1972 New York Mets season

1972 New York Mets
1972 New York Mets
League	National League
Division	East
Ballpark	Shea Stadium
City	New York
Record	83-73
Divisional place	3rd
Owners	Joan Whitney Payson
General managers	Bob Scheffing
Managers	Yogi Berra
Television	WOR-TV
Radio	WHN ; (Ralph Kiner, Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy)

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^[1] and finished in third place in the National League East division.

Offseason

Death of Gil Hodges

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

Appointment of Yogi Berra

On April 6, Yogi Berra was introduced as the Mets' new manager. The news of Berra's appointment was accompanied by the announcement that the Mets had traded outfielder Ken Singleton, infielder Tim Foli, and first baseman/outfielder Mike Jorgensen to the Montreal Expos. In return they received star outfielder Rusty Staub, who had hit a .311 batting average with 97 RBI the previous season. Also joining the club that 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.^[3]

Regular season

Season summary

On May 11, the Mets acquired Willie Mays from the San Francisco Giants for minor league pitcher Charlie Williams and cash.^[4]^[5] The acquisition of Mays had been a longtime dream of Joan Payson, who had been a New York Giants fan in her youth.^[6] With Mays no longer pulling the weight of his large contract, Giants owner Horace Stoneham made him available, and Payson could not resist.^[7]

The club got off to a sizzling start in 1972, playing better than .700 ball through early June and peaking at 25–7 (.781) on May 21, leading the Pittsburgh Pirates by six games. However, a series of disabling injuries to Rusty 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 games behind Pittsburgh.

Despite a promising start, the season ending on a highly disappointing note. Jim Fregosi suffered a broken thumb in spring training and never got on track, posting a .232 batting average. Second baseman Ken Boswell hit just a .211 batting average on the year. John Milner flashed some power with 17 home runs but batted only a .238 batting average. Tommie Agee, unhappy at intermittently being displaced in center by Mays,^{[citation needed]} batted a .227 batting average. Rusty Staub batted a .293 batting average, but was limited to just 66 games because of a broken hand. Mays batted a respectable .267 batting average, but his fielding ability significantly declined.

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

On September 30, Jon Matlack gave up a double to Pirates legend Roberto Clemente. It was Clemente's 3,000th and final big-league hit prior to his death in a plane crash on New Year's Eve.

Season standings

v
t
e
NL East
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Pittsburgh Pirates	96	59	.619	—	49‍–‍29	47‍–‍30
Chicago Cubs	85	70	.548	11	46‍–‍31	39‍–‍39
New York Mets	83	73	.532	13½	41‍–‍37	42‍–‍36
St. Louis Cardinals	75	81	.481	21½	40‍–‍37	35‍–‍44
Montreal Expos	70	86	.449	26½	35‍–‍43	35‍–‍43
Philadelphia Phillies	59	97	.378	37½	28‍–‍51	31‍–‍46

Record vs. opponents

1972 National League record v t e 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

Notable transactions

April 5: Ken Singleton, Mike Jorgensen, and Tim Foli were traded to the Montreal Expos for Rusty Staub.^[8]
May 11: Charlie Williams and $50,000 were traded to the San Francisco Giants for Willie Mays.^[4]^[5]^[9]

Roster

1972 New York Mets

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

8 Yogi Berra

Coaches

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	262.0	21	12	2.92	249
Jon Matlack	34	244.0	15	10	2.32	169
Gary Gentry	32	164.0	7	10	4.01	120
Jerry Koosman	34	163.0	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	53.0	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; Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Tug McGraw	54	106.0	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	0	2	5.52	9
Bob Rauch	19	27.0	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

^ Because of a labour strike, the Mets didn't play a 162 games regular season.
^ 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.
^ Nolan Ryan page at Baseball Reference
^ ^a ^b "Mays traded to Mets, Giants get minor, cash". Pittsburgh Press. UPI. May 11, 1972. p. 46.
^ ^a ^b "Willie Mays traded to NY Mets". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. May 11, 1972. p. 46.
^ admin. "Joan Whitney Payson: A Pioneer for the New York Mets – Society for American Baseball Research". Retrieved February 2, 2024.
^ admin. "Joan Whitney Payson: A Pioneer for the New York Mets – Society for American Baseball Research". Retrieved February 2, 2024.
^ Rusty Staub page at Baseball Reference
^ Willie Mays page at Baseball Reference

References

[1] Because of a labour strike, the Mets didn't play a 162 games regular season.

[clavin-2] 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.

[3] Nolan Ryan page at Baseball Reference

[mytrd-4] "Mays traded to Mets, Giants get minor, cash". Pittsburgh Press. UPI. May 11, 1972. p. 46.

[wmttnym-5] "Willie Mays traded to NY Mets". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. May 11, 1972. p. 46.

[6] . "Joan Whitney Payson: A Pioneer for the New York Mets – Society for American Baseball Research". Retrieved February 2, 2024.

[7] . "Joan Whitney Payson: A Pioneer for the New York Mets – Society for American Baseball Research". Retrieved February 2, 2024.

[8] Rusty Staub page at Baseball Reference

[9] Willie Mays page at Baseball Reference

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