The Thrill of Victory, The Agony of the Mets: Ed Kranepool

In the film "Forrest Gump", the titular character ran across the country from one ocean to the other just because he "felt like runnin' ".  His travels took him across flat land, up the highest mountain, back down again, and even through a pile of dog ... ahem ... poo.  After spending three years, two months, 14 days and 16 hours on the roads of America, Gump decided to stop running because he was tired.  There was no fanfare as his run came to an end.  He just quit and went home.

Gump's spirited jog commenced around October 1, 1979, as a news broadcast that was airing at the beginning of his cross-country trek was reporting that President Jimmy Carter had collapsed that day while attempting to complete a six-mile race.  Just one day before Gump began his long run in the fictional town of Greenbow, AL, another long run was coming to an end in the very real city of St. Louis, MO.  And when this run of 18 seasons with a single major league franchise came to an end, it also had no fanfare.  It just marked the quiet close to the career of the last man who played for the original Mets.

He was steady.  He was Eddie.  But as a teenager, was he ready?  (Bettmann/Getty Images)

Edward Emil Kranepool was barely out of his James Monroe High School cap and gown when the Mets signed the amateur free agent to an $85,000 contract in June 1962.  The new expansion team was enamored with the young man who broke Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg's home run records at Monroe, promoting him to the big club before its inaugural season was over.  At age 17 and just three months out of high school, the Bronx-bred Kranepool collected his first major league hit at Manhattan's Polo Grounds - an opposite field double off Cubs reliever Don Elston.

In 1963, Kranepool split his time between AAA-Buffalo and the Mets, producing an impressive .310 batting average and .507 slugging percentage in 53 minor league games, while being overmatched at the major league level, batting .209 and slugging .289 in 86 games.  The following year, his last as a teenager and his first at the newly opened Shea Stadium, Kranepool became just the 13th player to appear in 100 or more games in a single season prior to blowing out 20 candles on his birthday cake.  The first baseman improved greatly during that 1964 campaign, batting .257 and finishing among the team leaders in hits (108), doubles (19) and home runs (10).

Although Kranepool was blossoming into an offensive talent, the Mets continued to bring up the rear in the National League standings.   After losing 111 and 109 games in 1963 and 1964, respectively, the Mets found a way to regress in 1965, finishing the year with a 50-112 record.  The team could actually have been a lot worse had it not been for Kranepool's performance in the first half of the season.

Through games of June 3, Kranepool batted a hefty .344 and produced a .922 OPS, while racking up 21 extra-base hits and 29 RBI.  As a result, Kranepool was chosen to be the Mets' sole representative in the All-Star Game, his first and only selection for the Midsummer Classic.  Kranepool didn't get to play in the game, as N.L. manager Gene Mauch chose to play Ernie Banks at first base during the entire contest, but the Mets' first baseman did become the youngest player at that position to become an All-Star - a distinction Kranepool still holds to this day.

Kranepool ran out of gas in the second half of the 1965 campaign, as evidenced by his .216/.268/.292 post-All-Star Game slash line.  He also had to deal with the unexpected retirement of the only manager he had ever played for in the big leagues, Casey Stengel, who broke his hip in a fall in late July and called it a career a month later.

When the Mets signed Kranepool in 1962, they were hoping to get the player who broke all of Hank Greenberg's high school records.  Instead, they got a mediocre player who seemed to be living out a real life "Groundhog Day" situation, doomed to repeat the same campaign year after year.  From 1964 to 1967, an average season for Steady Eddie saw him put up a .258/.312/.383 slash line with 19 doubles, 12 homers and 52 RBI.  Kranepool never hit below .253 or above .269 in any of those four seasons.  He also hit exactly ten home runs in three of the four years (he flexed his muscles in 1966 when he bashed a career-high 16 homers) and produced between 45 and 57 RBI during the quadrennium.  Kranepool was also playing almost every day, averaging over 500 plate appearances per season.  That all changed in 1968, when a new manager came aboard and ended up extending Kranepool's career by playing him less.

Prior to 1968, the Mets had lost 100 or more games in five of their first six seasons.  They had also established a permanent residency in the National League cellar, coming out for a sniff of ninth place just once in 1966.  But after six seasons of playing like a first-year expansion team, the arrival of skipper Gil Hodges shifted the mindset of the team.

"Spring Training, Gil Hodges wanted you to lead by example," Kranepool said about his former teammate and current manager.  "He built the ballclub around leadership."

Kranepool made his debut as a defensive replacement for Hodges, then played under him.  (Herb Scharfman/Getty Images)

The Mets won 73 games in '68, fueled by the pitching of rookie Jerry Koosman and sophomore starter Tom Seaver.  Unfortunately, Kranepool had his worst season since 1963, batting .231 with only three homers and 20 RBI despite getting the majority of the starts at first base.  Kranepool continued to get the bulk of the playing time at first base during the early part of the 1969 season as the team got off to an 18-23 start.  But after a club-record 11-game winning streak in late May and early June suddenly thrust the Mets into second place, the team felt the need to upgrade its offense, especially after being held to three runs or fewer in 34 of their first 56 games.  The team addressed the problem by trading for veteran slugger Donn Clendenon.

At the time of the trade, Kranepool was back to his typical pre-1968 self, which meant he was batting .256 with six homers and 26 RBI while getting most of the starts at his customary position. The lefty-swinging Kranepool and the right-handed batting Clendenon were then platooned at first base by Hodges, which maximized power production at the corner infield spot.

From June 15 until season's end, Kranepool and Clendenon combined to produce 17 homers and 60 RBI in 441 plate appearances.  Kranepool also produced some huge hits along the way.  His walk-off RBI single off future Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins on July 8 capped a three-run, ninth-inning rally and gave the Mets a thrilling victory over the rival Cubs, just one day before Seaver shut down Chicago with his Imperfect Game.  Five days after his hit against Jenkins, Kranepool delivered another game-winner, this time a tie-breaking RBI double in the eighth inning against Montreal that gave New York a 4-3 victory.  The Expos were once again victimized by Kranepool on September 18, when the veteran homered and drove in both runs in the Mets' 2-0 victory.  Six days later, the Mets wrapped up their first N.L. East division title.

"We kept applying the pressure, and the Cubs knew they were in a pennant race," Kranepool said.  "Every time we played a big series, we won it.  We beat the Cubs head to head in every series after that.  We got some breaks - but look, a winning team makes its breaks."

Buoyed by their late-season push for the playoffs, the Mets miraculously won it all in 1969, sweeping the Atlanta Braves in the inaugural National League Championship Series and needing just five games to upset the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles in the World Series.  Kranepool started four of the Mets' eight postseason games, collecting a hit in each contest.  In the Mets' first-ever playoff game, Kranepool scored two runs and delivered the fielder's choice that plated the go-ahead run in the eighth inning.  The following day, Kranepool got the Mets on the board first with an RBI single in the first inning.  Kranepool played in just one World Series game because the Orioles started left-handed pitchers in four of the five games, but he made the most out of his sole appearance, clubbing a home run in the Mets' Game Three victory - the first Fall Classic game ever played in Flushing.

The look of a champion.  (Focus On Sport)

Although he was only 24 at the time, Kranepool had become the longest tenured Met.  He was also a world champion and one of the leaders in the tight-knit clubhouse.  Third baseman Ed Charles, the poet laureate of the Mets, said it best when he discussed the team's camaraderie during their championship season.

"We felt like a family," Charles said.  "It started with Mrs. Joan Payson, the owner, who had a habit of making people feel at home.  It included the leadership of Gil Hodges.  And there was the chemistry of the team.  We were all close.  I went to barbecues at the home of Kranepool, (Art) Shamsky, (Ron) Swoboda.  We went out together on the road.  I never saw a team with so much closeness."

As close as Kranepool was to his teammates in 1969, he ended up playing far away from them for most of the 1970 campaign.  Kranepool batted just .222 in April, then went 0-for-May, failing to collect a hit in the 12 games he appeared in during the month.  After not collecting a hit in five June games, which dropped his batting average to a pitcher-like .118, Kranepool was unceremoniously demoted to AAA-Tidewater, spending the next two months there trying to regain his hitting stroke.  Kranepool batted .310 in 47 games with the Tides and was called back up to the Mets in mid-August, where he was used exclusively as a pinch-hitter.  His final major league stats for the year: .170 batting average, eight hits, no homers and three RBI in 43 games.

While Kranepool was in the minors in 1970, his bat wasn't missed in the starting lineup, as Clendenon batted .288 with 22 homers and a then-franchise record 97 RBI.  But Clendenon saw a significant drop-off across the board in 1971 (.247, 11 HR, 37 RBI in 88 games), which allowed Kranepool to re-establish himself in the big leagues.  Kranepool's renaissance season ended with a .280 batting average, 14 homers and a career-high 58 RBI.

At the conclusion of the 1971 campaign, Clendenon was released by the Mets, allowing Kranepool to take over first base on a full-time basis for the first time since before Clendenon's arrival.  But the sudden death of Gil Hodges prior to the start of the 1972 season changed the direction of the club, with Yogi Berra tabbed to replace the beloved Hodges.  The passing of his manager and mentor also affected the play of Kranepool, who batted just .204 with four homers and 14 RBI through the team's first 87 games.  Kranepool eventually recovered after a three-month mourning period, batting .326 with 15 extra-base hits and 20 RBI over his final 195 plate appearances.

As good as Kranepool was during the second half of the 1972 season, he was surely going to lose playing time the following season to John Milner, who finished third in the National League Rookie of the Year vote in '72.  Milner played mostly in left field during his stellar rookie season, but was more suited to play first base.  In 1973, Milner and Kranepool switched positions, with Milner getting most of his starts at first base and Kranepool splitting time between first and left.  Kranepool did not respond well to the switch, batting .239 in 1973 with just one homer and 35 RBI.  He was also mostly a spectator during the Mets' run to their second division title in five seasons, appearing solely as a pinch-hitter during the last two weeks of the regular season.  But even in limited action, Kranepool was instrumental in getting the Mets back to the World Series.

The Mets played a dozen games during the 1973 postseason; Kranepool started one of them.  That lone start occurred in the first do-or-die playoff game in franchise history and only happened because right fielder Rusty Staub injured his shoulder in Game Four of the NLCS while making a spectacular catch against the outfield wall.  With the Mets and Cincinnati Reds having split the first four games of the best-of-five series, Kranepool got the nod from Berra to start Game Five in left field, with Cleon Jones moving to right in lieu of the injured Staub.  Kranepool rewarded his manager immediately, driving in the first two runs of the game with a bases-loaded single.  The Mets never trailed in the game and advanced to their second World Series, which they lost in seven games to the Oakland A's with the underhand-throwing Staub returning to right field and the healthy Kranepool returning to the bench.

The bench became a familiar place for Kranepool for the rest of his career.  From 1974 to 1978, Kranepool started just 317 games over the five-year period, making more than 82 starts in just one of the five seasons (1976).  Although he performed well as a part-time starter, batting .286 with a .399 slugging percentage, Kranepool was lethal as a pinch-hitter.  When he came off the bench from 1974 to 1978, Kranepool batted an eye-popping .396 (57-for-144) and slugged .590.  Included in the torrid stretch was a .486 batting average as a pinch-hitter in 1974 - the first of four consecutive seasons in which Kranepool batted .400 or higher as a sub - and a .300 pinch-hitting average in 1978, which doesn't seem as impressive until you consider that he hit .065 (2-for-31) during the season when he batted in other roles.

In the mid-to-late '70s, Kranepool was the team's top pinch-hitter and top mustache-grower.  (Michael Zagaris/Getty Images)

By the time 1979 rolled around, the team was in shambles.  Gone were Seaver and Koosman, with The Franchise being traded to Cincinnati as part of the Midnight Massacre in 1977 and Kooz being dealt to the Minnesota Twins following the 1978 campaign.  Not a single player from the '73 pennant-winning team remained at the start of the 1979 season.  Except for Kranepool.  And his days as a Met were also about to come to an end.

Following the death of team owner Joan Payson in 1975, control of the club went to her husband, Charles, and daughter, Lorinda de Roulet, neither of whom shared the same passion for the game that Mrs. Payson had.  Baseball operations fell into the hands of team chairman M. Donald Grant, who had no intention of spending much money to better the team.  Instead, he pared the roster of veteran players who were asking to be paid like their counterparts in other cities.  The camaraderie that existed between the players when the Mets won the World Series in 1969 was completely gone a decade later, and so was Grant, who was removed as the team's chairman by the club's board of directors prior to the 1979 season.

Kranepool, who was never one to mince his words, had some harsh feelings about the questionable transactions made by the team during the ill-fated M. Donald Grant era.

"Look at some of the deals they made," Kranepool said.  "They were horrendous.  They unloaded everybody and didn't make a good deal."

And although most of the negativity surrounding the team following the death of Payson fell on Grant, Kranepool always dished out more vitriol towards general manager Joe McDonald.

"I didn't have a good relationship with Joe McDonald," Kranepool said matter-of-factly.  "I didn't respect him.  I didn't like him; he didn't know anything about baseball.  There were termites who ate away at the organization, and he was part of the termites.  Donald Grant got blamed for it, but Joe McDonald was the one who made the trades."

Because of his testy relationship with McDonald, Kranepool knew that when his contract expired at the end of the 1979 season, he would no longer be a Met, regardless of how he performed.  In what would be the final year of his long career, Kranepool batted .232 and managed just two homers and 17 RBI in 174 plate appearances.  To add insult to injury, the Mets closed out their season at Shea Stadium on September 23 by honoring Lou Brock of the Cardinals, who set a major league record when he stole the 938th base of his career in his final appearance at Shea.  Kranepool, the only man to play for the Mets in each of the franchise's first 18 seasons, didn't even get to play in the game and received no ovation from the home crowd.

Following the season, Kranepool was not tendered a contract and became a free agent.  Although he was only 34 at the conclusion of the 1979 campaign, Kranepool never played another game in the majors.  He finished his career as the Mets' all-time leader in nearly offensive category, even though a good chunk of his career was spent riding the pine.

Ed Kranepool wasn't just a hometown kid living out his dream on the baseball diamond.  He was also a stockbroker and a restaurateur.   He appeared in commercials, movies and TV shows, doing everything from plugging shaving cream to being accused of stealing Chico Escuela's soap in a classic Saturday Night Live sketch.  And on multiple occasions, he used his business savvy to try to purchase the team he once played for.

Krane.  (Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images)

Following the 1979 campaign, the newly-retired Kranepool joined forces with a small group of investors in a failed attempt to buy the Mets from the Payson/de Roulet family.  The Mets were eventually sold to the team of publisher Nelson Doubleday and real estate investor Fred Wilpon.  Three decades later, when Wilpon encountered financial difficulties due to his connections with Ponzi scheme swindler Bernard Madoff, he attempted to sell a small percentage of the team to increase his cash flow.  Once again, Kranepool stepped up to the plate, this time with a group of investors that included Martin Luther King III, but no purchase was ever made.

When Doubleday and Wilpon bought the Mets in 1980, Kranepool officially ended his career in baseball.  His retirement as a player ensured that he couldn't affect the Mets on the field, and his inability to purchase a part of the team meant that he couldn't have a say off it.  But despite his numerous failures - not being able to buy a part of the team, not developing into a perennial All-Star and not even being an everyday player for the majority of his career - Kranepool remains beloved by Mets fans to this day.

His career began as a 17-year-old when the expansion Mets called the Polo Grounds home.  He developed into a serviceable player as the team moved into their new home in Queens.  He owned a World Series ring before he turned 25.  He thrived as a pinch-hitter during the latter part of his career.  And he was inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame after his playing days were over.

Forrest Gump got to experience and influence many key moments in American history just by being there.  Ed Kranepool's longevity did the same for him, as he witnessed and participated in many of the Mets' seminal moments.  Kranepool was there for the highs of two pennants and one World Series championship.  He was also present for the decline and dismantling of a once-proud team.  And when his run as the longest tenured Met was done, the native New Yorker just went home.

Kranepool will always have a home when it comes to the Mets.



Note: The Thrill of Victory, The Agony of the Mets is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets players and personnel who experienced the best of times and the worst of times with the team.  For previous installments, please click on the names below:

January 2, 2017: Tom Seaver
January 9, 2017: Mike Piazza
January 16, 2017: Wally Backman
January 23, 2017: Daniel Murphy
January 30, 2017: Frank Cashen

The Most With The Least: Art Shamsky (1968-70)

One of the worst feelings for a promising minor league talent is knowing his path to the majors is being blocked by a productive veteran.  It happens to young prospects all the time, causing those players to be misused at the major league level when a space eventually opens up for them on the parent club's roster.  Unfortunately, many of those misused players end up having relatively short careers and their potential on the big league diamond is never fully realized.

Occasionally, a team that can't guarantee playing time to a young star at the major league level ends up trading that player to a team that can offer him a more steady job.  Sometimes, all it takes is a trade to a new environment for that player's talents to shine.  And in the late 1960s, one such player found his way to success as a member of the New York Mets.

Art Shamsky's left-handed power was crucial in the Mets' drive to October glory.  (Warren Zvon/Mets Fantasy Cards)

Arthur Louis Shamsky was born in 1941 to Jewish parents in St. Louis.  Signed as an amateur free agent by Cincinnati in 1959, Shamsky was a power-hitting outfielder in the Reds' minor league system, clubbing 92 home runs from 1960 to 1964.  Even though he had proven himself in the minor leagues, spending the entire 1963 and 1964 campaigns at the Triple-A level, his road to everyday success in the majors was blocked by the Reds' potent outfield.  With young star Tommy Harper manning one corner outfield position and future Hall of Famer Frank Robinson handling the other, Shamsky didn't make the jump to the majors until 1965, and even then, the Reds could only give him 96 at-bats, mostly as a pinch-hitter, as he started just 12 of the 64 games he played in.

Cincinnati had two 20-game winners in 1965 in Sammy Ellis and Jim Maloney, but the team's combined ERA was ninth in the ten-team National League, with only the Mets posting a worse earned run average as a team.  Because of the Reds' shortcomings on the mound, Reds owner Bill DeWitt went into the 1965-66 off-season coveting starting pitchers.  At the same time, he thought 30-year-old Frank Robinson was past his prime and felt he was expendable.  As a result, DeWitt traded Robinson to the Baltimore Orioles for two-time All-Star pitcher Milt Pappas and two other players in what became one of the most lopsided trades in major league history.

Pappas never panned out in Cincinnati, while Robinson went on to win a Triple Crown in his first season in Baltimore and eventually wore an Orioles cap on his Hall of Fame plaque.  The Robinson trade didn't help the Reds, but did help further the career of Art Shamsky, who appeared to be in line to earn more at-bats in 1966 with the departure of Robinson.  Or so he thought.

In 1966, the Reds moved third baseman Deron Johnson - who had a league-leading 130 RBI in 1965 - to left field and shifted Tommy Harper from left to right.  As a result, Shamsky started just 63 games for the Reds in '66.  However, Shamsky made the most of his opportunity when he did receive a rare start, blasting 21 homers in 234 at-bats.

Although Shamsky was one of the team's top home run hitters in 1966, he did not cross the plate very often nor did he drive in many runners other than himself.  Despite his 21 homers, he scored just 41 times and produced 47 RBI.  In doing so, he became the first player in major league history to hit 20 or more homers while failing to score 50 runs or drive in 50.  And since then, only seven players have been able to match Shamsky's feat.

Without the Baseball Reference Play Index, Shamsky's feat would have remained an urban legend.

Shamsky failed to capitalize on his breakout season, batting .197 with just three homers in 147 at-bats during the 1967 campaign.  Although he was still only 26 years old, the Reds traded him to the New York Mets at the conclusion of the season for veteran utility infielder Bob Johnson.  Nineteen days after Shamsky became a Met, the team made an unorthodox trade, sending pitcher Bill Denehy and cash to the Washington Senators for manager Gil Hodges.

The arrival of Hodges changed Shamsky's career forever, as Hodges believed in a platoon system in which he assembled his starting lineup according to the opponent's starting pitcher.  Now, rather than being relegated to the bench the way he was throughout most of his career in Cincinnati, the left-handed hitting Shamsky would get an opportunity to start against right-handed pitchers.  As a result, Shamsky started in 87 of the Mets' 162 games in 1968, collecting 30 extra-base hits (including 12 homers) in 345 at-bats.

Although Shamsky batted just .238 in his first year with the team, that was still higher than the team's .228 overall batting average in what became known as "The Year of the Pitcher".  Shamsky finished eighth on the team in at-bats, yet still finished third in doubles (tied with Ron Swoboda), second in triples (tied with Cleon Jones) and third in homers.  His 48 RBI were also good for fourth on the team, just 11 behind team leader Swoboda.  If there was one negative about Shamsky's 1968 campaign, it was his 58 strikeouts against 21 walks.  By today's standards, that may not seem like a tremendous number of whiffs.  But it was highly unusual for Shamsky, who prided himself on being a good contact hitter.  The "high" strikeout total was something Shamsky set out to correct in 1969, and in doing so, he enjoyed his most complete season at the plate and his greatest team success.

From 1965 to 1968, Shamsky posted a .231 batting average and .723 OPS.  He also struck out 166 times (and drew 78 walks) in 822 at-bats, averaging a strikeout every 4.95 at-bats.  A back injury suffered in spring training caused Shamsky to miss the first 30 games of the 1969 season.  But when he returned to the Mets in mid-May, he was far more focused at the plate, and the team benefited from the new Art Shamsky.

Shamsky made his season debut with a pinch-hit RBI single against the Atlanta Braves on May 13.   By the All-Star break, he was batting .343 with a .997 OPS in 140 at-bats.  He also drew 22 walks while striking out just 19 times as part of a right field platoon with Ron Swoboda.  Then, beginning in mid-August, Shamsky started 30 of the team's next 43 games.  Three of the 13 games he did not start were due to his observance of Rosh Hashanah, even though the team was facing right-handed starting pitchers in those games.  The Mets won all three games sat out by Shamsky - plus 25 of the 30 contests he did start - on their way to winning their first National League East crown.

Photo by The Sporting News

Despite spending the first month of the 1969 campaign on the disabled list with a back injury, Shamsky surpassed 300 at-bats for the second consecutive season.  He also batted .300 for the first time in his career, adding 14 homers and 47 RBI, while finishing the year with more walks (36) than strikeouts (32).  Shamsky finished second on the team in both batting average and home runs.  He was also the team's first runner-up in on-base percentage (.375), OPS (.863) and OPS+ (139).  And despite Cleon Jones's team-leading .340 batting average and Tommie Agee's club-topping 26 homers, it was Shamsky who led the team with a .488 slugging percentage.

Shamsky continued his torrid hitting in the National League Championship Series, collecting seven hits in the three-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves.  Atlanta used right-handed starting pitchers in all three games, allowing Shamsky to start each game over Swoboda, who did not have a single plate appearance in the short series.  Shamsky set the tone for the series in Game One, collecting the Mets' first hit and crossing the plate on a Jerry Grote single.  He then contributed another single - his third hit of the game - during the Mets' five-run eighth inning rally, which turned a 5-4 deficit into a 9-5 lead.  The Mets won Game One, then took the next two games, with Shamsky producing four more hits.  But just as Shamsky earned playing time over Swoboda in the NLCS, he spent most of the World Series on the bench, as the Mets faced southpaw starters four times in the Fall Classic.  Shamsky did not collect a hit against Baltimore in the World Series, but he did collect a ring after the Mets dispatched in Orioles in five games.

The Mets failed to defend their World Series title in 1970, but Shamsky finally succeeded in becoming a regular player for the first time.  Shamsky continued to platoon in right field with Ron Swoboda, but also logged significant time as part of a first base platoon with Donn Clendenon.  Originally, Ed Kranepool was supposed to be the left-handed hitting complement to the righty-swinging Clendenon at first, but Kranepool experienced the worst slump of his career during the first few months of the 1970 campaign and was subsequently sent to the minors, allowing Shamsky to become the starting first baseman whenever the Mets were facing a right-handed starting pitcher.

Used mostly out of the cleanup spot in the Mets' batting order, Shamsky started over 100 games for the first and only time in his career in 1970.  He had his greatest success in the month of May, when he put up a .341/.416/.580 slash line in 24 starts.  During the month, he produced six doubles, five homers and 17 RBI, all while splitting time between right field (13 starts), first base (nine starts) and left field (two starts).  He also struck out just seven times in 101 plate appearances, while walking a dozen times.

New York may not have recaptured the glory from their miraculous 1969 campaign in 1970, but Shamsky did have a spectacular season of his own, setting career highs in runs scored (48), RBI (49), hits (118) and extra-base hits (32).  He also led the team with a .293 batting average and produced his second straight season with an OPS above .800.  And once again, he finished the year with more walks (49) than strikeouts (33).

Sadly, the 1971 campaign would be Shamsky's fourth and final season in New York.  For the second time in three years, injuries curtailed his campaign, but this time Shamsky could not recover from his nagging aches and pains, batting .185 with five homers in 18 RBI in 135 at-bats.  The only positive thing to come out of Shamsky's 1971 season was that he once again walked more times than he struck out, drawing 21 bases on balls while fanning 18 times.

Just one day after the conclusion of the 1971 World Series, Shamsky was part of an eight-player deal between the Mets and the St. Louis Cardinals.  Unfortunately, he never played a game for his hometown team, as he was released by the Cards at the end of spring training and signed with the rival Chicago Cubs.  Shamsky then split the 1972 season between the Cubs and the Oakland A's before being released by Oakland in July, just three months before the A's won the World Series.

When he played his final game in the majors, Shamsky was 30 years old.  Only once in his eight-year major league career did he play enough to reach 400 at-bats, but he never had a problem with the fact that he did not become a true everyday player.  While in New York, Shamsky learned to love his adopted city, just as Mets fans - especially ones of the Jewish faith - embraced him.

(Barry Talesnick/Globe Photos)

"I learned that New York City is really one of a kind. ... The city energizes you.  There is never a dull moment in New York City.  After a few months I fell in love with the city. ... I was okay with it now."

---Art Shamsky, from his book "The Magnificent Seasons".




Art Shamsky found the role he was perfect for as a member of the New York Mets.  In his four years with the team, Shamsky accepted the platoon philosophy of manager Gil Hodges, becoming one of the most valuable members of a championship team.  To this day, he is beloved by Mets fans young and old.  He is also respected by his peers in the Jewish sports community, who inducted him into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.

He may have averaged just 296 at-bats per season during his tenure in New York, but Shamsky always made the most of those opportunities, appearing among the team leaders in virtually every offensive category despite his limited number of plate appearances.  That is why whenever the topic comes up of which player accomplished the most on the Mets with the least amount of playing time, Art Shamsky is sure to be one of the players in the conversation. 


Note:  The Most With The Least is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets players who performed at a high level without receiving the accolades or playing time their more established teammates got, due to injuries, executive decisions or other factors.  For previous installments, please click on the players' names below:

January 4, 2016: Benny Agbayani
January 11, 2016: Donn Clendenon
January 18, 2016: Tim Teufel
January 25, 2016: Hisanori Takahashi
February 1, 2016: Chris Jones
February 8, 2016: Claudell Washington
February 15, 2016: Moises Alou
February 22, 2016: Pat Zachry

The Most With The Least: Donn Clendenon (1969-70)

Every player goes through a slump at some point in his career.  But some slumps last longer than others and can alter the course of a player's career.  Take, for example, the case of Dick Stuart - a promising young first baseman who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Stuart was a great power hitter who averaged 37 HR and 119 RBI per 162 games played during his first four seasons in the majors.  His middle-of-the-order presence helped the Pirates win the World Series in 1960 - just his third year in the big leagues.  His best season came in 1961, when he made the National League All-Star squad and batted .301 with 35 HR and 117 RBI.  But a year later, he slumped badly, batting a measly .228 and hitting just 16 homers.  His poor production coupled with his shoddy fielding - he wasn't nicknamed "Dr. Strangeglove" for nothing - led to a trade to the Boston Red Sox following the 1962 campaign.

Backing up Stuart at first base in 1962 was a more well-rounded athlete who had already toiled in the minors for parts of six seasons.  Between 1961 and 1962, he played 89 games at the major league level before settling in as the Pirates' regular first baseman in 1963.  But the same slump that ended Stuart's tenure with the Pirates also affected his replacement, except that his slump lasted for two full seasons and threatened to end his career.  But a change of scenery, followed by a change of his role on the field caused a renaissance of this player's career, one that would take him down the road to a championship and to become an unlikely team record-holder.

The Mets needed Donn Clendenon in the worst way when they acquired him in 1969.  (AP Photo)

Donn Alvin Clendenon played nine games with the defending World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates in 1961, followed by an 80-game stint in 1962.  During his 89-game role as Dick Stuart's backup, he made solid contact (.304 batting average), was patient at the plate (.379 on-base percentage), showed power potential (22 extra-base hits) and even had a little speed (16 stolen bases).  Most importantly, he wasn't an embarrassment on the field when he traded in his bat for a glove, unlike Stuart, who probably wished the designated hitter had already entered the baseball lexicon.

Although Clendenon didn't possess the brute strength Stuart had, he still put up solid numbers from 1963 to 1965, averaging 28 doubles, 10 triples, 14 homers, 72 RBI and 14 stolen bases per season.  He then had a breakout year in 1966, batting .299 with 28 home runs and 98 RBI.  He also boasted a .520 slugging percentage and .878 OPS, both of which placed him in the National League's top ten for the 1966 season.

But Clendenon's production at the plate dropped off dramatically in 1967, as he produced a .249/.298/.370 slash line and saw his OPS drop by more than 200 points (.668).  The following season saw just a slight recovery in his numbers (.257/.309/.399) but also saw Clendenon strike out a whopping 163 times, which was the highest single-season total ever posted by a National League hitter up until that point.

Pittsburgh decided to part ways with the 33-year-old Clendenon at the conclusion of the 1968 campaign, exposing him to the expansion draft, where he was selected by the Montreal Expos with their sixth pick.  Three months after the draft, Clendenon was traded to the Houston Astros for Rusty Staub, but Clendenon refused to report to Houston.  The Astros had just hired Clendenon's former manager in Pittsburgh - Harry Walker - to be their new skipper and Clendenon did not have an amicable relationship with Walker, to say the least.  Clendenon also did not view Houston as a favorable city for him to play in, as many businesses were still using racist tactics against African-Americans.  With Clendenon refusing to leave the Expos to go to Houston, Montreal sent two other players (including future All-Star and World Series champion Jack Billingham) plus $100,000 to the Astros in lieu of Clendenon to complete the trade.

Clendenon's change of scenery from Pittsburgh to Montreal did not change his production at the plate.  His breakout 1966 campaign appeared to be his career year, as he batted just .240 with four homers and 14 RBI during his first two months with the Expos.  Clendenon appeared to be washed up just weeks before his 34th birthday.  That is, until Mets manager Gil Hodges came calling for his services.

"Are you there, Donn?  It's me, Gil."  (Herb Scharfman/Getty Images)

Back in 1964, Clendenon had sought out Hodges in an attempt to improve his fielding.  After watching Dick Stuart botch his way out of Pittsburgh with every bobble he made at first base, Clendenon knew he had to be a stalwart at the position, and so he contacted Hodges - the winner of the first three Gold Glove awards handed out to first basemen for defensive excellence - for advice on how not to fall into the same defensive traps Stuart got caught in.  Five years later, it was Hodges who wanted assistance from Clendenon.

By mid-June in 1969, the Mets had established themselves as a surprise contender in the National League East.  New York was coming off a franchise-record 11-game winning streak and was looking to upgrade an offense that had scored three runs or less in 35 of their first 57 games.  The team was also looking for a right-handed hitter who could complement the lefty-swinging Ed Kranepool at first base.  Kranepool had a torrid start in 1969, batting .324 with 16 RBI in his first 22 games, but he batted just .204 over his next 27 contests.  Kranepool's backup at the time was Cleon Jones, who started 12 games at the position over the season's first two months.  But Jones was a natural outfielder and had not played first base in his career prior to the 1969 campaign.  Hodges needed a natural first baseman to play against left-handed pitchers to allow Jones to play his preferred defensive position and give Kranepool more time to figure out how to regain his hitting stroke.  Hodges found his man on June 15, as the Mets sent four players and a player to be named later to the Expos for Donn Clendenon.

One of the problems Clendenon had during his final years in Pittsburgh and his short stay in Montreal was that he was being counted on to be an everyday player.  Clendenon was a month shy of his 34th birthday when he was traded to the Mets.  He was already past his prime when he slumped for two and a half seasons.  But he could still hit left-handed starters extremely well (.309/.364/.489 vs. LHP in 1967 and 1968).  Hodges realized that and rested him against most right-handed pitchers.  And the results were spectacular.

Clendenon played in 72 games for the Mets following the trade, making 46 starts.  His overall production as a Met was good (.252, 12 HR, 37 RBI), but he was absolutely spectacular against left-handed pitching, posting a .318/.384/.557 slash line against southpaws.  Clendenon's presence in the lineup was the boost the Mets desperately needed, as the team scored four or more runs in 26 of his 46 starts.  Most importantly, the team was 32-14 in Clendenon's starts, which helped them pass the Chicago Cubs to win their first division title.

With the Atlanta Braves using nothing but right-handed starting pitchers in the National League Championship Series, Clendenon did not see any action in the Mets' three-game sweep of the Braves.  But that changed in the World Series against the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles, as the Mets were set to face left-handed starters Mike Cuellar and Dave McNally in four of the first five games.  Clendenon took advantage of his playing time in the Fall Classic, going 2-for-4 with a double in the Mets' Game One loss.  He then homered off McNally in the Mets' 2-1 victory in Game Two and continued his long ball assault on the Orioles' lefty starters in Games Four and Five.

Clendenon's second-inning homer off Cuellar was the only run the Mets scored in the first nine innings of Game Four - a game the Mets won in the tenth.  Then, with the Mets down 3-0 to the Orioles in the sixth inning of Game Five, Clendenon hit a two-run blast against McNally immediately after Cleon Jones - the man he essentially replaced as the team's right-handed hitting first baseman - was famously hit by a pitch on his shoe.  New York scored three more runs to win the game and the series, with Clendenon (.357/.438/1.071) winning the World Series Most Valuable Player award, an honor he felt was more about his teammates than any one individual.

"There is no most valuable player on this team --- we've got lots of them."

--Donn Clendenon, following the 1969 World Series




Clendenon made the most of his playing time for the Mets in 1969, and that continued into the 1970 campaign, when he had one of the most productive seasons in franchise history for an everyday player who didn't quite play every day.

Continuing to use his successful platoon system, Gil Hodges started Clendenon in just 96 of the team's 162 games in 1970.  As a result, Clendenon produced only 396 official at-bats in his first full season as a Met, which probably cost him a chance to be an All-Star for the first time.  Through games of July 9, Clendenon started just 37 games, but batted .331 with 10 HR and 37 RBI in 163 at-bats.

Clendenon entered the month of August still wielding a hot bat, as evidenced by his .316 batting average, .561 slugging percentage and his club-record seven-RBI game on July 28 against the San Francisco Giants.  As a result, Hodges felt the need to give Clendenon more opportunities to start, even against right-handed pitching, especially with the Mets in contention for a second straight division title.

The Mets were in first place by half a game over the Pirates and held a two-game lead over the third-place Cubs as the calendar turned from July to August.  Clendenon started 51 of the team's final 60 games and carried the team on his back.  His 29 RBI in August set a club record for the month which was not surpassed until 1998, when Mike Piazza drove in 30 runs in the month of August.  (Through 2015, only seven Mets players have driven in more than 29 runs in any calendar month.  Besides Piazza, the list includes Tommie Agee, Dave Kingman, Darryl Strawberry, Gary Carter, Howard Johnson and Carlos Beltran.)

Clendenon followed up his hot August with a solid September, driving in another 21 runs in the season's final month.  In doing so, he became the first Met to have back-to-back months with 20+ RBI and the first to drive in 50 or more runs over a two-month period.  (Through the 2015 campaign, only Gary Carter, Mike Piazza and Carlos Beltran have joined Clendenon as players who drove in 50+ runs over two consecutive calendar months.)

Although the Mets fell short in their quest to return to the postseason, finishing six games behind the eventual N.L. East champion Pirates, Clendenon finally had a return to his prior glory.  Despite having fewer than 400 at-bats, Clendenon produced 22 homers and 97 RBI, breaking Frank Thomas's team record for RBI in a single season.  Clendenon also batted .288 and had a .515 slugging percentage - only the second time in his career he had surpassed the .500 mark in slugging percentage - becoming the first Met to play at least 100 games and slug over .500 in the same season.

AP Photo

One of the most overlooked numbers in Clendenon's 1970 campaign was the Mets' record in his starts.  When Clendenon was in the starting lineup, the team went 52-44.  When he wasn't, the team was 31-35.  A few more starts earlier in the season could have given Clendenon his first 100-RBI campaign.  More importantly, it could have given the Mets the few extra wins they needed to repeat as division champions.  Voters for the National League MVP award certainly noticed how valuable Clendenon was to the Mets when he was in the starting lineup, as he finished 13th in the MVP vote, ahead of teammates Tommie Agee, Buddy Harrelson and Tom Seaver and just seven votes behind his former Pirate teammate, Roberto Clemente.  It was the only time in Clendenon's 12-year career that he received consideration as the league's most valuable player.

Clendenon played one more season with the Mets in 1971, but by then, the 36-year-old's skills had begun to fade.  Clendenon batted .247 with 11 homers and 37 RBI in 88 games and was subsequently released by the Mets at the conclusion of the season.  He played his final year in the big leagues as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1972, batting .191 with just nine RBI in 61 games for the Redbirds.

After playing parts of two seasons in Pittsburgh in 1961 and 1962, Donn Clendenon became an everyday player for the Pirates in 1963, turning in four solid seasons as a member of the Bucs.  However, two poor campaigns led to Pittsburgh cutting ties with the once-promising slugger after the 1968 season, just as they had done with his predecessor at first base once his skills eroded.  Their inability to notice that Clendenon was better served as a part-time player who could mash left-handed pitching led directly to his acquisition by the Mets to do just that.

Gil Hodges used Clendenon just enough to help the team win the World Series in 1969 and then used him as much as he could in a failed attempt to get them back to the promised land.  Hodges, who once helped Clendenon become a better fielder in 1964, helped him become a better hitter five years later, and lengthened the career of a player who was thought to be washed up following the 1968 campaign.

In parts of three seasons with the Mets, Donn Clendenon came up to the plate less than 1,000 times.  But he made the most of those scattered trips, winning a World Series most valuable player award and setting the franchise record for RBI in a single season.  When the Mets acquired Clendenon, it was the first baseman who won a chance to revive his career.  But when the Mets played Clendenon, it was the team who had the best chance of winning.

Donn Clendenon may not have gotten the most playing time during his short tenure with the Mets, but he certainly gave the most of his ability, allowing the team to remain contenders for the postseason after several years of just being playoff pretenders prior to his arrival in New York.


Note:  The Most With The Least is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets players who performed at a high level without receiving the accolades or playing time their more established teammates got, due to injuries, executive decisions or other factors.  For previous installments, please click on the players' names below:

January 4, 2016: Benny Agbayani

One Mo-MET In Time: Al Weis

Baseball does not discriminate when it comes to players of all shapes and sizes.  Babe Ruth was powered by hot dogs instead of hormones, yet still became a legendary home run hitter who also pitched and hit for a high average.  On the other end of the spectrum, players like Freddie Patek and Jose Altuve were vertically challenged - neither measured more than 5' 6" tall - but were not challenged by much else on a baseball diamond, as Patek was a three-time All-Star in the 1970s and Altuve won a batting title and a Silver Slugger award in 2014.

Of course, a man of Ruth's size hitting majestic home runs is not really considered far-fetched.  Similarly, smaller players like Patek and Altuve stroking singles and stealing bases (both players won stolen base titles) are not beyond the scope of anyone's imagination.

But what happens when a player accomplishes something noteworthy on the field that his body is not built for?  And what happens when that player achieves his unlikely feat on the biggest stage of them all?  It happened to one particular member of the Mets in 1969, and his unexpected performance helped the team win its first championship.

Al Weis touched us all when he touched them all in the 1969 World Series.  (Getty Images)

Albert John Weis was originally signed by the Chicago White Sox in 1959 as a rail-thin middle infielder, making his debut with the Pale Hose three years later.  Although Weis was a switch-hitter and solid defensive player, he had trouble cracking the White Sox lineup, even after club legends and future Hall of Famers Luis Aparicio and Nellie Fox had left the team.

Only once did Weis manage more than 210 at-bats with the White Sox in parts of six seasons, as he was used mostly as a pinch-runner and late-inning defensive replacement.  From 1962 to 1967, Weis started just 247 of the 521 games he played in, and once the South Siders reacquired Aparicio from the Baltimore Orioles following the 1967 campaign, the writing was on the wall for Weis.  He was no longer needed.

On December 15, 1967, just two weeks after the White Sox brought back Aparicio, Weis and future World Series hero Tommie Agee were traded to the Mets for Tommy Davis, Jack Fisher, Billy Wynne and Buddy Booker.  Weis, whose final year in Chicago was shortened by a knee injury suffered in a collision with Frank Robinson, was finally going to get the opportunity to start with the Mets under first-year manager Gil Hodges.

Hodges had great faith in Weis, despite his anemic .172 batting average in 301 plate appearances during his first year in New York.  But with a young pitching staff, Hodges needed the dependable up-the-middle defense provided by Weis in more than just late-inning situations.  As a result, Weis started 77 of the 90 games he participated in - by far the greatest percentage of his career.

Weis "improved" his batting average to .215 in 1969, but also collected a career-high 13 extra-base hits in 247 at-bats.  Weis split his time between the two middle infield positions, filling in admirably for regular shortstop Bud Harrelson when Harrelson's military duties caused him to miss several weeks during the summer.

From June 25 to July 20, Weis started 25 consecutive games at shortstop, batting .259 with eight extra-base hits and 14 RBI in just 85 at-bats.  During that stretch, Weis collected his only two home runs of the season, with both coming against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.  The extra-base bonanza was particularly surprising, especially when considering that Weis had collected only 43 extra-base hits in 1,420 lifetime plate appearances prior to his month-long residence at shortstop.  Just four of those 43 extra-base hits were home runs, and all came on the road.  Incredibly, Weis never hit a home run in Chicago as a member of the White Sox.  But he hit two in back-to-back games in the Windy City as a member of the Mets.

Once Harrelson returned from his military obligations, Weis went back to filling in wherever Hodges needed him, playing 28 games at second, 17 contests at short, pinch-running ten times and even making a cameo appearance for one inning at third base.  This continued into the postseason, as Weis appeared as a pinch-runner in Game One of the inaugural National League Championship Series and also played second base during the late innings of the Mets' three-game sweep over the Atlanta Braves.  But once the World Series began, Hodges went with a strict platoon at second base, playing lefty hitter Ken Boswell against right-handed pitchers and switch-hitter Weis against southpaws.  That meant Weis would start Games One and Two against Baltimore's magnificent lefties, Mike Cuellar and Dave McNally.

Given the opportunity to perform on the game's largest stage, Weis thrived.  He drove in the Mets' only run in their Game One loss, then produced the game-winning hit in Game Two when he delivered an RBI single in the top of the ninth inning that scored Ed Charles with the tie-breaking run.

Right-hander Jim Palmer started Game Three when the series shifted to Shea Stadium, allowing Hodges to start Boswell at second base in the Mets' 5-0 victory, but Orioles manager Earl Weaver went back to the dynamic duo of Cuellar and McNally for Games Four and Five.  That meant Boswell was back on the bench and Weis was manning second base.  It was a decision that would pay dividends in the most unexpected way.

In the critical Game Four, Weis delivered two hits in his first three at-bats, then came up to the plate in the tenth inning of a 1-1 game with no outs and Rod Gaspar on second base.  Gaspar was in the game as a pinch-runner for catcher Jerry Grote, who had led off the inning with a double.  Weis had already reached base in eight of his first 12 at-bats in the World Series.  It became nine of 13 when he was intentionally walked by Orioles reliever Dick Hall.  The free pass ended Tom Seaver's day after ten strong innings - Seaver was due to bat after Weis - and set up a potential rally-killing double play.  But Baltimore never recorded another out in the inning, as pinch-hitter J.C. Martin dropped a bunt that new pitcher Pete Richert fielded and threw into Martin's wrist.  The error allowed Gaspar to score the winning run.  It also allowed the Mets to potentially end the World Series the following day at Shea Stadium.

After scoring a total of two runs in the previous three games, the Orioles put up a three-spot against Mets starter Jerry Koosman in the third inning of Game Five.  A two-run homer in the sixth inning by Donn Clendenon (which followed Cleon Jones's infamous Shoe Polish incident) cut Baltimore's lead to a single run.  Koosman then retired the Orioles in order in their half of the seventh inning.  Al Weis was due to lead off the bottom of the seventh against Dave McNally.  What happened next was something Weis had never done before and never did again.

Video courtesy of MLB.com's YouTube channel

With Dave McNally clearly still reeling from the events of the previous inning, Weis surprised everyone in the ballpark by hitting a game-tying home run into the left field bleachers - the first and only time he ever went deep in front of his home fans.  The 57,397 fans at Shea Stadium went crazy, and broadcaster Lindsey Nelson also showed disbelief at what had unfolded before his eyes.

"The Mighty Mite has become the hitting star of the World Series for the New York Mets," said Nelson in response to Weis's heroics.  "That is his fifth hit in this World Series."

Although the Mets had not yet taken the lead, the Orioles' confidence had left them almost as quickly as Weis's ball left the yard.  And once Ron Swoboda delivered the go-ahead run an inning later, followed by a run-producing error by first baseman Boog Powell, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that the Mets were going to win the World Series, which is exactly what they did once Cleon Jones squeezed Davey Johnson's long fly ball on the edge of the left field warning track.

Although Clendenon received a trophy and a new car as the MVP of the 1969 World Series, batting .357 and clubbing three of the team's six Fall Classic homers, Weis received the lesser known Babe Ruth Award, which was given out by the New York chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America to their World Series' most valuable player.

Prior to the trade that sent Al Weis and Tommie Agee to New York, the Mets had never won more than 66 games in a season.  Although the Mets surpassed 70 wins for the first time in 1968, both Weis and Agee had subpar seasons, combining to hit .198 with only 27 extra-base hits in 642 at-bats.  But both players rebounded in 1969, contributing greatly to the Mets' unexpected success.

Al Weis hit seven regular season home runs during his ten-year major league career.  Two of them came in 1969 in back-to-back games against the Chicago Cubs, the team the Mets had to pass in their quest for the division title.  None of the seven came in his home park - not at White Sox Park (as Comiskey Park was known from 1962 to 1975) and not at Shea Stadium.  The only home run Weis ever hit at home did not occur during the regular season.  Rather, it took place in a World Series-clinching game.

The Mets were trailing the Orioles by a run in the bottom of the seventh inning and were facing the prospect of returning to Memorial Stadium in Baltimore for a potential Game Six.  But once Weis delivered his jaw-dropping blast, the Mets never trailed again.  The next time the Mets would get together after Game Five would not be in Baltimore, but in the Canyon of Heroes in Lower Manhattan to celebrate their miraculous championship with a ticker tape parade.

Donn Clendenon and Al Weis celebrate after both hit home runs to erase Baltimore's three-run lead.  (NY Times photo)

Al Weis wasn't acquired by the Mets for his bat.  In fact, the Long Island native was one of the worst hitters in franchise history.  His .191 batting average and .253 slugging percentage in 714 plate appearances with the Mets were both lower than Dwight Gooden's figures in the same categories.  (Doc produced a .197 batting average and .260 slugging percentage in 837 plate appearances as a Met.)

No other position player with as many plate appearances as Weis batted lower than .219 (Duffy Dyer and Dave Kingman both produced that mark) and no other non-pitcher slugged lower than .275 (Roy McMillan flexed his muscles to put up that number).

But somehow, Weis led the Mets with a .455 batting average in the 1969 World Series and hit one of the biggest home runs in franchise history in the Fall Classic.  The home run in Game Five off Orioles starter Dave McNally was not a first for Weis, as he had taken McNally deep before as a member of the White Sox in 1964.  However, it was the first time he had ever homered while wearing his home whites.  It was also the last time he ever hit a ball out of his home ballpark.

In a year full of miracles, Al Weis saved the best miracle for last.  The 1969 Mets had to contend with players leaving for military training, black cats running on the field and baseballs stained with shoe polish.  They also had to contend with the Chicago Cubs during the regular season, the Atlanta Braves during the National League Championship Series and the 109-win Baltimore Orioles in the Fall Classic.  The Mets vanquished all of those threats mostly with quality pitching.  But on occasion, they needed to pull a rabbit out of their hat to help them reach the pinnacle of the baseball world.  And sometimes, that rabbit was in the form of a mighty mite named Al Weis.

Some players have the bodies to hit towering home runs.  Others are built to be scrappy players - players who don't have all the talents required to succeed on the baseball field, but will always find a way to beat you.  For ten seasons, Al Weis was a 160-pound scrappy utility player - the prototypical good-field, no-hit middle infielder.  But on one magical day at Shea Stadium, Weis was so much more than that.  He may not have had the body to hit many home runs throughout his career.  But his body of work will always have that wonderful moment in time when he showed that even the littlest player can come up with the biggest hit.

"I had an average career in the majors as a utility man.  But I had two good weeks of baseball and they came in the 1969 World Series."

--Al Weis, 1969 World Series champion




Note:  One Mo-MET In Time is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets players who will forever be known for a single moment, game or event, regardless of whatever else they accomplished during their tenure with the Mets.  For previous installments, please click on the players' names below:

January 5, 2015: Mookie Wilson 
January 12, 2015: Dave Mlicki
January 19, 2015: Steve Henderson 
January 26, 2015: Ron Swoboda
February 2, 2015: Anthony Young
February 9, 2015: Tim Harkness
February 16, 2015: Kenny Rogers, Aaron Heilman, Tom Glavine
February 23, 2015: Mike Vail
March 2, 2015: Matt Franco
March 9, 2015: Shawn Estes
March 16, 2015: Dae-Sung Koo 

One Mo-MET In Time: Ron Swoboda

There are complete baseball players who are good at everything on the field (see Mays, Willie) and then there are one-dimensional players, who are excellent in one aspect of the game but are considered a liability at other facets (Rob Deer comes to mind).  When Deer retired, he was known for being a great power hitter and not much else.  A fan would be hard-pressed to recall any memory of Deer that did not involve a trot around the bases.

More often than not, a player who specializes in one aspect of the game is known just for that.  There are some exceptions, however.  Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski was a defensive wizard at second base for the Pittsburgh Pirates from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s.  During his 17-year career, Mazeroski won eight Gold Glove awards, a number that has been surpassed by just two second basemen, both of whom are in the Hall of Fame (Ryne Sandberg, Roberto Alomar).  But unlike Sandberg and Alomar, who were as lethal with the bat as they were with the glove, Mazeroski was not a particularly good hitter.

Mazeroski's lifetime .260 batting average and .299 on-base percentage weren't exactly Hall of Fame-caliber numbers.  Neither were his 138 homers, 853 RBI or 769 runs scored.  But one post-season home run catapulted Maz to legendary status and became one of the contributing factors in his selection to the Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee nearly 30 years after he played his final game.

That World Series-winning blast against the heavily-favored Yankees in 1960 became Maz's calling card, almost completely overshadowing what he did on the field with his glove.  Mazeroski is one of a few players who specialized in one thing on the baseball field, but whose signature moment came in a spot that was ordinarily his weakness.

Likewise, the Mets had such a player in the early days of the franchise - a player who was one of the team's best power-hitting prospects when he was first called up in 1965, then became a player of legend four years later.  But of course, it wasn't his bat that made him a storied Met.  Rather, it was one spectacular defensive play at a most critical juncture that elevated him to heroic levels.

A young Ron Swoboda was an all-hit, no-glove player.  But Mets fans loved him for his glove in 1969.

Ronald Alan Swoboda was known as a power hitter from a very young age.  As a 19-year-old, his penchant for hitting balls a long way caught the eye of the Mets, who signed him in 1963 after he completed his freshman year at the University of Maryland.  Swoboda played one season in the Mets minor league system before making the team's Opening Day roster in 1965.

Swoboda became an instant success in New York, collecting 10 home runs in his first 90 at-bats.  In addition, half of Swoboda's first 28 hits went for extra bases.  Although Swoboda collected only 399 at-bats in 1965, he still managed to lead the team in home runs (19) and slugging percentage (.424), while finishing third on the club in RBI (50) and second in runs scored (52).

Casey Stengel was an ardent supporter of Swoboda, and he showed his loyalty to the 20-year-old outfielder by starting him in 67 of the team's first 96 games.  But once Casey was forced to step down as Mets manager because of a hip injury in late July, Swoboda's performance on the field suffered and his playing time decreased.  Swoboda started just 37 of the Mets' final 67 games in 1965, batting .191 with three homers and 11 RBI over the final two and a half months of the season.

Swoboda did not play as much in 1966, collecting only 342 at-bats, but he drove in 50 runs for the second straight season despite batting just .222 with 21 extra-base hits.  The reason why Swoboda drove in so many runs in limited playing time was because he was an excellent clutch hitter.  With no one on base, Swoboda batted .197 in 1966.  But with runners in scoring position, his average ballooned to .326.  Swoboda also posted a .605 slugging percentage and a whopping 1.037 OPS in RBI situations in 1966.  He followed that up with a similar season in 1967, batting .320 with runners in scoring position.

Although Swoboda was never much of a high average hitter (he batted above .242 just once in his six seasons with the Mets), he always hit well and hit with power when there were runners on base.  More than half (36) of his 69 career homers as a Met came with runners on base.  He also batted .275 with two outs and runners in scoring position.

From 1965 to 1969, Swoboda never amassed more than 450 at-bats in any season.  However, he did manage to drive in 50 or more runs in each of his first five seasons with the Mets.  In doing so, he became just the 26th player (and first Met) in modern National League history to accomplish this feat, joining all-time greats such as Johnny Mize, Ralph Kiner, Eddie Mathews, Hank Aaron, Orlando Cepeda and Frank Robinson.

After the retirement of Casey Stengel, Swoboda never fully took over as the everyday player Stengel projected him to be, especially after Gil Hodges became the team's manager in 1968.  In 1969, Swoboda - a right-handed hitter - shared duties in right field with the lefty-swinging Art Shamsky and switch-hitter Rod Gaspar.  As good as Swoboda was hitting in the clutch and hitting with power, he was just as bad with a glove on his hand.  Never known for his fielding prowess (although he did possess a fine arm in the outfield), Swoboda occasionally lost playing time to the slick fielding Gaspar, even when a left-handed pitcher was on the mound.  Because of his fielding ineptitude and Hodges' strict adherence to the outfield platoon, Swoboda collected just 327 at-bats in 1969 - his lowest total in his first five years.  But Swoboda made the most of his limited opportunities.

During the Mets' miraculous late-season run in 1969, Swoboda hit his first career grand slam, an eighth-inning shot against the Pirates that a broke a 1-1 tie and sent the Mets to their tenth consecutive victory.  Two days later, Swoboda hit another go-ahead homer in the eighth inning.  It was Swoboda's second two-run homer of the contest against Cardinals starting pitcher (and future Hall of Famer) Steve Carlton.  Swoboda was only in the starting lineup because Carlton was a southpaw.  But without Swoboda's heroics, the game would have been remembered more for Carlton's epic 19-strikeout performance - the first time in major league history that a pitcher had as many as 19 whiffs in a nine-inning game.

With all the success he had as a hitter during his first five seasons in the majors (especially during the September run to the NL East crown in 1969), one would think that Swoboda would forever be part of Mets lore because of what he accomplished with the bat.  Perhaps that would have been true had it not been for what transpired in the ninth inning of Game Four in the 1969 World Series.

Ron Swoboda had the third-highest RBI total on the 1969 Mets despite having the eighth-most at-bats on the team.  But even though Swoboda had displayed a keen ability to drive in runs, manager Gil Hodges stayed true to his style and kept him on the bench during the Mets' three-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves in the inaugural National League Championship Series.  Atlanta's three starting pitchers in the series - Phil Niekro, Ron Reed and Pat Jarvis - were all right-handed, thereby allowing Hodges to start Shamsky in right field for all three games, with Gaspar coming in as a defensive replacement in the late innings.  But the World Series was a different story, as the American League champion Baltimore Orioles had two left-handed starters in Mike Cuellar and Dave McNally.  Swoboda would finally get his first taste of the postseason in Game One of the 1969 World Series.

After striking out and flying out in his first two World Series at-bats, Swoboda caught fire.  He reached base seven times in his next 14 plate appearances, collecting five singles, a double and a walk.  But it was what he did between his 11th and 12th World Series plate appearances that may have helped save the season for the Mets.

The Mets had won two of the first three games against Baltimore and were looking to take a commanding 3-to-1 series lead in Game Four at Shea Stadium.  Any loss by the Mets at home would guarantee that the series would go back to Memorial Stadium, where the Orioles posted a league-best 60-21 record in 1969.  Needless to say, the Mets did not want to go back to Baltimore.

Game Four was a pitchers' duel between Tom Seaver and Mike Cuellar.  Cuellar pitched seven innings of one-run ball, while Seaver held the Orioles scoreless through eight innings.  Clinging to a precarious 1-0 lead in the ninth inning, Seaver was sent back to the mound to finish what he started.  But after retiring Paul Blair on a fly ball to Swoboda, Seaver allowed back-to-back hits to Frank Robinson and Boog Powell, with the latter hit moving Robinson to third base.  That brought up third baseman Brooks Robinson, who lined a ball that appeared headed for the gap in right-center.  But Swoboda ran at full speed and made a diving lunge at the ball, catching it a millisecond before it hit the outfield grass.

 

"If that shot had been hit straight at me, it might still be rolling.  For me, it was one of those do-or-die plays.  There's one chance in a thousand I'm going to catch it, but I had to go for it.  Chalk it up to a blind squirrel finding an acorn."

Although Frank Robinson scored the tying run from third base on the sacrifice fly by Brooks Robinson, it was Swoboda's athletic grab that prevented the ball from rolling all the way to the wall, keeping the Orioles from taking the lead.  As a result, Baltimore failed to score the go-ahead run in the ninth inning, allowing the Mets to push across the winning run in the bottom of the tenth inning on a throwing error by relief pitcher Pete Richert.

The catch by Swoboda did not win the series, let alone the game, for the Mets, but it thwarted Baltimore's best chance to come back in a series that by all intents and purposes, was theirs to lose.  The Orioles had come into the series with 109 regular season victories - a number that had been surpassed by just four teams before them.  But after Swoboda's catch and the subsequent win by the Mets an inning later, the wind was knocked out of Baltimore's sails.

Brooks Robinson clearly felt as if Swoboda's catch was the turning point of the series.  "If the ball gets by Ron," said the Orioles' 16-time Gold Glove winner, "two runs score, we win 2-1, and the Series is tied 2-2.  I'll always feel that way.  That play was a killer."

One day after his unbelievable and unexpected catch, Swoboda once again came through for the Mets in the late innings, although this time it was with his more familiar weapon of choice - his bat.

The Mets had rallied from an early three-run deficit, tying it on a two-run homer by slugger Donn Clendenon in the sixth inning and a solo shot by non-slugger Al Weis in the seventh.  With the game now tied, 3-3, the Mets were poised to take the lead in the eighth inning.  Cleon Jones led off the frame with a double off reliever Eddie Watt.  Jones remained at second after Watt coaxed Clendenon to ground out to third.  Up stepped Ron Swoboda, clutch hitter extraordinaire, with a chance to be the hero for the Mets.  And as he did so many times before, Swoboda came through.

Video courtesy of the MLB.com YouTube channel

Swoboda ripped a double near the left field line, a hit that fell just in front of a non-diving Don Buford, who chose not to take a page out of the Ron Swoboda Handbook for Game-Saving Plays.  The two-bagger scored Jones from second to give the Mets a lead they would not relinquish, as Swoboda scored an insurance run on Boog Powell's error later in the inning and Jerry Koosman got the final three outs in the ninth to secure the Mets' first World Series championship.

Although Donn Clendenon was voted the 1969 World Series Most Valuable Player, the award could have easily gone to Swoboda, as the Mets' right fielder produced a .400 batting average with a team-leading six hits, despite not playing in Game Three because right-handed starting pitcher Jim Palmer was on the mound for Baltimore.  Swoboda also made the game-saving catch in Game Four and delivered the game-winning hit in the Mets' World Series-clinching victory.

Ron Swoboda was a tremendous run-producer with the Mets in a limited number of plate appearances.  And on a team that has seen so many All-Star sluggers and run producers, Swoboda matches up favorably when it comes to producing runs.  Here are some things you may not have known about Swoboda as a hitter:

• Ron Swoboda's total of 19 home runs as a rookie in 1965 has been surpassed by just one Mets first-year player - Darryl Strawberry.  The Straw Man's 26 homers in 1983 broke Swoboda's rookie mark nearly two decades after the mark was set.  Only Ike Davis in 2010 has been able to match Swoboda's mark in the years since Strawberry broke the team record for homers by a rookie.

• When Swoboda played his final game as a Met in 1970, he was the team's all-time leader in home runs (69) and RBI (304).  He wasn't knocked out of the top ten in homers until 1988, when Keith Hernandez passed him on May 18.  Swoboda was in the team's top ten in RBI until 1986, when Lee Mazzilli displaced him on August 13.

• Through the 2014 season, Swoboda remains just one of 11 players in Mets history to have at least five seasons with 50 or more RBI.  The other ten are a who's who of great Mets hitters - Keith Hernandez, Howard Johnson, Kevin McReynolds, Edgardo Alfonzo, Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, Cleon Jones, Darryl Strawberry, Mike Piazza and David Wright.

• Swoboda produced five 50-plus RBI seasons with the Mets despite never having more than 450 at-bats in any season.  He remains the only Met to have that many 50-RBI campaigns in seasons he didn't surpass 450 at-bats.  Stretching it out by 50 at-bats, Swoboda joins all-time great Mike Piazza as the only Mets to achieve five 50-RBI seasons in years with 500 or fewer at-bats.

Ron Swoboda didn't possess a high batting average, nor did he wear a glove made of gold in the field.  But he did have many memorable moments, primarily as a hitter and especially during the months of September and October in 1969.  Yet despite those impressive credentials as a hitter, Swoboda will always be remembered for one thing before anything else.

In 1969, the Mets needed to win Game Four of the World Series to potentially avoid a return trip to a hostile environment in Baltimore.  The Orioles won 60 games at home in 1969, which was a higher win total than the Mets produced in all games, at home AND on the road, in each of their first four seasons.  Ron Swoboda, a Baltimore native, had done whatever he could with the bat to help his team.  But in Game Four, he stretched his baseball ability - and his body - to a place no one expected.  With one Amazin' catch, Swoboda propelled the Mets to victory in Game Four, and helped seal the team's improbable championship the following day.

Ron Swoboda was supposed to be a great catch by the Mets when they signed him to a contract in 1963.  Six years later, he gave the team his own version of a great catch.  Swoboda may have originally been coveted for his bat, but it's his glove that will always provide fond memories for Mets fans young and old.  His defining moment occurred during one of the greatest times to be a Mets fan and will always be among the brightest spots in the history of the franchise.

Miracles do happen.  Just ask Ron Swoboda.

Note:  One Mo-MET In Time is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets players who will forever be known for a single moment, game or event, regardless of whatever else they accomplished during their tenure with the Mets.  For previous installments, please click on the players' names below:

January 5, 2015: Mookie Wilson 
January 12, 2015: Dave Mlicki
January 19, 2015: Steve Henderson