What do you want for Sparky Lyle?

Actually, I have to amend one comment - the Yankees didn't exactly get a no name for Lew Burdette. Burdette was a kind-of throw in in a deal by which the Boston Braves sent the Yankees Johnny Sain (as in, "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain") for $50,000 and Burdette, then a Yankee prospect. Sain put some useful time in with the Bombers (he was pennant insurance in that 1951 deal) and later became a respected pitching coach. (Respected by his players, that is - Sain was one of those coaches whose nasty habit of telling it straight didn't sit well with baseball's old-time baronage.) But I still think ridding themselves of Burdette was a dumb move.

My favourite Lew Burdette story: Burdette ended up the winning pitcher in Harvey Haddix's famous 12-inning perfect game which the Braves broke up in the 13th: Felix Mantilla started it by reaching on an error, then a sacrifice and a walk to Henry Aaron set the table for Joe Adcock to hit a huge home run - that got nullified into a 1-0 Braves win, after Aaron did his own version of Merkle's Boner, heading for the clubhouse before the circuit was completed, meaning Adcock technically passed him on the bases. Both Haddix and Burdette went the distance. The following spring, Burdette held out for a raise on these grounds: "He (Haddix) pitched the greatest game of all time and he still couldn't beat me, so I must be the greatest pitcher of all time."

Interestingly enough, a year later Burdette himself would pitch a no-hitter facing only the minimum 27 against the Philadelphia Phillies. It wasn't a perfect game, alas: Burdette hit the leadoff man with a pitch, but then he was out on a double play. Burdette also scored the game's only run.

Jay Johnstone, who came up with the Angels as Burdette was winding down his career with them, has described how Burdette most liked to load up the ball - yes, Burdette did throw the wet one (and more power to him: I'm all in favour of the spitter): Burdette chewed a little tobacco and would spit onto the pitcher's mound dirt until he had little mud puddles near his feet. Burdette was a notorious fidgeter as it was, but according to Johnstone, Burdette's fidget included periodically bending over to adjust his shoelace, and it was then that he'd get a little of his toxic waste into his fingers. "You'd see that stuff flying off the ball, and you'd be walking back to the dugout needing a clean shirt," Johnstone has said. "That was the trouble - you'd be walking back to the dugout." Bo Belinsky also once said Burdette taught him the spitter explicitly.

Bo Belinsky died a few months ago.

The Templeton trade was more a deal to get rid of a troublemaking player than one to get a better player.

Templeton was a 21 year old great fielding shortstop, switch hitter, who hit .320 or so in 1977 or 78 (I don't remember which was his rookie year). That was when .320 meant something. That'd be at least .350 today.

But he became a head case and one day flipped off the crowd who booed him.

Whitey Herzog wasn't about to keep him after that. It was like the Keith Hernandez for Neil Allen trade. Allen had a few good games for St Louis, but Herzog wasn't going to keep a drug addict.

Ozzie turned out better than anyone ever could have guessed. But, then again, it was Herzog and if anyone knew, it would have been him.

The Templeton trade was more a deal to get rid of a troublemaking player than one to get a better player.

Half right. The White Rat assuredly did have his eye on the Wiz-to-be and, in fact, courted the living daylights out of Ozzie after the deal was made, hoping to get him signed long-term to the Redbirds.

Keith Hernandez wasn't the only drug user Herzog unloaded (though the real reason may also have been Hernandez, at the time, had a tendency to loaf a bit on the field if things weren't going well for him). More notoriously, when managing the Kansas City Royals, Herzog dumped John Mayberry, the popular slugger, after the White Rat caught Mayberry in no shape to play a World Series game - because Mayberry was nursing a nasty hangover from a previous night's libations of booze and coke. The trade shocked Royals fans and writers who covered the team, Herzog got roasted in the press, got fired not long afterward as the Royals' manager, then they brought in the "nicer" guy and the druggers had a field day in the Royals' clubhouse. Whatever you think of the War On Drugs, there's nothing at all wrong with Business X deciding its own drug policies. Whitey Herzog was actually as Christy Mathewson had been to the old gambling scandals: they were the only men in baseball willing to stand up to the problems before they got out of hand. (The flip side, of course, was that Herzog would go to bat for a drug-abusing or booze-abusing player if the player was determined enough to kick and leave it behind - which was one key reason Darrell Porter became a Cardinal in 1982.)

You wouldn't really call Ryan for Fregosi worse than Tom Seaver for three no-names, would you?

They were both awful. Ryan's trade was the worst of the decade. At the time of Ryan's trade we all saw him as pitcher who posessed an unbelievable arm but who was not yet consistant with his control. My whole family loved Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman but we all knew that it was a matter of time when Ryan would become a superstar in his own right. Do you remember Nolan Ryan's relief appearance in the 3rd game of the 1969 world series against the Baltimore Orioles? Most people remember that game for the two spectacular catches made by Tommie Agge in center field. However, I also remember how critical Ryan's relief appearance was in that game, coming in the 6th inning. Ryan got the last out in the sixth inning and breezed in the 7th and 8th innings. Then in the ninth inning, Ryan got the first two Baltimore Orioles out on the ninth inning beore walking the bases loaded in front of Paul Balir. He got a a full count with Blair and then threw Blair one of the most incredible nasty curve balls you will ever see which for an instant backed up Blair and then froze him as the umpire called strike three ending the game and giving the Mets a 2-1 series lead over the Orieles.

Tom Seaver was a tremendous pitcher who won 3 cy young awards as pitcher with the New York Mets. Seaver led the Mets to the world championship in 69 and the NL pennant in 73. By the late 70's Seaver had become less dominant a pitcher. He would still have a couple of good years for the Reds but he wasn't the same pitcher who struck out 19 Padres in one game or threw so many unbelievable 1 hitters for the Mets. Tom Seaver never made it to the world series as a pitcher for the Reds but he did toss his only no hitter with the reds. I was happy for Tom. Tom also won his 300th game pitching for the Chicago White Sox. I was glad that nbc let long time Mets radio and tv announcer Lindsey Nelson call the ninth inning of Tom Terrifics 300th win.

PS You are right. The three guys traded to the Mets were nameless forgetable players. I only remember one, Steveerson who was thought to be a real phenom who couldn't break into the big red machine but who turned out to be a bust. The Mets received a right handed pitcher and a second baseman besides Henderson. (I just cheated and looked up the names of the other two stiffs the Mets got...Pat Zachary and Doug Flynn..what a joke)

Tom Terrific. The Miracle Mets. It's Wednesday night, July 9, 1969, at Shea Stadium in Flushing, Queens. The Mets are on their way to a World Championship. Tom Seaver, 24, is headed for a 25-7 record and the National League Cy Young award. A perfect season, and on this night almost a perfect game for the future Hall of Fame right-hander. The scoreboard tells the story: one out in the ninth, the Mets leading the Cubs 4-0 and No. 42, Jim Qualls at-bat for Chicago. To this point, Seaver has been perfect - 25 straight outs, 11 strikeouts, no walks, no baserunners. With 59,083 fans cheering wildly for every out and gripped by every pitch, Qualls, a 22-year old rookie, will end the dream with a solid single to left-center, between LF Cleon Jones and CF Tommie Agee. Agony. For a moment. And then unending ovation as Seaver gets the final two outs. It is the second-place Mets' seventh straight victory and the first-place Cubs' fifth straight loss. The Amazin's are within three games. The rest, as they say, is glorious history. Note: The second baseman is Wayne Garrett.

I remember the 1969 World Series very well - I either watched or listened to all five games (even to the point of sneaking my transistor radio to school and running the earphone up my shirt and into my ear to listen to the game). But even better than Nolan Ryan's relief of Gary Gentry in the World Series was his splendid seven-inning relief job in the second game of the League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves, as the Mets were en route to a three-sweep of Henry Aaron and company...

As I remember, Doug Flynn was actually the most useful of the players the Mets got in the Seaver deal - a decent fielding second baseman (usually decently enough above the league average) who wasn't, alas, good enough with the glove that it was prudent to leave his rather limp bat in the lineup. Steve Henderson I remember having the tools of a power hitter but neither the consistency nor the workability, and he was a terrible fielder. And Pat Zachry started off well enough (he tied for Rookie of the Year in 1976) but began taking on too many arm and other injuries to follow up. Any way you define it, the Tom Seaver deal was a disaster.

Still, what goes around comes around. The columnist who did the most dirty work sullying Seaver's image in the contract dispute that provoked the trade was Dick Young of the New York Daily News - whose son-in-law just so happened to be working for Met general manager M. Donald ("We won two pennants without superstars and we can do it again") Grant at the time. Young tried - falsely - to paint Seaver as a welsher; Seaver, in actual fact, was looking toward his forthcoming contract, not his incumbent contract. The Young column which finally drove the nail into the coffin was the one in which he accused Seaver's wife of being jealous that Ruth (Mrs. Nolan) Ryan was now married to a richer man than her husband. But just a few years later, there was Dick Young, jumping the Daily News during a strike and joining the Post even though he was still under contract to the News...and looking like the biggest hypocrite in New York sports.

I've never forgotten the banner which hung from the Shea Stadium seats after the Seaver deal:

I WAS
A BELIEVER
BUT NOW
WE'VE
LOST SEAVER

Even A. Bartlett Giamatti was outraged by the Seaver deal, and he wrote a very pointed essay about it that was published in, I believe, The New York Times, which ended thus:...there comes along once in awhile a man of such quality and character that he transcends even the great and glorious game, and such a man is to be cherished, not sold.

remember the 1969 World Series very well - I either watched or listened to all five games (even to the point of sneaking my transistor radio to school and running the earphone up my shirt and into my ear to listen to the game). But even better than Nolan Ryan's relief of Gary Gentry in the World Series was his splendid seven-inning relief job in the second game of the League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves, as the Mets were en route to a three-sweep of Henry Aaron and company

Yep..You're right.. Ryan's performance was even better in that game. In fact I have a black and white 20 minute 8 millimeter film of the 1969 Mets season. It doesnt contain any highlights of the first two playoff games against the Braves but it does contain It highlights of that third game of the playoffs. That was a high scoring series. Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman both both gave up at least five runs in each of the first two games of the series but the Mets won both games anyway. I think the scores were 9-6 and 11-5 or so. I remember Koosman saying he had nightmares about 'Bad Henry' before pitching in the series..Well i think Jerry had reasons to have nightmares because Bad Henry and Orlando Cepeda and other Braves all had some sucess hitting Tom and Jerry. The Braves also had sucess in game three against Gentry. In the film I own, the first highlight they show is Tommie Agee homering over the centerfield wall giving the Mets the early 1-0 lead. The next highlight shows Henry Aaron homering off Gentry over the center field wall giving the Braves the lead 2-1. The next highlight they show is Ken Boswell homering giving the Mets back the lead 3-2. The next highlight they show is Orlando Cepeda homering off Gentry giving the Braves back the lead 4-3. The next highlight they show is Wayne Garrett hitting a shot down the right field line. The camera is focused on the foul pole and the fans looking up. All of a sudden ..the ball clings off the pole and all the fans simultaneously raise their hands to cheer the three run homer. The camera then quickly switches to third base showing each runner as they round third base getting congradulated by Mets third base coach Eddie Yost. At the same time you can see 'Dave the Sign Man' holding up a sign that says.."Wheeeeeeeee"...The Mets took the lead 6-4 and never looked back thanks to Nolan Ryan closing the door and not allowing any further Braves to score. The last highlight shows the Shea Stadium scoreboard with all those zeros on the board since the fourth inning. That was an obvious reference to the praise of the job Ryan had done. The camera then zooms to the pitchers mound showing a confident Nolan Ryan getting ready to deliver another unhittable pitch. The Mets held a 7-4 lead in the ninth when Ryan got the last Brave to hit a weak groundball to short which resulted in a game ending series ending double play. Right after the out is recorded.. Confetti begins to reign down from Shea and you see fans raising fist (clutching the programs) in the air...It was amazing..

I also remember listening to Mets games via radio at school. My clearest memory was the last out of game five of the World Series. My friends and I were hiding with a radio listening to the last inning. Davey Johnson, future Mets manager, represented the tying run at the plate with two outs and one on base in the ninth inning. Koosman was still in the game having settled down after giving up early homers to starting pitcher Dave McNally and Frank Robinson. The Mets came back to tie the score with a 2 run Homer by Donn Clendenon in the sixth inning and a solo homer by Al Weis in the seventh. The Mets then took the lead with two runs in the 8th inning. (I know you know all this but I like to write about it because it helps regain the images in my mind) ,,We were all on pins and needles in the ninth inning as Dave Johnson stepped to the plate. I remember when Johnson hit the ball my first reaction was to freeze as the radio announcer said that the ball was hit well to left field..but then everything changed when the announcer said..Clean Jones is camped under it...That was it..I remember jumping up and down and was just completely beside myself in disbelief of what just happened..

It was the culmination of an incredible, once in a lifetime miracle year. All the memories of 1969 come back to me. Going to Fire Island Beach with my family during the summer weekends and always bringing the radio to listen to Mets games.. I remember bringing a radio with me to listen to Mets games while riding my bike to school to play handball or 'baseball' against the school building..all those wonderful memories...

Howie Rose used to broadcast a show on the radio called Mets Extra. He once put together a radio broadcast collage of Mets highlights of 1969. I think I remember hearing it when he played it during the Mets 20th anniversary of their miracle 69 championship.. It was amazing to hear some of the incredible plays that occured that year.. Somebody once said G-d must be a Mets fan.. It's hard to argue with that after hearing how the Mets won a game against the Pirates, I think, on just a fluke, on a one in a million chance happening. The ball hit the top of the left field fence and, instead of bouncing over the fense, incredibly it bounced back into the field and into the waiting arms of Cleon Jones who through a strike to the cutoff man who through a strike to homeplate catcher Jerry Grote who put a tag on a sliding runner just beating him to the plate. The Mets won that game. They also beat the Pirates in a double header that year by the identical 1-0 score. Incredibly, in both games the Mets starting pitchers, Don Cardwell and Jerry Koosman knocked in the only runs. Amazing.. How about the game that Ron Swoboda hit two, two-run homers off of St. Louis Cardinal pitcher Steve Carlton .. The Cubs must have been shaking their heads reading the headline the next day.. Carlton strikes out 19 Mets but Mets win 4-3....

Ah, the savoury pleasure of a fellow Metsaholic from back when! You might care to know that I am working on my first book and it will be about the 1962 Mets. (I was working on a book about the Cubs and the Red Sox until I started thinking about a magazine type piece commemorating the 40th anniversary, and people I showed a draft to said I just had to make a book about the original Amazin' Mets.)

By the way, the famous signmaker - he customarily sat in the box seats behind the third base dugout - was named Karl Ehrhardt, not Dave, and by trade he was a commercial artist. And he was even more magnificent in the World Series. I've never forgotten when Frank Robinson beefed over a close play in the infield (he was thrown out very tightly) and Ehrhardt whipped up one of his famously stylised signs: BACK TO YOUR NEST, BIRD! And throughout the entire Oriole ninth in the final game, he held a sign: BYE BYE BIRDIES! When Cleon Jones made the famous praying catch of Davey Johnson's fly to left, and the Mets had the Series nailed, up went a sign that said it all: THERE ARE NO WORDS. He was invited, in fact, to ride in one of the cars for the Mets' victory parade in Manhattan, and there he was, holding up a sign that said even more: THEY SAID IT COULDN'T BE DONE!

He was also prepared in the 1973 World Series, the day after the Mike Andrews contretemps, when Charley Finley tried throwing Andrews off the team for a couple of errors. The first Oakland error of the next game was greeted with YOU'RE FIRED!

Ehrhardt took a long time, however, to warm up to Ed Kranepool, who never really did live up to his earliest promise. For a long time, whenever Kranepool got a hit in a game, his typical greeting was BIG DEAL! In fact, it was Ehrhardt, in the early Polo Grounds days, who whipped up the famous sign that greeted the still-teenaged Kranepool in 1963, IS ED KRANEPOOL OVER THE HILL? But in Kranepool's later years, Ehrhardt began to like the man - possibly as Kranepool was transforming into one of the better pinch hitters in the National League (which he was for a few years), whipping up signs like KILLER KRANE and LOOPENARK THE GREAT.

Dave Kingman actually had Ehrhardt to thank for getting the nickname King Kong. When Kingman first joined the Mets in 1975, Ehrhardt was well prepared for Kingman's first downtown shot at Shea in a Met uniform (Kingman as a Giant had once smashed the Giants' team bus windshield with a homer - behind the bullpen) - sure enough, the first time Kingman went yard in Shea as a Met, there was the sign: KONG! and the nickname stuck. Kingman himself was a little squeamish about the nickname, at least until the annual Banner Day parade, when he discovered just how popular he actually was his first term with the Mets: two thirds of the banners referred to the big man, and at least half of them addressed him as "King Kong Kingman" or just "King Kong". Ehrhardt liked to greet Kingman as he approached the plate for a time at bat with THE KING OF SWING, a sign Kingman was said to have loved especially. (Kingman's troubles with the sporting press and his reputation as a mistanthrope didn't begin until after he was purged as part of the infamous Mets "Saturday Night Massacre" in 1977...)

Thought you might appreciate this, from the Mets' founding (foundling?) days...

Somebody once said G-d must be a Mets fan..

Actually, during the 1969 World Series, Sandy Koufax (then working as a baseball analyst for NBC's Game of the Week and part of the broadcast team for the World Series, with Curt Gowdy and Pee Wee Reese) asked Tom Seaver if it was true that G-d was a Met fan. "Well, Sandy, I don't know," Seaver replied, "but I think God has rented an apartment in New York someplace."

Somebody once said G-d must be a Mets fan..

Actually, during the 1969 World Series, Sandy Koufax (then working as a baseball analyst for NBC's Game of the Week and part of the broadcast team for the World Series, with Curt Gowdy and Pee Wee Reese) asked Tom Seaver if it was true that G-d was a Met fan. "Well, Sandy, I don't know," Seaver replied, "but I think G-d has rented an apartment in New York someplace."

That's wonderful stuff. By the way, I can watch both game three and game five of the 1969 World series at mlb.com website. They have lots of other classic games in their archive, including games from the Brooklyn Dodgers/New York Yankees 1952 series, game 6 of the 1975 series, game 6 of the 1986 series, game 1 of the 1988 series plus other world series and playoff games from the 60's,70's,80's,90's..2000 and 2001. I had to pay for the service. You are exactly correct Krl Ehrhardt raised his sign that said "back to your nest bird" after Robinson made out after earlier beefing about being hit by a pitch but not given first base. Robinson and Weaver beef for about five minutes. Robinson then heads into the bird lockeroom, probably because he wants everyone to think he really was hit with the pitch, before finally emerging from the dugout to resume his at bat. (One inning later comes the famous shoe polish on the baseball incident which awards Jones first base..needless to say..Earl Weaver is beside himself...next batter..Donn Clendenon hits the two run homer cutting the Bird lead to one run, 3-2.) You see it all while watching the game at mlb.com's video section. You also see Tony Kubeck in the stands finding all the luminaries to talk to during the game such as a young Joe Dimaggio and Pearl Bailey and lots of other stars.

Best on luck writing your 1962 Mets book. If you write that book like you post here in this thread it will be chock full with wonderful incites and stories and I'm sure it will get published and become a best seller!

I bet you know what Marv Thrownberry's middle initial was.. I don't know if it was Casey Stengell or Joan Payson who said it but somebody said Marv was born to be a Met!

Unfortunatley, I have no memories of the original 1962 Mets. I'm going to have to count on you to paint that picture for me. My first memory of the Mets was 1964. My dad took me to the first game ever played at Shea Stadium in April 64. I still have the program complete with Dad's scoring of the game. The cover of the program contained the words 'worlds fair' edition because the New York City Worlds Fair had also just opened in Flushing, New York. The program contained lots of information about the fair about Shea Stadium and how to travel from Shea to the Worlds fair and vice versa. That day Willie Stargell hit the first homerun ever at Shea stadium. Later that day Gil Hodges hit the first Mets homerun at Shea Stadium. The program had some other great features. It contained a story on rookie of the year Pete Rose and rookie of the year runner up Ron Hunt. I also remember the program listed all the pitchers from all the major league teams. As I looked down the list of Chicago White Sox pitchers I noticed the name D. Debuschere. I knew it had to be Dave Debuschere the future NBA hall of fame player with the Detroit Pistons and the New York Knicks.

I just saw the cover picture of the 1962 Mets yearbook that you linked to your post. For some reason it didn't show up the first time I read your post. Must be network problems. What a cover!! What memorabilia. It must be worth a heck of a lot of money today.

Actually, during the 1969 World Series, Sandy Koufax (then working as a baseball analyst for NBC's Game of the Week and part of the broadcast team for the World Series, You can see and hear Koufax along with Mickey Mantle in the pre game shows while watching the games at mlb.com. Before game three, Koufax talked about how dominant Koosman had been in game two in only giving up one run late. Mickey picked the birds to win game three..I was suprised because even though he was an American Leaguer, I figured he'd stick with the hometown team.

I couldn't watch game two because I was attending a Bar Mitsvah that day. I remember constantly running back and forth to where a radio was to get the game updates. Everybody wanted to know the score..lol

Delino DeShields for Pedro Martinez? Worst trade in history?

Somebody once said G-d must be a Mets fan.

Nah, 1969 was the year the Mets picked up St Christopher on waivers.

That was one heck of a pickup!! The lord do work in mysterious ways..

Delino DeShields for Pedro Martinez? Worst trade in history?

Over even Brock for Broglio? Not quite - not until the Red Sox ride Pedro to the pennant and the Series title. (No pennant or Series for the Sox with Pedro; three pennants and two Series titles for the Birdos with Brocko...)

I bet you know what Marv Thrownberry's middle initial was.. I don't know if it was Casey Stengell or Joan Payson who said it but somebody said Marv was born to be a Met!

Hey, ask me a tough one! ;) Marvin Eugene Throneberry...and it was neither Mr. Stengel or Mrs. Payson who first said Marvelous Marv was born to be a Met - it was Len Shecter, the maverick sportswriter later infamous for helping Jim Bouton write Ball Four...and who wrote his own charming book on the earliest Mets, Once Upon The Polo Grounds

Some of the more illustrious Original Mets:

Don Zimmer - Began the season as the Mets' designated regular third baseman. Made the first regular season fielding play in Met history by picking off a routine grounder and throwing it ten meters over first baseman Gil Hodges's head, allowing Bill White to stand safe on first, take third on a Stan Musial single, then score when Roger Craig picked Musial off without troubling to signal Hodges that a pickoff was on. (Hodges wasn't holding Musial - let's put it this way: Rickey Henderson has stolen more in a season than The Man stole in his career.) Zimmer in due course fell into an 0-for-34 slump, broke it with a smooth base hit, then got traded immediately to the Cincinnati Reds. The Wisenheimer Republic said the Mets wanted to get value for him while he was hot. No wonder he grew up to make Boston safe for Bucky (Bleeping) Dent.

Jim Marshall - Got booed lustily at the Mets' first-ever home game, after Gil Hodges was announced in the starting lineup but was a last minute scratch because of an injury. Got booed even though he whacked a double and scored the first Met run of the game. Prior to his first at-bat, Casey Stengel hailed him: "Blanchard! (He resembled Yankee reserve catcher/pinch hitter deluxe Johnny Blanchard.) Do you see them white lines? They are to hit the ball on. An' them fellers in the middle are called fielders."

Ray Daviault - Drafted out of the Giants organisation. Daviault earned an instant place in Met history during their first home game, vs. the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates won, 4-3, but only the first Pirate run scored on a batted ball. The other three scored on wild pitches. Daviault threw two of them; the second broke a 3-3 tie. The date was Friday the 13th, which probably says something, too. Later in the season, during a particularly trying day for Al Jackson, in which Jackson got five straight double play balls that became surreal Met errors, Stengel decided to relieve Jackson - but failed to tell Jackson. Jackson walked back out to the mound as the PA announced Ray Daviault as the new pitcher. Jackson threw up his hands and wailed, "Everybody here crazy!"

Frank Thomas - The Big Donkey was the Mets' leading home run hitter in 1962, with 34, a team record that stood until Dave Kingman broke it in 1975. The big beef: 33 of those dingers came with the bases empty. Was also famous for his habit of playing left field like a one man demolition crew whose special talent usually included plowing into either center fielder Richie Ashburn or shortstop Elio Chacon while chasing short flies to left.

Richie Ashburn - Actually hit .306 as a full-time Met. Was named the team's most valuable player. "Most valuable player on the worst team ever? Just what do they mean by that?" he quipped. He won a luxury cabin cruiser for the honour, and received it the same day Marvelous Marv Throneberry received his similar boat for hitting a circle on a Howard Clothes sign more than any of his mates. Not only did both men live anywhere but by the sea at the time, but Throneberry learned at season's end that he'd have to declare the full value of the boat on his income tax. Ashburn's fate was even crazier: when he moved to Philadelphia, to start his second career as the Phillies' broadcaster, he docked his boat on a nearby river - and the boat sank. His most memorable observation of his 1962 Mets: "I don't know what to call this. But I know I've never seen it before."

Harry Chiti - Catcher. Obtained from the Cleveland Indians for a player to be named later. One month later, he was the player named later in the deal. "Chiti," remembers George F. Will dourly, "was an ex-Cub."

Felix Mantilla - An expansion draftee from the Milwaukee Braves. A third baseman by trade, his special talent was a genius for going the wrong way on ground balls or line drives. If you saw him diving for third, you could know without seeing that the ball was going to the shortstop side - and vice versa.

Ed Bouchee - Once a Phillies phenom (Rookie of the Year runner up in 1958), Bouchee went through a series of mental problems and never became the player he promised to be, going to the Cubs and then to the Original Mets. Best remembered for playing first base one day, with Marv Throneberry in the outfield, and getting booed for a pair of bumbling errors, prompting Throneberry to quip, as they headed back to the dugout, "Hey, what are you trying to do, steal my fans?"

Bob Miller and Bob Miller - You're not seeing things: the Original Mets actually had two pitchers named Bob Miller. The lefthanded Bob Miller was a former Detroit bonus baby who'd been scouted by a Met official offering him a chance to get time in to qualify for a baseball pension. Designated as a relief pitcher, the lefthanded Bob Miller came in against the Milwaukee Braves. His first batter was Del Crandall. His first pitch got hit out of County Stadium. His next appearance was in Crosley Field, Cincinnati. Again, he came on in relief. Again, his first pitch got smashed over the fence. The righthanded Bob Miller was mostly a starter - famously, he answered in the bullpen to a call for "Nelson": Casey Stengel had the habit of calling Met broadcaster Lindsey Nelson "Miller," and it became a code between Stengel and the pitcher - and lost twelve straight before finally winning one at the end of the season.

Hobie Landrith - The first pick in the expansion draft that created the Mets and the Houston Colt .45s (later the Astros). "You hafta have a catcher," explained Casey Stengel, "or else you'll have a lot of passed balls." During an 11-9 loss to the Phillies, in their existence-opening nine game losing streak, the Mets had a catcher. Name: Hobie Landrith. He had two passed balls. On the other hand, he had a big hand in a surprising bullying the Mets put on the Braves in May, driving in the winning run in extra innings by walking with the bases loaded. Later was shipped to Baltimore to complete the deal which made Marv Throneberry a Met.

Evans Killeen - Obtained from the Kansas City Athletics organisation before the 1962 season began. Killeen was scheduled to start a spring training game. The morning of his start, he incurred a thumb injury and walked out of the lineup and, apparently, out of baseball entirely. "We never found out," remembered veteran New York baseball writer Jack Lang, "why he was shaving his thumb."

Great stuff!! I didn't want to ask you about the 62 Mets because I know I'll read it in your book but I love those short bios of some of the original Mets that you posted. Frank Thomas hitting 33 solo homers out of 34 has got to be some kind of record...And that bit about Don Zimmer getting traded because after he got 'hot' by getting his first hit in 34 at bats just so perfectly reflects the early Mets.. That was a classic.

By the way, didn't Richie Ashburn once say that he and Mantilla had a lot of fly balls drop between them because they couldn't understand each other. Mantilla spoke only spanish I believe. Therefore neither guy knew when the other guy was calling for the ball or calling the other guy to take it..lol

Was it Throneberry or Jimmy Piersall who ran around the bases backwards? I remember one funny Throneberry story. Yep..only one.. Throneberry had just hit a triple. A few moments later he was called out by the umpire for not touching second base. When Casey Stengell came out of the dugout to argue the call he was stopped by the Mets first base coach who apparantly told him not to bother because Marv hadn't touched first base either...to wit Casey replied..well, I know he touched third because he's standing on it..lol