Bud Harrelson: the game I'll never forget: as told to Al Doyle: former Mets shortstop recalls 1969 World Series when New York upset the Baltimore Orioles

Baseball Digest, August, 2005 by Al Doyle

I DEFINITELY REMEMBER MY FIRST major league game. I was flying on a cloud after being called up to the Mets, and Wes Westrum put me in against the Astros at Shea Stadium on September 2, 1965.

We were playing in Milwaukee against the Braves a few days later when I ran into foul territory after a pop-up. I climbed on a rolled-up tarp, caught the ball, and fell into the stands. I remember that play to this day.

The Mets sent me to Jacksonville in 1966, and that's where I met Tom Seaver. We became friends right away. We were both California boys, and Tom had the poise of a veteran even though he was a rookie. When Tom was called up the next year, he asked to room with me, and that's the way it stayed for years.

People love to talk about the 1969 "Miracle Mets". Gil Hodges was the one who made us a winning team.

Gil had a meeting in spring training. He told us, "You guys lost 36 one-run games last year. We've got really good pitching and defense. If every pitcher on this ball club wins one more games than they lose, we're ten games over .500, and that makes us a contender."

It was a simple message, but it set a theme for the season. We won 42 one-run games in '69. With our pitching, it was a lot of 2-1 and 3-2 wins. Gil was prepared for any situation. If a pitcher got in trouble, he already had a reliever warming up.

Gil taught me the mental part of being a good defensive player. I'd watch the other team take batting practice. If you study the game, you learn what different guys do depending on the situation. Johnny Bench would go up the middle with two strikes. With (Jerry) Grote catching, Tommie Agee in center and me at short, the Mets were pretty solid defensively up the middle.

The Mets were below .500 early in the season. Our success really started in late May and June, when we swept the Dodgers and Giants on the road and at home. The Mets had never done that before. We always lost on the West Coast until then. We weren't the laughable Mets any more.

I was on Army reserve duty when Seaver pitched his nearly perfect game against the Cubs on July 9. Jimmy Qualls got a single in the ninth inning to ruin it. I saw that one on TV at an Italian restaurant with the other guys from my unit.

That season was unbelievable. The Cubs had a big lead, but we caught and passed them in September. We proved that good pitching will stop good hitting. Our staff was a lot of talented young guys mixed with a few veterans like Don Cardwell.

We had great support from the fans. After we clinched the division against the Cardinals, they packed the field like we had just won the World Series and tore it up. That happened again after we beat the Braves in the playoffs.

Even though we weren't a hard-hitting team, we scored a lot of runs against Atlanta and swept them 3-0. Then it was on to face the Orioles in the World Series, and the Mets were big underdogs. The Orioles dominated the American League all year, and everyone expected them to beat up on the Mets.

Don Buford was the leadoff hitter for the Orioles in the Series, and he hit a home run that barely cleared the wall in right. When Buford got to second, he said "You ain't seen nothing yet" to me. I just said "It's the first inning, first guy, one run. You ain't seen us yet," to myself.

The Orioles won that game 4-1, but the Mets took the next four games to win the World Series. (Jerry) Koosman had a no-hitter for six innings in Game 2, and Al Weis singled off Dave McNally in the ninth to win the game 2-1.

Agee was the big star in the third game at Shea. He led off with a homer, but that's not what everyone remembers about that game.

Tommie was playing (Elrod) Hendricks to pull to right in the fourth Inning. Hendricks smashed a long drive to left center, and Agee caught up with that ball right at the fence.

The really big play came in the seventh inning. Nolan Ryan was pitching with the bases loaded and two out when (Paul) Blair smashed a drive to right center. Agee dove on his belly to make that catch. We won 5-0, but who knows what would have happened if that ball got through?

It was Ron Swoboda's turn in Game 4. The Mets were up 1-0 in the ninth with runners at first and third when Brooks Robinson hit a sinking liner to right field.

I was thinking it was going to go through for two runs, but Ron dove, slid and made the catch to hold the Orioles to a sac fly. Tom was pitching, and he went 10 innings. That was the game where J.C. Martin bunted with runners on first and second, and he was hit on the elbow with the throw to first. Rod Gaspar scored to win the game.

It was like a force moved the Mets all season, and that force was Gil Hodges. We were losing 3-0 in Game 5 when Cleon Jones was hit in the foot with a pitch.

Umpire Lou DiMuro told Cleon to get back in the batter's box, but Gil ran out, grabbed the ball and showed DiMuro the shoe polish on it, and Cleon went to first. Donn Clendenon--an unbelievable slugger for us--then hit a homer to cut the lead to 3-2. Do you think Earl Weaver would have gotten that call from DiMuro?