Miracle Mets Forced a City to Take Notice

How big was it?

The staid New York Times put it atop its front news page, under a four-column headline:

Mets Win, 5-3, Take the Series,

And a Grateful City Goes Wild

Eight years after their creation as an expansion team, the Mets’ years of playing the comical losers were over. Starting in 1962, the Mets had finished last four straight times. After they finished ninth in 1968, Las Vegas bookies were offering 100-1 odds on the Mets winning the ’69 World Series.

Unbelievably, they not only won it, they beat Baltimore in five games. And in the fifth game, they spotted the Orioles three runs in the third inning, when pitcher Dave McNally and Frank Robinson hit home runs off Jerry Koosman.

The hero this day was Ron Swoboda, whose double down the left-field line in the eighth inning scored Cleon Jones for a 4-3 lead. Swoboda scored to make it 5-3 when the Orioles committed two errors on one play.

The final out was registered by Davey Johnson, who flied out to Jones in center field, touching off a wild demonstration that stretched from Shea Stadium to midtown Manhattan.

In minutes, the confetti was ankle-deep on Wall Street, and police at Shea were hard-pressed to restore order. A Madison Avenue bus driver announced to all: “Everyone rides free!”

For a moment, some forgot Game 3 hero Tommy Agee, who hit a first-inning home run and made two spectacular plays in center field that gave the Mets a 2-1 lead in the Series.

The Mets had reached the summit 10 days after winning the National League pennant in a three-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves, 22 days after winning the NL East title and eight years after they had gone into business under the stewardship of Casey Stengel.

The big party was summed up best by the famed violinist, Isaac Stern, who said:

“If the Mets can win the Series, anything can happen--even peace.”

Also on this date: In 1954, UCLA’s football team beat Stanford, 72-0. . . . In 1968, at Mexico City, U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos triggered a lasting controversy when they raised gloved fists during the medal ceremony for the 200 meters.