Remembering Mets History: (1965) Casey Stengel Retires From Managing

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 August 30th 1965: Casey Stengel was to turn 75 years old on July 30th, 1965. The Mets were having a ceremony for him between games of a double header on July 25th.

The previous night, Stengel was getting out of a friend’s car after a party; he fell & broke his hip. Two days later he needed surgery & had a metal ball inserted in the hip to reduce the fracture.

Due to his health issues & his age the long baseball career of Casey Stengel on the field, came to an end on July 30th, 1965. In a press conference at Shea Stadium, Stengel announced his retirement, stepping down as Mets manager. 

He was to be named vice president of Mets West Coast operations. More a title than anything else, so he could be near his home in Glendale, California.

The Mets new manager was to be Wes Westrum. Westrum who had been a Mets coach, had taken over when Stengel broke his hip. He would now assume the role of full-time manager, the second skipper in team history. On September 2nd, 1965, the Mets retired Stengel’s uniform #37, the first Mets number to be retired.

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