After winning five games in a row in early July, the Mets hosted the Chicago Cubs in the most crucial series of their short history. The Mets trailed the Cubs by five and a half games for the eastern division lead. There was no better time for the Mets to make a statement than this mid week series that began on Tuesday, July 8, 1969, an afternoon game at Shea. A crowd of 55,096 fans showed up that afternoon. The Mets trailed going to their half of the ninth inning by a score of 3-1.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Ken Boswell led off with a double. After Agee popped out, newly acquired Donn Clendenon pinched hit and drove a ball to deep left that bounced off the wall and glove of Cubs centerfielder Don Young. Clendenon ended up on second moving Boswell to third who was unable to score because with one out, he had to make sure the ball was not caught. Cleon Jones followed by doubling in two runs tying the game. After Art Shamsky was walked intentionally, Wayne Garrett grounded out moving Jones and Shamsky up to second and third. With two outs, Ed Kranepool singled up the middle as Jones scored the winning run. It was an amazing comeback win. Euphoria was in the air at Shea Stadium.

The following evening was a classic. Tom Seaver pitched the now famous near perfect game. Seaver retired twenty-five straight batters. Journeyman pinch hitter Jimmy Qualls hit a dying quail into short left center field to break up the perfecto. The Mets won the game 4-0 for their seventh consecutive win and also won the series against the division leading Cubs. Heading into the series finale, the Mets had shrunk the Cubs lead to 3.5 games.

The Mets lost the final game of the series 6-2. When the Cubs first arrived at Shea, they were aware of the Mets surprising success. Before the first game, Cubs third baseman Ron Santo looked at the lineup cards in the dugout and shook his head sarcastically at the Mets hitters. What he should have been concerned about was the Mets pitching. The starting staff and relief core was not giving up many runs.

The Mets traveled to Chicago’s Wrigley Field the following week for another three game set. All three games were played in the afternoon. Wrigley had no lights installed at that time. The Cubs gave the Mets a taste of their own medicine winning the opener 1-0. Chicago may have felt confident now that the Mets were on their turf. But the Mets won the next two games, beating the Cubs decisively for the second consecutive series against them. New York had now won four of six games within a week against division leading Chicago, and had moved to four games behind. The Mets were for real.

On July 18th, the Mets record stood at 52-37, 15 games above .500, and in second place in the National League East. The team was now considered a legitimate contender. But doubt soon crept into the psyche of the fans and media as the Mets began to struggle.

Over the next twenty-five games, the Mets went 11-14 and fell to ten games behind Chicago, dropping them into third place, swapping positions with the Cardinals. It was August 13th. The Mets record was still a respectable 62-51 but many were thinking that dreams of a post season would probably have to wait untill another year. That would have likely been okay with most fans though because no one had expected the Mets to be playing so well.

During the twenty-five game lull through the middle of July and the beginning of August, the Mets played a doubleheader in Montreal. It was a rather surreal day. The Mets lost the first game by a score of 3-2 but won the nightcap 4-3 in ten innings. It was Sunday, July 20th, 1969. While the Mets were at the Montreal airport waiting for their flight prior to the All Star break, they witnessed something no baseball team, or anyone, had ever seen before. The club gathered around the TV sets in the airport bar and watched two human beings walk on the surface of the moon. The moon, Vietnam, Woodstock, and the Mets—it was a summer like no other.

The twenty-five game streak of lethargic play ended in Houston where the Astros swept the Mets in a three game series. If there was an Achilles Heal for the Mets in 1969, it was their play against Houston. The Mets lost all six games at the Astrodome and won only two at Shea for a combined record of 2-10 against the Astros.

After the Astros series, the Mets returned home to face San Diego with Tom Seaver on the hill. Seaver shut out the Padres 2-0. Like the eleven game streak that started against San Diego back in May, the Padres once again served to ignite the Mets. The Mets won 12 of their next 13 games, all against the west coast teams. Overall, the Mets won 38 of their final 49 games of the season that included a ten game winning streak.

During the ten game streak in early September, the Cubs came into town for their final two game series at Shea. An omen for the Cubs occurred when a black cat came from underneath the stands and peered into the Cubs dugout. The Mets swept both games reducing their deficit to a half game at the end of play on September 9th. The next night, the Mets swept a twi-night double header from the Expos while the Cubs lost their game to the Phillies. For the first time in the history of the New York Mets, they were in first place. When play concluded on September 10th, the Mets were one full game ahead of the Chicago Cubs. It was simply unbelievable.

Once the Mets secured the division lead, they never relinquished it. In the midst of yet another winning streak, this time a nine game affair at the end of September, the Mets defeated the Cardinals 6-0 on September 24^th at Shea Stadium. A complete game shutout by rookie Gary Gentry clinched the eastern division title for the Mets, the first championship in their history. It was also the first division clinching in National League history. The dream of all Mets fans became a reality. The Mets were champions and no one could ever take it away. Fifty-five thousand screaming fans poured on to the field tearing the place to shreds.

Even with the division sewn up, the Mets continued to win all but one game the rest of the regular season. The only loss occurred in the season’s final game that ironically took place at a mostly empty Wrigley Field against the Cubs.

The Mets finished the 1969 regular season with 100 wins and 62 losses, a 27 game improvement from one year earlier. The 1969 win-loss total remains the third best Mets record of all time only topped by the ’86 and ’88 clubs. The ’69 Mets won the division by eight full games.

Tom Seaver won the Cy Young award with a record of 25-7. Jerry Koosman won 17 and lost 9. Rookie Gary Gentry went 13-12. Nolan Ryan and Jim McAndrew combined to go 12-10, and veteran Don Cardwell won 8 while losing 10. Reliever Tug McGraw won nine games out of the bullpen. Good pitching stops good hitting. Never was that so evident than in the race that saw the Mets go from the bottom to the top.

The Mets also had unbelievable timely hitting. Tommie Agee hit 20 homeruns as a lead off hitter. Cleon Jones batted .341 and Donn Clendenon hit 26 homeruns having joined the Mets on June 15th. But there was not one batter who drove in more than 100 runs for the season. Tommy Agee led the club with 76 RBI. Cleon Jones had one less. As a team the Mets scored 632 runs for an average of less than four runs per game, not a power house by any means. Mets hitters, under the tutelage of Gil Hodges with support of that awesome pitching staff, manufactured enough runs to win 100 games. It was quite remarkable.

Read Part 3 this weekend and see how the Mets won it all in the post season.

1969, Part 1