A gloriously happy 50th anniversary to the most miraculous, most improbable, and most unadulteratingly joyous championship in the history of sports, the 1969 "Miracle" New York Mets!
1969... A year of moon walks, Woodstock, the end of the Beatles, Nixon, Vietnam ... and the Mets!
From 100 to 1 odds at the start of the season, a team that never finished higher than 9th place, helmed by a Hall of Fame caliber manager and stocked with a deep pitching rotation including 2 future and 1 near Hall of Famer, this team caught fire in the summer and blazed from 10 games behind to a 100-62 record, winning the division by 8 games after a season-long battle with the Chicago Cubs. From there they swept the Atlanta Braves for the N.L Championship and rolled over the powerful and heavily favored Baltimore Orioles in 5 games.
11 game winning streaks, trade deadline acquisitions, black cats, knock-down pitches, "Good Night, Leo," imperfect games, Cy Young winners ... we all know the stories of this wonderful season. I present below how the end was covered by the NEW YORK DAILY NEWS. I will limit my comments and leave hi-resolution scans of the actual articles and newspaper photos to do the talking. There is one paper missing, which I will add in the future, newspaper coverage of Game 1 of the N.L. Playoffs. (Sorry! I promise I'll get it here in the future!)
We'll start with the lead up to clinching the National League Eastern Division title......
Page 64
Page 65
Page 66-67
Page 68-69
Page 77
Page 112
Bill Gallo
Page 113
Page 114
Page 115
Page 117
Page 127
Page 129
Page 14-15
Page 22
Page 25
Page 27
Page 26
Page 27
Page 29
Page 25
Page 48-49
Page 51
Page 80
Page 81
Page 82
Page 83
Page 90
Page 95
Page 14-15
Page 22
Page 23
Page 25
Page 26
Page 26
Page 27
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Page 13 - Editorial
Page 22
Page 23
Page 27
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Page 172
Page 173
Page 174
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Page 44-45
Page 72
Page 73
Page 74
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Page 80:
Page 81:
Page 46-47:
Page 90:
Page 61-62
Page 110
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Page 112
Page 113
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Page 26
Page 27
Page 28
Page 29
Page 31
Page 16-17
Page 19 (Radio & TV coverage listings)
Page 8,25
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 13
Page 28
Page 48 - Bruce Stark ad illustration
Page 51 - Editorial
Page 52-53
Page 64 - Ed Sullivan's column
Page 84 - Blurb at end of TV column announcing the Mets' appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.
Page 88
Page 89
Page 90
Page 91
Page 92
Page 94
Page 95
Page B-1
Bill Gallo (1)
And finally, let's top this off by a posting of The 1969 Mets Portfolio of Stars by the great caricaturist, News staff cartoonist Bruce Stark. This portfolio collected on better paper stock the player images the News had been printing all through the latter part of the season.
All New York Daily News scans are from the author's collection, scanned originally at 300 dpi and cleaned up in Photoshop. Likewise, The 1969 NY Mets Portfolio scans.
- New York Daily News - September 25, 1969; NYC Edition
- New York Daily News - September 26, 1969; National Edition
- New York Daily News - October 6, 1969; National Edition
- New York Daily News - October 7, 1969; NYC Edition
- New York Daily News - October 7, 1969; National Edition
- New York Daily News - October 8, 1969; National Edition
- New York Daily News - October 9, 1969; National Edition
- New York Daily News - October 10, 1969; National Edition
- New York Sunday News - October 12, 1969; NYC "Night Owl" Edition
- New York Daily News - October 13, 1969; NYC Edition
- New York Daily News - October 14, 1969; NYC Edition
- New York Daily News - October 15, 1969; NYC Edition
- New York Daily News - October 16, 1969; National Edition
- New York Daily News - October 17, 1969; NYC Edition
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