Ralph Kiner Talks with the Amazin’ Mets: The Vinyl Time Capsule of 1969

Back in 1969, if you were a Mets fan (and if you weren’t, you probably rooted for the Cubs and still haven’t forgiven Ron Santo for clicking his heels too soon), there was no SNY, no MLB Network, no podcasts, no Twitter arguments over whether Ed Kranepool should have pinch-hit. The closest you got to your heroes was hoping to spot Cleon Jones buying groceries at Bohack’s.

So how did Mets fans squeeze just a little more joy out of that Miracle season? By dropping a needle on a 7-inch, 33⅓ RPM vinyl record called “Ralph Kiner Talks with the Amazin’ Mets.”

Produced by the Americom Corporation of New York right after the Mets shocked the world in October ’69, this curious little souvenir featured Ralph himself interviewing a dozen players and Gil Hodges, with highlights and play-by-play calls mixed in. In other words: your own private clubhouse pass, pressed on vinyl.

Side One, Side Two, and the Amazin’ Cast

The record split the roster in half. Side One: Hodges, Tom Seaver, Tommy Agee, Tug McGraw, Ed Kranepool, and Ken Boswell. Flip it over and you’d hear Ron Swoboda, Jerry Koosman, Art Shamsky, Cleon Jones, Jerry Grote, and Buddy Harrelson.

It opens the only way it could — with Kiner’s call of the clincher at Shea: “On to Al Weiss, the throw on to Donn Clendenon. It is in time and the Mets have won it all.” If you don’t get goosebumps at that, check your pulse.

Then Ralph sets the stage: this is going to be “the actual voices of your favorite Mets telling exactly when they felt the team was going all the way.” And boy, did they have opinions.

Hodges, steady as ever, pointed to the 11-game winning streak in May and June as the moment his team realized they could win every day. Seaver, ever the ace, went even further back — all the way to spring training. He swore he knew the Mets had “the possibility of winning this thing” before the regular season even began. That’s why he’s Tom Terrific.

Tommy Agee pointed to the series when the Cubs came to town: “We didn’t just beat them, we really beat them,” he said proudly. Tug McGraw remembered a personal turning point — an early relief outing against the Cubs when he inherited a bases-loaded jam, got a double play and a strikeout, and suddenly believed he belonged. Jerry Grote tied his belief to August 15, the day his daughter was born, when the Mets swept San Diego and started to feel unstoppable.

Ed Kranepool, the last link to the 1962 Amazin’s, thought it was the summer climb to .500 that gave the club confidence. Boswell pointed to the “nine crucial days” when Chicago came in and the Mets beat them four out of six — plus swept Montreal — as the stretch that proved they were for real.

Swoboda, always candid, admitted he was slow to buy in. After years of losing, he had to “re-educate” himself before realizing: gee, we are that good. Koosman credited his big win over the Cubs as the jolt that carried the team through a crucial series. Shamsky, who hit like a man possessed that year, put it simply: once you start winning, you start believing you can.

Cleon Jones, the batting champ, refused to make it about himself. What mattered, he said, was that “25 guys chipped in” — everyone contributed, from big bats to clutch defense to Donn Clendenon coming over mid-season. Buddy Harrelson kept it simple: after a big homestand against San Diego, L.A., and San Francisco, the Mets finally realized they were a “pretty good ball club.”

The record even closes with snippets from the Shea clubhouse celebration. Seaver gushed about “the greatest bunch of guys you’ve ever seen.” Koosman yelped, “this champagne burns!” Boswell said he was just glad they won it in New York, “because the fans deserve it more than we do almost.”

For fans who couldn’t get enough of their heroes, this little disc was the next best thing to storming the field at Shea.

Fun footnote: Americom had dabbled in Mets vinyl before. In 1963 they pressed a flexi-disc called “Casey Picks ’Em for ’63,” a preseason promo for Aetna Life Insurance featuring Casey Stengel’s National League predictions — and, naturally, a plug for his new favorite team, the Mets. So by ’69, Americom was already comfortable putting Mets magic on wax.

A special heartfelt thank-you to Scott Kiner, Ralph’s son, as well as author of an amazing book One of a Kiner: A personal memoir of an iconic Sports and Broadcasting Family and a longtime supporter of KinersKorner.com Scott generously shared this wonderful time-capsule piece with me so I could bring it back to life for Mets fans everywhere. Without him, it might’ve stayed hidden in a dusty box, unheard.

If you’re wondering what one of these little gems is worth today:

Rarity: Moderately rare among Mets collectibles. Not mass-produced, so clean copies aren’t everywhere.

Condition Matters: Near-mint with the original sleeve can fetch more than double a scuffed copy.

Typical Value: Expect $10–$20 for most copies. Better preserved examples can run $25+.

Where to Look: eBay, Discogs, specialty sites like KeyMan Collectibles, and occasionally at sports memorabilia shows.

So if you find one in your attic, don’t use it as a coaster. It’s not just a record — it’s a ticket back to Shea in 1969, complete with Ralph Kiner’s voice guiding you through the Miracle.

Or, as Ralph himself signed off: “Yes folks it was an amazing season for an amazing team… so long for the Amazing Mets.”

And now, here in all its wonderful glory, is the recording itself: