‘89 Orioles, ’69 Mets Aren’t Same

There’s an old, self-effacing saying in newspapering to the effect you never let the facts get in the way of a good story. It pretty well fits a series of tales appearing in USA Today and other publications lately.

The headline stated, “ ’89 Orioles mimic N.Y.’s ’69 miracle.” It’s at least the fourth time parallels have been drawn between what is going on in Baltimore and the American League East this summer and in the Big Apple and the National League East 20 years ago.

Actually, next to nothing is the same except for the teams coming from well in the back of the pack. And their route to the front was in no way similar.

To begin with, the Birds began the season as a nameless, faceless bunch, which boded well for program sales at the ballpark if nothing else. For the most part, they were young, unknown and with no past performance chart, good or bad.

Heck, most of them hadn’t even been fingerprinted.

The so-called Miracle Mets were not that young a team, overall, except in the right place, pitching. Their blend wasn’t even very good as Manager Gil Hodges’ bench was too long of tooth and, in many cases, on its last legs.

But, oh that pitching! The lead three of Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Gary Gentry won 55, lost 28. The fourth starters were Don Cardwell and Jim McAndrew, who combined for 14 wins. Young Nolan Ryan (6-3) was learning how to pitch and, in the bullpen, Tug McGraw and Ron Taylor went 17-7 with 25 saves.

The way the staff came together that year, especially in the second half, stirred memories of the famed Cleveland Indians staff of 1954: Bob Lemon, Early Wynn and Mike Garcia during the week; Hal Newhouser and Bob Feller in the Sunday doubleheader; Ray Narleski and Don Mossi out of the ‘pen. Chalk up 111 victories, please.

Compare that to the lads wandering to the mound these evenings for the Yale Law School nine. Seaver won 25, a couple more than Mickey Weston, Dave Johnson, Kevin Hickey, Mark Thurmond, Brian Holton, Pete Harnisch, Jose Bautista and Mike Smith combined.

The Mets’ regular batting order was fairly skimpy, Cleon Jones and Tommy Agee being the only guys who produced consistently. Donn Clendenon off the bench and Art Shamsky, sharing right field with Ron Swoboda, popped one every so often, but the team mark of .242 trailed many in the Senior Circuit.

Most of the Mets were completing three years playing together and the likes of Clendenon, Al Weis, Ed Charles and J.C. Martin had been around for an age. For one toss of the dice, the combination was perfect for a team that had played decently the year before (73 wins).

In addition, the Mets hung close to the front until August when they found themselves just 4 1/2 games behind the Chicago Cubs, which was like not being headed at all. The Mets won 100 games and the division by eight games in a breeze.

Conversely, the Orioles have been in the lead since late May and, with four American League East teams within six games of each other in the AILC (All Important Loss Column), it’s far from likely the final six weeks are going to be a stroll in the park for anyone.

And another thing. Remember, 1969 was the first year of expansion and the unbalanced schedule. In their own lodge, New York had a very bad 52-110 Montreal Expos team to beat up on in an amusement park called Jarry, and the 63-99 Philadelphia Phillies were nearly as inept.

Frank Robinson has seen the Orioles-Mets stories and, being a stickler for detail, has politely referred to the circumstances as being distinctly dissimilar.

Let’s see, how about a parallel between the O’s and the Miracle Boston Braves of ‘14?