3 strange coincidences from the two Mets World Series victories

3) NY Mets World Series coincidence: The pitcher to throw the final pitch was traded for each other

This is the best World Series coincidence of all. The guy who threw the last pitch in the 1969 World Series would end up traded for the guy who threw it in the 1986 World Series. It’s the kind of coincidence you could put into motion first by trading Jerry Koosman.

Koosman finished what he started in Game 5 of the 1969 World Series. He delivered the ball to Davey Johnson and gave the future Mets manager the courtesy of making the final out. It was one of the many highpoints of his stay in New York.

That stay came to an end on December 8, 1978 when the team sent him to the Minnesota Twins. In return, the Mets received Greg Field and a player to be named later. It wasn’t until February when Jesse Orosco became a member of the Mets organization.

Baseball was a much different sport even by 1986 when it took far more than one pitcher to close out a World Series clincher. Orosco was the Mets closer for the season and the guy who’d strike out Marty Barrett to conclude one of the most famous championship series in all of sports.

Barrett never did go on to become a big league manager. Maybe that explains the drought we’re in.