1962-69 New York Mets

[JerryShoe]

1962-69 Mets

The project that started it all: taking the first playoff-bound expansion team to the postseason in as least the same time frame it historically happened, the 1962-69 New York Mets. This will be the most difficult of the 3 replays I thought of, in that the ‘65 Yanks had a (bad) team in place with 12 seasons to accomplish the task and 8 of them with divisional play, the ’69 Royals needed to be built from the ground up but had all 8 of expanded playoffs to do so. The ’62 Mets also had to start from scratch with an 8-year window, but in 7 of them had to top 9 other teams.
As outlined in the 1965 Yankee replay, I will play with historical injuries, 15-man reserve squad, rookies start with their original team, players must be used for at least half their playing time or be traded or released (if I want Al Jackson’s 2.51 for 30+ starts in 1966, I have to deal with at least 100 innings of a +4.00 ERA for 4 years) and I cap my players at 10% over actual usage (I can only pitch Jackson for 255 innings of those ’66 IP). I do financials offline where TV contracts and ticket prices don’t matter. Team revenue comes from wins and standings, salaries from performance and longevity, so I can’t stockpile superstars unless I have the earnings to support them. Trade AI is 35/35/20/10 and the only prospective free agent in this scenario is Ken Harrelson signing with the Red Sox in August ’67 IF he is with the A’s then, and the only impact would be if there is a Met-Red Sox World Series from ’67 to ’69, assuming no trade of the Hawk is made.
Again, it starts with the expansion draft, with this being the easiest of the 3 to replicate. The ’61 AL draft was such a mess that they didn’t even know what they were doing. Literally. Post-draft trades were needed to retroactively conform to the rules and any projects I do will avoid the ’60-’61 AL offseason. The ’69 drafts were orderly, but in redoing it not only did I have to draft for the Royals, I had to “sorta” draft for the Pilots when any of their historical picks were not available by using their “win now” philosophy, I had to research or best guess the 15-man protected list of the 10 established teams and then research/best guess each team’s 3 new protectees after every round and even had to keep track of the 12 NL teams for any historical transactions that conflicted with the new draft. The rules for the ’62 NL expansion was very simple. The original 8 teams submitted a 15-name list and a separate 2-name list of all the players allowed to be drafted to be done in 4 rounds. For the first 2, the new teams were required to choose 2 players from each team at $75,000 each. Then there was an option for the expansionists to pick a third player for $50,000. Said pickings were so slim that only 5 out of a possible 16 were taken, the Colt 45s and Mets choosing to spend the money saved on free-agent signings or purchases; indeed, some of those not taken were bought at a better price. The final round held that the old teams would lose 1 of the 2 players submitted on the second list at a higher $125,000, a total of 4 going to new team meaning a maximum roster of 28, if all 8 in the second round were taken.
But I made it even easier on me. I gave Houston all their picks and chose from who was left. I felt that some of the new Colt 45s gave their team an identity, and it didn’t seem right to pick Turk Farrell, Bob Lillis or Bob Aspromonte (even if Aspro was a Brooklyn boy and later became a Met). So here is the team I will start with, with the differences from the actual draft explained alongside:

Brewer, Jim, rr Cubs third round option not originally taken
Roger Craig, rs Dodgers
Ray Culp, rs Phillies third round option not originally taken
Eddie Fisher, rr Giants in place of Hobie Landrith, c
Dallas Green, rr-s Phillies Premium Player in place of Lee Walls, of,
Al Jackson, ls Pirates
Bill Henry, lr Reds Premium Player in place of Jay Hook, rs
Bob Miller, rs Cardinals
Howie, Nunn, rr Reds in place of Elio Chacon, ss
Orlando Pena, rr Reds in place of Sherman Jones, rr

Chris Cannizzaro, c Cardinals
Dick Dietz, c Giants third round option not originally taken
Phil Roof, c Braves third round option not originally taken
Norm Sherry, c Dodgers third round option not originally taken

Dick Allen, 3b Phillies in place of Clarence “Choo-Choo” Coleman, c
Ed Bouchee, 1b Cubs
Sammy Drake, 2b Cubs
Gil Hodges, 1b Dodgers
Johnny Logan, ss Pirates third round option not originally taken
Felix Mantilla, ss Braves
Cap Peterson, 2b-3b-of Giants in place of Ray Daviault, rr
Red Schoendienst, 2b Cardinals in place of Craig Anderson, rs
Don Zimmer, 2b Cubs

Gus Bell, of Reds
Joe Christopher, of Pirates
Jim Hickman, of Cardinals
Bobby Smith, of Phillies
Hawk Taylor, of-c Braves in place of John DeMerit, of

Some words of explanation may be needed here. Dick Allen? Yes, the Phillies put him on the list and I felt it wasn’t cheating to take him. The questions really are:

1) Why did the Phillies risk losing him?
2) Why didn’t Houston or New York risk taking him?

The Phillies gave a $70,000 to sign the 2-sport star as a shortstop, so they did regard him highly. He advanced through 2 minor-league seasons as a teen-ager, the most recent in “C” ball (.317 and 21 homers in 117 games, showing progress) and he was placed on the 40-man roster for the 1962 season. So why expose him? Philadelphia lost the 4 minimum players: Choo-Choo Coleman, Jesse Hickman, Bobby Smith and George Williams. Obviously, none were anywhere near Dick Allen, but maybe at the time something could be said about each of them. Coleman was a good defensive catcher in the minors but was to be 26 in ’62 with only 1 good-hitting minor league season (and half-season at that) and a .128 cup-of-coffee in 1961. Maybe. Hickman pitched well in “D” ball (lowest classification at the time) but didn’t at higher levels. Definite no. Smith was a 28-year old corner outfielder with a career .253 BA, 12 homers and 4 steals in a 5-year career to that point. Maybe not. Williams was a 21-year second baseman who hit at every minor-league level and even hit .250 in his cup-of-coffee. Well, okay, even though he didn’t pan out, the potential seemed to be there. Now keep in mind neither new team took a third player to save themselves $50,000. The Phillies already spend more than that on Allen between bonus and salary and trained him well enough to move up to “A” ball in the next season.
I avoided Culp until I saw I was way short of pitchers, and I did decline to cheat and take Robin Roberts. Fisher was a lesser example of Allen’s why-was-he-on-it-and-why-no-takers, so much so that the White Sox insisted on him being included in the Billy Pierce trade that helped the Giants edge past the Dodgers in '62 The rest of the changes were because my choices seemed to be so much better of an option than history, judging from past performance, minor league records and contemporary writings in The Sporting News and Street & Smith’s.
Another note on Allen. I knew of “Richie” when I first started following baseball; his trouble with Philly management, writing “Boo” in the infield dirt, seeing his photo smoking a cigarette in Sports Illustrated when he led the 1972 White Sox on a remarkable run and leading the AL in homers in 19673despite a September retirement. He was a good player but never really followed him, yet he was involved in all 3 of my replays. Just before doing my 1965-76 Yankee project, I read that he was almost dealt to Cleveland in the 1968-69 offseason so saw that it would have been historically correct to try to trade for him to replace Mickey Mantle when he retired. This wasn’t done since the 1968 Yankees won the pennant and ended the scenario. He fell into my lap during the 1969-76 Royals project when he was suspended for a month while his Phillies were in the division race and no use to them, and how could I not pick him now?

On deck: the 1962 Mets.

[JerryShoe]

1962 Mets

The Plan
Before I can improve a team, I need to actually have a team. After the draft I was shy at least 1 starter and 2 other pitchers, a fulltime catcher, a fulltimer at each infield position except shortstop and a fulltime outfielder or maybe 2 part-timers, with 4 empty active roster places. With so many holes to fill, I’ll concentrate on up-the-middle defense which would also help pitching. The only area that go towards that way are my 2 catchers whose playing limits comprise two-thirds of a single receiver. I should add that my roster is made up only of my draft picks and players who 1962 Mets GM George Weiss took in the Rule 5 and first-year minor league drafts (Bob Moorhead and Rod Kanehl); anyone who was purchased was transferred back to their original team (with no online financials the selling team reaped no reward) and anyone picked up by the actual Mets after start of 1962 was sent back. I could have solved centerfield in 1 of 2 ways. Needing pitching, I could have chosen Vic Davalillo from the Reds rather than any of the 3 I did take from that organization and pretended not to know that he would move from the mound to become a top-flight flychaser instead. I justified taking Allen and Culp, but Henry, Nunn and Pena had better credentials than Vic. In another thread I suggested an option that players start out with their original organizations rather than with the team they made their debut with, which may be difficult for OOTP to program. This way I could have Paul Blair, as gern11 has in his similar “Reversal of Misfortune” project, but to be consistent I would have to make time to research similar occurrences and return Felix Millan to the Athletics, Curt Blefary to the Yankees, etc. Doing this would dramatically alter the 1960s baseball landscape, particularly the 1967 “Impossible Dream” season for the Red Sox when they would not have Joe Foy, Sparky Lyle and Reggie Smith (Foy and Smith were signed by the Twins, who they had to defeat in the last 2 games of the season to win the pennant) plus Denny McLain would be pitching for the White Sox (4th, 3 games behind) and not the Tigers (tied with the Twins). I’ll stay with players appearing with teams according to historical debuts. To add playing time I was going to trade Gus Bell (343 PAs) for Frank Thomas (633) as it is historically correct, but $150,000 was sent to Milwaukee and that makes it too much of leaning towards a sale. This is also another example of OOTP having 2 players traded for each other appearing on the same team.

What Happened to the Plan
I made a lot of trades and some made the up-the-middle defense somewhat stronger and the team somewhat more respectable, but also too few newcomers to be around for a turnaround. My few “stars” like Cannizzaro, Green, Mantilla, Nunn, Pena and Schoendienst were sent away for vet respectability, (Larry Jackson, Curt Simmons
and Bill Virdon), holding the fort (Dale Long, Sammy White and Gene Woodling) and some hope for future (Dave Giusti and Jim Hannan).

The Results
Well, at least I did better than Weiss/Casey Stengel (51-111, 51 games out rather than 40-120 and -60½), so there's that.

My opening day lineup was similar to the actual April 11, 1962:

Ashburn, cf.....Mantilla, ss
Mantilla, ss.....Kanehl, 2b
Neal, 2b..........Bell, lf
Thomas, lf.......Bouchee, 1b
Bell, rf..............Zimmer, 3b
Hodges, 1b......Christopher, cf
Zimmer, 3b......Hickman, rf
Landrith, c........Sherry, c
Craig, p............Craig, p

Because of Hodges’ limited playing time I platooned him with Bouchee, and Bouchee did pinch-hit in the actual opener.

The team changed drastically along the way, as you can see the heart of the team for most of the early season to its end:

C Sherry (traded)............White (trade pickup)
1B Hodges (injured)..........Long (trade pickup)
2B Kanehl.........................Kanehl
SS Mantilla (traded)..........Koppe (trade pickup)
3B Zimmer (traded)..........O'Connell (trade pickup)
RF Hickman..................... Hickman
CF Christopher..................Virdon (trade pickup)
LF Bell..............................Woodling (trade pickup)

S1 Craig........................... A.Jackson
S2 A.Jackson....................Craig
S3 Miller (playing time)......Fisher (from bullpen)
S4 Pena (traded)...............L.Jackson (trade pickup)
RA Nunn (traded)..............Guisti (trade pickup)

Hickman, Kanehl and Mantilla spent time at third base and Hickman played center, too.

With all the movement, some in the “composite lineup” never played with each other:

2B Kanehl .234
3B O'Connell .275
LF Woodling .270/.360 with 14 HRs in NY
CF Hickman 18 HRs
1B Long 6 HRs with NY in half season, 8 SBs with 0 CS
RF Bell 8 HRs
C Cannizzaro .256 with NY
SS Hartman .242

Also, Mantilla hit .272 with 6 HRs in 2 months, Hodges .293/8 HRs in less than half a season and Christopher stole 11 and caught only 3 times.

S1 A.Jackson 10-20, 3.60
S2 Craig 4.31
S3 Fisher 4.53
S4 L.Jackson 4.74

Guisti 2.30, 4 Saves
Hannan 1.73
Nunn led with 7 saves (with 1.23) even though he left in June.

As for the OOTP’s parallel with real life, the NL playoff wasn’t needed, but the race did last to the last day with the Dodgers (102-60) outlasting the Giants (100-62) in a 2-team race. The Colt .45s (67-96) finished 9th. The Twins (101-61) won big over the Yankees (90-72 as the runner-up) with the expansion Senators a surprising 87-75 (4th) with their counterpart Angels at 83-79. The Dodgers took the Series in 5 games. No surprise that no Met appeared on any (positive) leader board. Frank Robinson let the NL in hitting (.343), Willie Mays in the power department (50/134) and Wills REALLY went to town with 123 steals to shatter Cobb's mark, Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax were 1-2 in ERA (2.03 and 2.04!). Dandy Don also led with 27 Wins while Bob Gibson stuck out 293. Lindy McDaniel's 25 Saves topped the Senior Circuit while over in the Junior, Twin Rich Rollins (!) led with .339, Rocky Colavito and Leon Wagner tied with 44 circuit clouts but Lou Clinton (???) had the most RBI with 119 and Luis Aparicio swiped 66 bags. Rollins' teammate Camilo Pascual also had 27 victories with the lowest ERA (2.53), Joe Nuxhall (with the Angels) K'd 241 and Turk Lown saved 36. Mays won the NL MVP with actual winner Maury Wills placing 6th, Drysdale duplicated life with the Cy Young and Dennis Bennett was the Rookie of the Year (Hickman did finish 2nd) while actual winner Ken Hubbs didn’t get a vote. Mickey Mantle took the AL MVP as he did in ’62, Pascual wont the AL Cy (there was only 1 Cy Young Award until 1967) and Ed Charles took the AL ROY (Bill James should be happy; as in the NL, actual winner Tommy Tresh got no votes)

Next: The 1963 Mets

[JerryShoe]

1963 Mets

The Plan
In looking to get good defense up-the-middle, I was thinking along the lines of Ken Berry or someone else with a second-tier bat but first-rate glove since I have so little to offer, but in the offseason the Giants came calling, asking Al Jackson for Jim Davenport and…Tommie Agee! I hated to lose for Al Jax, but...
Needing to add playing time behind the plate, I sent my old catchers for new-but-old catchers Del Crandall and Gus Triandos. The infield will have Hodges and Long will platoon at first base, hopefully lasting for the entire year, rookie Ron Hunt won the second base job, Joe Koppe at short and Davenport’s excellent spring won him third. Good field-no hit Bob Lillis was a late spring free agent pickup and will take any of the 3 left side spots should any falter (so much for my idea of Houston’s team identity). The outfield have Hickman in rightfield, Virdon in center and Kanehl moving from the infield to left.
The pitching should shake out 3 good starters out of L. Jackson, Simmons, Craig, Miller and rookie Ray Culp. The bullpen is so deep that 1962 opening relief ace Henry Is on reserve list, so there may be some deals out of there.
This team will not be championship caliber of course, but I think that I they will be respectable, out of last place with .500 as a goal, maybe even first division.

What Happened to the Plan
Starting out stronger than expected and ending the first month at 11-9, the team Stayed over .500 for most of the summer, even climbing as high as fourth before finally falling under the break-even point on August 18 when a few of my better players reached their maximum number of PAs/IP. The first base platoon faded after Hodges retired to manage Washington and Long started with a .086 BA and benched before his retirement. Kranepool (5 for his first 8) took over for Long and Ernie Banks for Hodges after getting him on the cheap on because of an undiagnosed mumps Ailment rather than age caused a .169/2 HR start, making a trade for Fisher easy. Ernie may break my bank since he now takes a third of the payroll. Logan finished at shortstop after Koppe and Lillis and Dick Howser (traded for Moran) maxed out after 263 PAs. In the outfield, Kanehl played well but not often, done after 220 PAs. Willie Kirkland and Fred Valentine were added to the outfield mix during the year.

The Results
Even though we bottomed out in the final month and change, we did finish in 7th place with a 74–88 mark, both marks not reached historically until the ’69 Championship. Hunt won the Rookie-of-the-Year (actual winner Pete Rose came in 4th) and pitching was a big plus with another rookie, Culp, really came through. The only Met on the leaderboard was Larry Jackson, tied for 5th with 5 shutouts, but there were several near misses.

CF Virdon............303
3B Davenport......308, 19 2Bs, 8 3Bs, 13 HRs
2B Hunt...............277/.361, 40 2Bs, 8 3Bs, 10 HRs
RF Hickman........19 HRs
C Triandos..........11 HRs
LF Kirkland...........9 HRs in NY in half season
1B Kranepool/Banks....277/.235 with NY in half season
SS Howser.............255 led club with 11 steals in a half season

Kanehl (.292), Logan (.228), Christopher (.207) and Crandall (.184) were the other Mets with significant playing time.

S1 L.Jackson........ also 13-12, 2.76
S2 Simmons..........3.60
S3 Culp................. 2.17, 211 K's
S4 Craig.................3.39
S5 Miller.................2.65 between starting and relieving

CL Worthington.......2.75, 10 Saves before maxing out
CL Brewer...............3.18, 10 Saves before maxing out
RP Henry................ 2.83 before maxing out

For the postseason, none of the historical pennant winners won in this project yet. Minnesota is the OOTP dynasty, once again topping a strong Yankee team (96-66). San Francisco swapped places with LA, who finished 3 behind, meaning that these 2 teams changed places with reality so far. Al Kaline won the AL batting crown, with actual winner Carl Yasrzemski finishing 5th, Harmon Killebrew homered the most (historically correct) and shared the RBI lead with Jim King, as Dick Stuart stayed in the NL. Luis Aparicio swiped the most bases, as in the actual 1963. Ken.Johnson had the low AL ERA (actual winner Gary Peters is further down the list), Camilo Pascual’s 23 wins led (Ford doesn’t show up), Al Downing struck out the most (Pascual isn’t on the leaderboard either) and Lindy McDaniel saved the most with Stu Miller still in the NL Tommy Davis matched history with his batting title, and Willie McCovey did share the HR lead with another, but it was Dick Stuart rather than Hank Aaron. Frank Howard had the most RBI and actual winner Aaron didn’t appear on the leaderboard. Maury Wills, like Little Luis, mirrored history with his
leading theft total.
Bob Allison was named AL MVP (winner Elston Howard had no votes), Joe Nuxhall took the Cy Young (only 1 awarded in actual 1963) and Pete Ward was the AL ROY and not his teammate Gary Peters (no votes). Willie Mays was the NL MVP and Juan Marichal the Cy winner, depriving Sandy Koufax of both trophies.
Some OOTP’s curious thinking: even when over .500 deep into the season, my owner was “frustrated” at a second-year expansion team’s progress. Gus Triandos still holds the record for most career games without ever being caught stealing, ZERO in 1206 games. Of course, he was so slow that he was only asked to steal once 13 years and hit only 6 career 3-baggers, 3 in his first full year and a single triple in 3 of his next 4 years.
OOTP properly rates his running abilities as 1/1/3, yet Tommie Agee is 1/1/1(!) I once made a trade offer which was requested, then just added a body to clear roster space and got turned down (?).

Coming up, the 1964 Mets

[JerryShoe]

1964 Mets

The Plan
After 2 years and over 400 losses, the NL decided to “help” their little brothers by holding a supplemental draft following the 1963 season. The Colt .45s and Mets were given a list of 4 players from each of the original 8 clubs' 25-man roster (on August 31) and for $30,000 (just over half of the first draft’s third-round option choice) they could pluck a player a club between them. The Reds provided 5 names and their GM Billy DeWitt offered that all 5 could be taken, a generosity later seen to be a bit ingenuine as none played in 1964 and 3 never played again. 2 former World Series MVPs almost made the list, but the Dodgers replaced Larry Sherry with Bill Haas and the Giants’ Don Larsen most likely was taken off in favor of Billy Pierce. Other familiar names were Roy Face, Harvey Haddix, Don Hoak, Norm Larker and Charlie Neal and St. Louis had 2
surprises on the list, Mike Shannon and Bobby Shantz. Shannon had a strong OF arm, was seen by Stan Musial as his possible successor and hit .308 in limited 1963 Major League service and did well in the minors. Shantz (a personal favorite of mine ever since I ate at his roadside burger joint when a kid) seemed ageless, after a 2.61/11 Save performance as a lefty relief ace and not having a bad year since 1955 arm trouble. He may have set some sort of record, being exposed in 3 expansion drafts: AL
(chosen by the Senators from the Yankees), NL (the Colt .4s from the Pirates) and this extra one. Another repeater is the Cubs’ Jim Brewer, who was on the original list and again now. The Bruins, Colt .45s and Mets disrespected him twice each, but he turned in a 2.59 ERA with 133 Saves for the rest of his career. As for who was taken, the Mets won the coin flip and chose Dodger minor-league first baseman Haas. He never played above AA ball. Houston then took Claude Raymond, who would be a bullpen staple and All-Star for them before the Mets ended things with their second choice, Giant Jack Fisher, one of Paul Richards’ “Baby Birds” Orioles of the late 50s, but turned in only a single credible full-time year in 1960 and turned in 3 seasons of 23-36, 4.58 since. Thus ended the intended replenishment. I will use the 4-player offering from each team as a backbone and substitute the lowest potential/oldest/worst performer for anyone not available on OOTP’s team. There will be no need to do this for Milwaukee (I will assign Raymond to Houston), St. Louis (I don’t see anyone with a lower ranking than Shannon who would be more appealing) or the Giants (ditto with Pierce, who I feel is the pitcher exposed rather than Larsen since he was released just after the draft). Like the original draft’s third round, I will pay to choose the maximum 4 players I’m allowed, who are:

Cincinnati..........Al Smith, 3b-of (from OOTP roster)
Pittsburgh..........Don Leppert, c (from OOTP roster)
St. Louis............Mike Shannon, of
San Francisco...Billy Pierce, lr-s

For a team going into their third year, I am satisfied. The starting staff is strong, although I am aware that Jackson, Simmons and Craig are on the old side and will look to add younger arms in support of Culp and Miller. Recently obtained Gary Bell is another starter, but not too young. Another old arm, Robin Roberts, was offered for Smith, so I bit at the bait. The bullpen is good and deep, so maybe once again will deal from there. Crandall and Triandos will not be catchers much longer, and Dietz,
Roof and rookie John Stephenson are not yet ready, so will add another receiver to my shopping list. I was able to move Triandos to the Giants for Randy Hundley who was lost in their stockpile, but he also will not be ready for a time. First base will be a platoon of Banks and Kranepool to save Banks’ knees and nurse Kranepool. Hunt and Howser will be the keystone combo and Davenport will be backed by Allen at the far turn. Virdon will man center until Agee is ready and is flanked by Hickman and any combination of Christopher, Kirkland, Shannon, and Valentine. The bench needs some more depth, too. Shea opens in view of the World's Fair and will host the All-Star games, adding a few dollars to my pocket for salary.
What Happened to the Plan
The promising pitching feel apart early and Culp was banished to the bullpen. It's a good thing I took a flier on Roberts since the starting staff was resurrected around him and Jackson. The corner infield was also revamped as Banks pushed Kranepool to the bench and Rookie-of-the-Year Allen supplanted Davenport. The summer went on with the club always a hair under .500 but sometimes creeping into the first division. The Dodgers shopped Johnny Roseboro at the trade deadline and I got him for Crandall (.290) and prime rookie Bill Wakefield (0.96). Virdon showed his age at the plate but this was offset by his superb fielding and Christopher exploding out of nowhere and Hickman doing a bit more than expected. The bullpen was a strong combined effort.

The Results
After flirting with .500 and the first division during the later part of the summer, the Mets won their last 4 games and accomplished both, at 83-79 and fifth place, just a game out of fourth. They boasted the top 2 hitting leaders in Roseboro and Allen (.335 each, although the catcher took the crown by .0003) and Allen tied for 4th in RBI (115). On the mound, Jackson tied for 3rd with 19 Wins.

LF Christopher...310/.377, 18 HRs
2B Hunt..............294/.364
C Roseboro......also excellent defense
3B Allen..............also .390/.567, .957OPS, 25 HRs, 80 RS
1B Banks............23 HRs, 90 RBI
RF Hickman........284
SS Howser..........83 RS, 14 steals
CF Virdon............232

Davenport (.260), Kanehl (.259) and Bobby Wine (defensive sub) also helped out in the fight for .500.

S1 L.Jackson....also 3.29
S2 Roberts........3.30
S2 Simmons......4.36
S4 Craig............11-8, 3.65 between starting and relieving

RP Miller..............6-4, 3.22 between starting and relieving
RP Pierce............1.62, 8 Saves
RP Brewer...........3.09, 7 Saves
RP Worthington...3.65, 6 Saves

Minnesota continued to dominate the AL with a flag every year so far in the replay but got swept by San Francisco (repeating as the NL winner). Harmon Killebrew and Willie Mays got the MVPs (rather than Brooks Robinson and Ken Boyer), Whitey Ford and Chris Short won the CY Young (Dean Chance, with only one Award given) and Tony Conigliaro got the AL ROY rather than Tony Oliva.

Next, the 1965 Mets

[JerryShoe]

1965 Mets

The Plan
I could squeeze one more year of contention before having to retool with youth if former 1950 Phillie “Whiz Kids” Roberts and Simmons don’t turn into the “Wheeze Kids” and erstwhile Eisenhower era stalwarts Banks and Virdon act accordingly. The lineup is strong, leading off with surprise Christopher and Hunt, with Roseboro-Allen-Hickman a high-quality heart of the order and ending with Banks, Howser and Virdon. The defense is mostly good, the only weak spots being the left side with Allen and Christopher. The rotation could use some help, hopefully in the form of Culp’s and Don Cardwell’s recoveries or rookie Dennis Ribant but the bullpen should compensate. With Kranepool (traded after not meeting minimum playing time) and Kanehl (retired) gone, the bench is a bit weak. The best of the rest of the rookie crop is Ron Swoboda.

What Happened to the Plan
The end of spring training found an excess of players, so to limit the number of releases I opted to make multi-player deals and ended up trading Davenport, Henry, Ribant, Stephenson and Valentine along with newcomers for workhorse pitchers Jim "Mudcat" Grant, Ken Johnson and Ron Kline and benchwarmers Dick Brown and Bob Johnson. The year started at well, going 9-7 in April which was good for third place and only a game out of first. Podres (2.33), Simmons (1.88) and even emergency starter Bell (1.98) were able to overcome the unexpected inadequacy of ace Jackson (4.20) and the relief crew (3.58). Dick Allen .407/.484/.556 again was the mainstay of the offense but the 1-2-3 in front of him all had OBs under .300 as Banks hit .159/.197/.206 with no HRs in back. Christopher needed to be replaced with Howser leading off. Things went worse in May as the formerly strong bullpen needed overhauling. Brewer went to the IL, Hamilton, McGraw and Miller were optioned, needing Podres to move from the rotation and Cardwell, Culp, Grant and Kline were promoted. The lineup also needed revamping, with former leadoff Christopher banished to the bench for Swododa, Hickman moving up to #3 and Banks down to #6, behind Virdon. Once Bernie Allen came off IL another roster logjam was created, so he, Goosen, Hamilton and Johnson went to Baltimore for Jim Gentile (as a LH PH and platoon with poorly performing Banks) and utility infielders Jerry Adair, and Eddie Brinkman. With the Mets at 25-34, Hunt got hurt and Adair took over. When things looked no better on July 1 (34-44 and 7th), it was time to shed salary and move on with youth. I thanked Howser, Podres, Roberts, Simmons and Virdon for their services and sent them to Pittsburgh for Ken McMullen and minor leaguer hurlers Steve Blass and Bill Singer. The Pirate AI GM gave me a hard time sending me McMullen, instead insisting on me taking Brooks Robinson! In good conscience, I went with McM, with an eye for him to take over the far turn next year with Allen going across the diamond to first base. The Pirates were in second place, 1½ out, so we’ll see how this trade helped them. Giusti and Brinkman now moved up to the big club took almost 20% off the books. The Mets made a move and on August 1 were 50-56 and only 4½ from fifth when things bottomed out.

The Results
If not for last season’s unexpected success, I would view this year as a respectable building one, what with not “clinching” a losing record and the second division until game #158, but, well…1965 was a disappointment after ’64: 76-86 and sixth place. The only Met on the leaderboards was Dick Allen’s top OB (.394). He did hit .306, but his 14 homers fell way short of his potential. Most of the better performers (pitchers Craig, Podres and Simmons had ERAs of 3.07, 3.48 and 3.18, Virdon hit .281, Howser’s 10 steals led the crew) were the old-timers I was worried about, but most found their way into the agate type of “transactions/traded” after Banks, Christopher, Hickman and Hunt endured disastrous seasons. Jackson (3.29) was again the staff ace, backed by comebackers Culp and Guisti after their midseason callups and installations into the rotation.

LF Christopher.. 236
2B Hunt..............244/.348/.309
CF Hickman.......216, 11 HRs
3B Allen.............also .444 SA
1B Banks...........239, 9 HRs, 52 RBI
RF Swoboda......219, 15 HRs
C Roseboro.......222
SS Wine............244, good defense
Also seeing playing time were Gentile (led team with 16 HRs, 20 overall) and McMullen (.288 in NY, .292 overall) after their acquisitions but Shannon's poor performance (.187) was a letdown. Adair hit .234 while filling in for Hunt.

S1 Jackson.......also 13 Wins
S2 Culp.............3.29
S3 Guisti...........3.54
S4 Cardwell......3.79
Grant, Roberts and Simmons were also in the rotation before and after their trades.

RP Craig.............also led team with 9 Saves
RP Miller.............2.83
RP Worthington..3.09, 7 Saves

Cleveland ended Minnesota’s 3-year AL stranglehold won the Championship over San Francisco, who continued theirs in the NL. The Pirates did finish second, but the ex-Mets should have been utilized better and could have overcome the Giants. As for the Awards, although Mays won the NL MVP as he actually did, John “Honey” Romano took the AL honors instead of Zoilo Versalles (no votes, although his OOTP stats of .265,13 HRs and 35 SBs were sorta close to his real ones of .273, 19.27).
Romano was one of the junior circuit’s better receivers in the 60’s and did have an actual 1965 of 2.7 WAR/20 Win Shares, but really, now. Although real Cy Young winner Koufax had a good OOTP log of 19-10, 2.34 and 316 strikeouts, he lost out to Bob Veale in the NL while “Sudden Sam” McDowell (actually the best pitcher in his league as per WAR and WS) took the then non-existent AL trophy. Jim Lefebvre and Curt Blefary took rookie honors as they historically did.

The 1966 Mets in a few weeks...

[JerryShoe]

The Plan
Looking for speed and power, I hope I now have both in 2 rookies who have been taking reserve roster space since 1963, Agee and Cleon Jones, who would also add outfield defense, especially in center after Virdon’s departure. Jackson may not be an ace anymore, but he should still be a top of the rotation guy who would need some help around him. I think I did, in trading rookies Blass and Billy Murphy plus surplus corner OF Swoboda for hurlers Joel Horlen, Ray Sadecki and minor leaguer Chuck “Twiggy” Hartenstein. The roster would start with a catching platoon of Roseboro (to protect his aging body) and Hundley (to break in a rookie finally able to contribute after 2 years taking up a reserve spot). Around the infield, Allen makes his move to first, Hunt back at second, one of three good-field, no-hit shortstops (Brinkman, Wine and rookie Bud Harrelson, two too many) and McMullen at third. Jones and Agee would man LF and CF with Hickman and Shannon vying for RF. The bench would be Banks or Gentile (no need for 2 first base only subs, and Gentile bats left), Johnson, the second-best shortstop (the remaining one reserved or hopefully moved) and the loser of the RF battle with Ty Cline. The starters should be Jackson, Horlen, Culp and Guisti with Craig, Miller and Worthington leading the bullpen. In another end-of-spring deal to get down to the roster limit, I sent Adair with rookie pitchers Dicks Rusteck and Selma for a not-yet-ready Felix Millan.

What Happened to the Plan
We started out fast, with 5-1, 6-2 and 8-4 logs before ending April at 8-7 (5th place, 4 games out), but Allen wrenched his shoulder to start May, landing him on the IL for 19 days and out of the lineup for another 8. He was replaced by the 1965 platoon of Banks (.333 resurgence) and Gentile, which worked out. While Shannon won the RF spot, Jones was hitting only .217 so Hickman regained a starting spot and was hitting .462 when he dislocated his wrist and lost until the end of the summer. Culp (4.88) was removed from the rotation, reserved and replaced by Grant. When Allen returned to the lineup it was at his third position in less than a year, left field as the first base tandem of Banks/Gentile were doing much better than the Jones/Cline platoon. After his return the team reeled off 5 straight wins to end May at 24-19 (4th, -7). The rotation remained a problem, so Guisti was optioned and Cardwell recalled. I shopped Hunt because more defense was needed at second base and on July 1 (41-33, 4th, -6.5) the White Sox offered Luis Aparicio! John Buzhardt and Harrelson were added (after declining their request for Millan) so Brinkman moved to the other side of the keystone. August started with us at 54-49 and tied for 5th (-12), and my best hopes were to fend off LA for that final money slot. Allen moved back to first upon Hickman’s August return and stayed there after Hickman maxed out his playing time (Jones took over left fulltime, as Cline was close to his limits). After a 4-game September sweep of Houston we were a scant game behind them for fourth and we focused on that prize.

The Results
Nice showing, best year yet, with 88 wins, that fourth place finish and only 3 out of third. The offensive leaderboard was littered with Mets, mostly from the play of Allen. He led with a .337 BA and came in 4th with 39 homers. Other stats were a .410 OB (3rd) and .630 SA (1st). Agee came in 2nd with 111 RS and 5th with 10 triples. Shannon’s .318 was good for 3rd and even Brinkman’s anemic .231 BA had a leading 13 triples! No Met hurler was seen on the leaderboards, but the rotation built around Horlen and Jackson performed credibly and the bullpen-by-committee did very well.


SS Aparicio..............322 with NY (.310 and 40 steals overall
CF Agee..................also .287, 46 SBs and defense
C Roseboro...........290
1B Allen...................‘nuff said,
RF Shannon........... also 20 HRs, 87 RS and defense
3B McMullen...........12 HR and defense
LF Jones..................253, 7 SB with no CS and defense
2B Brinkman............also great defense at both middle-infield spots
Hundley platooned with Roseboro for most of the year, Banks/Gentile pounded 18 homers, Hickman hit another 8 between injuries and maxing his playing time and Cline’s legs helped out as a pinch-runner and defensive replacement. Hunt hit .297/.372 during his time with the team.

S1 Horlen.................17-7, 3.22
S2 Jackson...............13-7, 3.45
S3 Grant...................3.49
S4 Sadecki...............10-3, 2.78 while also a reliever
Giusti (3.73), Bell (3.90), Culp (4.50) and Cardwell (4.75) fell ina nd out of the rotation.

RP Miller...................1.42, 11 Saves
RP Worthington........1.30, 11 Saves
RP Hoerner..............2.19, 9 Saves
RP Drabowsky.........2.32
RP McGraw.............3.60
Brewer (2.08) and Craig (2.94) were injured much of the year but pitched well when not.

Craig and Gentile retired after the season, which ended with Pittsburgh winning their first pennant of this replay and defeating repeating AL Champ Cleveland. The postseason awards mostly went against history. Roberto Clemente won the NL MVP as he actually did and the true AL winner Robinson, still in the NL here, finished 7th. Kaline won in the AL with F.Robby still with the Reds. 1966 was the last year with only 1 Cy Young winner with Gibson (NL) and Gaylord Perry (with the AL Indians here) won while the real winner, Koufax, was 4th in the NL voting. The freshman awards were a bit off. With Agee in the AL, Fritz Peterson won in his absence. That’s fine, but in the NL Agee not only lost out (to Pat Jarvis) but he didn’t even garner a vote (much like actual winner Tommy Helms) even though he did finished 4th in MVP balloting and Phil Roof got some attention despite his .204 BA.

The 1967 Mets Coming Up

[JerryShoe]

The Plan
Every position is capably manned; Hundley and Roseboro behind the plate where the former should improve and the latter not yet showing his age, Allen with his excellent resume at first, Brinkman with his excellent glove at second, speedster/fielder Aparicio at short, and reliable McMullen able to hit and field. The outfield has Jones, who will improve, Agee and Shannon (who will stay in RF; he historically moved to third
only to make room for Roger Maris), I should be happy, but I’m not. Although everyone has their merits, Allen is the only STAR and I want another to support him. I have a wealth of arms, with everyone from last year coming back except Sadecki, who the Angels wanted in exchange for Jim McGlothlin. Added to this mix are rookies Tom Seaver, Singer, Koosman and Ryan ready any time now. The spots to add another big
bat would be third and the corner outfield so my thoughts are to combine McMullen, Jones or Shannon with some of my reserves bolstered by an arm or two for a star at that same position. An example is trading for Carl Yastrzemski (which I won’t do, since it takes to much advantage of hindsight) for Jones, 1 or 2 backups from among Cline, Hickman, Johnson and Wine with one of those young arms.

What Happened to the Plan
Looking for that star, I asked the Cubs what they wanted for Billy Williams along with Jones and having no worthwhile catcher they asked for rookie Dick Dietz. I threw in rookies Les Rohr and Billy Wynne and they added lefty sub outfielder Al Spangler. Done deal, I’ll bat him third and now I have a lefty bat in the top of the lineup as well. But right after that, the Reds came calling with an offer for Frank Robinson! Aside from not making the Williams trade had I heard from the AI Billy DeWitt first, I never
considered looking for him since I thought the price would be too high. They asked for McMullen and Amos Otis, which caused a dilemma on 2 fronts. His salary would increase the payroll by almost 50%, and I figured that to break even on this we would need to add 10 wins and 2 places in the standings. The other was ethical, since I am doing these replays with contemporary thinking. The goal is to get into the postseason by 1969 and Otis won’t be helpful until 1970, but does Bing Devine make this deal in spring 1967? I felt it was okay to for 2 reasons. Maybe Devine wouldn’t but Met (mis)management did 3 years later when Johnny Murphy let Otis go with a player not quite as good as Jones (Bob Johnson, the pitcher and not my utility infielder) for Joe Foy, obviously not nearly as good as Robinson. Also, in my 1969-76 Royals scenario Otis remained a Met and won the 1970 NL MVP. If I have to rework the 1969 expansion drafts and it takes a lot of effort, I may extend the replay past 1969 and would face any repercussions of the trade after all. So yes, I’ll do the trade and added 4 second-tier arms (Buzhardt, Cardwell, Hartenstein and Donnie Shaw) while they threw in a reserve catcher (Larry Haney) to replace Dietz. He takes over the 3-hole, Williams moves down to 5th so the only fulltime lefty hits in the middle of the lineup and Shannon does end up at third base. I pared down the roster by sending a few of my lesser farmhands (although Danny Frisella is well regarded) for bench strength (Tito Francona, Chuck Hinton and Jim King). Millan won the second base job from Brinkman. Once the season started, I felt like Dick Walsh, GM of the 1971 California Angels, who built what was thought to be a powerhouse but ended up being a Fiat: looks great, but always breaking down. By the end of April I wanted a do-over, at 8-11 for 6th place and already 7 games out. 3 of my planned rotation were injured (Grant) or awful (Horlen with a 4.71 ERA, Seaver at 7.71) and the offense except for Big Frank (.373, 5 HRs) was sputtering. Jim Roland was picked up for Collins and took Grant’s place on the IL. By June I was sure I'd be waking from a nightmare: 18-30, 9th, -14...1962 all over again. Key pitchers Miller, Brewer, Guisti, Seaver and Worthington all had ERAs
from 3.75 to 4.91 and only 2 of my stars were doing well and of them just Robinson (.302/11) was superlative; Allen was .293 with only 3 but his brother Hank joined him in a trade with farmhand Brant Alyea for Hickman, Spangler and Wine. As spring stumbled into summer, a few of the pitchers were demoted for fresh blood Bell and Singer while Horlen was given another shot and Roland was activated. Millan (.176) lost his second base job to Brinkman, Agee was hitting .229 and Williams .249, Robby slumped to .271 but with 13 homers when he was lost for a month. His injury can’t be blamed for this team’s abysmal showing, as they were already 30-44 and in 8th, 17 games out. To try to make up some ground, I sent underperforming arms Bell (5.02) and Culp (reserved all year) and not-so-supersub Johnson (.246 after 2 years of sub .225) for pitchers Barry Latman, Jim Perry and Sonny Siebert and infielder-outfielder Don Buford who immediately took over for Brinkman (.183). At the trading deadline we sat at 46-59 8th, 27 games out, couldn’t reduce the payroll lag and was faced with financial failure. What I never told my readers (if any are) was that if I fall into the red, this project ends; I never thought it would come to this. I need to win more just not to self-destruct and things did not look good on August 24th when Dick Allen was lost for the year. Robby was injured in a gruesome collision with Al Weis, but Allen hurt… when pushing a car??? It was that kind of year. Banks (barely rebounding from his season low .176) was reluctantly inserted in his place and then the team slowly inched up the standings.

The Results
From August’s nadir we went 38-19 and from the Allen incident 26-8 to finish t4h with an 84-78 record, barely in the black but now with a shot at 1968 and beyond. The only Met on the leaderboard were Robinson’s .400 OB (3rd), .904 OPS (also 3rd) and 84 BBs (5th) while Buford stole 62 bags (4th in the majors), The bottom of the lineup really bottomed out. The top of the rotation and the vaunted bullpen lagged and promising
newcomers failed, but midyear pickups picked things up.

2B Buford.......31 steals with the Mets (3th in the NL in only half a season!)
CF Agee.........276/.341, 21 HRs, 36 SBs
RF Robinson..also .286, .504 SA, 25 HRs
1B Allen..........289/.379/.493, 19 HRs, 82 RBI, 18/8 SB/CS when hurt
LF Williams.....261, 21 HRs
C Roseboro...300/.361
3B Shannon....257, 12 HR
SS Aparicio.....269, .314 OB, 15/15 SB/CS

The bench was strong with Banks replacing Allen and ended at .277 with
10 homers in half season of work, Francona .331/.364, Cline .289, Hank
Allen .277 and Hundley .248. Hinton (.232) disappointed while Brinkman (.210) and Millan (.186) were useless.

S1 McGlothlin 14-10, 2.90
S2 Siebert......7-3, 2.05 with the Mets, 3.00, 13-10 overall
S3 Perry.........8-2, 2.59 as a Met SP, 1-1, 4.56 with 2 SVs as an Indian RP
S3 Jackson....9-14, 3.36
S5 Giusti........3.41
S6 Horlen......11-7, 3.70


CL Hoerner..........1.74, 10 Saves
RP Worthington..3.27 after a rocky start
RP Brewer..........3.38
RP McGraw........3.71, 2-2. 6 Saves

Drabowsky (4.32), Grant (4.04, 1-6 in 69 IP, 9 GS), Miller (4.35), (Seaver 4.64, 3-6) and Singer (4.17, 3-4) were all huge letdowns.
In MLB news, the Twins took the AL title in a tight race with the Orioles, Tigers and Yankees even as they lost their ace Jim Kaat (22-7, 2.35) in the last few games of the season. The Pirates, led by Clemente (.333, 20 HRs, 92 RBI, .890 OPS) and Rick Wise (24-5, 2.54) won the NL handily and then swept the Twins, who missed Kaat terribly, in the World Series
for their 2nd straight title. Yastrzemski duplicated his historic 1967, AL
leading 48 HRs and 124 RBI, but his .320 was beaten by Blair's .347 mark. Aaron came within .0003 of a Triple Crown, tied with Curt Flood at .348 until further calculations, leading with (appropriately enough) 44 bombs and tied with Willie McCovey with 104 RBI. Bert Campaneris stole 96 bases. Both near-Crown winners took the MVPs, Carl historically and Hank rather than Orlando Cepeda. Rookie Gary Nolan won the NL Cy and not Mike McCormick (???) while Kaat got his over Jim Lonborg. Since Nolan was a rookie, he also took that trophy too rather than the downtrodden Seaver and John Hller won in the AL and not Rod Carew.

Next, the '68 Mets

[OmahaBaseball]

What I never told my readers (if any are) was that if I fall into the red, this project ends;

Following along and nice final 1/3 of the season to turn things around. Good luck with the 1968 season!

[JerryShoe]

Thanks for your interest, and by coincidence I happened to follow your project as a rare Yankee fan who is a also fan of the Red Sox (except against NY, obviously). I'm not sure how old you are, but the first World Series team I rooted for was the '67 Impossible Dream team, I ate "Big Yaz" bread the following summer and saw Fisk's homer at my neighbor's house, since she had the largest color TV on the block. Rico Petrocelli grew up 1 block down and I played ball with his cousin. Good luck with your Sox!

[OmahaBaseball]

Originally Posted by JerryShoe

Thanks for your interest, and by coincidence I happened to follow your project as a rare Yankee fan who is a also fan of the Red Sox (except against NY, obviously). I'm not sure how old you are, but the first World Series team I rooted for was the '67 Impossible Dream team, I ate "Big Yaz" bread the following summer and saw Fisk's homer at my neighbor's house, since she had the largest color TV on the block. Rico Petrocelli grew up 1 block down and I played ball with his cousin. Good luck with your Sox!

Now that is something you don't see everyday; a NYY fan who is also a fan of the BoSox. Love the player names you mentioned and rather envious that you have recollection of the late 60's / mid 70's Boston teams. My Boston baseball memories really begin in the early to mid-80's (yes, Buckner...). Hope your Mets franchise continues as I have enjoyed following along.

[JerryShoe]

The Plan
I still don't understand what happened in 1967. Every position was capably manned except maybe at second where I relied too much on Millan but even that was rectified with the trade for Buford. Williams did not perform as a superstar, but he was at least well above average and no one played badly. The pitching did not perform as expected, especially in the bullpen, but Seaver and Singer weren't around in 1966 so their poor showings weren't a factor. For 1968, I don't really have a choice but to stand pat since I have no payroll space to play with, and it's still not a bad place to be: Hundley and Roseboro behind the plate, an infield of Allen-Buford-Aparicio-Shannon and a garden of Robinson-Agee-Williams. The batting order is set with Agee and Buford leading off (or vice-versa), a middle-of-the lineup of Robby-Allen-Williams-Roseboro/Hundley with the Shannon and Aparicio ending things. The pitching staff was a puzzle that can't help but improve and it does look strong to lock at. I plan on doing a few things. First is trimming what salary I can. Next is looking for a shortstop, where Little Luis is losing his luster at the plate, on the basepaths and in the field. Lastly, move players in packages, as in looking to 1969 I will be losing some of them for nothing in the looming expansion draft anyway.

What Happened to the Plan
It was hard to move some of my higher paid players whose salary was made on past performances, for example when some came calling for Giusti they left in a huff when I wanted to substitute Horlen. By mid-winter I only made a minor deal, sending Haney for utility man Joe Pagan, Then I got lucky with the Cubs, who asked for Francona, Hinton and Roland for Don Kessinger along with Roberto Pena. Kessinger was an upgrade at the plate but not the best afield. I wondered why they would offer a starting shortstop and not ask for even a backup in return, so I took a look at their roster and saw Mark Belanger. Wow, what defense! I asked for him alone and offered Aparicio in place of Roland and they took it. Aside from getting a great glove at short, I sent off 3 overpaid players for a rookie salary and reduced my roster by 2 players to boot. That's all 3 of my goals! Next, I regretfully may be shopping Horlen and Siebert, since with the emergence of Seaver and Singer with rookie Jerry Koosman, their salary may be too much of a luxury. 1968 started out like the horror of ’67: 0-3 and 1-5 starts and 4-6 (next-to-last-place) when Robinson got the mumps. I put Banks at 1b and moved Allen across the diamond and Shannon to right. The team stabilized and sat at 15-11 (4th, 4 games back) when Big Frank returned near the end of May. Opening June with a 27-22 log (4th, -6), I found myself running out of time and teams to move Horlen and Siebert to, looking at Belanger’s anemic .195 BA (at least 20 points lower than hoped/expected/tolerated, and backup Brinkman 1-for-40!) and liking a bat better than Shannon at the hot corner when seeing Allen play there during FR’s illness. I ended up with Kessinger after all, as I was able to send both pitchers and Brinkman to the Cubs for the left side of their infield in him and Ron Santo. The move didn’t save as much money as I hoped, as Santo commanded a highish salary himself. Another lineup change was to promote Millan to starting second-sacker and employing a platoon of Agee and Buford in centerfield, Agee mired in a .202 slump with he and Buford in danger of maxing out on their playing time. The new look didn’t change the old pattern, and after being swept in a double-header by the leading Giants on June 9, the team was in the same position as when the month started and headed to where it ended last year, high 80 wins with minimum first division money, not enough to offset the high salaries. I looked at names to lop without hurting the expected end result when the team caught fire with 12 straight wins which propelled us to 2nd place and cut the deficit from 9 out to 1½. A loss was followed by another winning streak that found us on top all by ourselves, barely ahead of the Giants and Pirates, as July opened. I went to work filling holes while trimming payroll and roster, the most evident was a lefty bat on the bench with Cline having a bad year. I sent Hank Allen, Joe Coleman, Grant, Pagan and Roland to the Dodgers for Willie Davis and Ron Fairly. Once that was done, I needed to let go of Banks no matter how badly I wanted to keep him; I couldn’t justify keeping a tepid righty bat who could only play first base with less likelihood of playing time. Off he went to the Tigers with Cline and Worthington for backup infielder Roberto Pena. In all, I cut 5% from the overhead and 5 players from the roster. The new look didn’t look right right away as the team lost their first 3 July games and falling to second, but then went on another 12-game tear and never lost consecutive games for the rest of the month, opening up a 8½ game lead at the August trade deadline when I had to let go of little-used Miller for Paul Lindblad. I should have kept Miller as main righty reliever Moe Drabowsky suddenly imploded and the Mets’ roller-coaster season went on a down slope with the lead cut to 2½ before righting to a 4-game margin heading into the September home stretch.

The Results
What a change from the early going, as the Mets cruised to and clinched on 9/20, appropriately enough with a 1-0 Jackson win, finishing 8 games up. With a wealth of pitching, I used 7 starters in a 5-man rotation, using the most rested quintet at any given time. Many Mets appeared on the offensive league leaderboard, most prominent being RBI leader Allen (105), who also finished 3rd in homers (34), SA (.503) and OPS (.836). Williams trailed Allen with 97 RBI for 5th and both did so well because Buford led in OB (.397, adding 34 steals for 4th) while Robinson’s .361 OB good for 3rd.
CF Buford....... .also .304 (5th), .834 OPS (4th)
2B Millan..........318 after taking over second
RF Robinson....also 17 HRs
1B Allen............also .276
LF Williams.......also 181 hits (5th), /295, 19 HRs
3B Santo..........17 HRs and 87 BBs (3d) overall, .274/13 with NY
C Hundley/Roseboro.. .231 with excellent defense/.243
SS Kessinger....249 with NY

Agee, Belanger and Shannon ended up being reduced to roles as defensive.replacements and pinch-running (Agee and Belanger)/pinch-hitting (Shannon), but.Alyea was a stud off the bench with his .272 and 8 HRs in only 151 ABs and Davis hit 304 with the team and stole 22 bags overall.

S1 Jackson........14-7, 2.23 (5th)
S2 Singer............20-6, 2.44 (20 wins tied Gibson for 1st)
S3 Koosman.......16-7, 2.88
S4 Seaver...........14-7, 2.62
S5 McGlothlin......4-6, 3.27

CL Brewer...........1.37, 9 Saves
RP Hoerner..........1.63
RP Lindblad.........0.74 overall

S-R J.Perry..........9-6, 2.22
S-R Giusti............9-5, 2.76

With such a deep staff, only Jackson and Singer appeared on the leaderboards, last year's ace McGlothlin didn't make the postseason roster and 9 saves topped the team.
Postseason and Season Awards
For the 3rd time in 3 tries, I beat history in leading teams to the playoffs, and for the 3rd time I lost in the World Series. Oh, well. After looking like an easy loser, I thought I’d be making another comeback and end as a Champion, too. I just might have, except for stalwart Jackson choosing this time to pitch poorly after years of excellence. The Mets faced off against the Oakland A’s (Charles O. Finley was trying to re-brand them),
who went 97-65 in a 3-team race that they finally won by 3 games (past the California Angels). The team was comprised of historical Oaklanders Bert Campaneris (who led the majors with 99 steals), Reggie Jackson (27 homers), Dick Green .270!), Johnny “Blue Moon” Odom (19-5, 2.21), Jim Nash (12-13 but 2.67), Chuck Dobson (2.39 splitting time between starting and relieving, going 10-6 with 13 saves) and Jim “Catfish” Hunter (3.03, mostly in relief). Historically correct Sal Bando was at first base though, as the AI A’s kept Ed Charles (22 homers, 94 RBI). They were joined by Rusty Staub (.282), Phil Niekro (2.25, 15-13), Ray Washburn (2.95) Jim Hannan (2.00, 11-4) and old friend Bob Miller (1.39, 10 saves). In scouring the AL leaders to scout the A’s, I saw something that Chowderhead might like to have seen. Boston finished .500 and 5th, but the top 2 in every batting category was a hitter from the Hub save WAR, as Carl Yastrzemski finished well ahead of Campaneris, but Campy just edged Willie (not Tony) Horton by 0.1! Otherwise, it was a mix of Yaz, Horton (the only non-Red Soxer), Ken Harrelson, Rico Petrocelli and Mike Andrews.
Oakland won the opener handily, taking an early 3-0 2nd inning lead on Green's 2-run double off Jackson. Williams' 2-run 8th inning homer off winner Niekro made it the final score close, 4-3. Oakland completed the sweep at Shea the next day when the visitors again took an early lead, this time 5-0 by the 5th, featuring a 2-run jack by Reggie Jack followed by a 2-run double by Charles in the next frame of loser Singer. Nash took the win, 6-1, and the Oakland bullpen taking another day off. Across the country, Game 3 again had the Oakland starter in charge, this time leading 2-0 when for some reason the AI pinch-hit for Washburn in the bottom of the 5th, and then Odom, the first Oakland reliever in the series, was immediately beat up and gave up the lead 4 batters into his stint on Santo's 3-run homer. 3 singles off brewer in the 7th tied it but in the final frame Buford, Agee and Allen all scored on singles off of loser Miller by beating throws home in a 6-3 win for Lindblad, Hoerner getting a save.
In Game 4 Jackson once again struggled, and the Mets went into the 7th on the short end of a 4-3 score but exploded for 5 unearned runs off Odom after 2 were out, the key blast being Williams' grand slam. Brewer was credited with the win in the 11-5 slugfest and the Series was tied at 2 wins each The finale on the West coast was a pitching duel with Singer holding a slim 1-0 lead in the 8th when this time the AI allowed Niekro to hit, a very questionable decision answered when he doubled (!) and Campy doubled him in to tie it. .202 PH Ted Kubiak hit for him in the home 9th and singled in the winning run, 2-1. Back at Shea, the home team tied the Series in another slugfest, 12-5, Koosman being the beneficiary. Nash was battered for 9 runs in 5+ innings, the big blow was a Buford grand slam while Williams hit for the cycle. The World Champions took the drama out of a Seventh Game Climax right away. Jackson was plastered for 5 runs right off the bat, so to speak and didn’t record an out until 3 runs scored and the bases loaded, and even that produced another since it was a sac fly. The final score was 6-1 and the AI named Williams (14 for 28, 4 homers, 11 RBI) as the MVP in a losing cause but I may have went with Niekro’s 2-0, 2.00, 2 complete games and that important double. Jackson was 0-2 with a 6.92 ERA.
The Rookie of the Year winners were Del Unser over actual Stan Bahnsen and Bob Moose over Johnny Bench, with neither of the historical winners getting even 1 vote. Bob Gibson won the Cy Young as he did in the real ’68, but he did it in San Fran and not St. Loo. Roger Nelson won the AL Cy, when in reality he was an expansion selection for KC; actual winner Denny McLain didn’t get a vote. It looks like I checked off pitchers don’t win the MVP since I saw no hurlers got votes, so Gibson couldn’t
duplicate ’68 and Hank Aaron won the NL award. Carl Yastrzemski won it in the AL because he got 13 1st-place votes to Horton’s 11; 2 other Bosox got votes, the Hawk and Andrews.