Jewish Jocks: An Unorthodox Hall of Fame by Franklin Foer & Marc Tracy

Author:Franklin Foer & Marc Tracy [FOER, FRANKLIN/TRACY, MARC]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781455516117
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2012-11-30T05:00:00+00:00

Miracle Met

Art Shamsky (1941–)

By David Brooks

Every faith has its miracles, but we Jews cherish a certain kind of miracle—the kind of miracle that helped David defeat Goliath, the Israelites evade the Egyptians, and the Maccabees hold off the mighty Greeks.

When I was a boy I watched these sorts of miracles play out in front of my eyes. In 1967, tiny Israel defeated its Arab enemies in one of the quickest and most decisive military victories in history. And then in 1969, I got to watch a miracle more trivial—but for me more profound—transpire in New York City. It was the season of the Miracle Mets, and we Jews had our very own representative on the team, Art Shamsky, who played right field and hit .300.

I’ve always insisted that the Mets are spiritually the Jews of baseball. Once they were weak outsiders. Then, like Jews in America, they became richer and more established, until they too had to deal with the challenges of wealth—including the predations of Bernie Madoff.

Their first season, 1962, was the worst in baseball history. They lost 120 games. Over their first seven seasons, the Mets finished last in the National League five times and next to last the other two. On average, during these years, they ended the season 41 games out of first place. The Mets were losers, but endearing losers. They were lovable, funny, and humane. “To err is human,” went the slogan, “but to forgive is to be a Mets fan.” At the beginning of the 1969 season, the Las Vegas odds were 100-to-1 against them winning the National League.

The seeds for the Mets’ surprising success were planted in 1966, when baseball instituted the amateur draft, allowing the lesser teams to procure the better prospects. By 1969, the pitcher Tom Seaver was the acknowledged star. Nolan Ryan was on the team, but he was still in the early phase of his career. Other pitchers, like Jerry Koosman and Gary Gentry, were good but not great.

The Mets lost seven out of their first ten games in 1969, to no one’s surprise. But then, oddly, they rose to mediocrity. Pitching would keep the Mets in games and then some light-hitting fielder like Al Weis or Bobby Pfiel would come up and find some completely unlikely way to bat in the winning run.

The great team that year was the Chicago Cubs, stacked with future Hall of Famers like Ferguson Jenkins and Ernie Banks. When the Mets arrived at Wrigley Field two-thirds of the way through the season, the Cubs were 57–36. It got to the point that Mets catcher J. C. Martin and Weis, the second baseman, called up Cubs players to score advance World Series seats. But the Mets took six of their final eight against the Cubs, four of five in Chicago. They went on a tear. They concluded the season eight games in front of second place, with a phenomenal record of 100–62.

When the Mets won the pennant, the fans stormed the field at Shea Stadium, ripping up dirt, grass, bases, and anything else they could reach.

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