Reinventing the Mets: 1966

In some ways, the 1965 season was a disappointment. It would have been the first year since expansion that the Mets didn’t improve record wise in our reinvented world. This was partially due to some chances that were taken by the front office that didn’t pan out, such as the acquisitions of Billy Cowan (who bombed in center field), Warren Spahn and Bob Purkey (veteran pitchers who did not lead the starting staff as hoped). However, the Mets did see growth out of Ed Kranepool and the continued development of some of their young players. There was the meteoric rise and fall of Ron Swoboda, followed by Al Ferrara taking over for him and showing that acquiring him as the main piece in the Felix Mantilla deal to the Dodgers in 1963 was potentially worth the wait. Some young pitching failed (Frank Kreutzer) while others showed promise (Dennis Ribant and Rob Gardner). Of course there was the one thing the Mets had to hold their hats on, that they had a young star in Dick Allen.

Here’s the roster that the Mets would have finished 1965 with:

Dick Allen
Craig Anderson
Larry Bearnarth
Jim Bethke
Mike Brumley
Chris Cannizzaro
Joe Christopher
Kevin Collins
Dick Dietz
Larry Elliot
Al Ferrara
Jack Fisher
Rob Gardner
Adrian Garrett
Bud Harrelson
Chuck Hiller
Ron Hunt
Al Jackson
Cleon Jones
Bobby Klaus
Ed Kranepool
Frank Kreutzer
Johnny Lewis
Ron Locke
Dave May
Rudy May
Tug McGraw
Roy McMillan
Dennis Musgraves
Danny Napoleon
Bob Purkey
Dennis Ribant
Gordie Richardson
Dick Rusteck
Bob Sadowski
Larry Sherry
Ron Swoboda
Bill Wakefield

Luckily, the first major league amateur draft that occurred in the summer of 1965 eliminated the first year player draft. For the first time in the team’s history, the Mets wouldn’t have to put players on the 40 man roster that really shouldn’t be anywhere near the major leagues, and could now tailor their roster a little bit more towards the present than the future.

The first thing that was accomplished was the acquisition of the two players to be named later in the Cowan trade that occurred as a waiver wire transaction late in the 1965 season. Those two players would be infielders Lou Klimchock and Ernie Bowman. Neither was a star in the making, but they were depth players that could compete as reserve infielders in the upcoming season. With their acquisition, the Mets would cut ties with Klaus. Klaus had been totally ineffective in 1965 and the Mets had a lot of depth on the infield in the offseason of 1965.

Soon after that, the Mets would send Kreutzer to the Astros for young catcher Jerry Grote. Kreutzer had been a disappointment since his acquisition from the White Sox during the 1963 season, but Grote was down on the depth chart in Houston and the Astros of the early to mid-1960’s were well known for taking on other organizations failed pitchers and attempting to make them into reliable members of a pitching staff. Originally the Mets trade Tom Parsons for Grote, but our Mets never acquired Parsons and Kreutzer offered the Astros the same opportunity.

With Dietz on the roster, this might seem like a strange move, but the Mets catching situation was in a bit of flux. At the start of 1965, the Mets looked like they had some solid depth at catcher, but as the season progressed, that depth was challenged. Brumley had a terrible season at the plate as did Cannizzaro. Dietz had his best season with the bat, but showed little progress defensively. The Mets had traded catching prospect John Stephenson before the season to get Rudy May, so a situation that looked deep all of a sudden wasn’t. Grote was a terrific defensive catcher that showed some promise with the bat. At the very least, Grote would be a quality back up to Dietz, at best the teams regular catcher with Dietz splitting time between catcher and first base as Kranepool had yet to show consistency against left handed pitching. The move would also allow the Mets to use Cannizzaro and Brumley as the third catcher and minor league catching depth, while not having to rely on either catcher, who were both defensively talented, but offensively challenged, for extensive playing time in the big leagues.

Another move they made early in the offseason was to bring Bill Virdon into the organization. Virdon had just retired from a long career as the starting centerfielder with the Pirates. Gil Hodges and the rest of Mets management felt like Virdon could be an excellent guide for the teams plethora of young outfielders (Dave May, Jones, Garrett, Swoboda, Lewis, Ferrara and Elliot), as well as an excellent mind to lead some of the teams minor league affiliates. The outfield would have been a subject for debate, but internally the Mets would decide to go with what they had. All seven players had positive and negative attributes, but they also were young and the Mets would be hoping that from that group, a starting outfield would be born that could guide the Mets for years to come.

With Klaus released, one spot was open on the roster for the Rule 5 draft. In that draft, the Mets would select hard throwing left hander Bill Hepler from the Senators. Although Hepler would have to spend the year on the Mets, the hope was that he could pitch out of the bullpen and maybe start here and there, so that the Mets could add another young pitcher to the mix. This would also help with Rudy May, who had clearly been worn out in his rookie season and needed more seasoning in the minor leagues.

The offseason after the Grote trade would be pretty quiet. With the Mets committed to their young outfielders (especially since Dave May, Jones and Ferrara were out of minor league options), the Mets worked hard to trade Christopher, who after having a terrific season in 1964, had been a disappointment in 1965. They finally found a taker with the Red Sox, who dealt veteran infielder Eddie Bressoud to the Mets in exchange for Christopher. Bressoud would be able to provide some offense to the infield and make sure that the aging McMillan was able to get some rest. The Mets would also be in the market for a starting pitcher and to trade Purkey, but neither would happen. The Mets would eventually cut Purkey at the end of spring training and sell him to the Pirates. This opened up a roster spot for the Mets to eventually claim young left hander Gerry Arrigo from the Reds to further bolster their group of young arms.

As the season commenced, the team went through some early strife. Allen missed two weeks early in the season after injuring his shoulder and Lewis, who had looked like he could be a future starting outfielder for the club, played poorly. Swoboda was given a chance to play, but was hitting under .200 as the Mets were ready to roll into July and was sent back to the minors for more seasoning. However, Kranepool was having his best season and Ferrara was continuing forward from the strides he made in 1965. Jones looked like he was a mainstay. Dave May was holding his own, but struggled against left handed pitching and obviously needed more time to develop. However, the skill set was there, just like with Jones, so the Mets had to feel good about how the young outfield was developing. On top of that, Allen was terrific when he got back into the lineup, and that skillset bolstered the lineup immeasurably.

The pitching staff also blossomed. With an infield that had grown together defensively, Jackson had the best season of his career and Ribant blossomed into a solid starting pitcher. Sadowski was injured early in the season, but the Mets jumped at the chance to purchase veteran pitcher Bob Shaw from the Giants. Shaw was the wily veteran the Mets had been looking for since Carl Willey had success in 1963 and Shaw’s presence as both a long time starting pitcher and a staff leader and teacher was invaluable to the young players in the rotation. Fisher was as steady as ever and the Mets had a whole group of young pitchers that got chances to start, some with more success than others.

The bullpen was a mishmash of young and veteran arms, but the stable presence of Sherry as the closer and 1962 draftee Anderson helped keep it from collapsing. Hepler proved to be a solid left hander, but was very wild and obviously in need of more minor league time. Selma, a young flame throwing right hander, showed signs of his talent and Arrigo was a quality in season acquisition.

How much better could this team have been? The original 1966 Mets won 66 games. Allen’s presence alone may have added five wins to that total. Allen had arguably the best season of his entire career in 1966. He slugged 40 home runs and produced and absurd 1.027 OPS. Despite his shoulder injury, Allen still remained productive in the field, having his best defensive season at third base until the shoulder injury made throwing very difficult. The Mets would have transitioned his bat to first base and used Kranepool in the outfield, which would have further complicated that situation, but it was a good problem to have. The original Mets also relied a lot on an underperforming Swoboda, who would have spent more than half of the season in the minor leagues, while Ferrara seriously out performed his offensive numbers. Catcher would have also been a lot more productive. Remember, Grote was a poor hitter until he met with Hodges, who changed his swing and made him into a player that, when healthy, never hit any lower than .250. When you add that to Dietz taking on the at bats of players like John Stephenson and Hawk Taylor, a lot more production would have come from behind the dish. In general, this team may have scored 50 plus more runs in 1966 than they originally did. The pitching staff would have been improved with the presences of Sherry, Jackson and Anderson, none of which pitched for the Mets in 1966, instead of the likes of Dave Eilers, Jack Hamilton, Darrell Sutherland and Ralph Terry, who combined to have an ERA in the mid-four’s in over 250 innings of work. Also, Jackson’s presence would have meant that Hamilton, Bob Friend and McGraw (who made 12 starts, but was obviously not ready for that kind of a role as he posted a 5.34 ERA) would not have made those 37 starts. Only McGraw might have seen some token time at some point in the year.

All of this adds up to what would have been the most exciting season the Mets ever had. They probably wouldn’t have pushed over the .500 barrier, but they would have flirted with it and might have ended up with a win total in the high 70’s. With all of the young players on the roster, the Mets had to think they were a few major acquisitions away from pushing into the 81 win or better category.

What they didn’t know at the time was that they had already made one of those acquisitions when on April 3rd of 1966 the Mets, one of three teams who had put in $51,500 bids on an amateur player just out of USC, were awarded Tom Seaver by Major League Baseball.