Saturday Sessions: 1965: The Year the Mets Grew Up (Just a Little)

The 1965 season saw the Mets add two future Hall of Famers, draft a future Hall of Famer and beat a Hall of Fame pitcher for the first time, while they made their first ever managerial change.

The 1965 Mets season began taking shape shortly after the 1964 season ended.

The Mets purchased Hall of Famer Warren Spahn’s contract from the Milwaukee Braves to serve as a pitcher and pitching coach.

Yogi Berra was signed to a two year, $35,000 deal as a player/coach, a month after being fired by the Yankees. He began the season as the first base coach and played four games in May before playing his final game on 5/9/65.

More seeds were planted for the harvest that was 1969.

Ron Swoboda, Tug McGraw and Bud Harrelson made their Major League debuts, while Nolan Ryan was taken in the 12th round of the MLB June Amateur Draft.

Shea Stadium was in its second season and a record crowd of 57,175 would see the Mets lose a doubleheader to the Los Angeles Dodgers in June.

The Mets opened the 1965 season with a six game home stand that saw them play one game against the Dodgers, two against the Houston Astros and three vs. the San Francisco Giants.

The Mets lost the first two games but on April 15th, they beat the Astros, 5-4 in 10 innings on a walk off home run by Bobby Klaus. It was the earliest regular season win for the Mets in their four-year history. The game also featured a 9-2-6 triple play in the top of the second inning.

With runners on first and third and no one out, Jim Wynn flied out to Mets right fielder Johnny Lewis. Ward Bond tagged from third but Lewis’ throw to Mets catcher Chris Cannizzaro nailed Bond at home for the second out. Bob Aspromonte tried to advance to second on the throw, but Cannizaro threw to Mets shortstop Roy McMillan to complete a unique triple play.

In late April, the Mets made their debut at the Houston Astrodome with a two game series. The second game was notable because of where one of the Mets broadcasters was located.

On April 28th, Mets broadcaster Lindsey Nelson agreed to call the game from a gondola that was 208 feet above second base. According to reports, the gondola was put in place to provide a sound system and lighting for events like boxing matches and concerts.

Nelson was provided a walkie-talkie to communicate with Ralph Kiner and Bob Murphy. Unfortunately, the device was on the same frequency as a Houston taxi company. Nelson not only heard Murphy’s play-by-play, he also heard instructions to pick up passengers.

The Mets lost 12-9. After the game, Nelson was quoted as saying, “Everybody looked the same height, everybody looked short. You couldn’t tell a line drive from a pop fly.”

One of the most unusual plays of the season occurred two days later against the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field.

The rookie Swoboda was batting with the bases loaded and one out when he hit a ball to center field that appeared to be a grand slam home run. The center field wall was made of concrete with plywood at the top of it to protect construction workers who were outside the ballpark.

According to the ground rules, the ball was in play if it hit the concrete and a home run if it struck the plywood on top.

The ball appeared to hit the plywood, but second base umpire Frank Secory ruled the ball was in play, so Swoboda had an RBI single.

Berra was ejected for arguing the call and afterwards offered this "Yogism.“

"Anyone who can’t hear the difference between a ball hitting wood and a ball hitting concrete must be blind.”

Berra came out of retirement and was activated as a player to make his Mets debut as a pinch-hitter on May 1st. Three days later, the Hall of Fame catcher made his first Mets start and was two for three with a run scored in a 2-1 win over the Phillies at Shea.

Berra would appear as a pinch-hitter before playing his final game on May 9th in the first game of a doubleheader against the Braves at Shea. In his finale, Berra was 0 for 4 with three strikeouts and a ground out while he also dropped a foul ball.

On June 14th, Crosley Field was the site of the Mets most bizarre win of the season. Reds' pitcher Jim Maloney did not allow a hit through nine full innings, but Mets pitcher Frank Lary matched him with eight scoreless innings.

Larry Bearnarth took over for Lary and kept the Reds off the board in the ninth to send the game to extra innings.

Maloney continued to no hit the Mets through ten but Bearnarth kept the Reds scoreless in their half of the tenth.

Mets right fielder Johnny Lewis broke up Maloney’s bid with a lead off home run in the top of the 11th to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. Bearnarth gave up a hit with two out in the 11th, but retired Reds first-baseman Gordy Coleman to preserve a mind boggling 1-0 win.

July saw Warren Spahn pitch his final game for the Mets before being released on the 17th and two days later he signed with the Giants.

On July 24th, the Mets dropped a routine 5-1 decision to the Phillies, but it proved to be an historic day as it was Stengel’s final game as a Major League Manager.

After the game, Stengel went to Toots Shor’s restaurant, a frequent watering hole for celebrities and athletes in those days.

There are unconfirmed reports as to how it happened, but Stengel woke up on the morning of July 25th in intense pain and was taken to Roosevelt Hospital.

Stengel, who was five days shy of his 75th birthday, had broken his hip and needed hip replacement surgery.

Coach Wes Westrum took over the team on an interim basis and won his first game as the Mets beat the Phillies, 8-1 in the first game of a doubleheader.

With Stengel’s future in doubt, the beloved baseball lifer officially announced his retirement on August 25th.

The Mets began the month of August with 11 straight losses but snapped that lengthy streak on August 14th when they beat the Astros 1-0 in ten innings at the Astrodome. Ron Hunt’s pinch-hit, suicide squeeze bunt in the tenth was botched by Houston pitcher Danny Coombs to allow Chuck Hiller to score the winning run.

August 26th at Shea proved to be a notable day in Mets history because it was the first time they beat Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax.

The Hall of Fame left hander had dominated the Mets since they came into the league in 1962. Coming into the game, Koufax was 13-0 with a 1.15 ERA against the Mets in his career that included a no hitter in 1962.

Rookie left hander Tug McGraw got the start and gave up a run in the top of the first, but the Mets answered with two in their half against Koufax to take a 2-1 lead.

McGraw matched Koufax with five scoreless innings and the game remained 2-1 until the bottom of the 7th.

With runners on first and third and two out, McGraw was at the plate and Koufax appeared to get out of the inning as he got his counterpart to ground to third. Dodgers third-baseman Don LeJohn threw the ball away that allowed a run to score and give the Mets a 3-1 lead.

With two out in the Dodgers 8th, McGraw gave up a run scoring triple to Wes Parker to make it a 3-2 game. At that point, Westrum brought in Jack Fisher to relieve McGraw who received a raucous standing ovation from the 45,950 fans who were there that night. Fisher walked Jim Gilliam but retired Lou Johnson to end the threat.

1955 World Series hero Johnny Podres replaced Koufax to start the eighth and gave up back to back home runs to Joe Christopher and Ron Swoboda as the Mets took a 5-2 lead.

Fisher had an easy 1-2-3 ninth to earn the save and the Mets had their first ever win against the great Koufax.

On September 2nd, Harrelson made his Major League debut as a pinch runner but did not get his first hit until September 19th against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

With the way things were going for the Mets in their early years, it was only fitting that the 1965 season would end in bizarre fashion.

The Phillies were scheduled for the final three game series at Shea, but the Friday, October 1st game was rained out so a twi-night doubleheader was scheduled for Saturday.

Jim Bunning blanked the Mets on a two hitter in the opener but the teams played an 18-inning scoreless tie in the nitecap.

After four hours and 39 minutes, the game was called due to a 1 AM curfew in New York City so it would have to be replayed the next day in its entirety as part of a season ending doubleheader.

Some highlights from the game:

-Phillies starting pitcher Chris Short and Mets starting pitcher Rob Gardner each pitched 15 scoreless innings

-Phillies pitchers struck out 21 Mets batters

-Mets left fielder Ron Swoboda was ejected in the first inning for arguing balls and strikes

-In the bottom of the third, the Mets had a hit with a runner in scoring position, but Ron Hunt failed to score from second on Joe Christopher’s double

-Mets first baseman Jim Hickman had 20 putouts

On the final day of the season, the Phillies swept the twin bill by identical scores of 3-1. The second game lasted 13 innings as losing pitcher Jack Fisher tossed a complete game. Ferguson Jenkins pitched two scoreless innings in relief to earn the second of his 284 Major League wins.