Mets best trades made in November throughout the franchise’s history

1) Mets trade for Felix Millan and George Stone

Although the two Mets in this deal didn’t win a championship with the team, I do think it was an important one. In fact, I awarded our top November trade in Mets history as the most underrated, too.

The Mets got to work early in executing this deal. On November 2, 1972, the club traded Danny Frisella and Gary Gentry to the Atlanta Braves for Felix Millan and George Stone. Frisella and Gentry had been good Mets but the team was looking for a change. What they got was awesome.

Millan spent five seasons with the Mets and played a steady defense while also racking up hits. He had 185 of them in 1973 and 191 in 1975. In his years with the club, he managed to slash .278/.326/.337 with 743 hits. Never a star, he was still a key member of their starting lineup.

Stone’s story was quite different. A once productive pitcher for the Braves, he had a bad year in 1972 which may have been a reason for the trade. Refreshed and still in his mid-20s despite pitching in the big leagues for six years already, Stone had an incredible year for the 1973 Miracle Mets.

In a rotation that included some of the most popular Mets pitchers of all-time, Stone gave them a 12-3 record and 2.80 ERA. This was an incredibly funky year. The NL East was so hotly contested that the Mets were able to win the division with only 82 victories. If not for Stone, this may not have been possible.

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Stone didn’t have the same success after, finishing each of the next two seasons with an ERA over 5.00. We’ll always have 1973—the year when the Mets stumbled upon something pretty awesome.