[JerryShoe]

The Plan
Looking for speed and power, I hope I now have both in 2 rookies who have been taking reserve roster space since 1963, Agee and Cleon Jones, who would also add outfield defense, especially in center after Virdon’s departure. Jackson may not be an ace anymore, but he should still be a top of the rotation guy who would need some help around him. I think I did, in trading rookies Blass and Billy Murphy plus surplus corner OF Swoboda for hurlers Joel Horlen, Ray Sadecki and minor leaguer Chuck “Twiggy” Hartenstein. The roster would start with a catching platoon of Roseboro (to protect his aging body) and Hundley (to break in a rookie finally able to contribute after 2 years taking up a reserve spot). Around the infield, Allen makes his move to first, Hunt back at second, one of three good-field, no-hit shortstops (Brinkman, Wine and rookie Bud Harrelson, two too many) and McMullen at third. Jones and Agee would man LF and CF with Hickman and Shannon vying for RF. The bench would be Banks or Gentile (no need for 2 first base only subs, and Gentile bats left), Johnson, the second-best shortstop (the remaining one reserved or hopefully moved) and the loser of the RF battle with Ty Cline. The starters should be Jackson, Horlen, Culp and Guisti with Craig, Miller and Worthington leading the bullpen. In another end-of-spring deal to get down to the roster limit, I sent Adair with rookie pitchers Dicks Rusteck and Selma for a not-yet-ready Felix Millan.

What Happened to the Plan
We started out fast, with 5-1, 6-2 and 8-4 logs before ending April at 8-7 (5th place, 4 games out), but Allen wrenched his shoulder to start May, landing him on the IL for 19 days and out of the lineup for another 8. He was replaced by the 1965 platoon of Banks (.333 resurgence) and Gentile, which worked out. While Shannon won the RF spot, Jones was hitting only .217 so Hickman regained a starting spot and was hitting .462 when he dislocated his wrist and lost until the end of the summer. Culp (4.88) was removed from the rotation, reserved and replaced by Grant. When Allen returned to the lineup it was at his third position in less than a year, left field as the first base tandem of Banks/Gentile were doing much better than the Jones/Cline platoon. After his return the team reeled off 5 straight wins to end May at 24-19 (4th, -7). The rotation remained a problem, so Guisti was optioned and Cardwell recalled. I shopped Hunt because more defense was needed at second base and on July 1 (41-33, 4th, -6.5) the White Sox offered Luis Aparicio! John Buzhardt and Harrelson were added (after declining their request for Millan) so Brinkman moved to the other side of the keystone. August started with us at 54-49 and tied for 5th (-12), and my best hopes were to fend off LA for that final money slot. Allen moved back to first upon Hickman’s August return and stayed there after Hickman maxed out his playing time (Jones took over left fulltime, as Cline was close to his limits). After a 4-game September sweep of Houston we were a scant game behind them for fourth and we focused on that prize.

The Results
Nice showing, best year yet, with 88 wins, that fourth place finish and only 3 out of third. The offensive leaderboard was littered with Mets, mostly from the play of Allen. He led with a .337 BA and came in 4th with 39 homers. Other stats were a .410 OB (3rd) and .630 SA (1st). Agee came in 2nd with 111 RS and 5th with 10 triples. Shannon’s .318 was good for 3rd and even Brinkman’s anemic .231 BA had a leading 13 triples! No Met hurler was seen on the leaderboards, but the rotation built around Horlen and Jackson performed credibly and the bullpen-by-committee did very well.


SS Aparicio..............322 with NY (.310 and 40 steals overall
CF Agee..................also .287, 46 SBs and defense
C Roseboro...........290
1B Allen...................‘nuff said,
RF Shannon........... also 20 HRs, 87 RS and defense
3B McMullen...........12 HR and defense
LF Jones..................253, 7 SB with no CS and defense
2B Brinkman............also great defense at both middle-infield spots
Hundley platooned with Roseboro for most of the year, Banks/Gentile pounded 18 homers, Hickman hit another 8 between injuries and maxing his playing time and Cline’s legs helped out as a pinch-runner and defensive replacement. Hunt hit .297/.372 during his time with the team.

S1 Horlen.................17-7, 3.22
S2 Jackson...............13-7, 3.45
S3 Grant...................3.49
S4 Sadecki...............10-3, 2.78 while also a reliever
Giusti (3.73), Bell (3.90), Culp (4.50) and Cardwell (4.75) fell ina nd out of the rotation.

RP Miller...................1.42, 11 Saves
RP Worthington........1.30, 11 Saves
RP Hoerner..............2.19, 9 Saves
RP Drabowsky.........2.32
RP McGraw.............3.60
Brewer (2.08) and Craig (2.94) were injured much of the year but pitched well when not.

Craig and Gentile retired after the season, which ended with Pittsburgh winning their first pennant of this replay and defeating repeating AL Champ Cleveland. The postseason awards mostly went against history. Roberto Clemente won the NL MVP as he actually did and the true AL winner Robinson, still in the NL here, finished 7th. Kaline won in the AL with F.Robby still with the Reds. 1966 was the last year with only 1 Cy Young winner with Gibson (NL) and Gaylord Perry (with the AL Indians here) won while the real winner, Koufax, was 4th in the NL voting. The freshman awards were a bit off. With Agee in the AL, Fritz Peterson won in his absence. That’s fine, but in the NL Agee not only lost out (to Pat Jarvis) but he didn’t even garner a vote (much like actual winner Tommy Helms) even though he did finished 4th in MVP balloting and Phil Roof got some attention despite his .204 BA.

The 1967 Mets Coming Up