What a great World Series for Tommie Agee in centerfield. That year the Mets made incredible plays in the outfield. The entire year ! I do Love how Jerry Grote waited for Tommy Agee to come in at the end of the game. He was a great catcher and a great teammate. Cleon Jones made a sliding catch in the rain in San Diego and to an 11 year old kid l thought he slid for 20 yards in the wet grass. It was awesome ! This '69 series Agee was fantastic. We saw him here in this video in the 7th inning off Paul Blair, saving at least 2 maybe more runs. I think he made 3 great catches and of course that Ron Swoboda catch to preserve a Seaver one run lead was incredible. The Mets defense won that Series.
How wonderful! Brought back so many wonderful memories. Really impressed too by how bad the Oriole hitters looked on so many of their swings. And these guys were among the best hitters in the game. Only Nolan Ryan could make such top professionals look like they are just flailing away.
Don't let it get you too crazy. Lol Nolan Ryan needed a different environment for him to thrive, the Mets pitching staff was just too crowded with talent at that time. And, the Mets as an organization (even til this day) are hard pressed to identify, develop and retain certain types of talented players -- it's part of their DNA sadly.
@Old Time Radio & Silver Screen Presentations He pitched 27 years and was still throwing smoke. Not quite 100, but hey, he was 46 years old. That's because he was taught the drop and drive method of pitching all those Mets pitchers of that era used for long careers. Seaver and Koosman too. No arm injuries because they pitched primarily with their lower bodies.
I lived in Chicago, was 12 yrs old & after the Mets disposed of the Cubs I went full in on the Mets. It was magical but my first series was 68, loved Bob Gibson as a kid.
Yeah, that changed the momentum of game 5. The O’s were leading up to that point. The players sensed the change. The fans sensed the change. And I sensed a change watching the game on television.
Don't forget Al Weis .215 career average, hit .455 in that series. 3 RBI's and 1 run scored. If not for Clendenon Weis would have been MVP. Talk about destiny!
The Orioles( american league) never saw THAT kind of heat before. Looking back, WHAT WERE THE METS THINKING TRADING HIM AWAY!? My Man, Mr Gerald Wayne Grote caught Nolan's lightning bolts with one hand, and flicked the ball back to Nolan in one swift motion from his crouched position. Ryan and Grote, two TOUGH TEXANS you wouldn't want to mess with! Grote caught every inning and every pitch, of both the 1969 and 1973 world series. The raw Guts Of the Met's success and pitching: Gerald Wayne Grote!
Hey Doc Grote was the man. I remember if a batter hit a home run Grote would stay crouched behind the plate let the player finish his rounding the bases and stay exactly that way till the next batter came up. He was as good defensively as Bench or Fisk and called a great game which is 2 out of the 3 things a catcher must do and not a bad hitter. RIP # 15.
Back in the day when the games all started in the afternoon. I was 11 and I remember sitting in class watching the clock, counting the minutes until the end of the day and I could get home and watch the game with my dad. I remember all the baseball cards my brother and I had and I definitely remember Nolan Ryan's rookie card among them. I think the earliest World Series that I definitely remember was St. Louis and Detroit in '68. Baseball certainly meant much more to me as a kid than it does now, that's for sure.
So many Hall of Famers involved in this WS from both teams. Obviously, Gil Hodges knew what Nolan was capable of and had confidence in him. No doubt Gil would have been proud of how Nolan’s career later turned out all the way through 1993.
@@jamesdavis6036 I respectfully disagree. Bob Schiefing was Mets GM at the time. Ryan was not happy in New York and that impacted his on field performance. He had great stuff but was still wild and walked a lot of batters. Mets gave up on him too soon, even though Ryan would say he was more comfortable in Anaheim with the Angels. Hodges as a manager saw what Nolan Ryan was capable of and had Congo in him in that World Series game, deciding to go with Ryan instead of Tug McGraw, as both were warmed up and ready to pitch. The NYM back then made some serious bonehead decisions. Trading away Nolan Ryan the worst one. Also trading away Amos Otis. Trading away prospect Paul Blair. Trading away Ken Singleton. Failing to draft Reggie Jackson with overall Number One pick (remember the immortal Steve Chilcott). Total incompetence. However, trading away Nolan Ryan did lead to Ryan’s personal success (He remains today my favorite baseball player of all time). Grew up following his career and saw him pitch live many times. The pop in catcher’s mitt when his fastball hit is still etched in my memory! 👍
@@mattdon2164 You are correct with most of what you said. I lived through that era as you did. Don't get me wrong, Gil Hodges to me was one of the best manages ever. If he didn't die on that golf course at age 47, he would of had a dynasty with that 1980's Met team. Having said that, he was short sighted along with, as you said the GM when it came to Ryan. He was wild so that was their reason for trading him. You talk about the Mets being incompetent. That's an understatement. The worst franchise in MLB from 1962 till today. You were 100% right about those other trades. They also traded Tug Mcgraw. They hired two clown managers that were both fired from the Yankees. Berra & Stengal. Berra cost the Mets the 73 series by not starting a 14-3 George Stone in game 6. Instead he puts Seaver in on 3 games rest. Then he does the same thing in game 7 by putting Jon Matlock in on 3 games rest. The Mets traded Seaver twice & dishonored he & his family when they commemorated his statue at Citi Field. Anyway, Nolan Ryan was an amazing human being. They should study his anatomy to find out why he was so strong for so long. Having said that, Ryan was basically a .500 pitcher. Tom Seaver was better in almost every statistic. Seaver pitched for a terrible Mets team that had a combined b/a of .240 for his 11 years. He still won 200 games with them. Seaver should of won 5 Cy Youngs. He was robbed in 1971 & 1981 when he placed 2nd, where the competition wasn't even close. Ryans lifetime era was 3.20 with a .526 win % to Seavers 2.78 era with a win % of .615. That's not even close. My friends & I would go to Shea when The Franchise took the mound. He threw 100 MPH the entire game. That pop you talked about when the ball hit the catchers glove was distinctive. Henry Aaron also said Seaver threw a hundred the entire game.
@@jamesdavis6036 Yes, living through that era was both fun at times but mostly frustrating. Tom Terrific was also a player that I looked up to. My Dad and I went to many games he pitched at Shea. We also went to Tom Seaver Day in the Summer of 1988, which was bittersweet. We also went that September night in 1976 when Jerry Koosman won his 20th game against St. Louis which had a young first baseman named Keith Hernandez. Yes, George Stone should have pitched Game 6 in the 1973 WS. That series loss hurts still today. The Tug McGraw trade to Philly also hurt. M Donald Grant basically dismantled the team. The Midnight Massacre in June 1977 also was disheartening. I recall in 1980 the Texas Rangers came to play the Yankees. Starting pitcher named Jon Matlack, Shortstop Bud Harrelson and DH named Rusty Staub. The whole disrespect of Tom Seaver was disgusting and disgraceful. Having Dick Young attack him in his columns in exchange for his loser nephew working for the Mets was really bad. Yes, Tom Seaver would have won more games on a different team or if the Mets had a stronger hitting lineup. What can I say? It is fifty years later, Tom Terrific has passed on and the Mets continue to be mostly hapless with the exception of two world championships. It should have been better.
That last breaking ball would freeze a lot of people, it happened to me last week in my sandlot game. Awesome. Some people say the old timers didn't throw fast. That is just nonsense. This video is priceless. Great job posting this.
It flowed like a ballet. Average length of a game then, 1:50. Now if you were gonna torture me, you'd tie me up in a chair & force me to watch today's baseball. All so we can watch commercials, commercials & more commercials. They ruined America's Pastime!
@@jamesdavis6036 Did you know a big reason games or longer is because the breaks between each have fitting on much longer than they used to be for a commercials. I miss the little ball, today it’s either a strike out or a home run, I loved bunting stolen bases hit and runs, but then again I’m very very very old
That catch by Agee was harder than he made it look, considering the gusty winds that day. ..And that kid from Alvin, Texas. ended up having a pretty good career.
At this time in his life/career, his goal was to play only five years so that he could earn his pension then go to school. It’s difficult to imagine baseball if he only played five years.
It’s crazy how much better he was able to get after leaving Mets. With the combo of him not pitching a lot and not having the right guidance / coaching, he never was able to reach his full potential. Until that is he went to the Angels… and then happily ever after till the end of his legendary career
The Mets developed Tom Seaver Jon Matlack and Jerry Koosman. Ryan was young and immature as a pitcher. Listen to the broadcast they talk about him in the process of developing breaking pitches. He just needed seasoning. Just like a young Koufax.
Most disastrous trade in Met history - Ryan for Fregosi. And to think I had his rookie card and gave it away with all of my other baseball cards to my next door neighbor when we moved from NJ to Connecticut. I still kick myself for that! You look at the 1969 world champion team photo and you see Seaver, Koosman, Ryan and McGraw. One can only imagine what might have been had they stayed on the same staff.
Worst trade in all of base ball (two words) history. Did you ever see or hear Ryan's quote that the Angels taught him how to pitch, that he was not improving with the Mets pitching coach, Tom Morgan. Ryan got his first exposure to a coach who could actually teach him how to be a complete pitcher. Angels pitching coach Tom Morgan broke down and overhauled Ryan’s delivery, taught him how to throw a sharp breaking curveball, and provided the moral support the young right-hander had never received with the Mets. He also started lifting weights in Anaheim, in secret so the manager would not get mad (they didnt lift back then). Search for SABR and "Nolan Ryan" and read a great biography.
@@iamhungey12345 He did go to management in midseason and asked to be traded. The I read that he never wanted to be traded and felt betrayed when the Mets traded him. What compounded his inconsistency in '71 was the fact that Ryan was fulfilling his reserve military obligation, as were many other players at the time. Ryan's unit was upgraded to top priority, which meant he was commuting back and forth to Houston every other week. It's not easy to develop any sort of rhythm under such circumstances. By the time the Mets traded him, Ryan's military obligation was over and he was able to focus on pitching once he joined the Angels.
@@8avexp Yeah it gets tricky when come to that as you still have to keep in mind the guy initially forced the Mets hand on this, it's not like they were going to forget that. Also still there's the factor in coaching as well. Plus keep in mind even with the Angels his control problems were there, just that they generally gets overshadowed by the strikeouts he had so you can't pretend that his control problems disappeared because they didn't. It wasn't until the 1980s where he became more of a pitcher as the rate of bases on balls gets cut down. The main issue would have been that they chose to get Fregosi for him, the guy was coming off an injury plagued season which would normally be a red flag right there. Guess the Mets were gambling on this. Also there's the fact that Fregosi was a shortstop and the Mets moved him to third.
@@c.a.g.3130 Will you join me in a grass roots movement to have Dave Kingman be a Hall Of Famer? He was the greatest right handed ower hitter for ten years....let's stop the injustice!
Have been a Met fan since 1967. In 1993 went to the Rangers-Twins series in Arlington as the Sunday game was Nolan Ryan day and a ceremony after that included his catchers and was so happy that Jerry Grote was one of them. After the game I lingered taking photos as this was the last season at Arlington Stadium. Then I see several people moving towards me and it was one of the owners George Bush. I walked over shook hands and George says did you enjoy the game? I said I sure did and came a long way to be here. George said where are you from? I said New York and I’ve been a Nolan Ryan fan since he played for us. Then with his next response Bush lost my votes 7 and 11 years in the future as he said “Thats right he started his career with the Yankees!” I thought this man is one of the owners and he doesn’t know that his best pitcher started his career with the New York Mets? He was gracious and ended our conversation with “Glad you had a great time and you’ll have to come again next year when we open the new stadium.”
Ryan himself has said that the curve ball he threw to Blair for the last out of the game was the best curve ball he ever served up. It just froze Blair.
The Mets had an over abundance of great young pitchers at that time. No one could envision he would go on to become a hall of famer. Hindsight is always 20/20
@@philipgior3312 Plus Ryan wanted out and even threatened to quit at one point. Don't know if the Mets could have tried to work things out between them but it's what it is.
13 years old, cut school with all my friends took the subway to Shea for games 3,4 and 5, great time to be a Mets fan. Too bad they gave up on Nolan Ryan. Would have been something special to see him play his career with the Mets.
The Mets should have kept Nolan Ryan and never traded for him. Even though they say he was young and was erratic with some pitches. He turned out to be a Hall Of Famer.
Frank Thomas is one of the better RH hitters ever, but very much an off speed hitter, opposite the typical power hitter. With serious gas you could make him look bad. So facing Ryan he was 0-12 with 11 strikeouts.
@@loyaldude10 ok....please name the other pitchers who have 5 No-hitters.....6 No-hitters....7-No-hitters...I'll wait.......NOBODY but The Ryan Express. 324 Wins, 5714 Ks, 7 NoNos.... Wake up!!!
Nolan could be downright spectacular; hence the 7 no hitters. but also look at his somewhat mediocre W_L record, and the number of walks he gave up. Great, but def not the GOAT
@@loyaldude10 Deffinetly one of the most exciting performers this game has seen.....back in the late 80's early 90's............HE WAS THE VERY DIFFINITION OF MUST WATCH TV!
Orioles had to be blown away, seeing that fast ball and a few decent curves. Plus, Ryan was wild and was not afraid to pitch inside when he dumped Boog Powell on his ass. Will go down as one of the most disappointing teams ever.
He came up and in on a handful of batters and you know what all of them said? Nothing! Also, love the umpire's final K call and then he's off - end of the day! 8:00
Actually Doc Ellis’s is the most feared pitcher of all time. Just ask Dave Parker. Ellis used to pitch high all the time and was the biggest asshole in the game. At least Nolan Ryan and Bob Gibson were nice guys
*Nolan Ryan was ALL BUSINESS* If he didn't get the call, he didn't care & then mowed down the hapless hitter on the next pitch. *Check it out at **3:15** CLASSIC Nolan Ryan*
back then nolan puts boog down in the dirt boog gets up like nothing happened.no charging the mound..also no watching your homerun..game was way better back then
2 Tommy Agee catches & the Ron Swoboda catch difference between winning & losing the WS for the Orioles. Agee not only prevented 5 runs scored but the 2 base runners (Hendricks & Blair) that would have been on 2nd or 3rd base
He throws inside with his fastest pitch (first) then after that, he throws in the middle or throws a breaking ball but the hitters don't swing at it, instead they look hesitant as if they're going to get hit by the ball.
Not to mention trading away Amos Otis. Then there was the Rusty Staub for Mickey Lolich trade. And never forget that the NYM passed on Reggie Jackson in the draft.
Ryan wanted out of the team however. In the case of Seaver, people like Dick Young deserves some blame for that considering the hatchet job he wrote about the guy that helped led to the trade in the end. It gets even shadier when you learn of certain connections Young had with the management. What can be said, one good thing of the trade if one can ever see it as such is that the Reds gave him run support for his journey to 300 wins.
His favorite pitch was at your head, if you weren't standing where he wanted you to stand. God forbid you tried to play small ball and bunt. He reminds me of one of those "Bang ZOOM straight to the moon, Alice" husbands. 👊🏻💥💀
Lindsey Nelson was the greatest sports announcer of all-time. For years he did the college football game of the week with Red Grange. Announcing tandems don't get any better than that. The he became the lead announcer for the Mets when New York returned to the NL in 1962. I believe he also did the most TV Cotton Bowls.
Lindsay Nelson is still the Gold Standard in sports broadcasting. When the NY Mets were born, they wanted an announcer like Mel Allen, and Lindsay was the overwhelming choice. Still the best ever. Pretty cool sport coats, too.
Yeah. Those fastballs were absolutely straight ropes from Ryan's hand to Grote's glove. And the curve wasn't fair at all. Of course, the high and tight pitches were pretty impressive too.
If the Mets hadn’t made their first big trade mistake with Ryan to the Angels what could’ve been? If the Mets went into the 1973 World Series with Seaver, Koosman, Ryan and Matlack there would be at least 3 WS championship flags flying over CitiField.
Part of the game! Good job by Dick. Don't get me wrong, I love Nolan Ryan and wish he had 11 no no's, but the "unwritten rule" aginst bunting is feminine.
The Met GM at the time was Bob Scheffing. Gil Hodges approved the deal, saying that Ryan was the righthander he would miss the least. OUCH!!! Sadly, Gil died the following spring of a massive heart attack. Had he remained alive, I'm sure that statement would have come back to haunt him.
@@iamhungey12345 I've never read anywhere that said Ryan wanted out of New York, but the opposite; Ryan felt betrayed by the Mets when they traded him and he held a grudge against the Mets. It was only when he began running the Rangers organization that he finally understood that some things in baseball are business decisions
@@patrickmcdaniel2048 Different from what I had read but then again there's always going to be info contradicting each other I guess. Also the fact that he asked the management to be traded wasn't exactly a secret so if he changed his mind, it's too late. Maybe you should have done some digging since that info wasn't something that was unknown since I'm not sure where you get the tidbit about him not wanting to be traded, he even threatened to quit at one point.
Lindsay Nelson....they showed Mets games in Bufflo when I was a lad...he was sooooo excellent....now I get bored to death by Terry "Dead Air" Smith on Angels games......borrrrrrring....
