1972 New York Mets season

1972 New York Mets
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1962) Eastern Division (since 1969)
Location
Shea Stadium (since 1964) New York (since 1962)
Other information
Owner(s)	Joan Whitney Payson
General manager(s)	Bob Scheffing
Manager(s)	Yogi Berra
Local television	WOR-TV
Local radio	WHN (Ralph Kiner, Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy)
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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.

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[]

• December 10, 1971: Nolan Ryan, Frank Estrada, Don Rose, and Leroy Stanton were traded by the Mets to the California Angels for Jim Fregosi.^[2]

Regular season[]

Season summary[]

"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.^{[citation needed]} 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,^{[citation needed]} 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[]

v t NL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Pittsburgh Pirates	96	59	0.619	—	49–29	47–30
Chicago Cubs	85	70	0.548	11	46–31	39–39
New York Mets	83	73	0.532	13½	41–37	42–36
St. Louis Cardinals	75	81	0.481	21½	40–37	35–44
Montreal Expos	70	86	0.449	26½	35–43	35–43
Philadelphia Phillies	59	97	0.378	37½	28–51	31–46

Record vs. opponents[]

1972 National League Records v t Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MON	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	5–7–1	9–9	7–7	7–8	4–8	7–5	6–6	6–6	6–11	7–11	6–6
Chicago	7–5–1	—	8–4	3–9	8–4	10–5	10–8	10–7	3–12	9–3	7–5	10–8
Cincinnati	9–9	4–8	—	11–6	9–5	8–4	8–4	10–2	8–4	8–10	10–5	10–2
Houston	7–7	9–3	6–11	—	7–11	8–4	6–6	9–3	3–9	12–2	13–5	4–8
Los Angeles	8–7	4–8	5–9	11–7	—	6–6	7–5	7–5	7–5	13–5	9–9	8–4
Montreal	8–4	5–10	4–8	4–8	6–6	—	6–12	10–6	6–12	6–6	6–6	9–8
New York	5–7	8–10	4–8	6–6	5–7	12–6	—	13–5	8–6	7–5	8–4	7–9
Philadelphia	6-6	7–10	2–10	3–9	5–7	6–10	5–13	—	5–13	6–6	6–6	8–7
Pittsburgh	6–6	12–3	4–8	9–3	5–7	12–6	6–8	13–5	—	10–2	9–3	10–8
San Diego	11–6	3–9	10–8	2–12	5–13	6–6	5–7	6–6	2–10	—	4–10	4–8
San Francisco	11–7	5–7	5–10	5–13	9–9	6–6	4–8	6–6	3–9	10–4	—	5–7
St. Louis	6–6	8–10	2–10	8–4	4–8	8–9	9–7	7–8	8–10	8–4	7–5	—

Opening Day starters[]

• Tommie Agee
• Ken Boswell
• Jim Fregosi
• Jerry Grote
• Bud Harrelson
• Cleon Jones
• Ed Kranepool
• Tom Seaver
• Rusty Staub

Notable transactions[]

• April 5, 1972: Ken Singleton, Mike Jorgensen, and Tim Foli were traded by the New York Mets to the Montreal Expos for Rusty Staub.^[3]
• May 11, 1972: Charlie Williams and $50,000 were traded by the Mets to the San Francisco Giants for Willie Mays.^[4]

Roster[]

1972 New York Mets
Roster
Pitchers 38 Buzz Capra 34 Danny Frisella 39 Gary Gentry 36 Jerry Koosman 32 Jon Matlack 43 Jim McAndrew 45 Tug McGraw 39 Tommy Moore 44 Bob Rauch 33 Ray Sadecki 41 Tom Seaver 40 Brent Strom 42 Chuck Taylor 22 Hank Webb		Catchers 10 Duffy Dyer 15 Jerry Grote 35 Joe Nolan Infielders  1 Lute Barnes 5,24 Jim Beauchamp 12 Ken Boswell  2 Jim Fregosi 11 Wayne Garrett  3 Bud Harrelson  7 Ed Kranepool 17 Ted Martínez  9 Bill Sudakis		Outfielders 20 Tommie Agee 25 Don Hahn 21 Cleon Jones 18 Dave Marshall 24 Willie Mays 28 John Milner 16 Dave Schneck  4 Rusty Staub		Manager  8 Yogi Berra Coaches 52 Joe Pignatano 55 Sheriff Robinson 54 Rube Walker 53 Eddie Yost

Player stats[]

Batting[]

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
C	Duffy Dyer	94	325	75	.231	8	36
1B	Ed Kranepool	122	327	88	.269	8	34
2B	Ken Boswell	100	355	75	.211	9	33
SS	Bud Harrelson	115	418	90	.215	1	24
3B	Jim Fregosi	101	340	79	.232	5	32
LF	John Milner	117	362	86	.238	17	38
CF	Tommie Agee	114	422	96	.227	13	47
RF	Rusty Staub	66	239	70	.293	9	38

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 Jones	106	375	92	.245	5	52
Ted Martínez	103	330	74	.224	1	19
Wayne Garrett	111	298	69	.232	2	29
Jerry Grote	64	205	43	.210	3	21
Willie Mays	69	195	52	.267	8	19
Dave Marshall	72	156	39	.250	4	11
Dave Schneck	37	123	23	.187	3	10
Jim Beauchamp	58	120	29	.242	5	19
Lute Barnes	24	72	17	.236	0	6
Bill Sudakis	18	49	7	.143	1	7
Don Hahn	17	37	6	.162	0	1
Joe Nolan	4	10	0	.000	0	0

Pitching[]

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 Seaver	35	262	21	12	2.92	249
Jon Matlack	34	244	15	10	2.32	169
Gary Gentry	32	164	7	10	4.01	120
Jerry Koosman	34	163	11	12	4.14	147
Jim McAndrew	28	160.2	11	8	2.80	81

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 Capra	14	53	3	2	4.58	45
Brent Strom	11	30.1	0	3	6.82	20
Hank Webb	6	18.1	0	0	4.42	15
Tommy Moore	3	12.1	0	0	2.92	5

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 McGraw	54	106	8	6	27	1.70	92
Danny Frisella	39	67.1	5	8	9	3.34	46
Ray Sadecki	34	75.2	2	1	0	3.09	38
Chuck Taylor	20	31	0	0	2	5.52	9
Bob Rauch	19	27	0	1	1	5.00	23

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[]

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[]

References[]

• 1972 New York Mets
• 1972 New York Mets team page at www.baseball-almanac.com