There is no question that 2020 has been a tough year for
everyone, but it has been an especially sad year for long-time baseball fans. Bob
Gibson, who passed away this weekend, is the fourth member of the Baseball Hall
of Fame to pass away in 2020. The other members of the HOF to pass away this
year are Al Kaline, Tom Seaver and Gibson’s long-time teammate Lou Brock.
Bob Gibson facing Al Kaline in the 1968 World Series.
In addition, the game has said goodbye to several other
notable players including Don Larsen, Jimmy Wynn, Tony Fernandez, Tony Taylor,
Bob Watson and Claudell Washington. Here is the full list from Baseball
Reference.
Gibson, Brock and Kaline were all part of the dramatic 1968
World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers. As should be
the case on the World Series stage, all three of the future Hall of Famers were
at their best during the seven-game series.
For Kaline, who played his entire 22 year career with the
Tigers, the 1968 World Series marked the first post-season opportunity of his
career. He definitely made the most of it as he registered at least one hit in
each of the first six games and finished with a team-high 11 hits and a .379 average.
He also hit two home runs and drove home eight runs.
Gibson and Brock were both playing in their third World
Series in five seasons in 1968. The Cardinals claimed World Series titles in
1964 and 1967. Both Gibson and Brock were key performers in both of those wins.
In the 1964 World Series against the New York Yankees,
Gibson won two of three starts, including a 7-5 victory in the decisive seventh
game. Brock had two hits, scored a run and drove home a run in the seventh
game. Over the full seven game series, Brock had four multi-hit games and drove
home five runs.
For many Mets fans, the franchise low-point occurred with the trade of Tom Seaver to the Cincinnati Reds in 1977.
1974 was a big transition year for me. For the first time in my 29 years I was venturing out of the safety net of the New York City, Connecticut, and New York State area and venturing into new uncharted Philadelphia Phillies territory down the New Jersey Turnpike to Exit 4 better known to most as Cherry Hill.
We actually didn’t live there but close enough so that when people asked me where I lived that was the most recognizable. Later, after just a few months there, it became simply known as South Jersey which in reality is a state all of its own.
Unlike North Jersey that has a healthy selection of New York Mets fans, in 1974 there was only one New York Met fan in South Jersey. Me, and here I was starting a new job, in a new area still only 90 miles away that seemed like another continent.
South Jersey starts just below Trenton, goes east to the Jersey Shore to Seaside Heights, and south to Cape May. It is completely 100% Philadelphia fans in every sport out there and maybe some time somewhere in the future during football season I will tell a similar story about the Eagles, but for this series the Phillies ultimately play a pivotal role in my life. Read the rest of this entry →
After their miracle season in 1969, the Mets remained a contender for the next five years.
Bob Scheffing was promoted to the Mets General Manager after the untimely death of Johnny Murphy in January 1970. The Mets had just come off their “Miracle” season of 1969 with their first Playoff, World Series and Championship in its brief seven-year history.
The two sided answer to the question, was 1969 a fluke? That would be answered in the next coming months as the Mets prepared for yet another Spring Training in St. Petersburg Florida where they shared the training facilities with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Bob Scheffing came to the Mets organization after a career as a player with a little over 500 games with the Cubs, Reds, and Cardinals. A rather pedestrian .263 career lifetime average set no fires blazing in that realm. He managed both the Cubs and the Tigers, did a little broadcasting and some scouting before becoming the Mets GM.
The Sports Then and Now Vintage Athlete of the Week was the staff ace on a team that pulled one of the greatest upsets in baseball history 40 years ago.
“Tom Terrific” Seaver won the first of his three career Cy Young Awards in 1969 and won a crucial game in the World Series as the New York Mets captivated the nation by winning the 1969 World Series over the seemingly invincible Baltimore Orioles.
The Sports Then and Now Vintage Athlete of the Month is a former major league baseball player who came into the game as a teenager and stayed until he was in his 40s. In between, Rusty Staub put up a solid career that was primarily spent on expansion or rebuilding teams.
Originally signed by the Colt .45s at age 17, he made his major league debut as a 19-year old rookie and became only the second player in the modern era to play in more than 150 games as a teenager.
Though he hit only .224 splitting time between first base and rightfield, Staub did start building a foundation that would turn him into an All-Star by 1967 when he finished fifth in the league with a .333 batting average.
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