1975 New York Mets season

MLB yearly infobox alt
name = New York Mets
season = 1975
misc =

current league = National League
y1 = 1962
division = Eastern Division
y2 = 1969
Uniform logo =
ballpark = Shea Stadium
y4 = 1964
city = New York, New York
y5 = 1962
owners = Joan Whitney Payson
general managers = Joe McDonald
managers = Yogi Berra and Roy McMillan
television = WOR-TV
radio = WNEW
(Ralph Kiner, Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy)The New York Mets' 1975 season was the 14th regular season for the Mets, who played played home games at Shea Stadium. Initially led by manager Yogi Berra followed by Roy McMillan, the team had an 82-80 record yielding a 3rd place finish in the National League's Eastern Division.

Regular Season

Season Recap

After the Mets forgettable 1974 season, changes were made to make the team better. On February 28, the Mets scored a coup. For cash estimated at around $100,000, they acquired the San Francisco Giants' explosive home run hitter, Dave Kingman. A moody but undeniable talent, Kingman had batted just .223 for San Francisco in 1974, striking out every third at-bat, but many of his 18 home runs had traveled breathtaking distances. Kingman, the Mets hoped, would provide the home run power the club lacked, as well as generate some excitement.

The Mets were indeed stronger in 1975. Their .256 batting average was the highest in club history, and Kingman did supply some wallop with a then team-record 36 home runs, while Rusty Staub's 105 RBIs made him the first Met to drive in 100. Again the club's greatest strength lay in its pitching, topped by Tom Seaver's 22-9 record, good enough for a third Cy Young Award. Jerry Koosman was 14-13 and Jon Matlack 16-12, but after that no one won more than seven. It all added up to an 82-80 season and a tie for third.

Firings and Tragedies

The Mets' 82-80 season also added up to the dismissal of manger Yogi Berra on August 6. His replacement for the rest of the season was coach Roy McMillan. Also gone, a week earlier, was Cleon Jones, released outright. The mythmakers of 1969 were rapidly thinning out.

As the season rolled to an end, there was a quick succession of news stories impinging on the Mets. On September 29, Casey Stengel died of cancer in California at the age of 85. A few days later, on October 4, the club's popular "godmother" and principal owner, Mrs. Joan Payson, died at the age of 72. If death delineates history, then the Mets' historical past was beginning to take shape, 13 years after their origin.

In between these two passings, on October 3 the club announced the hiring of their fifth full-time manager. The new man was Joe Frazier. Frazier was the least known of Mets skippers, and the first without some connection with New York's baseball past. For the first time, the Mets were promoting from within, Frazier's elevation being the reward for leading into first place the team's top farm club, the Tidewater Tides in the International League. (His work at Tidewater in 1975 earned him the Sporting News accolade as Minor League Manager of the Year.)

Three days short of his fifty-third birthday when hired, Frazier had been a left-handed-hitting outfielder who had seen service briefly with Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, and Baltimore Orioles. Altogether, he had played in 217 games, leaving behind a modest legacy of 10 home runs, and a .241 batting average.

eason Standings

Notable transactions

* April 4, 1975: Joe Nolan was traded by the Mets to the Atlanta Braves for Leo Foster. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/f/fostele01.shtml Leo Foster page at Baseball Reference] ]
*April 12, 1975: Jesús Alou was signed as a free agent by the Mets. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/a/alouje01.shtml Jesús Alou page at Baseball Reference] ]
*April 25, 1975: Bill Laxton was signed as a free agent by the Mets. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/l/laxtobi01.shtml Bill Laxton page at Baseball Reference] ]

Roster

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Awards and Honors

* Dave Kingman – Player of the Month, July 1975All-Star Game

References

External links

* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYM/1975.shtml 1975 New York Mets]
* [http://baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1975&t=NYN 1975 New York Mets team page at www.baseball-almanac.com]