1962 New York Mets

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Contents 1 Summary 2 Roster and Statistics 3 Video Gallery 4 Picture Gallery 5 Batting Leaders 6 Pitching Leaders

[edit] Summary

The 1962 Mets Yearbook

When baseball fans think of the worst teams in the history of baseball, the 1962 New York Mets are usually the team that first comes to mind. The 1962 Mets had the lowest batting average in the NL (.240), the lowest hits total (1318), which was 244 hits less than the San Francisco Giants, who would play the New York Yankees in the World Series that year.

They hit 105 home runs (compare that to the Giants' 204). The team ERA was 5.04, and of the 17 pitchers who pitched for the Mets in 1962, only Ken Mackenzie had a winning record, and it was barely a winning record with a 5-4 mark.

The first four starters on the team were Jay Hook (8-19), Roger Craig (10-24), Al Jackson (8-20), and Bob Miller (1-12). The fifth starter, Craig Anderson was even worse with a 3-17 record. After defeating Milwaukee on May 12th, his record was 3-1, but he never won again the rest of the season while losing 16 straight decisions. Anderson led the team in saves with four.

Richie Ashburn, who was later to become a Hall of Famer, led the team in batting average with a .305 mark, but he never played again even though he was only 35, which is considered young these days. If he had played to 39 or 40, he may have reached the 3000 hit mark, but he retired being 426 hits short. Ashburn played in the majors for 15 years, never struck out more than he walked and in 1952, he walked only 30 times in 613 at bats. Ashburn was the only Met to make the. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1995 and died in New York two years later. I have an idea if he was with a better team he may have played a few more years.

Frank Thomas was the slugger on the team leading in home runs with 34 and RBI's with 94. Marvelous Marv Throneberry was next in home runs with 16. Throneberry was an atrocious fielder making 17 errors in the 97 games he played at first base. Comparing to the 2007 season, Prince Fielder made the most errors as a first baseman with 14 errors in 153 games last season.

Marvelous Marv Throneberry provided comic relief for Casey Stengel, the manager who really didn't want comic relief, but wanted wins instead. Once Throneberry hit a triple, but had failed to touch second base and Stengel went out to argue with the umpire, but the umpire told him "Don't bother arguing, Casey; he missed first base too." There is another variation on this story circulating that says one of the Mets coaches had told him about Throneberry missing first base too. Anyway the next batter after Throneberry hit a home run and Stengel followed him around the bases pointing at the bases to make sure he didn't miss touching a base.

As was mentioned earlier, Throneberry was known for making a lot of errors. When Stengel had a birthday cake for his birthday, Throneberry complained about not getting a piece of cake and Stengel said "We would have given you a piece, but we were afraid you would drop it." Throneberry was second in home runs with 16 in 1962, but he batted only 14 times in 1963 before the Mets decided they had seen enough of Mr. Throneberry and released him at the age of 29, ending his major league career. His brother Faye also had a nondescript career playing mostly for the Boston Red Sox and Washington Senators. In 1957, the Senators stole only 13 bases all season, and Jayson Stark in 2005 created the Faye Throneberry Award for teams with fewest stolen bases. Faye like his brother retired at an early age lasting one more year than his brother and retiring at 30.

Choo Choo Coleman was another immortal Met from the 1962 team. Once Casey Stengel was trying to teach the inept Mets the basics of baseball and held up a baseball, Choo Choo said "Wait...you're going too fast." Duke Snider once asked Choo Choo if he knew who he (Snider) was and Choo Choo said "Yes, you're No. 4."

Frank Thomas, Gil Hodges, Don Zimmer, and Roger Craig celebrate the beginning of the Mets.

[edit] Roster and Statistics

[edit] Video Gallery

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[edit] Batting Leaders

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