October 16, 1969 Shea Stadium Flushing, NY Game # 5 - World Series Baltimore Orioles 3 New York Mets 5 Bye Bye Birdies - Mets Win Series ! Forty-five tears ago today, with man having landed on the Moon only three months earlier, the New York Mets - perennial laughing stocks of baseball since the inception of the franchise in 1962 - completed a mission nearly as far-fetched as a Moon-landing had been considered only several tears earlier, defeating the heavily-favored Baltimore Orioles in the fifth and final game of the 1969 World Series 5-3, to become baseballs World Champions. Despite falling behind early 3-0, Jerry Koosman pitched a compete game for his second win of the Series, supported by Series MVP Donn Clendenons third home run of the Series and couple of breaks from the umpires. Here is a summary of Game 5 from Wikipedia - which includes some little-known facts about the famous shoe polish play, followed by highlights from all five games of the Series with play-by-play calls from NBCs Curt Gowdy and long-time Mets broadcaster Lindsey Nelson: [Orioles starter] Dave McNally shut out the Mets through five innings and helped himself with a two-run homer in the third inning. Frank Robinson homered in the inning as well, and the Orioles looked to be cruising with a 3–0 lead., The Mets, however, would benefit from two questionable umpires calls. In the top of the sixth inning, Mets starting pitcher Jerry Koosman appeared to have hit Frank Robinson with a pitch, but plate umpire Lou DiMuro ruled that the pitch hit his bat before hitting him and denied him first base. Replays showed, however, that Robinson was indeed hit first—the ball struck him on the hip, then bounced up and hit his bat. In the bottom of the sixth, McNally bounced a pitch that appeared to have hit Mets left fielder Cleon Jones on the foot, then bounced into the Mets dugout. McNally and the Orioles claimed the ball hit the dirt and not Jones, but Mets manager Gil Hodges showed the ball to DiMuro, who found a spot of shoe polish on the ball and awarded Jones first base. McNally then gave up Series MVP Donn Clendenons third homer of the series (a record for a five-game World Series that was tied by the Phillies Ryan Howard in the 2008 Classic) to cut the lead to 3–2. However, the renowned shoe polish incident may not be such a simple, straightforward matter. On August 22, 2009, at the 40th Anniversary celebration of the Mets 1969 Championship, held at their new stadium, Citi Field, Jerry Koosman stated in several media interviews[11] that, in actuality, Hodges had instructed him to rub the ball on his shoe, which he did, and after that Hodges showed the ball to the umpire. Koosmans claim doesnt necessarily mean that the ball didnt strike Jones on the foot, nor does it even mean that the polish on the ball seen by the umpire was put there by Koosman—its certainly conceivable that there was already a genuine spot of polish on the ball, which easily could have escaped Koosmans notice as he hastily created the fraudulent one. In any case, Koosmans allegation at the very least adds an intriguing layer of uncertainty and possible chicanery to an already legendary event. However, it should be noted that Koosman was known for his sense of humor, and his love of practical jokes when he was an active player. Therefore, his claim of having scuffed the ball against his own shoe could be a ruse. Because, there are other stories which have been told about that incident, by other players who were in the Mets dugout that day. One of those stories comes from Ron Swoboda, who said during an interview on the Mets 1986 25th Anniversary video, that when the ball came bounding into the Mets dugout, it hit an open ball bag under the bench, and several batting / infield practice balls came spilling out on the dugout floor. According to Swoboda, you couldnt distinguish the actual game ball from any of the ones that spilled out of the bag. Hodges quickly looked down, grabbed a ball that had a black streak on it, and walked it out to the homeplate umpire, who then awarded first base to Jones. In any case, this incident provided baseball with yet another entertaining legend, about which the absolute truth will probably never be known. The Mets then tied the score in the seventh on a solo home run hit by the unheralded and light-hitting Al Weis. Weis only hit seven home runs in his big league career; this was the only home run he ever hit at Shea Stadium. Weis would lead all batters in this series with a .455 average. The Mets winning runs scored in the eighth as Game 4 defensive hero Ron Swoboda doubled in Jones with the go-ahead run. Swoboda then scored when Jerry Grotes grounder was mishandled by first baseman Boog Powell, whose throw to first was then dropped by pitcher Eddie Watt in an unusual double error. Jerry Koosman would get the win, his second of the series. With two outs in the top of the ninth inning, Koosman faced Orioles second baseman Davey Johnson (who, ironically, would later manage the Mets to their second World Series championship in 1986). After taking a pitch of two balls and one strike, Johnson hit a fly-ball out to left field which was caught by Cleon Jones. Karl Ehrhardt, a Mets fan known as the sign man at Shea Stadium, held up a sign that read There Are No Words soon after the final out was made. The sign would make an appearance in the Series highlight film. Immediately following the victory, thousands of fans rushed onto the field and the Mets were forced to retreat to their locker room.[12] Bill Gleason, a sports columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, alleged that this feat would not repeated again until Disco Demolition Night,[13] an event which saw many people rush onto the playing field in Comiskey Park just before the second game of a doubleheader between the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers was scheduled to begin on July 12, 1979. In all four Mets victories, their starting first baseman hit a home run: Donn Clendenon in Games 2, 4 and 5, and Ed Kranepool in Game 3. The expression, Good pitching defeats good hitting, was never more evident than in this World Series: Baltimore collected only 23 hits for a .146 batting average. Boog Powell led the Orioles with five hits—but all were non-scoring singles. Don Buford collected two hits in the opening game, including a leadoff home run against Tom Seaver, but went 0-for-16 over the next four games. Paul Blair went 2-for-20, Davey Johnson 1-for-15 and Brooks Robinson 1-for-19. The vaunted Orioles offense, best in the majors in 1969, only managed four extra-base hits off Mets pitching in the five-game series, all in the first and last games.
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 17:48:01 +0000
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