The First Year The Mets Did Not Lose 100

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TRIVIA QUESTION:   While Nolan Ryan's first strikeout was pitcher Pat Jarvis, who hit the first home run off the fast ball wielding Ryan? Hint: He is in the Hall of Fame and is known for being more than just a player.

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: The year before future HOFer Lou Brock came to the St. Louis Cardinals, Stan Musial retired. The other future Redbird player to go to the Hall who also retired that season was future manager, Red Schoendienst. 

If you were a long suffering New York Mets fan, 1966 was a real milestone. It marked the first time in their short history the Amazin's DID NOT lose 100 games in a season. Doubly important, it was the first time in their history the Mets DID NOT have a 20 game loser on the mound.

It was the first time a manager other than Casey Stengel took over the club for a full season. Wes Westrum actually replaced Stengel in 1965 after 95 games and 31 wins. Westrum's record was to lose three times more than he won, finishing 1965 with a 19-48 record and the club lost 112. But in 1966 things finally started to improve for New York's NL team. 

It was only a one season bailout, so don't get me wrong, this was not the full Monty so to speak of turn arounds. It was a brief foray into NOT losing 100 games, but instead losing just 95. The team scored 587 and gave up 761. They finished last in nearly every important hitting category and next to last in others. 

Of the 10 teams in the NL, the Mets finished 10th in hits, doubles, home runs, batting average, slugging average, OPS, at bats and total bases. They were ninth when it came to On-Base percentage, stolen bases and runs scored. They were third (their highest offensive marks) in caught stealing and Hit By Pitch. 

On the pitching side, the club finished last in innings pitched, walks, strikeouts and Saves, but not in losses. Only the Chicago Cubs (103 losses) finished lower than the New Yorkers. Mets' pitchers did finish ninth in Wins, ERA, Shutouts, Hits allowed, Runs allowed, Earned Runs allowed and Home Runs allowed.

However, for the first time in Mets's history they did not have a pitcher lose 20 games. Jack Fisher lost 14 and Jack Hamilton dropped 13. Two Mets starters actually had winning records. Dennis Ribant was 11-9, Bob Shaw 11-10. 

In their history to this date the Mets had these 20 game losers; 

1962 Roger Craig 24, Al Jackson 20
1963 Roger Craig 24
1964 Tracey Stallard 20
1965  Jack Fisher 24, Al Jackson 20.

The 1966 Mets did finished last in eight of the top offensive categories and ninth in two more and on the pitching side they were last in four categories and ninth in seven others. Still it was a great improvement for the New York faithful who finished second in the NL, as 1.9 million people walked through the turnstiles. 

Ron Hunt led the hitters at .288, while Ed Kranepool whacked 16 homers to lead the team and tied with Cleon Jones with 57 RBI. And a 19 year old kid named Nolan Ryan pitched a total of three innings, striking out six and walking only one. His first K was Pat Jarvis, the pitcher. 

Never fear the Mets were back to their old ways in 1967, finishing 59-103 with Salty Parker taking over for Westrum for the final 11 games, before ushering in the Gil Hodges era.

Thank you to those of you who purchased my book after reading this column. It has been appreciated. 

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Please share this blog with your friends and colleagues and leave a comment at the bottom of the blog if you have one. Thank YOU VERY MUCH!! Please pick up a copy of my book "Tales of My Baseball Youth; A Child of the 60's" at www.bobbrillbooks.com, or on Amazon.   

The Worst Trade of the 1960's

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TRIVIA QUESTION:   Lou Brock came to the Cardinals in 1964, one year after Cardinal great Stan Musial retired. Who was the other Cardinal great and future Hall of Famer who retired as a Redbird the same season as Musial?

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: Carol Taylor, the super utility man who played for Pittsburgh in 1969, is the step brother of former Oriole's slugger, Boog Powell.

 When Red Sox fans talk about the "curse of the Babe," they were right to refer to deal which sent pitcher/hitter Babe Ruth to the hated New York Yankees for $100,000 in 1919. It wasn't until 2004 the Red Sox finally won a World Series. The Yankee story is legendary, led by the years Ruth starred for Murderer's Row. For the Chicago Cubs, there was a similar deal; the "Curse of Lou Brock" you might say. 

The Cubbies had not won a World Series since 1908. It was a dominant time for Chicago. The Cubs won in 1907 and the White Sox did it in 1906. But the Cubs would not win another Series Championship until 2016. A 108 year drought or longer than the Red Sox. During the 1960's the Cubs had some super star laden teams with Billy Williams, Ernie Banks, Ron Santo and a young outfielder named Lou Brock. Add pitchers such as Fergie Jenkins and you had the makings of a team which should have won at least one pennant.

Brock came to the Cubs as a free agent in 1960. The 1961 season opened with an outfield of Billy Williams, Richie Ashburn and Al Heist. A superstar in the making on his way to the Hall of Fame, an aging star also headed to the Hall and a player who came to the big leagues at 32 and would be out of the big leagues at 34 after a rather pedestrian three seasons in the Cubs outfield. There was clearly room for a breakout rookie.

Brock played sparingly in 1960 making his debut on September 10th, inserted into the starting line-up as the center fielder and lead off hitter.  Just over 7,000 fans saw Brock break in. He faced the great Robin Roberts and promptly smacked a single to center in his first at bat. The rest of his at bats, in his one-for-five debut, were non de script but he did score a run. 

In 1961 in four games he hit .091 and in his first full season, 1962, he was still getting familiar with the big league pitching. The son of a share cropper, he had dominated in his only minor league campaign, winning the batting title with a .361 average in the Northern League. 

The 1962 season saw the young outfielder hit .263 followed by .258 with nine homers in each year. As swift as he was, Brock stole 16 and 24 bases in those two years. It wasn't enough for Cub's management. They needed pitching and the Cardinals needed an outfielder.

On June 15, 1964, the Cubs made what was long thought of as one of the worst trades in major league baseball history. They sent Brock, along with Jack Spring and Paul Toth to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ernie Broglio, Doug Clemens and Bobby Shantz. Broglio was the key. The tall right-hander had won 21 games to lead the NL in 1960. After an off-season in 1961 he came back to win 12 and then 18 in 1963. The Cubs wanted him and they got him. Brock was expendable.

Brock, hitting only .251 when the trade took place, scorched opposing pitchers in St. Louis at a .348 clip and finished the year at .315 with 30 doubles, 11 triples, 14 homers and 43 stolen bases. Broglio went 7-12 with a 3.82 ERA. Brock went on to a Hall of Fame career and a then record 938 stolen bases including 118 in 1974. 

Broglio won three more games in the following two seasons and was out of baseball when the 1966 season ended. Brock had a life-time .293 average with 149 homers, while Broglio won 77 and lost 74 in his career. 

As for the others in the trade; Bobby Shantz retired at the end of the 1964 season, Doug Clemons played one less than illustrious season in Chicago before ending up three more pedestrian years in Philadelphia, Jack Spring pitched a total of 24 more MLB innings and Paul Toth pitched 10 more innings for the Cubs giving up 10 runs before calling it quits in 1967, having never pitched in the big leagues again.
Thank you to those of you who purchased my book after reading this column. It has been appreciated. 

Also: Please check out our new Western Short Film. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/iron-gun-western-feature-film/#/
Please share this blog with your friends and colleagues and leave a comment at the bottom of the blog if you have one. Thank YOU VERY MUCH!! Please pick up a copy of my book "Tales of My Baseball Youth; A Child of the 60's" at www.bobbrillbooks.com, or on Amazon.   

In Support of Steve Blass

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TRIVIA QUESTION:   Who is the major league player the 1969 Pirate's utility man Carl Taylor is related to?

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: The future Yankee manager who was traded to Kansas City with Ralph Terry was Billy Martin.

Most pitchers will moan about the "lack of run support" they get from the bats of their teammates, but in 1969 the Pirates Steve Blass had no such complaint. Blass, who would win 16 of 26 decisions for a Pittsburgh team which was expected to do better, saw his team post at least 10 runs for him a lot.

  The Pirates, under Larry Shepard, would finish with 88 wins but end up in third place in the tough National League Eastern Division. They acquired aging Jim Bunning to bolster a starting staff which included Blass, Bob Veale and Bob Moose. Pirate bats were still strong with five regulars batting better than .300, led by Roberto Clemente at .345. Matty Alou hit .331 while Manny Sanguillen, rookie Richie Hebner and Willie Stargell all bested .300. Stargell added 29 homers as well.

Off the bench Carl Taylor hit .348 and was supported by veterans Gene Alley and Jose Pagan, along with youngsters in waiting Bob Robertson and Dave Cash. Freddie Patek was the shortstop, Bill Mazeroski at second and rookie Al Oliver would hit 17 homers while batting a respectable .285. 

For a change however, it was the Pirates starting pitchers which played a big positive role and Blass took the lead. The current Pirates announcer would be the first to admit the bats were working in his favor.

While Blass opened the season against Cardinal's ace Bob Gibson, with a no-decision in a 14-inning game, he was masterful. He allowed only two runs in seven innings, matching Gibson pitch for pitch. It wasn't often the Bucs scored a lowly two runs for their big guy.

In his next three wins the Pirates scored 8, 8 and 7 runs. In his losses and no decisions they weren't that productive but on June 1, the Bucco bats exploded for 14 runs to back Blass to make his record 4-2 without the aid of a home run. Five games later against the Braves the Pirates scored 10 runs behind Blass who went the distance for a six-hitter. Four days after that he started at Houston and the Pirates scored 13 runs. Included was a Clemente grand slam and while Blass was not very effective he still picked up the win to run his record to 6-2.

On August 5th, Blass started against Los Angeles at Chavez Ravine and Buc bats awoke again, scoring 11 runs with the aid of homers by Stargell, Sanguillen and Maz, as Blass bested Don Drysdale to run his record to 11-7. It would be the last double digit scoring behind Blass for the season. Five more times during the season the Pirates would score at least 10 runs with Moose (14-3) benefiting twice. 

When the dust cleared the Pirates led the league in runs, hits, triple and batting average. The team BA was .277 with non-pitchers hitting an amazing .290! While Pirate pitching ended up in the middle to later portion of the 12 team NL pack, they did lead the league in allowing the least home runs (they still played in spacious Forbes Field) and were second in strikeouts. Five Pirate pitchers finished with at least 10 wins. 

Despite his 4.46 ERA, Blass still managed a 16-10 record to lead Pittsburgh in wins. It was a far cry from his masterful 1968 season at 18-6 with a 2.12 ERA. He would go on to be the ace of the Pirates staff for years to come and 3-1 in the post season, including 2-0 in the 1971 World Series won by the Pirates.


Thank you to those of you who purchased my book after reading this column. It has been appreciated. 

Also: Please check out our new Western Short Film. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/iron-gun-western-feature-film/#/
Please share this blog with your friends and colleagues and leave a comment at the bottom of the blog if you have one. Thank YOU VERY MUCH!! Please pick up a copy of my book "Tales of My Baseball Youth; A Child of the 60's" at www.bobbrillbooks.com, or on Amazon.