I'm 56 years old I'm watching Tom hug Cleon AND I'm crying. Wow. The kid in you is ALWAYS there. My whole room was filled with Tom Seaver posters til I discovered girls. Then half was Farrah Fawcett Majors and half was Tom Terrific.
I have to agree. In spring training you could take a look at their pitching and bullpen and realize that standout talent was there, but to improve by 27 wins from 68 to 69 and win the WS? And to top it off, the team they beat in the WS was a juggernaut. No words can do this event justice.
I was in 4th grade in 1969 in Brooklyn, NY at PS21. Several "well-behaved" children (I was one of them) were allowed to go to a nearby classroom with a black and white TV to watch the final two innings of game 5. It was really exciting!!!
I was a 5th grader who did not watch with my classmates on the black and white set, but listened on my mother's car radio. I became a fan of this team and looked forward to watching every game on Channel 9-8:00 p.m. I also remember many of the key players of this team being traded, Gil Hodges' sudden death, and Ed. Kranepool speaking to us at my high school in Woodside, circa 1975. We asked him some hard questions about the state of the team. Back then, the players lived in the community and were very unassuming and approachable.
I too lived in Brooklyn attending the 6th grade at PS 253 in the Brighton Beach and racing home to see the final few innings and screaming my lungs out after Cleon caught the final out, is something I will never forget and neither will any of us! Sadly, we lost a number of members of the 1969 Team including Seaver and Hodges but the legacy and memories of the 1969 season will live on FOREVER!
Rest In Peace Tom Seaver, you were the greatest Mets pitcher that I wasn’t able to witness in the stands but your legacy meant so much to us Mets fans! #41 Forever 💙🧡💙🧡💙🧡💙🧡
I was in 6th grade in 1969 in Ridgewood, Queens at PS81. My homeroom teacher, Mrs. McRae, would send notes to me in my other classes giving me updates on the World Series. Great memories.
I remember that day as though it were yesterday. I got home from school in time to catch the last out on TV, then was late for a drum lesson because I just HAD to watch the postgame celebration. That was when all World Series games were played during the day.
Whenever "EXPERTS" tell you that something is IMPOSSIBLE: Always remember the 1969 "Miracle Mets"! When you give your best efforts in life, the world turns in your favor.
Here are some interesting parallels between the '69 and '86 WS wins. The MVP of each series wore number 22, Clendenon in '69 and Ray Knight in '86. The last out for the teams that lost to the Mets were both second basemen, Davey Johnson in '69 and Marty Barrett of the Dead Sox in '86. The pitchers on the mound for the Mets were both southpaws, and Koosman was later traded for a player to be named later. That player turned out to be Jesse Orosco who was the relief pitcher on the mound when the Mets won in '86.
+vccstudents Davey Johnson made the final out in '69 for the Orioles to give the Mets the '69 championship. He later coached the Mets in 1986 to their 2nd championship. Creepy!!!
Earth Ruler That's why I used to joke and say the Mets should have hired Marty Barrett to be the manager in '03, seventeen years after the '86 World Series.
Just made it home in time for top of 9th. Was in 4th grade. Remember I was scared ball Johnson hit was going to be gone but when I saw Cleon settling under it I knew it was over. Still get thrills watching it.
I honestly believe that no team prior or since has done more to confound the experts than the 69 Mets. Christ, they probably even confounded themselves. Looking back, it's obvious the team had greatGREAT pitching and a solid bullpen, but they had been an 8th place team in 68 and were 9 1/2 back on August 11th. Excepting the US Olympic Hockey Team's Miracle on Ice in 1980, this outcome may very well be the most improbable in sports history.
And other irony, the man on the mound for the 1969 clincher - Jerry Koosman - was eventually traded for the man on the mound for the 1986 clincher - Jesse Orosco.
It is an ironic twist of fate that Davey Johnson, who made the last out AGAINST the Mets in this 1969 Fall Classic, would go on to MANAGE the Mets to their 2nd World Series title 17 years later..... :-)
This may be the most inspiring event in the history of MLB. I don't think any event in baseball has ever appeared to be as biblical in nature as this one. Not even the Sox coming back from 0-3 to beat the Yanks in 2004. The Mets were a good team who beat the BEST team in Baltimore. But what prior to this season could have made anyone think something like this had any chance of occurring in October of 1969? Even the biggest optimist never would have predicted this. A moment that is timeless and beautiful.
Tom Seaver and Cleon Jones and, at the end, Tommy Agee! The BOBOs! Just shows the closeness of this team that allowed them to have their first winning season ever in 1969 and win the World Series!
Just found out Tom Seaver is suffering from dementia. I was so lucky to find this. Watching him being interviewed, brought tears to my eyes. He is my hero. May he find peace and happiness in his vineyard.
I was a little young at the time, I remember the magic of Curt Gowdy and Tony Kubek doing these games. great memories with Joan Payson, John Lindsay and Lindsey Nelson. I miss oldtime baseball.
The elderly gentleman in the Mets clubhouse at the 6:45 mark was Mets co-owner George Herbert Walker. In case you were wondering, his nephew and great-nephew were later presidents of the U.S.
And he was my favorite pitcher. I started following baseball full-time the prior season as a 6-year-old who was insecure about being left-handed. I remember when he won his 19th game. I was in the car with my mom and I started bouncing up and down on the seat. I also remember being annoyed in the years that followed because my father took me to only game per year, and it always seemed to be one that Tom Seaver started. I wanted to see my idol, but little did I know...
I never noticed it before but there's a definite facial resemblance between Donn Clendenon and Dwight Gooden.Not twins or anything but definitely similar.
Congratulations to Gil and his family for finally and posthumously getting into the HOF this year! Hope the Mets can win the 2022 World Series for Gil this year!
6:20 Even the National League brass couldn't contain their excitement for the Mets. No PR or sugar-coating here: "Greatest thing that's happened to baseball!"
I remember being in the 8th grade in a Public School in NYC and at the time i didn't follow baseball and they was playing it on the PA system in the school i had to ask my classmates what was going on and they told me that the Mets is about to win the 1969 World Series like i knew what that meant lol, everyone in the class room was going crazy so i joined in later on that year i realize what it was all about, i remember hearing the name Cleon Jones on the PA system that name stuck with me now here we are getting ready to go into the Pennant against the Chicago Cubs, GO METS GO.
Oh man, talk about a major league bummer. I sometimes wonder if Johnny Murphy's sudden death was a bad omen for what would eventually happen to the Mets? The reason I'm asking this is because I just found out on this site that then-Shea Stadium PA announcer Jack Lightcap was diagnosed with cancer shortly before the start of the 1970 season. He was able to announce the Mets home opener that year but he died a short time later -- and then two years later (April 2, 1972 -- this was Easter Sunday) manager Gil Hodges suffered a fatal heart attack after golfing in West Palm Beach, FL. ;^(
1969 might have been the highlight of legendary Broadcaster Curt Gowdy career. First the Jets shocking SBIII win in January. Then this. Talk about being lucky to be the lead TV broadcaster in arguably 2 of the biggest pro sports upsets ever not only in North American sports history but anywhere anytime period.
Seaver carried the Mets all year. Koosman picked him up in the series. A great team effort by a great team. I was a 10 year kid from Queens and the Mets were as they say a "dream come true" for me.
How ironiic! The Future Manager of the Mets next World Series Championship would be the Final Batter that stood between the Mets and the 1969 World Series.
I remember this as though it were yesterday. I got home from school in time to catch the last out of the Series, then was late for a drum lesson because I just had to watch the postgame show. New York went absolutely bananas.
What a contrast between the 1969 last out and the 1986 last out--the fans were able to get on the field and tear up the place. In 1986, no one dared try it.
Probably the least likely of any team that ever won a World Series. Nobody certainly saw this coming in spring training of 69'. Just goes to show that miracles do happen.
1969: What a year! The Miracle Mets, and then the OTHER miracle NY team: The Jets! Broadway Joe Namath with the guarantee! Both team huge underdogs! And the final miracle: Man walking on the moon! What a freakin' year that was. No wonder Bryan Adams wrote a song about 1969! :)
Amazing because the Mets franchise before 1969 had never won more than 70 games in a season. In 1969, the Mets were 9 1/2 games out of first in mid August. They also had a won loss record of only 62-51. Then... they went on an incredible 38-11 run to close out the season, and of course 7-1 in the LCS & World Series. Not even the Mets players themselves saw it coming.
This is why I say Marty Barrett should manage the Mets now! He was the last out of the '86 World Series! :) In other ironies, Barrett, like Johnson, also PLAYED SECOND, AND Ray Knight, the MVP in the '86 Series, wore number 22 as did Donn Clendenon, the '69 Series MVP!
No doubt this is the top 2 or 3 world series upset. However a much biggest world series upset ever IMO is the 1988 Dodgers winning it. No Hall of Fame Players (mets would end up with 2 HOF players)and only a hall of fame skipper in Tommy L. That is the still maybe the biggest shocking upset in the fall classic.
@@americangiant1003 The '88 Dodgers won for the same reason the '69 Miracle Amazin' Mets won: pitching. Orel Herschiser had one of the greatest WS performances, just like Koosman did in '69 WS. Some people think that the number of future HOF'ers on a winning WS team is a fact; i, however, think it's a spurious correlation. Look at the 1990 WS champs Reds managed by Lou Piniella. They were hungry rookies. And were out to prove something. And when you play with that kind of motivation you'll beat any team, even the teams that start 9 future HOFer's.
the years the mets won brought people together, look at the way they hug each other. remember 1968 martin Luther king was killed and US was going crazy with race riots AMAZING YES AMAZING
You can argue for the triple crown and Secretariat in 1973 as well I guess... there are so many others... but the Mets' Impossible Dream of 69' ranks right up there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@@charleslegoff1586 No. The Post Game Reporter was then lead Mets Announcer Lindsay Nielsen. During the Fall Lindsay was also a very well known NFL and College Football Announcer as well.
They were in a commercial break. This is the truck feed which is why you can see the cameras during the time people at home would see the commercial break. The truck feed is why games 3-5 are the earliest World Series broadcasts preserved in color!
I have a baseball signed by EVERYONE on that 69 team. oh yeaaaaaah. That announcer must have been an Oriole announcer 'cause he had no excitement in his voice....
I like to think that today they should let us rush the field, but then again, it was a pretty ugly idea in 1969 anyways. It's probably best we leave it as a memory.
