Saturday Seasons: Hodges, Pitchers Take over in 1968

In the year of the Pitcher, 1968, Mets hurlers pitched in.

Tom Seaver firmly established himself as the ace of the staff, winning 16 games and striking out 205. He was almost overshadowed by Jerry Koosman, who won 19 games, pitched to a 2.08 ERA and almost won Rookie of the Year (more about that later). The highest ERA in the rotation was Nolan Ryan’s 3.09. Ron Taylor established himself as the closer with 14 saves, long before he began saving lives as a post-baseball career physician.

And for once, there seemed to be facts supporting the hype that things were looking up for the ball club from Queens. After backsliding in 1967 to 101 losses, the team managed, for the first time, lose less than 90, finishing with a 73-89 record. They might even have hit the previously unimaginable .500 had they done better in either one-run or extra-inning games. They won only two out of 15 extra-inning games and were 26-40 in games decided by a single run. Had they split the extra tilts, they would have been only two off .500. Same if they had won eight more one-run games.

They almost won on Opening Day, which would have been a first (hard to believe today, given that they hold the best Opening Day record of all major league teams). Tom Seaver took a 4-2 lead into the ninth, until things unraveled when Willie Mays fractured catcher J.C. Martin’s finger with a foul ball. Martin, amazingly, stayed in the game, and after Mays singled, he had a passed ball that moved Mays to second. It was downhill from there, as Danny Frisella relieved Seaver and couldn’t hold the lead. The Giants won, 5-4.

The seeds for this modest success were planted in October 1967, when the Mets did something previously unheard-of: they traded a player for a manager. Only once before had managers ever been traded, in 1960,  when Cleveland’s Joe Gordon was swapped for Detroit’s Jimmy Dykes. But needing a manager (Wes Westrum having resigned in August, aware he was about to get the axe, and his replacement, Salty Parker, was never a serious candidate), team owner Joan Payson insisted she wanted to hire someone she had always admired as a player: Gil Hodges.

Hodges was managing Washington at the time and had a contract to stay on there. The Senators insisted on compensation to release Hodges from his contract. General Manager Bing Devine didn’t want to make the deal, but Payson insisted. The Senators originally asked for Seaver; the Mets responded with a list of three starting pitchers, from which the Senators could choose one: Bill Denehy, Al Schmeltz and Frank McGraw, not yet known as Tug.  At the time, he was in Mets lore as the starter who beat Sandy Koufax, but he would later find his home in the bullpen, one of Hodges’ many decisions that made the Mets who they were.

The Senators took Denehy and $100,000. Hodges was given a three-year contract at $60,000 a year. Devine resigned shortly afterward to return to the Cardinals.

Management expected Hodges to provide the same steady, firm hand he exhibited as a player, and he set the tone right from his first team meeting. While he said he did not want to run a “concentration camp,” and that he wanted his players to “have fun,” he announced a set of rules that included curfews during spring training and on the road in the regular season; surprise bed checks; no poker playing, which Hodges said could get out of hand (but he did allow bridge, pinochle, gin rummy and hearts, which he characterized as good pastimes on plane rides); no swimming in the hotel pool or the ocean and drinking only in moderation. Hodges expected both behavior and performance from his squad.

Hodges was not the only one with expectations. The media wanted more, too. In his column  accompanying his story on the opening of spring training, Daily News  sportswriter Dick Young penned, “The Mets are 6 ½ going on seven, and while that might not quite be old enough to date girls, it is approaching an age of responsibility. I mean, when a boy of seven wets his bed, you don’t keep on saying, isn’t he cute? It’s about time the Mets stopped wetting the bed.”

               Among the spring training competitions was for starting catcher, where J.C. Martin was pencilled in to platoon with Jerry Grote. Hodges knew Martin, a former White Sox, but had heard only reports about Grote that cited some significant, but correctible flaws. While Grote was noted to have a good arm for throwing out runners, pitchers complained he spent too much time arguing with umpires and not enough time thinking about the pitches he called. Hodges also noted that Grote, a lifetime .201 hitter, needed to work on his batting to earn more playing time, and suggested some changes to Grote’s stance. Grote took the comments to heart. He left the umpires alone, started hitting line drives and finished the season not only as the regular catcher, but with a .282 average.

               Less successful was a mid-season effort to convert catcher Greg Goossen into a first baseman, a route taken by the manager, with Hall of Fame success. The book on Goossen was that he could hit but couldn’t field, and in 1968, first base was considered a position suitable for good hit-no field players. Alas, after a lengthy try, Goossen proved adept at neither glove not bat. Ed Kranepool reclaimed the first base spot and Goossen and his .208 average went to the bench.

               Cleon Jones continued to develop as an outfielder, helped, it was believed, by the steadying influence of his good friend, Tommy Agee, acquired from the White Sox. Ron Swoboda provided pop at the bat and excitement in the field and appeared on the cover of a Sports Illustrated issue. Poet laureate Ed Charles (“don’t throw a slider to the Glider”) anchored third and led the Mets in home runs with 15. Art Shamsky, acquired in the offseason from Cincinnati, also provided power.

               But the year really was all about pitching – not just in Flushing but all across baseball in what was called The Year of the Pitcher.

               The Tigers’ Denny McLain won 31 games, the last 30-game winner in the majors. The Cardinals’ Bob Gibson finished the season with a 1.12 ERA. Don Drysdale of the Dodgers threw six straight shutouts. Juan Marichal of the Giants pitched 30 complete games. Catfish Hunter of the Oakland A’s pitched the American League’s first perfect game since 1922. Carl Yastrzemski led the AL in batting with a .301 average, the lowest ever.

Forty-four National League games ended in a 1-0 score. At top of the list has to be the one the Mets played on April 15 against the Astros in the Astrodome. Seaver and ‘Stros ace Don Wilson matched zeros for regulation. But by the time the game was over – in the bottom of the 24th inning – that’s right, the 24th – practically the entire bullpens would be pressed into service, including Mets’ starter Don Cardwell, a .135 batter, sent up to pinch hit for an even worse batter, Danny Frisella.

As the game played on, beer sales stopped at midnight because of Houston law. The scoreboard started posting messages that included, “I told you baseball wouldn’t replace sex.”

               Finally, with Les Rohr on the mound for the Mets, Norm Miller singled. What followed was a balk, an intentional walk, a ground out advancing the runners, another intentional walk and a potential double play grounder that could have sent the game into its 25th inning scoreless. But the ball skidded on the Astroturf and went through Mets shortstop Al Weis’ legs, plating the only run of the game.

               So dominant was the pitching overall that in 1969, baseball lowered the mound and reduced the strike zone to encourage hitting.

               Met pitchers set various team records. Nolan Ryan struck out a team record 14 batters in a May 14 game, including 5 of the last 6 he faced. Seaver, who would break the strikeout record the next year, pitched 22 scoreless innings. And Koosman, the rookie discovered by the son of s Shea Stadium usher wile both were stationed at Ft. Bliss, Texas….the pitcher about to be cut in 1966 but retained until the first payday so he could repay the Mets money they advanced him to repair his car when it broke down en route to spring training….went 19-12 and missed out tying for Rookie of the year by a half vote: Nine writers voted for Koosman, 10 voted for a Cincinnati catcher named Johnny Bench, and one writer split his ballot between the two. Had the split vote gone all Koosman’s way there would have been the only tie in major league history.

               Koosman and Seaver also teamed up to slam the door on the American League in the All-Star Game. Seaver struck out five in two innings and Koosman fanned Carl Yastrzemski to end the game, fittingly, 1-0. The only run scored on a double play. In the first inning.

               In the Mets’ official video of the season, Hodges noted, “We have a real fine nucleus. This year we focused on the pitchers. Next year we’ll focus on the hitters.”

And we all know how that turned out.