[majordivit]

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

[BluesDuke]

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."