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OK, this is it, the 1969th thread on the CPF Baseball Forum, which I declare devoted to discussing the 1969 Mets. I'm posting this now to keep anyone else from slipping a new thread into this slot. More later.
On Edit: Actually no rush to sign off, since I can edit this, the glorious initial post in the 1969th thread, for at least a while (not sure of the edit window, if any) but I just wanted to note that this squad has gone beyond myth into ur-myth for me, and its events have taken on a significance in my life that exceeds fanship and sports.
For example, I have instructed my kids that my mental acuity is to be appraised, and found wanting, on the first day I am unable to recite the names of all 25 1969 Mets within two minutes' time.
And I immediately faced a problem there, because I discovered that, in fact, I couldn't actually perform that feat of mental legerdemain. I could recite the names of 27 or 30 Mets who played in 1969, no problem, but nailing down the identity of the 25th man on the World Series roster was a sticky point that I was unable to resolve easily.
What I did remember was that Bobby Pfeil, their third-string third baseman, was left off the Series roster in order to get it down to 25, and I remembered this as a sign of Gil Hodges' managerial style since, feeling that Pfeil had been a part of his team all season long, he allowed Pfeil to suit up, despite being ineligible to play in the Series.
What I can't quite remember-- and baseball-reference is very little help here because it lists only those who actually played in the Series, not the eligible players who didn't get into a game-- is who was and who wasn't on the Series squad. Which could be a problem, as my kids may be eager to have me put into an old age home.
The pitching staff is of course memorable, not only for its big 1-3 (Seaver, Koosman, Gentry) but also its little 4-6 (Ryan,Cardwell, McAndrew), all very capable starters, and its middle reliever, Koonce, and its closers or firemen or whatever relief aces were called back then (I'm guessing "relief aces"), Taylor and McGraw--that's nine. And Jack DiLauro makes 10, which sounds right. But may not be. We'll return to the pitching staff.
Catchers were Grote and Dyer and Martin, so that's 13, and the infield was Kranepool and Clendenon, Boswell and Weis, Harrelson, and Charles and Garrett, bringing us up to 20. So five outfielders, Jones and Agee, and then in RF we have Shamsky, Swoboda, and Gaspar. So that's twenty-five, and I believe that's right.
Because the Mets used only six pitchers in the series, though, I'm not completely sold on Jack DiLauro, and I can't quite nail down his place on the Series squad. Since I've made this the test of my mental acuity, I'd like to be completely confident that DiLauro was in fact the final piece of the puzzle, and merely being in uniform for the Series doesn't quite cut it (Pfeil). Can anyone confirm DiLauro's eligibility for me and help me stave off being put into assisted living before I'm willing to concede the point? Could Amos Otis have been eligible? Or Jim Gosger? Pretty sure it's DiLauro, but I want to be more than pretty sure.
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