1965 - Spahn and Fisher and the Mets Don't Wither
The 1965 Mets are competitive... for now
SHEA STADIUM - Monday, May 17, 1965
The Cincinnati Reds were in town yesterday for a Sunday doubleheader. They played the Mets in front of the largest crowd of the season so far at Shea Stadium. 48,536 were on hand to see a 1965 Reds lineup that is simply scary.
The entire team is batting a major league-leading .284. That’s 22 points ahead of the nearest team club, the San Francisco Giants. And the Giants have the best hitter in baseball, Willie Mays, who has a .389 average, which tops the charts.
The Reds’ first 6 batters have averages that look like the NL All-Star team.
Take a look at their batting averages coming into yesterday’s doubleheader at Shea Stadium:
.315 Pete Rose
.324 Tommy Harper
.309 Vada Pinson
.300 Frank Robinson
.388 Grady Coleman
.330 Deron Johnson
In their prior game against the Mets on Saturday, these 6 players rapped out 15 hits and scored 11 runs.
Coming into yesterday’s doubleheader against the Mets, the Reds must have been ready to romp on Mets’ pitching again. After all, the Mets have been the worst team in history over the past 3 seasons, losing an average of 113 games each year.
The Mets’ starting pitchers were scheduled to be:
1st Game - JACK FISHER
A 6th-year journeyman with an ERA of 4.58 last year. In 2 games against the Reds earlier this month, he gave up 6 earned runs in 6 innings.
2nd Game - WARREN SPAHN
Spahn is 44 years old and is the winningest lefty pitcher in baseball history. As recently as 1963, he had a sensational season winning 23 games and finishing 12th in MVP voting in the National League.
But he was unceremoniously discarded by the Milwaukee Braves, the only franchise he had ever played for, after he had a poor season in 1964. Now he is the Mets’ pitching coach.
Spahn is hopeful he can return to form and win 18 - 20 games for the Mets and stick it to Braves’ GM Bobby Bragan. But today will be tough. Spahn started against the Reds 2 weeks ago, and they drilled him for 10 hits and 4 earned runs in only 5 innings.
GAME 1
In his first pass through the Reds’ top 6, Jack Fisher gave up just one single to Vada Pinson. Then, when he came up to bat in the 2nd inning, Fisher doubled and drove in a run. That gave him a 2 - 0 lead.
In his 2nd pass through the Reds’ machine-like hitters, Fisher didn’t allow any of them to reach base.
The shortstop, Leo Cardenas singled off Fisher in the 6th as did Pete Rose. But Fisher got out of the inning with no runs. And Gordy Coleman singled and was stranded in the 7th.
Going into the 9th inning, Fisher was working on a remarkable 4-hit shutout, and the Mets were leading 6 - 0.
Fisher got Rose to fly out to lead off the 9th. Then he gave up a walk to Tommy Harper. And then he served up his only bad pitch of the game, which resulted in a homer by Pinson.
Minutes later, relief pitcher Dennis Ribrant closed out the game, and Jack Fisher got the credit for a 6 - 2 victory.
GAME 2
Warren Spahn took the mound for his 642 start of his MLB career.
As Mets’ pitching coach, if Spahn would have been more careful with himself, and trusted his bullpen, he could conceivably have entered this game with an ERA below 1.00.
Take a look at his 6 prior starts:
April 14 vs. Astros - No hits until 2 outs in the 5th. No runs through 6.
April 20 at Dodgers - No runs through 8
April 25 at Giants - No runs through 7
April 30 at Reds - No runs through 4 innings
May 5 vs. Phillies - No runs through 5 innings - allowed only 1 run in a complete game loss
May 11vs. Cardinals - No runs through 6
Spahn had not allowed a single run in the first 4 innings of any game and had averaged no runs in the first 6 innings across every start of the season to date.
Yesterday, Spahn got into immediate trouble when Rose singled to left to open the game. A walk and an error loaded the bases with 2 outs. The next batter was rookie Tony Perez. He was hitting .406 back on May 8th before he went into a 1 for 15 slump. Spahn struck out Perez looking and got out of the inning unscathed.
The Mets erupted for 6 runs in the bottom of the 1st. 20-year-old Ed Kranepool doubled and scored, raising his average to .361, keeping him among the NL leaders. The inning was capped off by a 2-run homer by 20-year-old rookie Ron Swoboda. It was Swoboda’s 8th of the year, and he only trails Willie Mays in the NL in that department.
Leading off the 2nd inning, the Reds’ number 7 batter, catcher Don Pavelitch, homered off Spahn. It was the 1st run Spahn has let up all season within the 1st 4 innings. Spahn shut down the Reds in the remainder of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th.
In the 5th, Spahn allowed 2 runs on 3 singles and a couple of walks. And he gave up 2 more runs across the 6th and 7th innings before he finally took himself out of the game. At this point the Mets still led the game 8 - 5.
In the 8th and 9th innings, Frank Lary pitched 2 fine innings to pick up the save.
Spahn had allowed 5 earned runs, but he kept the Mets ahead the entire time in picking up career win number 359.
In a bygone era, when Spahn pitched for the Braves, there was a saying for anytime a doubleheader came up in which Spahn and fellow ace, Johnny Sain, were scheduled to pitch. It went like this, “Spahn and Sain and pray for rain.” After yesterday, perhaps it can be updated to, “Spahn and Fisher and the Mets don’t wither.”
With the doubleheader victory, the Mets improved their record 13 - 17. It’s the best won-loss record the Mets have ever had in their short, dismal franchise history. And the Mets’ completed a homestand in which they won 7 of 11 games. Could this Mets team be competitive?
METS AHEAD OF THE YANKEES
The doubleheader win also enabled the Mets to reach an important milestone. They moved ahead of the Yankees for the first time ever. The Bronx Bombers, who have won 14 of the last 16 American League pennants, are off to a lethargic start to the 1965 season. Yesterday, they lost to the Baltimore Orioles and that dropped them 5 games under .500.
Here are the records of the two New York baseball teams as of this morning:
Won-Loss Records on the morning of May 17, 1965
13 - 17 New York Mets
12 - 17 New York Yankees
In all the New York area papers, only Dana Mozley of the New York Daily News made mention of this watershed moment. He opened his article on the Mets’ doubleheader with this, “Hear this and then pinch yourself: the Amazin Mets (13 - 17) are at last ahead of the Yankees (12 - 17).”
It may not seem like much to cheer for, but for Mets’ fans, here in 1965, this is one of the biggest breakthroughs in franchise history so far.
Len, thanks for the pleasant memories. I was at Shea for that doubleheader.