40 Years Ago: A Look Back at the 1968 Mets

While the 2008 Mets are giving us all a heart attack, let’s take one more look back to see how the Mets became the Mets.

1968 was a sad year for America: F Troop went off the air, a generation of young men fled to Canada just to avoid hearing the song “Yummy Yummy Yummy” by the Ohio Express and the nation went into shock when Planet of the Apes didn’t win an Oscar for Best Picture. But for the Mets, 1968 was the year that Gil Hodges came back to town.

After finishing in last place in 1967 for the fifth time in the team’s first six years of existence, the ’68 squad went 73-89 (the most wins for the team up to that point) and ended up in ninth place (out of 10 teams―this was the last year before division play would start). But that was also the year that the Mets laid the groundwork for the championship season that would follow. Most of the pieces were in place, and Hodges used his first year to see what he had and to decide how he would use his players. He ended up platooning at a number of positions and pretty much invented the five-man rotation.

1968 was the Year of the Pitcher―the National League ERA was 2.99. And when you talk about the late-’60s Mets, you have to start with their pitching. The Mets staff finished third, with a 2.72 ERA and had 45 complete games. Tom Seaver won the Rookie of the Year award in ’67 and was the ace of the staff. As soon as he arrived on the scene, he wouldn’t accept the Mets’ sad-sack losing ways. In his sophomore year he went 16-12 with a 2.20 ERA and made the All-Star team for the second straight season. His crowning achievement wouldn’t come for two decades later, though, when the family on Growing Pains would be named ‘Seaver’ in his honor. Lefty Jerry Koosman (19-12, 2.08) just missed out on winning 1968’s Rookie of the Year award, finishing second to Johnny Bench. He joined Seaver on the NL All-Star team that year, and introduced his smooth-leg-kicking windup for kids to imitate in stickball games all over the Tri-State area. The third and fourth starters were Don Cardwell (7-13, 2.96) and Dick Selma (9-10, 2.76). A fresh-faced Nolan Ryan (9-10, 3.09―whatever happened to that guy?) and Jim McAndrew (4-7, 2.28) split time as the fifth starter.

Out in the bullpen, under Joe Pignatano’s watchful eye, Cal Koonce (11 saves, 2.41) and Ron Taylor (13 saves, 2.70) were the stalwarts. Al Jackson (also started nine games), Danny Frisella and Bill Short filled out the relieving staff. There’s no truth to the rumor that Pignatano started growing tomatoes in the Mets bullpen so he could throw them at the opposing team’s right fielder. He grew them so he could throw them at Ron Swoboda, because the outfielder owed the bullpen coach $15 and wouldn’t pay him back.

Catcher Jerry Grote rounded out the Mets All-Star trifecta that year. He hit .281 with three home runs and 31 RBIs. Johnny Bench once said, “If Jerry Grote played for the Reds, I’d be playing third base.” Grote had a rifle for an arm, took control of the pitching staff and bore an uncanny resemblance to The Newlywed Game host Bob Eubanks. In fact, Grote occasionally filled in for Eubanks when the game-show host was ill, but the jig was up when an episode aired where Grote forgot to take off his catcher’s mask.

The infield consisted of Ed Kranepool (.231, three home runs, 20 RBIs) at first. It was his sixth Major League season (he appeared in three games in 1962), and he was only 23 years old! Ex-Yankee Phil Linz (.209, 0, 17) and Ken Boswell (.261, 4, 11) split time at second (family trivia: my brother would only answer to the name ‘Ken Boswell’ when he was 10 years old). Future Gold Glove winner and bunter extraordinaire Bud Harrelson (.219, 0, 14) manned shortstop. And classy Ed Charles (.276, team-leading 15 home runs, 53 RBIs) played third. They had the weakest hitting infield since the one that played for Charlie Brown. In fact, the Mets finished last in the NL with a .228 batting average and ninth in runs scored with 473.

The outfield had a little more talent, though. Cleon Jones led the team in batting with a .297 average. He also belted 14 home runs, drove in 55 and stole 23 bases. He was a longtime popular Met, and it’s always been a mystery why there wasn’t a boom of kids being named ‘Cleon’ in the New York area in the ’60s and ’70s. Center fielder Tommie Agee arrived over the winter in a deal with the White Sox. The first pitch thrown to him in spring training was a Bob Gibson fastball that was a direct hit to the coconut. It was Gibson’s way of saying, “Welcome to the National League.” Agee had woeful numbers his first year with the Mets (.217, 5, 17), but made his mark in baseball history with his performance in the 1969 World Series. Ron Swoboda’s 59 RBIs paced the team that year. The fan favorite smashed 11 homers while batting .242, and practiced for his future career as a minor league broadcaster by announcing the games into his glove out in right. Art Shamsky also played the outfield (and first base), and hit 12 dingers, drove in 48 and hit a Mets-like .238. And Robert Barone would go on to name his dog after him.

J.C. Martin, Al Weiss, Jerry Buchek, Don Bosch, Kevin Collins, Greg Goossen and Larry Stahl sat on the bench. Mainly because they weren’t very good. If you can’t crack a lineup that bats .228, you really can’t complain.

Gil Hodges was like a father figure to the players―a former marine, tough-as-nails, can-beat-the-crap-out-of-any-of-his-players father figure. Tom Seaver once said that it was Gil Hodges who taught him what it meant to be a professional. The former Brooklyn Dodger whipped this ragtag group of players into shape and turned the Mets into a real baseball club. Who knew that only one year later, the Mets would capture the nation’s imagination and become the biggest underdog winner in World Series history?