Staring down destiny
In the late fall of 1969, NYC sportwriters Paul Zimmerman and Dick Schaap hurried out a book titled "The Year the Mets Lost Last Place." It recounted the wonderful '69 season of the NY Mets. It was a "miracle" season, indeed. I read that book, buying it early the next spring during my school's Book Order Week.
On October 14th, 1969, I had turned 12 years old. Also on that day, 3000 miles to the east in Shea Stadium, my New York Mets beat the Baltimore Orioles to grab a 2-1 lead in the World Series. Gary Genty (6.2 innings) and 22-yr old Nolan Ryan (2.1 innings) combined in a 4-hit shutout as the Mets won 5-0. Ed Kranepool and Tommy Agee both went yard for the Metropolitans. I watched much of that game in the teacher's room at school. It pays to have a mom who is a teacher!
The next day Tom Terrific Seaver would throw a complete game 10-inning masterpiece as the Mets won 2-1. And then on the the 16th, Jerry Koosman would add his own CG as homers by Donn Clendenon and little Al Weis propelled the Mets to a miracle crown.
That past summer, after a July rally (including winning 5 of 6 from the Cubs), the Mets had fallen behind by 9.5 games in mid-August. Then they got hot. Smoking hot. Tom Terrific Seaver et al. starred down the Mets' losing past, a destiny they seemed doomed to as '69 began, and grabbed their opportunity by the throat.
That Mets team had added a veteran 1B bat mid-season (Donn Clendenon), had Ace 1A and Ace 1B (Seaver and Koosman). a young-gun rotation arm just getting going (Gentry) and a grizzled veteran finding his arm again (Caldwell). They had two legit-star bats (Jones and Agee) and a catcher known as a terrific receiver with a decent bat (Grote). They also had a lefty OF bat who specialized in tormenting RHP (Shamsky...who shares my Oct. 14th birthday, btw). On top of that, they had a bullpen that was superb (Ron Taylor = 76 innings/ERA+ of 134, Tug McGraw 100inn/163ERA+, Jack DiLauro 64/152, Nolan Ryan with 25 appearances, 10 starts, 2 CG's and a 6-3 record)
Lemme' see? Morales = Clendenon. Felix and Kuma = Seaver and Koosman. Paxton = Gentry. Young = Cardwell. Cano and Seager = Agee and Jones. Zunino = Grote. Chavez (my goodness I do not like him...but he's working) = Shamsky. Our bullpen = theirs. Etc.....
And here we are: It's again mid-August (now some years later) and my team, the M's, is starting to look like they have a Miracle Mets amazin' hot streak in them. My, oh my! I listened to the M's 9th inning miracle against the BoSox the other night. I was driving south from Spokane. I was in a particularly blue mood and the amazin' finish was a bright spot that I badly needed.
2014 is a bit more complicated than 1969: the Wild Card will do that to you. But just maybe there is another Miracle "M" team getting hot at exactly the right time. Ya gotta believe!*
In the summer of 1969 man went to the moon. I watched that, too. To begin that journey, a streaking rocket ship took Armstrong-Aldrin-Collins blazing through the earth's atmosphere. The ancients used to believe that comets and such streaking lights through the sky signaled the coming of a new king or the death of an old one. For example, in the summer of 1066, Halley's Comet made its once in 76 years appearance and streaked across European skies, 4 times as big as Venus and 1/4 as bright as the moon. English astronomers took its appearance as an omen for the upcoming Battle of Hastings. It was even later included in the Bayeaux Tapestry, which tells the story of the victory of William the Counqueror and death of King Harold II (BTW, William was a jerk and Harold well respected for his leadership abilites and chosen king by the English nobles).
On the night of July 20th of 1969 an 11-year old me walked out into my yard and starred at the moon, amazed that men were there upon it. Four days earlier their Saturn V rocket had lit up the sky, just perhaps an omen for the coming ascendency of the Miracle Mets.
I think I will step out into my yard tonight and look for any streaking light. Man, even a firefly will do. Then I will choose to interpret that as a pleasant and benevolent omen announcing the ascendancy of the Miracle M's of '14.
This is our year to stare down destiny and make it blink.
This is our year to lose last place!
Ya gotta' believe!!*
**OK, I know I'm mixing Mets' mottos, as "Ya gotta believe" was from their World Series run in '73 (with my Willie Mays), But grant me some license here. It works.
Hope you're on your feet Doc! If so, check out the sky tonight. Let's look for that light together.
Moe