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....