World Series

In October of 1968, the American League champions, the Detroit Tigers, were the home team for games 3, 4 and 5 of the World Series against the National League champions, the St. Louis Cardinals.  My brother Ted, who worked for a Detroit radio station at the time, acted as host for the station's clients at their seats in Tiger Stadium during the above games.  Thus, Ted, who was not a baseball fan, got to see three World Series games before I saw any.  His main memory was that Vice President Hubert Humphrey, the Democratic Candidate for President, was at one of the games.

On Tuesday, October 14, 1969, forty-eight years ago yesterday, I was at my desk in the Tax Department of Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, Inc. at 375 Park Avenue in Manhattan.  Besides my work, I was thinking about that afternoon's third game of the World Series featuring the National League champions, the New York Mets, who would be hosting the American League champions, the Baltimore Orioles, at Shea Stadium in Queens (the first ever World Series game played there).  The two teams split the first two games of the 1969 World Series in Baltimore the previous weekend.

Late in the morning, our Tax Director, Chris Bakos, leisurely walked into the Tax Department office holding two tickets to that afternoon's World Series game.  He asked who among the ten of us wanted to go. What a treat!  To go to a World Series game for free instead of working.  I assumed everybody would want to go.  I was shocked when only three of us did.  But, there were only two tickets.  We drew straws and I was one of the lucky two.

The other winner, a man named Roy, offered to drive me to the game in his car.  However, I thought traffic would be horrible so I opted for the subway.  I was right.  I got to my seat in the upper deck along the right field line well before the game started.  Roy arrived by the third inning.  

The Mets starting pitcher Gary Gentry shut out the Orioles until he was relieved in the seventh inning by future Hall of Famer, Nolan Ryan, who was making his only World Series appearance in a 27-year career.  Baltimore started another future Hall of Fame pitcher, Jim Palmer.

Without a doubt, the hero of the day was Mets center fielder, Tommie Agee.  The first batter up for the Mets in the bottom of the first inning, he hit a home run off Palmer for the only run the Mets would need.  

In the top of the fourth inning, with runners at first and third base and two outs, Agee went into left center field to make a backhanded grab of a line drive off the bat of Elrod Hendricks to end the inning.  

When Gentry loaded the bases with one out in the seventh inning, Met Manager Gil Hodges brought in Ryan.  One out later, Paul Blair hit a fly ball to right center field that Agee made a diving catch of to end the threat.  Ryan pitched the final two innings to preserve a 5-0 Met victory.  

Two days later, the Mets won game 5 and the 1969 World Series. That day the ten of us were listening to the game on a radio in the Tax Department office (along with visitors from the IRS).  Those were the days of the Miracle Mets (and when World Series games were played in the afternoon).  A mere 7 years earlier, the Mets, an expansion team, lost 120 games, the most since 1899 and not duplicated to this day.