How Is This for a Comparison: Mets of Old and Orioles Anew

Comparisons like these -- one team from 1969, the other from 1989 -- are hokey to begin with. So much can happen in 20 years. So many changes. Twenty years ago, for example, The Who was still a touring rock band.

But let’s suppose you sense a similarity between the 1969 Mets and these 1989 Orioles. Not that you automatically would -- Frank Robinson, just to pull a name out of thin air, doesn’t. “I can’t talk about the ’69 Mets. I only saw them five ballgames,” Robinson deadpanned, remembering the outrageous undressing of his Orioles in that World Series. But for the sake of argument, apart from the obvious -- that both teams were 200-1 shots going into the season -- what basis would there be for the comparison?

Not pitching. The Mets starters were awesome, rotating Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Gary Gentry and Don Cardwell, and spotting Nolan Ryan and Jim McAndrew. Together, Seaver (2.21 ERA) and Koosman (2.28) were 42-16 with 34 complete games and 11 shutouts; the full staff had 28 shutouts, most in the last 20 years. The Orioles starters are underwhelming; indeed, their acknowledged ace, Jeff Ballard, has looked like a candidate for Class AAA the last month and a half. It’s the bullpen, most prominently Gregg Olson and Mark Williamson (who’ve had a hand in 41 of the 53 victories) that’s keeping their powder dry.

Not fielding. Notwithstanding spectacular World Series catches by Ron Swoboda and Tommie Agee, the Mets, with 122 errors, were an average defensive team. The Orioles are brilliant. More than halfway through the season they’ve made 48 errors, and are threatening the record low yield of 84.

Not hitting. The Mets hit .242, third least in the National League. The Orioles are batting .262, and lead the American League in runs per game. The Mets poked a measly 109 home runs. The Orioles already have 79.

So why compare them?

Because it’s the same story.

Because in spirit, they’re twins.

“We weren’t expected to win,” Ed Kranepool recalled. “But we kept winning, winning, winning. One day we were the laughingstock of the league, and the next day we were champions.”

The Amazing Mets.

The Inexplicable O’s.

Both the Mets and Orioles were chock full of kids -- average age 27 -- and bereft of big stars. The Orioles have Cal Ripken Jr. That’s one more than the Mets had. Kranepool had already been around forever, but was no great shakes. Seaver and Koosman had yet to win 20.

Both teams got vital, even startling offensive contributions from unexpected sources. The Mets got a career year from Cleon Jones, who hit .340, 59 points above his average. The Orioles already have 21 homers and 53 RBI from Mickey Tettleton, who’d never done better than 11 and 37.

Unacclaimed hitters like Agee, Jerry Grote, Ken Boswell and Art Shamsky had their most productive seasons in 1969. Players who’d soon fade from sight, journeymen like Al Weis, J.C. Martin, Wayne Garrett and Bobby Pfeil, banged timely hits. It’s too soon to know what kind of careers Steve Finley, Randy Milligan, Brady Anderson and Mike Devereaux will have, but the analogy breathes for the moment.

The overriding thing that links these teams is the pervasive sense that they’re in the midst of doing something extraordinary, something mythical. As the Mets did then, the Orioles go onto the field every game thinking they can win. They’ve beaten Clemens, Viola, Ryan and Stewart. Who’d have thunk it? “Maybe it’s the attitude that’s so similar,” said Al Jackson, who’s in the impossibly coincidental position of being the ’89 Orioles’ pitching coach and having pitched briefly for the ’69 Mets. Pieces fall into place. A manager proves his player was hit by a pitch by showing an umpire the shoe polish scuff on the ball; a phantom home run wins a game; a ground rule double sends the tying run back to third. The cavalry arrives in the nick of time. The Mets got Donn Clendenon from Montreal in midseason. The Orioles have dialed Rochester for emergency pitching patchwork, and Jay Tibbs, Mike Smith, Mickey Weston and Mark Huismann are 8-0 with two saves.

In 1969, there was a regular who sat on the third base side of Shea, holding up his hand-painted signs. One said, “God Is Alive And Living In Queens.” It’s 20 years. Maybe He’s renting in Baltimore.

It’s not an exact parallel. After chasing the Cubs all summer, the Mets finally touched first place on Sept. 10; the Orioles have camped there the last 54 straight days. As rude as the Mets were in 1968, finishing 16 under .500, the 1988 Orioles were lead weights, sinking 53 under. But the essence and the spirit of the turnarounds are the same. It’s the American Dream, the preoccupation with longshots.

The signature game for the Mets came on Sept. 15. The Cardinals’ Steve Carlton struck out 19 of them, a record then -- and Swoboda hit two two-run dingers to beat him, 4-3. From that point on only a fool would disbelieve. If the Orioles go on to win the pennant, last weekend’s back-to-back, Deavereaux-Tettleton, fair-or-foul cardiac comebacks against the Angels will be their signature games.

Not that everybody’s a believer. Skeptics abound. Were Robinson managing another AL club he might add his voice to the herd. “I’ve been in positions like this before,” Robinson explained, “watching an unexpected team jump out. And I’ve said, ‘I’m glad they’re out there, and not so and so. They’re going to come back to the pack.’ But I’ll tell you what. After a point you’d better step back and reconsider. Those guys aren’t going to quit. They’re not going to come back to us. We’ve got to catch them.” Robinson leaned back comfortably in his soft leather chair. “California left here and said, ‘Their pitching won’t hold up. It won’t last through September.’ Maybe so. But I’m glad they’re taking that attitude.” His eyes half-closed, a serene smile on his lips, Robinson said with a lilt, “Look up in September and we may not need that pitching.”