New York Mets - The Disco Years (1970-1979)

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1970

Decade

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Titles:

Top Mets Players of the Seventies

1973 NL Champs (Lost to A's)

Pitchers:

Ballpark:

Tom Seaver (53.69) - 93

Shea Stadium

Jerry Koosman (27.81) - 66

Jon Matlack (26.62) - 53

Team Name:

Tug McGraw (10.47) - 29

Mets

Craig Swan (10.08) - 26

Skip Lockwood (7.69) - 20

Owner:

Nino Espinosa (1.73) - 16

Joan Payson (1970-1975)

Gary Gentry (4.01) - 14

Lorinda de Roulet (1975-1979 took over after her mom, Mrs. Payson died)

Jim McAndrew (4.04) - 11

Bob Apodaca (5.47) - 11

General Managers:

Ray Sadecki (7.25) - 11

Bob Sheffing (1970-1974)

Pat Zachry (3.2) - 11

Joe McDonald (1975-1979)

Nolan Ryan (1.42) - 8

Managers:

Catchers:

Gil Hodges (1970-1971)

Jerry Grote (10.05) - 37

Yogi Berra (1972-1975)

John Stearns (11.68) - 32

Roy McMillan (1975)

Joe Frazier (1976-1977)

First Basemen:

Joe Torre (1977-1979)

John Milner (10.01) - 36

Ed Kranepool (4.8) - 31

Hall of Famers:

Donn Clenedenon (2.98) - 10

Willie Mays

Nolan Ryan

Second Basemen:

Tom Seaver

Lenny Randle (5.04) - 14

Joe Torre

Felix Millan (8.13) - 10

Ken Boswell (1.93) - 6

Rookie of the Year:

Bobby Valentine (0.13) - 0

Jon Matlack (1972)

ShortStop:

MVP

Bud Harrelson (13.85) - 36

None

Third Base:

No Hitters:

Rusty Garrett (14.38) - 24

None

Joe Torre (1.85) - 12

Joe Foy (1.86) - 4

Cy Young:

Jim Fregosi (0.14) - 3

Tom Seaver (1973)

Tom Seaver (1975)

Outfield:

Tommie Agee (8.95) - 35

Notable Events:

Cleon Jones (7.13) - 35

Rusty Staub (5.88) - 25

1970 - General Manager Johnny Murphy dies. Bob Scheffing is hired on as GM.

Lee Mazzilli (9.31) - 23

Scheffing had been considered a good baseball man, but he made one

Steve Henderson (6.82) - 20

horrific deal after another during his Reign of Error with the Mets.

Dave Kingman (3.14) - 15

Joel Youngblood (5.8) - 10

1970 - Coming fresh off a world title and drenched in great young pitching,

Willie Mays (1.63) - 6

one would have thought that the Mets were primed for a long successful

Ken Singleton (2.53) - 0

run at the top of the standings. One would have been wrong. New York would

Amos Otis (0) - 0

spend the first seven years of the decade mostly hovering just above

.500 before collapsing into the cellar the last three.

Notable Events:

In '70, they lose 17 games in the standings. What happened?

First thing is the numbers. The Mets won 100 games in '69, but their

1973 - Righty Craig Swan, 23, is a rookie.

runs differentials didn't match up with their won-loss record.

He was a 3rd round pick in the '73 draft

By the runs totals, the Mets should have only won 92 in '69.

You've got to figure that the extra eight wins were due to a couple of things:

1973 - In an aberration, which tended to paper over how really bad

□ The Mets getting caught up in the wave of excitement of '69 with

Sheffing had been for this organization, the Mets finish first in the

New York City going bonkers as the Cubs were collapsing and New York

Division despite going barely over .500 at 83-79.

was passing them down the stretch.

Of course, they then beat the vastly superior Reds in the NLCS

□ The Mets had great relief pitching which tends to let you win a

before extending the vastly superior A's to seven games before

disproportionate amount of the close ones.

losing the World Series.

The opposite happened in 1970 as the Mets lost seventeen games in the

standings to 83-79. In '70, however, their stats indicated that they should

1974 - Thankfully, Bob Sheffing retires as General Manager.

win 88 games indicating that they underachieved by five games.

Joe McDonald takes over. However, the damage has already been

Therefore, runs-wise, they only lost four games between '69 and '70.

done and McDonald is inadequate to the task of turning things around.

A couple of reasons for their fall from grace:

□ While Ron Taylor and Tug McGraw were lights out out of the pen

1975 - Lefty relief ace Tug McGraw, 29, is dealt to the Phillies in a six

in '69, they were fire starters in '70. The Mets were losing the close

player deal for catcher John Stearns, 23, who was the second pick

ones in '70 that they had been winning in '69.

overall in the '73 draft

□ Also, you've got to figure that the pressure got to New York in '70.

Fans expectations were sky high and, in New York, that can kill you.

1975 - righthander Skip Lockwood, 28 is purchased from the A's

The Mets tanked. It makes you admire all the more the mental toughness

of a team like the Yankees in the Fifties that continually rose to the occasion.

1975 - Outfielder Dave Kingman, 26, is purchased from the Giants.

1970 - Speaking of pressure, it must have gotten to GM Bob Scheffing.

1975 - Owner Joan Payson dies. Her daughter Lorinda de Roulet takes over

A good baseball man, Scheffing ended up dismantling the organization

by executing a bunch of quick fix trades in a futile attempt to keep the

1976 - Twenty one year old outfielder Lee Mazzilli is a rookie. He was a first

team winning by patching holes with veterans.

round pick in the 1973 draft

He frittered away some fantastic young talent in those deals.

1977 - New York drops 23 games in the standings from 86-74 to

1970 - Future star outfielder Amos Otis, 23, is traded to KC for 3B Joe Foy.

64-98. The runs differentials reflect the loss. The Mets bullpen did

A really bad trade for an attempted quick fix at third base. Otis becomes

it no favors either season. The main reason for the collapse was

a star centerfielder for the Royals for well over a decade.

starting pitchers Jon Matlack and Jerry Koosman went from a

combined 38-20 to a combined 15-35. They were still good pitchers,

1971 - Lefthander Jon Matlack, 21, is a rookie.

but they went from exceptional in '76 to down years in '77.

He was the 4th overall pick in the '67 draft

Mets management shouldn't have panicked, but they weren't

very savvy and didn't have the wherewithal to realize that the starting

1971 - 1B John Milner, 21, is a rookie. He was a 14th round pick in the '68 draft

rotation of Seaver, Matlack, Koosman were still highly effective pitchers

having a bad year. There were other factors such as the team was

1972 - Manager Gil Hodges dies at a very young age. Yogi Berra takes over.

getting old and Scheffing and McDonald had done next to nothing

to keep the talent flowing into the organization. Starters over thirty

1972 - Future star outfielder Ken Singleton, 25, who was the third overall

were C Grote, 1B Kranepool, 2B Milan, SS Harrelson, 3B Torre,

pick in the '67 draft and solid young shortstop prospect Tim Foli, 21,

CF Unser, P Seaver, P Koosman, P Lolich, Relief Pitcher Sanders.

the first overall pick in the '68 draft, are traded to Montreal for outfielder

There was only a sprinkling of decent young players in the organization

Rusty Staub, 28. Staub was a good hitter with fair power who was a

such as OF Kingman, 27, P Matlack, 27, P Swan, 26, P Espinosa, 23,

bad fielder and couldn't run. Singleton would go on to be one of the top

C Stearns, 25, OF Mazzilli, 22, OF Vail, 25, OF Youngblood, 25.

top sluggers in the game with the Orioles for years. Foli had a long career.

Not nearly enough to be a winner moving forward. If they were going

This was a horrific panic trade, pure and simple

to start trading off their starting pitching, they needed to get high

quality and quantity in return.

1972 - The Mets acquire Willie Mays. Strange move as he was at a stage

in his career where he was not adding value to a team trying to contend.

1977 - As the team freefalls to last place, Chairman M. Donald Grant,

He should have retired much earlier as he is less than a shell of his Hall of

who was now in charge of running things for the Payson family,

Fame callibre self. It was nice to have him back in NY, but sad at the same time.

is under fire. He and GM Joe McDonald panic, and trade away both

ace righthander Tom Seaver and slugging outfielder Dave Kingman

1972 - In one of the worst trades in baseball history, Sheffing deals fireballing

at the June 15 trade deadline. This became known in Mets lore as the

righthander Nolan Ryan, 25, and outfielder LeRoy Stanton, 26, for shortstop

Midnight Massacre. Joe Torre, in his pre-genius days, is also named

Jim Fregosi who was an old thirty. This didn't fix anything, quick or otherwise.

player-manager. The Mets pick up four mediocre prospects in the

Ryan goes on to be a Hall of Famer.

Seaver trade:

□ Outfielder Steve Henderson, 24

1973 - Righty Gary Gentry, 26, is dealt to the Braves for horrifically overrated

□ Outfielder Dan Norman, 22,

second baseman Felix Millan, 29. Not only was Millan a poor hitter, but he

□ Second Baseman Doug Flynn, 26

was not fast and was a subpar fielder. Gentry did nothing with the Braves, but,

□ Pitcher Pat Zachry, 25.

at the time of the trade, he still was viewed to have a lot of upside.

This deal smelled from the minute it was made.

Once again, nothing got fixed here and another young prospect in the

Kingman is dealt for infielder Bobby Valentine, who was once a primo

organization bit the dust.

prospect until he broke his leg in multiple places with the Angels,

and never recovered. Very bad trade. It's over for the Mets.

1979 - Attendence slips to 788,000. The Payson familly sells

the team to Nelson Doubleday for a then record 21 million.