right that Mets right fielder Ron Swoboda dove for and caught just inches off the ground. Frank Robinson tagged and scored, but Swoboda’s heroics kept the Orioles from possibly taking the lead. Elrod Hendricks then flew out to Swoboda to end the inning, but not before coming within inches of a home run that would have given the Orioles a two-run lead.
In the bottom of the tenth, Jerry Grote led off by blooping a double to left. Al Weis was intentionally walked, and Mets manager Gil Hodges sent J. C. Martin up to hit for Seaver. Martin laid down a sacrifice bunt, but Orioles reliever Pete Richert hit Martin in the wrist with his attempted throw to first. Rod Gaspar, running for Grote, came around to score the winning run.
Replays showed Martin was inside the first-base line, which hindered Richert from making a good throw. It was suggested that had the Orioles protested the call, claiming interference (which they never did), that the protest would have been disallowed since Martin did not intentionally interfere with the throw (as per Major League Baseball Official Rule 7.08[b]). As a result of this play, the running lane that extends from halfway down the first-base line to the bag was added to all major league fields. A runner can be running in this lane and be hit by a thrown ball and not be called for interference.
Game 5
Thursday, October 16, 1969 at Shea Stadium in Flushing, Queens, New York
Team
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Baltimore
0
0
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
5
2
New York
0
0
0
0
0
2
1
2
X
5
7
0
WP: Jerry Koosman (20) LP: Eddie Watt (01)
HRs: BAL Dave McNally (1), Frank Robinson (1) NYM Donn Clendenon (3), Al Weis (1)
Dave McNally shut out the Mets through five innings and helped himself with a two-run homer in the third inning. Frank Robinson homered in the inning as well, and the Orioles looked to be cruising with a 30 lead.
The Mets, however, would benefit from two questionable umpire’s calls. In the fifth inning, Mets’ starter Jerry Koosman appeared to have hit Frank Robinson with a pitch, but plate umpire Lou DiMuro ruled that the pitch hit his bat before hitting him and denied him first base. Replays showed, however, that Robinson was indeed hit firsthe ball struck him on the hip, then bounced up and hit his bat.
In the sixth, McNally bounced a pitch that appeared to have hit Mets left fielder Cleon Jones on the foot, then bounced into the Mets’ dugout. McNally and the Orioles claimed the ball hit the dirt and not Jones, but Mets manager Gil Hodges showed the ball to DiMuro, who found a spot of shoe polish on the ball and awarded Jones first base. McNally then gave up Series MVP Donn Clendenon’s third homer of the series (a record for a five-game World Series that was tied by the Phillies’ Ryan Howard in the 2008 Classic) to cut the lead to 32.
However, the renowned “shoe polish” incident may not be such a simple, straightforward matter. On August 22, 2009, at the 40th Anniversary celebration of the Mets’ 1969 Championship, held at their new stadium, Citi Field, Jerry Koosman stated in several media interviews that, in actuality, Hodges had instructed him to rub the ball on his shoe, which he did, and it was only after this that Hodges showed the ball to the umpire. Koosman’s claim doesn’t necessarily mean that the ball didn’t strike Jones on the foot, nor does it even mean that the polish on the ball seen by the umpire was put there by Koosmant’s certainly conceivable that there was already a genuine spot of polish on the ball, which easily could have escaped Koosman’s notice as he hastily created the fraudulent one. In any case, Koosman’s allegation at the very least adds an intriguing layer of uncertainty and possible chicanery to an already legendary event.
The Mets then tied the score in the seventh on a solo home run hit by the unheralded and light-hitting Al Weis. Weis only hit seven home runs in his big league career; this was his first home run ever at Shea Stadium. Weis would lead all batters in this series with a .455 average.
The Mets’ winning runs scored in the eighth as Game 4 defensive hero Ron Swoboda doubled in Jones with the go-ahead run. Swoboda then scored when Jerry Grote’s grounder was mishandled by first baseman Boog Powell, whose throw to first was then dropped by pitcher Eddie Watt in an unusual double error. Jerry Koosman would get the win, his second of the series.
Composite box
1969 World Series (41): New York Mets (N.L.) over Baltimore Orioles (A.L.)
Team
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
R
H
E
New York Mets
1
3
0
1
0
3
2
3
1
1
15
35
2
Baltimore Orioles
1
0
3
3
0
0
1
0
1
0
9
23
4
Total attendance: 272,378 Average attendance: 54,476
Winning player share: ,338 Losing player share: ,904
Highlights
The expression, “Good pitching defeats good hitting,” was never more evident than in this World Series: Baltimore collected only 23 hits for a .146 batting average. Boog Powell led the Orioles with five hitsut all were non-scoring singles. Don Buford collected two hits in the opening game, including a leadoff home run against Tom Seaver, but went 0-for-16 over the next four games. Paul Blair went 2-for-20, Davey Johnson 1-for-15 and Brooks Robinson 1-for-19. The vaunted Orioles offense, best in the majors in 1969, only managed four extra-base hits off Mets pitching in the five-game series, all in the first and last games.
Game 4 was mired in controversy, in addition to the game controversy mentioned above. Tom Seaver’s photograph was used on some anti-war Moratorium Day literature being distributed outside Shea Stadium before the game, although the pitcher claimed that his picture was used without his knowledge or approval. A further controversy that day involved the flying of the American flag at Shea Stadium. New York City Mayor John Lindsay had ordered flags flown at half staff to observe the Moratorium Day and honor those that had died in Vietnam. Many were concerned, included 225 wounded servicemen who were attending the game and Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn announced that the American flag would be flown at full staff at Shea for Game 4.
There are several direct connections between the two Mets World Championship teams. Orioles second baseman Davey Johnson flied out to Cleon Jones for the last out of the 1969 World Series; Johnson would later manage the 1986 Mets to their World Series title. The pitcher on the mound for the last out of the 1986 Series, Jesse Orosco, had been traded to the Mets for Jerry Koosman (the pitcher on the mound for the last out of the 1969 Series) after the 1978 season. 1969 Mets shortstop Bud Harrelson earned a second World Series ring as the club’s third-base coach in 1986.
In all four Mets victories, their starting first baseman hit a home run: Donn Clendenon in Games 2, 4 and 5, and Ed Kranepool in Game 3.
This was the second major upset by a New York team over a Baltimore team in a sport’s championship event in 1969. Earlier in January, the Jets, led by Joe Namath, upset the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in the Super Bowl.
The 1969 series is featured in the movie Frequency (film), a 2000 film starring Jim Caviezel and Dennis Quaid. It was also referenced in the television show The Wonder Years where the shows star Kevin Arnold (played by Fred Savage) recalled his days of youth during that summer.
Television coverage
Games 3, 4 and 5 of the 1969 World Series are believed to be the oldest surviving color television broadcasts of World Series games (even though World Series telecasts have aired in color since 1955). However, they were “truck feeds” in that they do not contain original commercials, but show a static image of the Shea Stadium field between innings. Also, the surviving copy of Game 5 as aired on MLB Network in late 2009 had noticeable drop-outs and tape-tracking errors for the first few innings. It is unknown if this was on the original master-tape,or the copy used by MLB network.
Games 1 and 2 were only saved as black and white kinescopes provided by the NBC.
Series quotes
There’s a fly ball out to left. Waiting is Jones…the Mets are the World Champions! Jerry Koosman is being mobbed! Look at this scene!
urt Gowdy, announcing that the Mets had just won their first World Series.
God is living in New York, and he’s a Mets fan.
om Seaver
If the Mets can win the World Series, the United States can get out of Vietnam.
aseball’s Greatest Quotations by Paul Dickson (1991)
Notes
^ “1969 World Series Game 1 – New York Mets vs. Baltimore Orioles”. Retrosheet. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1969/B10110BAL1969.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-13.
^
