www abdopublishing com Published by Abdo Publishing a division of ABDO PO Box 398166 Minneapolis Minnesota 55439 Copyright 2015 by Abdo Consulting Group Inc International copyrights reserved in all countries No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher SportsZone is a trademark and logo of Abdo Publishing Printed in the United States of America North Mankato Minnesota 052014 092014 Editor Matt Tustison Copy Editor Nicholas Cafarelli Interior Design and Production Craig Hinton Cover Design Craig Hinton Photo credits David Zalubowski AP Images cover AP Images title 4 11 16 19 20 42 middle 42 bottom Focus on Sport Getty Images 7 26 NY Daily News Getty Images 8 John Lindsay AP Images 12 42 top Phil Greitzer NY Daily News Archive Getty Images 15 Harry Harris AP Photo 23 Getty Images 24 Ron Frehm AP Images 29 44 Ray Stubblebine AP Images 30 Rusty Kennedy AP Images 33 43 top Douglas C Pizac AP Images 34 Bill Kostroun AP Images 37 43 middle Charles Krupa AP Images 38 Winslow Townson AP Images 41 43 bottom Seth Wenig AP Images 47 Library of Congress Control Number 2014933057 Cataloging-in-Publication Data Knobel Andy 1959 New York Mets by Andy Knobel p cm Inside MLB Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 978-1-62403-477-0 1 New York Mets Baseball team History Juvenile Literature I Title GV875 N45K58 2015 796 357'64097471 dc23 2014933057
TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 The Miracle Mets 4 Chapter 2 Meet the Mets 12 Chapter 3 Ya Gotta Believe 20 Chapter 4 Extra-Inning Magic 26 Chapter 5 In Search of More Glory 34 Timeline 42 Quick Stats 44 Quotes and Anecdotes 45 Glossary 46 For More Information 47 Index 48 About the Author 48
CHAPTER 1 THE MIRACLE METS
T he last batted ball of the 1969 World Series was a deep fly hit by the Balti more Orioles Davey Johnson New York Mets left fielder Cleon Jones settled beneath it at the edge of the Shea Sta dium warning track He said to himself Come down baby Come down baby When it did he squeezed the baseball into his glove and dropped to one knee As Jones sank to the occa sion fans began to swarm onto the field to celebrate The impos sible dream had become reality Baseball’s lovable losers had become world champions Only a hopeless opti mist would have predicted the Mets would become baseball’s best team that year In their seven previous seasons they had averaged 56 wins and 105 losses and had never finished higher than ninth place in the 10-team National League NL Pitcher Jerry Koosman jumps into the arms of catcher Jerry Grote on Pitcher Jerry Koosman jumps into the arms of catcher Jerry Grote on October 16 1969 after the Mets won their first World Series October 16 1969 after the Mets won their first World Series THE MIRACLE METS 5
