1962 New York Mets
LeagueNational League
BallparkPolo Grounds
CityNew York
Record40–120 (.250)
OwnersJoan Payson
General managersGeorge Weiss
ManagersCasey Stengel
TelevisionWOR-TV
RadioWABC (AM)
(Ralph Kiner, Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy)
Seasons

The 1962 New York Mets season was the first regular season for the Mets, as the National League returned to New York City for the first time since 1957. They went 40–120 (.250) and finished tenth and last in the National League, 60+1⁄2 games behind the NL Champion San Francisco Giants, who had once called New York home. The Mets were the latest team to be 60+ games behind in a division before the 2018 Baltimore Orioles finished 61 games behind the World Series Champion Boston Red Sox. The Mets' 120 losses are the most by any MLB team in one season since the 1899 Cleveland Spiders (20–134, .130). Since then, the 2003 Detroit Tigers 2018 Orioles, and 2023 Oakland Athletics have come the closest to matching this mark, at 43–119 (.265), 47–115 (.290), and 50–112 respectively. The Mets' starting pitchers also recorded a new major league low of just 23 wins all season.[1]

The team lost its first game 11–4 to the St. Louis Cardinals on April 11, and went on to lose its first nine games. Having repaired their record to 12–19 on May 20 after sweeping a doubleheader against the Milwaukee Braves, the Mets lost their next 17 games. They also lost 11 straight from July 15 to July 26, and 13 straight from August 9 to August 21. Their longest winning streak of the season was three.[2]

The Mets were managed by Casey Stengel and played their home games at the Polo Grounds, which was their temporary home while Shea Stadium was being built in Queens. They remain infamous for their ineptitude and were one of the worst teams in Major League Baseball history. Their team batting average, team earned run average (ERA), and team fielding percentage were all the worst in the major leagues that season.[3]

Despite the team's terrible performance, fans came out in droves. Their season attendance of 922,530 was good enough for sixth in the National League that year.

The season was chronicled in Jimmy Breslin's humorous best-selling book Can't Anybody Here Play This Game? The title came from a remark made by manager Casey Stengel expressing his frustration over the team's poor play that year, the first for a long time partnership with TV partner WOR-TV.

Offseason

  • July 20, 1961: Paul Blair was signed as an amateur free agent by the Mets.[4]
  • October 16, 1961: Billy Loes was purchased by the Mets from the San Francisco Giants.[5]
  • November 28, 1961: The Mets traded a player to be named later and cash to the Milwaukee Braves for Frank Thomas and a player to be named later. The deal was completed on May 21, 1962, when the Mets sent Gus Bell to the Braves, and the Braves sent Rick Herrscher to the Mets.[6]
  • January 30, 1962: Joe Ginsberg was signed as a free agent by the Mets.[7]
  • March 2, 1962: Billy Loes was returned by the Mets to the San Francisco Giants.[5]

Expansion draft

1961 minor league affiliates

The Mets and Houston Colt .45s were established on October 17, 1960, giving them time to acquire minor league professional players, sign amateur free agents (there was no first-year MLB draft until 1965) and enter into working agreements with minor league affiliates during the 1961 season. New York had formal working agreements with three minor league baseball teams in 1961:

Level Team League Manager
AA Mobile Bears Southern Association Ernie White
B Raleigh Capitals Carolina League Enos Slaughter
D Lexington Indians Western Carolinas League Jack Hale

Regular season

As an expansion team, the Mets were not expected to do well. They finished last in the National League, and they also finished 24 games behind their expansion brethren, the Colt .45s.

Season standings

National League W L Pct. GB Home Road
San Francisco Giants 10362 0.624 — 61–21 42–41
Los Angeles Dodgers 10263 0.618 1 54–29 48–34
Cincinnati Reds 9864 0.605 3½ 58–23 40–41
Pittsburgh Pirates 9368 0.578 8 51–30 42–38
Milwaukee Braves 8676 0.531 15½ 49–32 37–44
St. Louis Cardinals 8478 0.519 17½ 44–37 40–41
Philadelphia Phillies 8180 0.503 20 46–34 35–46
Houston Colt .45s 6496 0.400 36½ 32–48 32–48
Chicago Cubs 59103 0.364 42½ 32–49 27–54
New York Mets 40120 0.250 60½ 22–58 18–62

Opening Day lineup

The first game in franchise history was played on the road, at Busch Stadium, St. Louis, on Wednesday night, April 11, 1962. The Mets fell behind 2-0 and 5–2 early, then narrowed the deficit to one run, but ultimately lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 11–4. Former Brooklyn Dodgers Gil Hodges and Charlie Neal homered for the Mets, whose home opener at New York's Polo Grounds would wait until their second-ever official game, on Friday, April 13, 1962.

Opening Day Lineup
#NamePosition
1Richie AshburnCF
18Félix MantillaSS
4Charlie Neal2B
25Frank ThomasLF
3Gus BellRF
14Gil Hodges1B
17Don Zimmer3B
5Hobie LandrithC
38Roger CraigSP

[11]

Record vs. opponents

1962 National League record

Sources:
Team CHC CIN HOU LAD MIL NYM PHI PIT SF STL
Chicago —4–147–114–148–109–910–84–146–127–11
Cincinnati 14–4—13–59–913–513–58–1013–57–118–10
Houston 11–75–13—6–127–1113–3–11–175–137–119–9–1
Los Angeles 14–49–912–6—10–816–214–410–810–117–11
Milwaukee 10–85–1311–78–10—12–611–710–87–1112–6
New York 9–95–133–13–12–166–12—4–142–164–145–13
Philadelphia 8–1010–817–14–147–1114–4—7–105–139–9
Pittsburgh 14–45–1313–58–108–1016–210–7—7–1112–6
San Francisco 12–611–711–711–1011–714–413–511–7—9–9
St. Louis 11–710–89–9–111–76–1213–59–96–129–9—

Notable transactions

Roster

1962 New York Mets
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
CChris Cannizzaro5913332.24109
1BMarv Throneberry11635787.2441649
2BCharlie Neal136508132.2601158
3BFélix Mantilla141466128.2751159
SSElio Chacón11836887.236227
LFFrank Thomas156571152.2663494
CFJim Hickman14039296.2451346
RFJoe Christopher11927166.244632

[21]

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Richie Ashburn135389119.306728
Rod Kanehl13335187.248427
Gene Woodling8119052.274524
Sammy Taylor6815835.222320
Choo Choo Coleman5515238.250617
Gil Hodges5412732.252917
Cliff Cook4011226.23229
Gus Bell3010115.14916
Ed Bouchee508714.161310
Joe Pignatano275613.23202
Sammy Drake255210.19207
Don Zimmer14524.07701
Rick Herrscher355011.22016
Hobie Landrith234513.28917
Harry Chiti15418.19500
Jim Marshall173211.34434
Bob Smith8223.13602
John DeMerit14163.18811
Ed Kranepool361.16700
Joe Ginsberg250.00000

[21]

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Roger Craig42233.110244.51118
Al Jackson36231.18204.40118
Jay Hook37213.28194.84113

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L SV ERA SO
Bob L. Miller33143.211204.8991
Craig Anderson50131.131745.3562
Bob Moorhead38105.10204.5363
Willard Hunter2763.01605.5740
Sherman Jones823.10407.7111
Galen Cisco419.11103.2613
Larry Foss511.20104.633

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L SV ERA SO
Ray Daviault3681.01506.2251
Ken MacKenzie4280.05414.9551
Vinegar Bend Mizell1738.00207.3415
Bob G. Miller1720.12217.088
Dave Hillman1316.20016.328
Herb Moford715.00107.205
Clem Labine34.000011.252

Awards and honors

League top five finishers

Richie Ashburn

  • #3 in NL in bases on balls (81)

Roger Craig

  • MLB leader in losses (24)
  • #2 in NL in home runs allowed (35)
  • #3 in NL in earned runs allowed (117)

Jay Hook

  • #4 in NL in earned runs allowed (115)
  • #4 in NL in home runs allowed (31)

Al Jackson

  • #2 in NL in losses (20)

Farm system

1962 minor league affiliates

Level Team League Manager
AAA Syracuse Chiefs International League Frank Verdi and Johnny Vander Meer
C Santa Barbara Rancheros California League Gene Lillard
D Quincy Jets Midwest League Ken Deal
D Auburn Mets New York–Penn League Dick Cole
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Auburn
Syracuse affiliation shared with Washington Senators

Notes

  1. ↑ "Pitching Game Finder: From 1908 to 2018, Pitcher Won, as Starter, sorted by smallest Performances matching selected criteria by a Team". Baseball Reference. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  2. ↑ "1962 New York Mets Schedule by Baseball Almanac". Baseball Almanac.
  3. ↑ "1962 MLB Team Statistics". Baseball Reference. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
  4. ↑ "Paul Blair Stats - Baseball-Reference.com".
  5. 1 2 "Billy Loes Stats - Baseball-Reference.com".
  6. ↑ "Frank Thomas Stats - Baseball-Reference.com".
  7. 1 2 "Joe Ginsberg Stats - Baseball-Reference.com".
  8. ↑ "Gus Bell Stats - Baseball-Reference.com".
  9. ↑ "Ed Bouchee Stats - Baseball-Reference.com".
  10. ↑ "Hobie Landrith Stats - Baseball-Reference.com".
  11. ↑ "New York Mets at St. Louis Cardinals Box Score, April 11, 1962". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved May 17, 2022.
  12. 1 2 "Harry Chiti Stats - Baseball-Reference.com".
  13. ↑ "Bobby Smith Stats - Baseball-Reference.com".
  14. ↑ "Don Zimmer Stats - Baseball-Reference.com".
  15. 1 2 "Mets Obtain Three Players". The Gazette. Montreal. Associated Press. May 7, 1962. p. 22. Retrieved December 13, 2015.
  16. 1 2 "Vinegar Bend Mizell Stats - Baseball-Reference.com".
  17. ↑ "The Times-News - Google News Archive Search".
  18. ↑ "Gary Landrith Replaces Father". Schenectady Gazette. Associated Press. June 8, 1962. p. 22.
  19. ↑ "Ed Kranepool Stats - Baseball-Reference.com".
  20. ↑ "Galen Cisco Stats - Baseball-Reference.com".
  21. 1 2 "1962 New York Mets Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com".

References

  • 1962 New York Mets at Baseball Reference
  • 1962 New York Mets Roster at Baseball Almanac
  • Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
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