After the Miracle: The Lasting Brotherhood of the '69 Mets by Art Shamsky & Erik Sherman

Author:Art Shamsky & Erik Sherman [Shamsky, Art & Sherman, Erik]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781501176531
Google: z1_RDwAAQBAJ
Published: 2020-03-17T16:02:45.535000+00:00

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Invigorated by Nolan’s Houdini act in the top of the third inning, Agee hit the first pitch he saw in the bottom half for a home run, cutting the Braves’ lead to 2–1. Then, after Ryan mowed down Atlanta in order in the fourth, I led off our frame with a single to right, and Boz followed with a two-run homer into our joyous right field bullpen to give us a 3–2 edge. It was Kenny’s second home run of the series, and he would finish the NLCS with a .333 batting average.

“I was hot,” Boz said. “I hit .400 the last part of the season, so it didn’t surprise me that I stayed hot. I was seeing the ball good. The main thing I remember was how my father was at all the playoff games. I was very happy to be able to do what I did in front of him. It meant so much to me in my life.”

Ryan would make a mistake in the top of the fifth. After issuing a two-out walk to Carty, he gave up a long home run to Cepeda that landed well beyond the temporary stands beyond the left center field wall to regain the lead for the Braves, 4–3.

But we would again battle back in our half of the fifth. Ryan opened the frame by helping his own cause with a single off Jarvis. Then, one out later, Garrett connected on a belt-high, inside fastball that stayed just inside the right field foul pole above the auxiliary scoreboard for a two-run homer to put us up 5–4. For Wayne, who had hit just one home run throughout the entire regular season, it was the biggest thrill of his young career and just so typical of the good fortune we had that season.

“I was just lucky at the time that I got a pitch that I could hit out,” said the soft-spoken Garrett. “I mean, when you hit one home run during the whole course of a year, it’s not like I knew I was going to hit this one out.”

Wayne was just another of our left-handed hitters to have a superb series. Although he batted just .218 during the regular season with just the one dinger in 400 at bats, he elevated his game in the NLCS with a .385 batting average and a .467 on-base percentage.

“I played against the Braves pretty well that whole season,” Garrett recalled. “That was the organization I came from. Not that I knew or faced any of their pitchers when I was in their system—I hadn’t. But it was fortunate that I had a good playoff against them.”

Wayne and I have been friends ever since he came over to the Mets as a twenty-one-year-old from Atlanta in the 1968 Rule 5 draft. The Rule 5 draft was composed of unprotected players that didn’t have major-league contracts. Wayne, a Triple-A player in the Braves’ system, wasn’t protected by them, which meant the Mets could draft him but could keep him only if they signed him to a major-league contract.

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