The 69 Mets

I'm a Mets fan.That said,I have to come clean and admit  to not knowing much about NY Mets baseball pre 1986.I know the basics.In 69 we pulled off a World Series win with pitching and defense.But as far as who the major contributors were that year...<crickets>   .I hear a lot of names being tossed around by Gary,Keith and Ron during live broadcasts along with the sporadic in game interviews ,but I never did the leg work to research any of these players.Save for guys like Seaver and Ryan, I'm pretty clueless when It comes to the Miracle Mets. My dad was the main reason for this post.  Every so often we'll be In the middle of a Syndergaard or McNeil conversation and he'll start digressing,bringing up a bunch of 60's Mets players.We used to be able to stay on topic but now more than ever it seems as though his heart is with the NY Mets of 2019 ,but his mind is stuck on  that famed,1969 team.He did It again the other day .We were talking about our catcher situation this year and somehow the name Grote came up.Other random names like Kranepool,Harrelson and some guy named Tommy Aigee also got brought up. It was then that I thought to myself "This 77 year old  man  has memories of one of the most historical time periods in baseball.Intangible ,priceless and personal mementos that Beckett could only hope to slab and grade.I should be paying attention!"I quickly took to the internet to look up the 69 Mets!

Quick side-notes. In 1969, The Beatles performed live for the last time up on the rooftop  of their multimedia corporation Apple Corps at 4 Savile Row.

Did you know that 1969 marked the first time man set foot on the moon?It took place on July 20th.Little did Met fans know ,this would pale In comparison to the feat their beloved team would accomplish just a few months later.  

 And..Was Bryan Adams a Mets fan?

              I did some research , looked up some of the main guys on that roster In 1969 .Again,I knew who the players were ,just not their stat lines and numbers.It turns out most of those guys on that team had good numbers but not great. They weren't really big time all stars ,just a solid ,cohesive bunch that delivered when It mattered.Hence the miraculous comeback during the season of 1969 to overtake the Cubs In the N.L. East ,ultimately heading to the World Series and winning with a solid show of  pitching ,fielding and clutch hitting.After soaking In some highlight videos on YouTube ,I think Swoboda would have been my favorite player back then. He was In the middle of a lot of pivotal plays and made a ton of great catches.

                Of course ,now I needed some baseball cards!After doing a little perusing on eBay ,I was able to find some really cheap Met  cards from that era.Not In the best condition but what the heck.To say that I'm In love with these vintage beauties would be an understatement.I'm still waiting on a Clendenon and Grote but for now this Is what I've snagged up for the old Mets binder!