Saturday Seasons: The 1969 Miracle Mets

The staff here at KinersKorner.com takes turns each Saturday recapping an individual Mets season, starting with the inaugural 1962. We've worked our way up to 1969, and it was such a memorable season that it took three of us -- A.J. Carter, Howie Karpin and Mark Rosenman -- to conjure up our recollections and chronicle the year. Enjoy!

It was the year our beloved misfit Mets—a team known more for blown leads, bad bounces, and baseballs bouncing off their heads—went from a punchline to headlines. It was the kind of turnaround that made you believe in second chances—and in the Mets, of all things.

This wasn’t just a good team. It was a bolt of blue-and-orange lightning that struck the baseball world and left it spinning.

Wait, The Mets Won 100 Games?

Yes. Those Mets. The team that had lost 100 games in five of their first seven seasons. The team that made Casey Stengel ask, “Can’t anybody here play this game?” In 1969, under the watchful, rock-steady eye of Gil Hodges—a guy who could have stared down a tornado—the Mets went 100-62. That’s not a typo. That’s a miracle.

How they did it…..well, that’s the story. Especially since the season opener provided no hint of what was to come.

Opening at Shea against the expansion Montreal Expos, playing their first game in franchise history, the Mets lost, 11-10, keeping intact their franchise-long streak of starting off the season with an L.

They did win the next day, and the day after that, with Tommie Agee hitting what would remain the longest home run in the 44-year history of Shea Stadium. In the bottom of the second, Agee unloaded for a mammoth shot off of Expos left hander Larry Jaster that landed in the left field upper deck. The shot was marked by a plaque that noted Agee’s name, his number and the date. The Mets won the game, 4-2.

By the end of April, the Mets were 9-11 but Tom Seaver, who would go on to win the National League Cy Young Award, began to get rolling. “Tom Terrific” began a stretch of five straight wins with a complete game, 2-1 win against the Expos at Jarry Park. The fifth, a complete game, three hit shutout of the Braves in Atlanta May 18, gave him a 6-2 record with a 1.96 ERA. It also left the Mets with an encouraging 18-18 record, the latest they’d been at .500 in their brief history. Reverting to type, Mets lost their next five games to fall to 18-23 to fall 9 games out on May 27th.

The next day, they faced the expansion Padres, like the Expos new to the league that year. They beat San Diego 1-0 in 11 innings. Jerry Koosman tossed 10 shutout frames, Tug McGraw pitched the 11th and the Mets won on Bud Harrelson’s walk off single. It was the start of a franchise record 11-game winning streak, besting the Giants and the Dodgers both at home and on the West Coast, previously a vast wasteland for Met wins. 

The Mets won the first four of that 12-game road trip by sweeping San Diego and winning the first of two in San Francisco. Mets lost 3 of the next four but finished the trip by winning 3 of 4 in Philadelphia. By this point, the Mets were in second place, 33-27, 6 back of the Cubs. And they did not look back.

From late May through October, they went 81-39 and ended the season by winning 38 of their final 49 games. That’s not baseball—that’s a Broadway script.

The Church of Seaver

Leading the revival was Tom Seaver, the heart and soul of Flushing. They called him "Tom Terrific," and every ounce of that nickname was earned with every pitch he threw.

Seaver was more than just a pitcher; he was an artist, crafting masterpieces on the mound with each start. His 25-7 record, 2.21 ERA, and 208 strikeouts were simply numbers—his true value was in his poise, his ability to rise to any challenge, and the confidence he instilled in every player around him. That near-perfect game against the Cubs in July? It wasn’t just a moment in baseball history; it was the moment the Mets came of age. It was the day Shea Stadium, alive with an energy unlike any other, felt like the heartbeat of an entire city, pulsing with pride and belief.

With the Mets riding a six-game win streak, over 50,000 fans packed Shea to see Seaver face the Cubs and they nearly saw history. Seaver was brilliant as he took a perfect game into the ninth, but with one out, light hitting Cubs outfielder Jimmy Qualls etched his name into Mets lore when he spoiled the historic bid by lofting a single into left center field. Seaver retired the next two Cubs to finish with a one hitter but many credited that game as the one where Met fans came to believe that the 1969 season would be something special.

Then there was Jerry Koosman, the steely lefty who pitched like a man who’d lost an argument with gravity. And Gary Gentry, the kid with the electric arm who shut down the Braves to win the pennant. Toss in Tug McGraw and Ron Taylor out of the bullpen, and suddenly the Mets had more arms than a centipede at a hug convention.

Offensive Support (Hold the Offense)

The Mets offense in '69 was... let’s just say it wasn’t exactly the '27 Yankees. But what it lacked in slug, it made up for in grit, balance, and just enough clutch to make you believe in karma.

Cleon Jones hit .340, which basically made him Ted Williams in Queens. Tommie Agee was a one-man highlight reel who led the team with 26 homers and made two of the greatest catches in World Series history (both of which required a cape and permission from air traffic control).

But perhaps the key acquisition – the one that put them over the top – was the deadline deal that brought Donn Clendenon from the Montreal Expos.

Clendenon was viewed as the right-handed, power-hitting counterpart to the lefty Ed Kranepool at first. And, after a slowish start in Flushing, he would get hot down the stretch and through the World Series, winning the World Series MVP. But just as important, the 34-year-old brought leadership to a relatively young team. He knew how to be the clubhouse jokester to ease the tension. He made a point of walking to the mound from his position to settle Tom Seaver down after Seaver yielded the hit that broke his near-perfect game. After a somewhat deflating loss in the first game of the World Series, Clendenon, with Gil Hodges’ permission, addressed the team, finishing with, “Trust me, fellows? We will win.”

Ed Charles, Ken Boswell, Al Weis, Jerry Grote, Bud Harrelson—they all chipped in. It wasn’t about stars. It was about roles. This team was like a jazz band: everyone knew their part, and they swung.

A Steady Hand at the Helm

When the Mets traded a player and $1,000 at the end of 1967 to acquire their new manager, many wondered if Gil Hodges would be worth the price, including then-general manager Bing Devine, who was forced by owner Joan Payson to make the deal. Hodges led the team to its first ninth place finish and sub-90 loss record in 1968. But in 1969, his steady, firm and calm leadership kept the team from lapsing into bad losing habits. 

The most demonstrative example came in late July, when the Houston Astros swept the Mets in a doubleheader at Shea by scores of 16-3 and 11-5. In the second game, the Astros were in the process of scoring 10 runs in the top of the third. It was already 6-0 when Astros catcher Johnny Edwards doubled to left.

Mets left fielder Cleon Jones took a slow route to the ball and lazily tossed it back to the infield. In fairness, the field was muddy and Jones was dealing with an ankle injury at the time. But Hodges was not so forgiving. He walked out to left field and took Jones out of the game. Marched with him off the field and into the dugout. Many thought Hodges was disciplining his left fielder for a lack of hustle. Years later, Jones said Hodges had asked him if he was hurt but lifted him for the injury.

No matter. Hodges had made his point loud and clear that his players should give 100% at all times. Jones was leading the league in batting at the time, so if the manager could lift him, anyone could be subject to the skipper’s wrath.

The Mets went 45-19 the rest of the way.

A Rival With Its Own History…And a Villain at the Helm

As the Mets began winning and proceeded on their improbable march to a pennant, the Shea nine spent the season chasing a team that also had set records for futility and was trying to break the infamous Billy Goat Curse: The Chicago Cubs. The Cubs last won the pennant in 1945, a wartime-era winner whose records almost shouldn’t count because of the paucity of major league talent (remember: the St. Lous Browns won their only flag while the best major leaguers were fighting on Flanders fields). And a World Series? You had to go back to 1908, a month before noted baseball fan William Howard Taft was elected president of the U.S. 

Making the chase all the more dramatic was that the Cubs’ manager was, to a particular subset of Mets fans, particularly despicable: Leo Durocher, the turncoat who switched allegiances, leaving as manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers to take over the crosstown rivals, the New York Giants, and lead them to the 1951 pennant in the playoff capped by Bobby Thomson’s Shot Heard “Round The World.

Excitement when the teams met: plenty, It seems almost fitting that Tom Seaver’s July 9 masterpiece – the near no-hitter ruined by Jimmy Qualls – came against the Cubs.

In August, the Mets’ appeared fated to a successful season that ended short of the big prize. On August 14, they trailed the Cubs by 10 games. And then they got hot.

From mid-August to the end of the month, the Mets won 14 of 16 as they kept up the pressure on the first place Cubs. Included in that stretch was a walk off, 1-0 win over the San Francisco Giants at Shea. Hall of Famer Juan Marichal went the distance but lost when Tommie Agee hit a walk off, home run with one out in the bottom of the 14th.

A month later they had closed the gap to a game and a half. Which brings us to Sept, 9, the second game of a two-game series against the Cubs at Shea.  A pitching matchup worthy of the battle: Tom Seaver versus Cubs ace Ferguson Jenkins.

Bottom of the fourth, Glenn Beckert on second after a double, Billy Williams at bat for Chicago with Ron Santo in the on-deck circle. Seaver was about to throw his first pitch to Williams when….a black cat scampered onto the field, through the open doors behind home plate where the grounds crew was retreating after the mid-game field grooming. The cat immediately headed toward the Cubs’ dugout and stared down the famously superstitious Durocher before running away and disappearing under the stands. 

How the cat got there has been the subject of considerable debate over years. Was it one of the many cats that lived beneath the stands, subsisting on whatever rats they could find? Or was its on-field entry assisted by a grounds crew member, aware of Durocher’s foibles? Alas, the answer to that question may forever lie next to “Who was on the grassy knoll?” in the pantheon of great mysteries.

Whether omen or prank, the black cat nevertheless had its effect. The Mets won that game, 7-1, bested Montreal in 12 innings the next night to take over first place and never looked back. 

The Cubs went 8-17 in September while the Mets went 23-7.

On September 24th, the Mets beat the Cardinals 6-0 at Shea to clinch the first ever NL East division title. It was the first of three wild scenes as fans stormed the field.

The Playoffs: Sweeping the Braves, Shocking the Orioles

First, they swept the Braves—swept them– in the first-ever NLCS. That was a Braves lineup that had Hank Aaron, Rico Carty, and Orlando Cepeda. The Mets looked at that and said, “Cute. Here’s 27 runs in three games. You’re welcome.” They won the first two in Atlanta, and topped it off with a 7-4 win at Shea.

Fans again stormed the field.

That set up a match up in the World Series with the mighty Baltimore Orioles, who had steamrolled through the American League and won 109 games. They had two 20-game winners, two Hall of Famers in the lineup, and Brooks Robinson sucking up grounders like a human vacuum cleaner,

The Mets lost the first game in Baltimore but Jerry Koosman was brilliant in game two and the Mets evened the series with a 2-1 win.

In the first ever World Series game at Shea, Gary Gentry and Nolan Ryan combined on a four-hitter as the Mets took a 2-1 lead in the series with a 5-0 win. Tommie Agee, who led off the game with a home run off of Hall of Famer Jim Palmer, made two spectacular catches to save five runs.

In game 4, the Mets took a 1-0 lead into the ninth with Tom Seaver on the mound. With one out, the Orioles had two on and one out when Brooks Robinson lined a shot towards right-centerfield that would appear to give Baltimore the lead. Out of nowhere, right fielder Ron Swoboda made a desperation dive that resulted in another spectacular catch. Frank Robinson tagged from third to tie the game and Seaver retired Elrod Hendricks to end the inning.

Seaver pitched the top of the tenth and kept the game tied to give the Mets a chance to walk it off. Jerry Grote led off the last of the tenth with a double off of Orioles reliever Dick Hall. After an intentional walk, the Orioles brought in left hander Pete Richert to pitch to pinch-hitter J.C. Martin, who was batting for Seaver.

Martin laid down a sacrifice bunt that was fielded by Richert but the left hander hit Martin with the throw and pinch-runner Rod Gaspar came all the way around from second to score the winning run. Orioles fans are still arguing that Martin ran inside the baseline and should have been called out.

In game five, the Mets scored twice in the bottom of the eighth to snap a 3-3 tie and were just three outs away from the most improbable World Series win in baseball history. Koosman was on the mound for the final out when Davey Johnson flied out to Cleon Jones in left field to give the Mets their first World Championship.

Not only did fans storm the field, they took chunks of it home as souvenirs.

The team that once fielded Marv Throneberry at first base won four straight World Series games against the best team in baseball. Man bites dog. The sun rises in the west and sets in the east. Pigs fly.

Agee’s catches. Swoboda’s dive. Clendenon’s bombs. Koosman closing it out. And Seaver, of course, pitching like the man we’d one day name a street, a statue, and our first born after.

Hodges, Murphy, and a Legacy That Stuck

Manager Gil Hodges, GM Johnny Murphy, and scouting director Nelson Burbrink were the architects of this miracle. They didn't just build a team—they built a belief system. They scouted smart, coached tougher, and treated their players like men, not mascots. Hodges didn’t yell. He didn’t need to. His silence could melt steel.

The '69 Mets weren’t just a one-hit wonder. They were a culture shift. They taught the Mets—and their fans—that winning wasn’t just a pipe dream. It was possible. It was real. And it was ours.

The Enduring Miracle

To this day, the 1969 Mets are more than a memory—they’re a movement. They remind us that miracles do happen, that the underdog can rise, and that in Flushing, anything’s possible with pitching, defense, and just the right mix of chaos and courage.

Ask any Mets fan alive in ’69 and they’ll tell you where they were when the final out was recorded. Most of them will also cry. Some of them will still have mustard on their jersey. For Mark, sitting in Shea Stadium with his dad, a 9-year-old in complete amazement, watching his favorite team become World Champions. It was a moment that still feels as fresh as if it happened yesterday. Same for Howie, a high school freshman who cut class to watch the games, and A.J., a college sophomore, who watched the games on a 12-inch black and white television in the lounge of his dorm suite and who got to lord the victory over his suitemate, a D.C. native and Orioles fan.

They weren’t just champions. They were proof of life for every long-suffering sports fan who ever dared to dream.

Fifty-five years later, they’re still the team that made Shea shake, New York believe, and baseball history blink.

The 1969 Mets: You had to believe. Then they made you believers for life.