the shadows of the new Shea Stadium, at Francis Lewis High School in Fresh Meadows, Queens.

In 1966 he was selected in the fourth round of that year’s draft by the hometown New York Mets. He hit .315 in the Rookie league his first season & then .295 at A ball Winter Haven in the Florida State League in 1967.

Mets Career: The first baseman / outfielder made his MLB debut on September 10th, 1968, going 0-1 as a pinch hitter at Wrigley Field in an 8-1 Mets loss to the Chicago Cubs. 


Jorgensen played in eight games going 2-14 (.143) that September. 

He spent the 1969 Mets Championship season at AAA Tidewater, hitting .290 with 15 doubles in 105 games. His 21 HRs & 69 RBIs were second on the Tides club to Roy Foster.

1970: Jorgensen made the Mets big league club out of Spring Training. He was walking around in awe, at the likes of his World Champion Mets teammates. 

On Opening Day he came into a tied game at Pittsburgh against the Pirates, replacing Art Shamsky at first base. He singled to lead off the top of the 11th inning & would come around to score what was the game winning run-on Don Clendenon's base hit.

On April 26th, he hit his first career HR coming off Sandy Vance at Dodger Stadium helping the Mets & Tom Seaver to a 3-1 win. Three days later he homered in San Francisco off the Giants ace, Juan Marichal in a Met loss.

But Jorgensen struggled at the plate most of the year, not getting above the .200 mark until the end of July, as a result he saw less playing time. He played in 50 games at first base behind Donn Clendenon & ten games in the outfield, usually as a late inning replacement. 

Overall he only hit .195 (17-87) with three HRs three doubles one triple a .278 on base % & four RBIs. 

1971: He began the season back in AAA Tidewater but after 65 games he was batting .342 with 15 HRs, which got him brought back up to the big-league clubby June 12th.

In his second game back up, he hit two HRs against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Shea Stadium, helping the Mets to a 7-2 win. 

On June 20th, he hit another HR against the Philadelphia Phillies & was off to a solid start. Jorgensen slumped & was back down at Tidewater from July 23rd until early September.

Walk Off Hit: On September 12th, he came to bat in the bottom of the 9th inning, in a 2-2 tie against the Philadelphia Phillies. Pitcher Danny Frisella had walked & Ed Kranepool had singled ahead of him He singled off pitcher Joe Hoerner bringing in the games winning run.. 

In 1971 he played in 45 games hitting .220 with 5 HRs, one double, one triple a .303 on base % & 11 RBIs.

Traded for Rusty Staub: On April 5th, 1972, Jorgensen was traded to the Montreal Expos along with Ken Singleton & Tim Foli for “Le Grande Orange” Rusty Staub. He later admitted, he was pretty devastated at the time.

Quotes- Mike Jorgensen: "If I had known I'd be on six clubs eventually, I wouldn't have been so down. I was young. It gave me a chance to play every day. It was a nice trade for all of us".

Post Mets Career: In Montreal he got a chance to be an everyday player & he came into his own. 

He turned out to be a fine defensive player, winning a Gold Glove at first base in 1973, while posting a .995 field % (second in the NL).

That season was the only time from 1967 to 1977 that a Los Angeles Dodger didn’t win the Gold Glove Award at first base. Wes Parker won it from 1967-1972  & then Steve Garvey from 1974-1977. 

Offensively in the ’73 season Jorgensen hit just .230 with 9 HRs 16 doubles three triples a .336 on base % & stole 16 bases.

In 1974 he had his best season, as he led all N.L. first baseman in fielding (.998%) while batting a career high .310, with a .444 on base %. Jorgensen hit 11 HRs with 16 doubles & 59 RBIs. 

In 1975 he won a late September Player of the Week Award, in his last five games of the season he hit 4 HRs driving in eight runs with ten hits. Overall, his average fell off from the previous season to a .261 average but had career highs in doubles (18) RBIs (68) & HRs (18) leading his Expos team in that department, one ahead of a young Gary Carter.

In the bicentennial year of 1976, his numbers dropped off all around, batting .254 with just 6 HRs & 23 RBIs although he played in just 125 games.

In 1977 the Expos hired Dick Williams who had won two World Series with the A's, as manager & things began to change in Montreal. Tony Perez was brought in from the Reds & there was no longer a starting spot at first base for Jorgensen.

Midway through the 1977 season, after just 19 games played, he was batting .200 & was traded to the Oakland A’s, for pitcher Stan Bahnsen. He hit .246 there in 66 games

After the season he signed a two-year deal with the Texas Rangers to play behind Mike Hargrove at first base. 

Bean Ball Incident: On May 28, 1979, in a game against the Boston Red Sox at Texas Arlington Stadium, Jorgenson was hit in the head by a pitch from Boston’s Andy Hassler. He had a seizer & spent a week in the hospital intensive care. 

He suffered headaches and missed a month of playing action. He was diagnosed with a blood clot, but luckily it was found quick enough before it could cause any permanent damage. 

He got into 96 games that season but hit just .196. In 1979 he played in 90 games but batted .223 with 6 HRs & 16 RBIs in157 at bats.

Second Time With the Mets: In October of 1979 he was sent to the New York Mets as the player to be named later in the Willie Montanez trade. 

1980: Things were sure different at Shea Stadium since he had left. The Mets were in the doldrums in the early eighties as Jorgensen entered the twilight of his career. 

On Opening Day, He played right field & batted in the fifth position behind Steve Henderson in the Mets 5-2 win over the Chicago Cubs at Shea Stadium. On May 4th he hit his first HR since returning to New York, it came at Shea off Steve Mura of the Padres in a 6-2 Mets win. 

On May 24th Jorgenson hit a HR in the 2nd inning in a 6-5 win over the Atlanta Braves. The next day he hit another HR, helping Craig Swan to a 3-0 shutout over the Braves Phil Niekro.

Walk Off Hits: On June 5th, the Mets Craig Swan & the Cards Bob Sykes went at it in a pitcher's duel. Jorgensen came to bat as a pinch hitter for Doug Flynn in the bottom of the 9th, with the score tied 1-1. The bases were loaded as he singled off George Frazier with the walk off game winning hit.

Walk Off Grand Slam: The next week on June 11th, Craig Swan, the Mets best pitcher at the time, was at it in another great pitchers matchup with the Dodgers Jerry Ruess. In the top of the 9th Jorgensen came in to play first base. 

The game went to the 10th inning, with Rick Stutcliffe on the mound the Mets loaded the bases with a base hit from Doug Flynn & walks to Lee Mazzilli & Steve Henderson. Jorgensen came to bat & hit a dramatic walk off grand slam HR to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2. 

It was just the third Mets walk off Grand Slam in team history. Tim Harkness & Ron Hunt had both done it last in 1963. It would be another six years until Tim Teufel did it with the 1986 Champs.

It was one of the few exciting comeback wins for the 5th place 1980 Mets who went 67-95 under Joe Torre.

Brawl: On the Fourth of July 1980, the Mets had their first ever Fireworks Night. That evening they hosted the Montreal Expos. A wild 1st inning, had the Mets up 4-2 after Claudell Washington had tripled in a run & Joel Youngblood hit a two run HR off Expo rookie pitcher Bill Gullickson. 

The next batter was Jorgensen & Gullickson sailed one over his head. Jorgensen was still sensitive about getting hit in the head with pitches after the previous year's beaning in Texas.

He exchanged words & gestured to Gullickson, pointing his bat, then went after him on the mound. But he was held back by catcher Gary Carter & before he arrived, teammate John Stearns, who wasn’t even in the lineup that night, tackled & body slammed Gullickson to the ground. The benches cleared as a brawl broke out.

When play resumed Jorgensen singled. After Ron Hodges singled Gullickson was removed from the game. The Mets lost the game 6-5.



In mid-June he drove in runs in four of five games, then went into July driving in runs in five of
six. At that point he got his average up to .286.

On September 30th, he finished off the year with a 7th inning base hit off Pittsburgh's Don Robinson, driving in Steve Henderson with the games tying run. After being sacrificed over, he scored the game winning run-on Alex Trevino's sac fly.

On the 1980 season he batted .255 with 7 HRs 11 doubles 46 walks 43 RBIs & a .349 on base %. Jorgensen played 72 games at first base & 31 games in the outfield.

1981: Jorgensen would miss two months of action only hitting .205 with 3 HRs & 15 RBIs in 86 games. 

1982 The Mets had brought back Dave Kingman back the previous year & now healthy Jorgensen saw action in 56 games behind him at first base. He also played in 16 games in the outfield. He also served as a pinch hitter often & had 12 pinch hits on the year.

On August 10th he hit a two-run pinch hit HR against the St. Louis Cardinals although the Mets still lost the game 7-2. It was just one of two HRs he hit all year. On the season he raised his average fifty points from the previous year to .254 while getting into 120 games. 

1983: By 1983 the Mets were changing personnel under the new management. Jorgensen’s contract was sold off to the Atlanta Braves, on the same day the Mets acquired Keith Hernandez. 

Mets Career Stats: Overall, Jorgensen spent seven years with the Mets. He played in 492 Mets games (51st most on Mets all time list) batting .234 with 187 hits 30 doubles 4 triples 21 HRs 90 RBIs 103 runs scored & a .360 on base.

Post Mets Career: In 1983 & 1984 he played in Atlanta, once again under manager, Joe Torre. On June 15th 1984 he was traded, along with Ken Dayley to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ken Oberkfell. 

While playing in parts of the next two seasons, he would also spend the next thirty plus years in the Cardinals organization working in many different positions.

1985 Post Season: In the 1985 season he got into 72 games for St. Louis batting just .196. But after 17 seasons he finally made his first post season appearance. 

He got to appear in two games of the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers, going 0-2 as a pinch hitter. He then got into two games of the 1985 World Series loss to the Kansas City Royals. In the Fall Classic he went 0-3.

Career Stats: Jorgensen was a lifetime .243 hitter with 833 hits 95 HRs 132 doubles 13 triples 427 RBIs a .347 on base % & 58 stolen bases. 

At first base he played 1052 games posting a .994 fielding %. He played 283 games in the outfield with a .979 fielding %. 


Retirement & Coaching: At the end of the 1985 season, the Cards wanted him as a coach, not a player. He accepted the role & began a new career. He would spend 34 years as a long time Cardinals coach, instructor & minor league manager. 


In 1995, he managed the St. Louis Cardinals after Joe Torre was fired, going 42-54 in that role. He was then replaced by Tony LaRussa, the next season.

Jorgensen was also the farm director for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1992-2001.  

Jorgensen became a minor league manager, a field coordinator & the Cardinals farm director for over a decade. In 2015 he was named special assistant to the Cardinals GM, John Mozeliak.

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