[JerryShoe]

1962-69 Mets

The project that started it all: taking the first playoff-bound expansion team to the postseason in as least the same time frame it historically happened, the 1962-69 New York Mets. This will be the most difficult of the 3 replays I thought of, in that the ‘65 Yanks had a (bad) team in place with 12 seasons to accomplish the task and 8 of them with divisional play, the ’69 Royals needed to be built from the ground up but had all 8 of expanded playoffs to do so. The ’62 Mets also had to start from scratch with an 8-year window, but in 7 of them had to top 9 other teams.
As outlined in the 1965 Yankee replay, I will play with historical injuries, 15-man reserve squad, rookies start with their original team, players must be used for at least half their playing time or be traded or released (if I want Al Jackson’s 2.51 for 30+ starts in 1966, I have to deal with at least 100 innings of a +4.00 ERA for 4 years) and I cap my players at 10% over actual usage (I can only pitch Jackson for 255 innings of those ’66 IP). I do financials offline where TV contracts and ticket prices don’t matter. Team revenue comes from wins and standings, salaries from performance and longevity, so I can’t stockpile superstars unless I have the earnings to support them. Trade AI is 35/35/20/10 and the only prospective free agent in this scenario is Ken Harrelson signing with the Red Sox in August ’67 IF he is with the A’s then, and the only impact would be if there is a Met-Red Sox World Series from ’67 to ’69, assuming no trade of the Hawk is made.
Again, it starts with the expansion draft, with this being the easiest of the 3 to replicate. The ’61 AL draft was such a mess that they didn’t even know what they were doing. Literally. Post-draft trades were needed to retroactively conform to the rules and any projects I do will avoid the ’60-’61 AL offseason. The ’69 drafts were orderly, but in redoing it not only did I have to draft for the Royals, I had to “sorta” draft for the Pilots when any of their historical picks were not available by using their “win now” philosophy, I had to research or best guess the 15-man protected list of the 10 established teams and then research/best guess each team’s 3 new protectees after every round and even had to keep track of the 12 NL teams for any historical transactions that conflicted with the new draft. The rules for the ’62 NL expansion was very simple. The original 8 teams submitted a 15-name list and a separate 2-name list of all the players allowed to be drafted to be done in 4 rounds. For the first 2, the new teams were required to choose 2 players from each team at $75,000 each. Then there was an option for the expansionists to pick a third player for $50,000. Said pickings were so slim that only 5 out of a possible 16 were taken, the Colt 45s and Mets choosing to spend the money saved on free-agent signings or purchases; indeed, some of those not taken were bought at a better price. The final round held that the old teams would lose 1 of the 2 players submitted on the second list at a higher $125,000, a total of 4 going to new team meaning a maximum roster of 28, if all 8 in the second round were taken.
But I made it even easier on me. I gave Houston all their picks and chose from who was left. I felt that some of the new Colt 45s gave their team an identity, and it didn’t seem right to pick Turk Farrell, Bob Lillis or Bob Aspromonte (even if Aspro was a Brooklyn boy and later became a Met). So here is the team I will start with, with the differences from the actual draft explained alongside:

Brewer, Jim, rr Cubs third round option not originally taken
Roger Craig, rs Dodgers
Ray Culp, rs Phillies third round option not originally taken
Eddie Fisher, rr Giants in place of Hobie Landrith, c
Dallas Green, rr-s Phillies Premium Player in place of Lee Walls, of,
Al Jackson, ls Pirates
Bill Henry, lr Reds Premium Player in place of Jay Hook, rs
Bob Miller, rs Cardinals
Howie, Nunn, rr Reds in place of Elio Chacon, ss
Orlando Pena, rr Reds in place of Sherman Jones, rr

Chris Cannizzaro, c Cardinals
Dick Dietz, c Giants third round option not originally taken
Phil Roof, c Braves third round option not originally taken
Norm Sherry, c Dodgers third round option not originally taken

Dick Allen, 3b Phillies in place of Clarence “Choo-Choo” Coleman, c
Ed Bouchee, 1b Cubs
Sammy Drake, 2b Cubs
Gil Hodges, 1b Dodgers
Johnny Logan, ss Pirates third round option not originally taken
Felix Mantilla, ss Braves
Cap Peterson, 2b-3b-of Giants in place of Ray Daviault, rr
Red Schoendienst, 2b Cardinals in place of Craig Anderson, rs
Don Zimmer, 2b Cubs

Gus Bell, of Reds
Joe Christopher, of Pirates
Jim Hickman, of Cardinals
Bobby Smith, of Phillies
Hawk Taylor, of-c Braves in place of John DeMerit, of

Some words of explanation may be needed here. Dick Allen? Yes, the Phillies put him on the list and I felt it wasn’t cheating to take him. The questions really are:

1) Why did the Phillies risk losing him?
2) Why didn’t Houston or New York risk taking him?

The Phillies gave a $70,000 to sign the 2-sport star as a shortstop, so they did regard him highly. He advanced through 2 minor-league seasons as a teen-ager, the most recent in “C” ball (.317 and 21 homers in 117 games, showing progress) and he was placed on the 40-man roster for the 1962 season. So why expose him? Philadelphia lost the 4 minimum players: Choo-Choo Coleman, Jesse Hickman, Bobby Smith and George Williams. Obviously, none were anywhere near Dick Allen, but maybe at the time something could be said about each of them. Coleman was a good defensive catcher in the minors but was to be 26 in ’62 with only 1 good-hitting minor league season (and half-season at that) and a .128 cup-of-coffee in 1961. Maybe. Hickman pitched well in “D” ball (lowest classification at the time) but didn’t at higher levels. Definite no. Smith was a 28-year old corner outfielder with a career .253 BA, 12 homers and 4 steals in a 5-year career to that point. Maybe not. Williams was a 21-year second baseman who hit at every minor-league level and even hit .250 in his cup-of-coffee. Well, okay, even though he didn’t pan out, the potential seemed to be there. Now keep in mind neither new team took a third player to save themselves $50,000. The Phillies already spend more than that on Allen between bonus and salary and trained him well enough to move up to “A” ball in the next season.
I avoided Culp until I saw I was way short of pitchers, and I did decline to cheat and take Robin Roberts. Fisher was a lesser example of Allen’s why-was-he-on-it-and-why-no-takers, so much so that the White Sox insisted on him being included in the Billy Pierce trade that helped the Giants edge past the Dodgers in '62 The rest of the changes were because my choices seemed to be so much better of an option than history, judging from past performance, minor league records and contemporary writings in The Sporting News and Street & Smith’s.
Another note on Allen. I knew of “Richie” when I first started following baseball; his trouble with Philly management, writing “Boo” in the infield dirt, seeing his photo smoking a cigarette in Sports Illustrated when he led the 1972 White Sox on a remarkable run and leading the AL in homers in 19673despite a September retirement. He was a good player but never really followed him, yet he was involved in all 3 of my replays. Just before doing my 1965-76 Yankee project, I read that he was almost dealt to Cleveland in the 1968-69 offseason so saw that it would have been historically correct to try to trade for him to replace Mickey Mantle when he retired. This wasn’t done since the 1968 Yankees won the pennant and ended the scenario. He fell into my lap during the 1969-76 Royals project when he was suspended for a month while his Phillies were in the division race and no use to them, and how could I not pick him now?

On deck: the 1962 Mets.