This was a tough year to pick leaders for. It shouldn't be. There should be solid qualifications. But certain contributions deserve to be recognized.
For instance, both Boswell and Shamsky were important ingredients in the awesome sauce that Gil Hodges was cooking up. But they both played in just only over 100 games, at 100 (Art with 303 at bats) & 102 (Ken with 362 at bats) in 1969.
I initially thought only Agee & Jones should be on the card. But then I had a little debate with myself as to why Bozz and Art should be included.
Great thing about this hobby is I really don't have to agonize over such things. I'll make em' both. You decide. _________________________________________
Tommie with 26 whack-a-molies. Thats respectable. Shamsky, regardless of games played, would have to make this card since he was 2nd on the team in HRs (this is what started the BATTING LEADERS debate). So in a way, Art speaks for himself gets Boswell and himself just due on the batting leaders card.
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Pitching, again a tough gig. We have Seaver & Koosman, no problem. Gentry belongs there. He was erratic but pitched great down the stretch in some big games, including the clincher. After that it gets difficult. But look at what Tugger did in '69. Tack on 12 saves and 4 starts among 42 appearances.
There are only 3 players on the pitching leader cards so I give that third spot to Tug, one of my all-time favorite Mets. Wish there were room for more...
The card above is an actual Topps AL Pitching Leaders card. I collected cards this year. I have seen soooo many baseball cards over the years while attending card shows and then on-line. I had never seen this card before! Not until I was working on this post. I love when that happens! Very kool card.
When I first saw it as a search result I thought: oh, nice, which of us card-makers out there made this one?- because I figured right off the bat that this was not a real card. But it is! Topps did do that in '70. This layout is more appropriate for the 1969 Mets Team Pitching leaders so threw one together last minute.
Still, a tough card to do up right.
There's 79 of the '69 Mets 100 wins right there^.
Nolan Ryans inclusion is debatable. A few of New York's other pitchers contributed as much if not more than Ryan.
Don Cardwell should be up there. He ate up a lot of innings and every win added up to Koosman in Grotes arms. But he had a losing record at 8-10. Jim McAndrew, 6-7. Cal Koonce (6-3) was big in spots.
As a card collector I have to consider the fact that if Ryans on the card, it's worth more. Yep, that even applies in my fantazees.
Ryan doesn't look too happy about making the cut.
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The addition of Gil Hodges as manager and Tommie Agee in centerfield would help the Mets turn the corner in 1968. New York got Hodges from the Washington Senators and Agee from the Chicago White Sox through trades. The '69 miracle Mets puzzle was almost complete.
__________Met fans welcomed back Hodges with open arms.
Agee had a harder time of it, starting out very slow after being beaned by a Bob Gibson fast ball the first pitch of spring training. It would take a while before Tommie completely recovered. _________________________________________
Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman gave the Mets a right/left one-two punch in the pitching rotation. This was a new experience for Met fans. Both of these pitchers were good enough to be a staff ace.
Cleon Jones was coming into his own having batted .297 in 1968. He played mostly center field in 1966 and '67 and had become the Mets everyday left fielder in 1968. Cleon collected 151 hits and knocked out 14 home runs, a career high.
Ed Kranepool had first base to himself in 1968 after a failed experiment in which he and Ron Swoboda platooned at first base. He had a disappointing season. In 127 games he he batted .231 with 3 homers and 20 RBI.
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_____________________Mets 1967 Team Leaders____________
Let's get this over with and put Ryan and Otis on the same '68 rookie card. Now we only have to be reminded of those two trades once. And I'll make the card real small so you can pass by it real quick. We did get some good innings out of Nolan in some very important games.
Salty Parker managed the Mets for 11 games at the end of 1967 after Wes Westrum stepped down. He worked in baseball his entire life, but he played in only 11 MLB games, in 1936. He was an MLB coach from 1958 to 1974 with two interum manager stints, the 11 games with the Mets and one game helming the Houston Astros.
Jonathan Stern posted this story at the Ultimate Met Database: Salty was elected to Nash and Zullo's Baseball Hall of Shame for a bonehead move he made as third base coach for the Astros in 1969. In a late September game against the Braves, Houston's Norm Miller was on third base representing the tying run. Atlanta catcher Bob Didier was wearing a large white cast on his hand. At some point, pitcher Cecil Upshaw threw a fastball that knocked Didier's large white cast off his hand and toward the backstop.
From his position at third base, Parker thought that Didier's large white cast was the baseball. So he sent Norm Miller home!
Waiting for Miller at home plate was Didier, ball in hand and a big smile on his face. Miller was out. The Astros went on to lose the game.
And when it was all over, the Astros, according to Nash and Zullo, had some "salty words" for Parker.
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The great picture of Salty Parker (which, btw, I was searching years for) is from the web site Baseball-Birthdays. There you will find a great collection of rare baseball photos, colorization work, and more. Many talented people doing kool stuff there.
This next set of fantazy cards is what this blog is really all about. My goal is to make cards depicting moments and events concerning the New York Mets for old Met fans to reminisce and new Met fans looking to learn about the teams rich history. This post salutes the only all star game ever played at Shea Stadium.
A little backround : From 1935 to 1946 the manager of each All-Star squad selected the entire team. In 1947 fans were given the opportunity to vote on the eight starting position players. In 1957 fans of the Cincinnati Reds stuffed the ballot box and elected a Red to every position except first base. Commissioner Ford Frick stepped in and as a response to this unfairness fan voting was discontinued. Players, coaches, and managers were given the sole authority to elect starting position players, and this is how selection was throughout the 1960's.
The American League for some time had dominated the all star game, winning 12 of the first 16 mid season classics starting in 1933 (from 1959 to 1962 M.L.B. held two all star games each season). The National League slowly crept back into contention and from 1950 to 1963 had won 13 of the last 18 contests. The all star game, long thought to be a simple exhibition showcase of the games best (in which they did not give their all), was starting to matter to the players themselves. As both leagues all star game record began to even out it started to become a contest for bragging rights. It was in this atmosphere that the 1964 All Star Game took place.
The article below was selected for use above others because of the way it singled out Ron Hunt and wild eyed Met fans. And this was from a Milwaukee newspaper.
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New York produced six all stars for the '64 exhibition. Five were Yankees and one was a Metropolitan. Ron Hunt was the sole Met selected by his fellow players. He also had the distinction of being the first Met ever to start an all star game. Here he is before the game with The Mick.
So it is in this setting that the 1964 M.L.B. All Star Game came to the new three month old Shea Stadium. L.B.J. was a new president following J.F.K.'s assassination. The Ford Motor Company had just introduced a new model car called a Mustang. A new band called the Beatles had just taken America by storm. And New York City was host of the Worlds Fair.
Okay, enough with the pre-game banter. Lets get on with the game! If you view and read these fantazy cards in order they will tell you the tale of the 1964 All Star Game at Shea. It was quite an amazin' game.
________________________ Fun Facts: >>Phils outfielder Callison, whose equipment didn't arrive for the 2:20 game, did not have his Phillie batting helmet at the game and wore a N.Y. Met one when he smashed the walk-off.
>>The fielding glove Mets outfielder Tommie Agee used to make his legendary catches in the 1969 World Series was a Johnny Callison model.
>>Before Callison only Ted Williams and Stan Musial won an All-Star Game with a walkoff home run. No one has since.(* see clips below)
>>The bat that Billy Williams hit his 4th inning homer was the same one that Callison used to crush his!
>>The '64 ASG had a total of 18 future hall of famers selected to play.
>>The National league went on an all star tear over the next two decades, winning 18 of the next 20 matches during that time. It was the golden age of the National League. At least that's the way I felt about those days growing up. Still do. The N.L. is the real deal
I wasn't aware of this helmet business and only found out during the recent publicity due to the 2013 ASG being played at Citi Field. As a matter of fact I colorized a picture for the set of digital cards I made in 2002 and I had no idea. I put Callison in a red Phils helmet.
Paul Lukas of the superkool website UniWatch writes all about it >here<, with a list of all helmet snafus in ASG history. Uni Watch says: this was the earliest example of a player wearing another team's helmet in an All-Star Game.
