I am sure thousands of you were chomping at the bit to get the answers to the trivia questions about the 1969 New York Mets. Well here they are:
1) The Met who caught the last out was Cleon Jones. Of course, Met fans know the irony of the player who made the last out---Davey Johnson. The same man who seventeen years later led them to their only other World Series championship.
2) Double N, Donn Clendenon was the World Series MVP. Growing up, we always referred to him as Double N (for the spelling of his first name), I always assumed that was his nickname. When I met him later in life, I asked him about the nickname. He looked at me like I came from another planet. As great as Clendenon was, I thought the MVP should have been Jerry Koosman.
3) Don Buford led off the Orioles home first in Game One with a home run, which reinforced the idea of many that the '69 Series would be a massacre.
4) The Mets swept the Braves in three games to get to the Series. It was the first year of the baseball playoffs.
5) Gary Gentry was the starter in Game Three who pitched six clutch innings of shutout baseball. It didn't hurt having Tommie Agee making one of his two legendary catches in center field. He made the other famous catch when the relief pitcher came in the game, some kid named Nolan Ryan.
6) The famous tenth inning throw that hit J.C. Martin running to first base in Game 4 in the World Series was thrown by Pete Rickert.
7) The Oriole pitcher who helped stake them to an early lead in Game 5 by hitting a home run was Dave McNally
8) In 1969, the A.L. MVP was Harmon Killebrew. The Oriole who came in second was Boog Powell. Third in the MVP voting that year was Frank Robinson
9) Lou DiMuro was the umpire involved in the shoe polish play. One of Gil Hodges greatest moments as a manager
10) The list of the top ten N.L. voting for MVP in 1969 read like the Who's Who of the greatest players of the era. Every player on the Top Ten voting became a Hall of Famer including Tom Seaver who was second in the voting. The only two who did not make it to the Hall of Fame were Met position players. Tommie Agee finished sixth in the voting and Cleon Jones finished 7th.
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