Rod Gaspar and his most unusual year

Rod Gaspar was a switch-hitting backup outfielder with the champion 1969 Mets, who managed to leave an outsized legacy. Gaspar was listed as 5’11” and 165 pounds, so with that frame he was not a power hitter. He was a speedy, slick-fielding outfielder whose best tool at the plate was probably his good discipline resulting in a decent OBP.

1969 was the rookie year for Gaspar, and he managed to make the team as a fifth outfielder. Cleon Jones and Tommie Agee were fixtures in left and center fields respectively, with Ron Swoboda and Art Shamsky platooning in RF. So Gaspar saw action as a late inning defensive replacement, as a pinch-runner, and some starts, mainly early in the season when Shamsky was nursing a sore back. He played in 118 games for the Mets that year with 250 PA, producing a slash line of .228/.313/.279.

Gaspar played 492 innings in the outfield that year, and yet he provided extraordinary production in that limited playing time. For example he had 12 assists in the outfield, which made him the team leader in that category despite the relatively paltry amount of innings played. The other four Met outfielders combined had 16 assists, so Gaspar nearly matched that total all by himself.

As impressive as leading the team in outfield assists is, he even outdid himself by leading the league in outfield double plays with six. One of those was a rare unassisted double play, when Gaspar raced in from center to snatch a ball before it hit the ground, he then continued on to second base to record the out on the baserunner there.

More important to the team was a defensive play he performed in late August in San Francisco. The Mets had recovered from their first-half of August woes to start to get back into the pennant race. The Giants were a very good team that year, as they usually were in the sixties. Gaspar was playing left field late in the tied game with Willie McCovey batting and a man on second. The Mets put an outfield shift on McCovery, a dangerous left-handed pull hitter.

McCovey crossed up the shift and hit the ball into left field, barely inside the foul line. Gaspar had no chance to catch it in the air, but he raced from left center to grab the ball bare-handed, he then fired a strike to the plate to nab the runner. McCovey tried to advance to second when catcher Jerry Grote rolled the ball back to the mound, thinking it was the third out. Donn Clendennon alertly saved the day and got the ball to second in time to record a strange double play to end the inning. The Mets went on to win in extras. If the Mets had lost that game, it could have stopped the momentum they were building and might have given the Cubs a chance to hang on.

The Mets of course kept up their momentum to capture the Eastern Division, followed by a sweep of the Braves in the LCS. The Mets then had the daunting challenge of facing The Baltimore Orioles in the World Series. The Orioles won 109 regular season games that year and were heavy favorites over the Mets. The fourth game was pivotal, the Mets were up 2 games to 1 at that point, but if they lost that would tie the series and insure that the teams would have to go back to Baltimore. The game went into extra innings. In the bottom of the 10th Grote smashed a double, and manager Gil Hodges sent in Gaspar to run for him. J. C. Martin then pinch-hit for Tom Seaver, and was told to bunt Gaspar over. He dropped a bunt in front of home, and the Baltimore catcher hit Martin with the throw and the ball trickled toward second base. Gaspar never hesitated and raced around to home plate and scored standing up. I watched the YouTube video, Gaspar is only in the frame when he crosses the plate so it is hard to tell how close it was. I think it is fair to say that a slower, less daring runner might have stopped at third or been thrown out. The run secured the complete game win for Tom Seaver, it was the only time he was the winning pitcher in the WS.

Gaspar was a popular teammate who had a good sense of humor. As such, he made a lot of appearances on the postseason banquet tour that year. Apparently he did a little too much eating and not enough working out in the offseason. He reported to spring training 1970 out of shape and had a poor year, with a fair amount of the season spent in the minors. After the season he was dealt to San Diego with little impact there and he was soon out of MLB.

For a fifth outfielder, the light-hitting Gaspar had an outsized effect on the 1969 Amazin’ Mets. His most unusual year included being a rookie 5th outfielder who made a key play to help his underdog team win the World Series, and him being in the record books forever as the league leader in outfield double plays in 1969 despite his low playing time.