After the Mets had gone through some lean years since the start of their existence, they started to give me a ray of hope once the latter part of the 60’s arrived.

Tom Seaver was established as their ace and he got help from the stylish lefty Jerry Koosman. Seaver, who arrived in the majors in 1967, won sixteen games and was the Rookie of Year that season and Koosman went 0-2, but showed promise. The Mets finished 61-101, but they appeared to be heading in the right direction.

In 1968, the Mets showed some improvement when they went 73-89, and they appeared to have two aces, Seaver, who again won 16 games, and Koosman, who would win 19 games of his own. Also, Nolan Ryan, who was 21-10 in his three seasons in the minors, came up in ’68 was becoming a factor despite problems with his control, even though we were told he probably had the best stuff on the staff.

Before 1969, there was no indication that the Mets were going to win 100 games, but I felt that they had a chance to be a .500 team. Little did I know that ’69 would be a special year with Seaver winning 25 games, Koosman with 17 wins, and Gary Gentry, in his rookie year would win 13 games.

Left Fielder Cleon Jones hit .340 that year, with 12 home runs and 75 RBI’s and he and first baseman Art Shamsky were the only .300 hitters on the at team. They did have an excellent center fielder in Tommie Agee, who won many games with his glove and clutch hitting. Agee actually led the team with 26 homes runs and 76 RBIs.

The rest of the team was average, but they won with a lot of grit and determination.

Tug McGraw was the leader along with Ron Taylor, and both anchored the bullpen. McGraw, who appeared in 42 games, was 9-3, with a 2.24 ERA and 12 saves and Taylor, appeared in 59 games, and was 9-4, with a 2.72 ERA and 13 saves. McGraw would also become a leader on the 1973 team that won the NL championship, but that’s another story.

My favorite player, Ed Kranepool, did not have a very good season. he only batted .238, but he did launch 11 home runs and drove in 49 runs to help in the sudden transformation of a losing team to a winner. Kranepool played all of his 18 years in baseball with the club from Queens, hitting 118 home runs, tenth all-time on the Mets, and was a lifetime .261 hitter.

The manager, Gil Hodges, guided the team for 4 seasons from 1968-1971, compiling a 339-309 won-lost record. He died on April 2nd, 1972, just before the season was to begin. But he was a staple in an organization that showed all of us fans the true meaning of a Cinderella story and how a team could go from last to first in just one year.

It appeared that every game in 1969, the Mets had a new hero and because of their winning ways, the team won the hearts of all us New Yorkers, especially those who had looked at the Mets as a bunch of losers their first seven years of existence. So to all, the winning was a surprise, but a good one at that.

In the middle of the season they put together an 11 game win streak, which gave the city and the team confidence that maybe this team was for real and 1969 would be a very special season.

The Mets would beat the Atlanta Braves in three straight games and went on to defeat the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series in five games. Agee was a standout in the World Series, winning one game with two great catches. What an amazing turnaround and end to a great season.

This team finally turned me into a true fanatic of the sport and I would continue to follow them during the many years to come.