1972 New York Mets season

The 1972 New York Mets season was the 11th regular season for the Mets, who played home games at Shea Stadium. Led by manager Yogi Berra, the team had an 83–73 record and finished in third place in the National League's Eastern Division.

1972 New York Mets
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Joan Whitney Payson
General manager(s)Bob Scheffing
Manager(s)Yogi Berra
Local televisionWOR-TV
Local radioWHN
(Ralph Kiner, Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy)
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Offseason

Death of Gil Hodges

On April 2, 1972, Gil Hodges and his coaches Rube Walker, Joe Pignatano and Eddie Yost, were in West Palm Beach, Florida. As they were returning to their motel after a round of golf, Hodges suddenly collapsed, falling backward and cracking his head open. Hodges was dead of a heart attack, two days short of his forty-eighth birthday.[1] The Mets wore a black-armband on the left sleeves of their uniform jerseys during the 1972 season in honor of Hodges.

A new man in charge

On April 6, the Mets announced their new manager, Yogi Berra. The announcement of Berra's appointment was accompanied by another; the Mets had traded outfielder Ken Singleton, infielder Tim Foli, and first baseman-outfielder Mike Jorgensen to the Montreal Expos for hard-hitting star outfielder Rusty Staub. In Staub, the Mets had a bona fide smacker, a .311-hitting, 97-RBI man the year before with Montreal. Also joining the club this year was John Milner, a left-handed, power-hitting, first baseman-outfielder.

Notable transactions

Regular season

"Say Hey" is back in New York

On May 11, the Mets added another "new" face to the team. In a move seasoned with sentiment more than anything else, they acquired Willie Mays form the San Francisco Giants for pitcher Charlie Williams and cash.

The acquisition of Mays had been a longtime dream of that old New York Giants fan, Mrs. Joan Payson. With Willie no longer pulling the weight of his large contract, Giants owner Horace Stoneham made him available, and Mrs. Payson could not resist.

He was, of course, no longer the fabled Willie Mays, the greatest player since Joe DiMaggio, and some said, maybe the greatest ever, which gave him value as a drawing card. He was 41 years old, slowed down considerably in the field and at the plate, no longer possessing that cannon of an arm. He was, in truth, something of a liability now in center and it was more prudent to play him at first base.

A sizzling start, then they fizzled

The club got off to a sizzling start in 1972, playing better than .700 ball through early June, peaking at 25-7 (.781) on May 21, leading the Pirates by 6 games. But soon after, a series of disabling injuries to Staub, Bud Harrelson, Jerry Grote, and Cleon Jones brought the team up short and dropped them into their third consecutive third-place finish, 13.5 behind Pittsburgh.

Despite a promising start, the season ending on a highly disappointing note. Jim Fregosi, who suffered a broken thumb in spring training, never got on track and continued the third-base jinx with a .232 batting average. Ken Boswell hit just .211 and the club was ready to give up on him. John Milner flashed some power with 17 homers but batted only .238. Tommie Agee, unhappy at being displaced in center by Mays now and then, batted .227, and the club already had his ticket punched. Staub, limited to just 66 games because of a broken hand, hit .293 and was sorely missed. Mays batted a respectable .267, but his fielding deficiencies were now glaring.

Tom Seaver was 21–12, Jim McAndrew 11–8, Jerry Koosman 11–12, while Rookie of the Year Jon Matlack was 15–10. Gary Gentry slumped to 7–10, leaving his employers disenchanted. Tug McGraw continued as the bullpen ace, with 8 wins and 27 saves.

Witnessing history

On September 30, Matlack made the trivia lists when he served up a double to Pittsburgh legend Roberto Clemente. It was the Pirate great's 3,000th and last big-league hit. On New Year's Eve, Clemente lost his life when the plane on which he was taking food and medical supplies to earthquake-smashed Managua, Nicaragua, crashed into the ocean soon after taking off from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Season standings
NL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Pittsburgh Pirates 9659 0.619 — 49–29 47–30
Chicago Cubs 8570 0.548 11 46–31 39–39
New York Mets 8373 0.532 13½ 41–37 42–36
St. Louis Cardinals 7581 0.481 21½ 40–37 35–44
Montreal Expos 7086 0.449 26½ 35–43 35–43
Philadelphia Phillies 5997 0.378 37½ 28–51 31–46

Record vs. opponents
1972 National League Records

Sources:
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta —5–7–19–97–77–84–87–56–66–66–117–116–6
Chicago 7–5–1—8–43–98–410–510–810–73–129–37–510–8
Cincinnati 9–94–8—11–69–58–48–410–28–48–1010–510–2
Houston 7–79–36–11—7–118–46–69–33–912–213–54–8
Los Angeles 8–74–85–911–7—6–67–57–57–513–59–98–4
Montreal 8–45–104–84–86–6—6–1210–66–126–66–69–8
New York 5–78–104–86–65–712–6—13–58–67–58–47–9
Philadelphia 6-67–102–103–95–76–105–13—5–136–66–68–7
Pittsburgh 6–612–34–89–35–712–66–813–5—10–29–310–8
San Diego 11–63–910–82–125–136–65–76–62–10—4–104–8
San Francisco 11–75–75–105–139–96–64–86–63–910–4—5–7
St. Louis 6–68–102–108–44–88–99–77–88–108–47–5—

Opening Day starters

Notable transactions

Roster
1972 New York Mets
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
CDuffy Dyer9432575.231836
1BEd Kranepool12232788.269834
2BKen Boswell10035575.211933
SSBud Harrelson11541890.215124
3BJim Fregosi10134079.232532
LFJohn Milner11736286.2381738
CFTommie Agee11442296.2271347
RFRusty Staub6623970.293938

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Cleon Jones10637592.245552
Ted Martínez10333074.224119
Wayne Garrett11129869.232229
Jerry Grote6420543.210321
Willie Mays6919552.267819
Dave Marshall7215639.250411
Dave Schneck3712323.187310
Jim Beauchamp5812029.242519
Lute Barnes247217.23606
Bill Sudakis18497.14317
Don Hahn17376.16201
Joe Nolan4100.00000

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Tom Seaver3526221122.92249
Jon Matlack3424415102.32169
Gary Gentry321647104.01120
Jerry Koosman3416311124.14147
Jim McAndrew28160.21182.8081

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Buzz Capra1453324.5845
Brent Strom1130.1036.8220
Hank Webb618.1004.4215
Tommy Moore312.1002.925

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L SV ERA SO
Tug McGraw5410686271.7092
Danny Frisella3967.15893.3446
Ray Sadecki3475.22103.0938
Chuck Taylor20310025.529
Bob Rauch19270115.0023

Awards and honors

All-Stars

1972 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

  • Willie Mays, starting center fielder
  • Tug McGraw, reserve
  • Tom Seaver, reserve

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Tidewater Tides International League Hank Bauer
AA Memphis Blues Texas League John Antonelli
A Visalia Mets California League Joe Frazier
A Pompano Beach Mets Florida State League Gordon Mackenzie
A-Short Season Batavia Trojans New York–Penn League Wilbur Huckle
Rookie Marion Mets Appalachian League Chuck Hiller

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Tidewater

Notes
  1. Clavin, Tom; Danny Peary (2012). Gil Hodges: The Brooklyn Bums, the Miracle Mets, and the Extraordinary Life of a Baseball Legend. New York: New American Library. pp. 359–361, 370–375. ISBN 978-0-451-23586-2.
  2. Nolan Ryan page at Baseball Reference
  3. Rusty Staub page at Baseball Reference
  4. Willie Mays page at Baseball Reference

References
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