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5 NY Mets player performances you probably forgot or never knew from the 1969 World Series

Consider yourself stuck in 1969 if you remember all of these details.
ByTim Boyle
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August 22, 2009; Queens, NY, USA; Yogi Berra, Nolan Ryan, Jerry Grote, Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Duffy Dyer recognize Mets fans before the start of the Saturday night game against the Phillies. Ryan, Seaver and Koosman threw out the first pitches in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the 1969 world championship team while Berra, Grote and Dyer caught them. Mandatory Credit: Kevin R.Wexler-USA TODAY NETWORK
August 22, 2009; Queens, NY, USA; Yogi Berra, Nolan Ryan, Jerry Grote, Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Duffy Dyer recognize Mets fans before the start of the Saturday night game against the Phillies. Ryan, Seaver and Koosman threw out the first pitches in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the 1969 world championship team while Berra, Grote and Dyer caught them. Mandatory Credit: Kevin R.Wexler-USA TODAY NETWORK | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The 1969 New York Mets season may forever go unmatched. One of only two championships, the difference between them and the 1986 season was that everyone could see the latter coming. This wasn’t the case for the ‘69 Mets who were completing a decade of chasing their own tail.

Very much in the lovable losers phase of their history, they took down the mighty Baltimore Orioles in only 5 games by winning 4 straight following a loss to open it up.

You know the results, but what about some of those specific player performances? How many of those did you never know or forget all about?

Mets player performances that have been lost to time from the 1969 World Series

Al Weis led the team in hitting, not Donn Clendenon

Donn Clendenon was the World Series MVP. However, it was Al Weis whose .455 batting average led the ball club. The light-hitting infielder was 5 for 11 with a home run. Considering he hit only .215 with a pair of long balls in the regular season, the glove-first/bat maybe shortstop doing as much as he did offensively in a short series was one of the biggest shocks of all on the way to championship number one.

Ron Swoboda had a big series at the plate, too

Ron Swoboda is remembered for a shoe string catch. How many forget about what he did at the plate, too? Swoboda hit .400 in his half of the platoon with Art Shamsky. While the hits weren’t as impactful as Clendenon, he was the other Mets player other than Weis to finish the series with a higher batting average than the eventual MVP.

Gary Gentry had one of the biggest hits

Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman started games 1, 2, 4, and 5. Between them was Gary Gentry. The Mets won the game 5-0 with Gentry adding one of the biggest hits. A two-run double in the bottom of the second inning off of Hall of Famer Jim Palmer gave the Mets an early 3-0 lead. In the first ever World Series game at Shea Stadium, there was no longer any looking back for the Amazins.

Tug McGraw didn’t pitch in a single game

Tug McGraw was a big part of the 1973 Mets playoff run. He pitched in 7 postseason games including 5 in the World Series. In 1969, McGraw had one 3-inning save in the NLCS and that was it. This wasn’t a matter of McGraw not pitching well. Three other pitchers on the Mets World Series roster were shut out from appearing in games. The team only used three relievers thanks to the prowess from their starters.

Jerry Koosman was one out away from throwing two complete games

Everyone knows Jerry Koosman went start to finish in Game 5. In Game 2, he was one out away from doing the same. After walking Frank Robinson and Boog Powell with two outs in the ninth, Gil Hodges called upon Ron Taylor to retire Brooks Robinson. Brooks had singled in the only Orioles run of the game his last time up with Al Weis giving the Mets the lead in the top half of the ninth with a RBI single of his own. If Koosman was able to throw a pair of complete games in the World Series, would he have gotten the MVP nod over Clendenon?

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