A Look Back at the 1962 New York Mets

The Mets inaugural season in 1962 was one of the most memorable in baseball history. Unfortunately it was memorable for all the wrong reasons as the Mets set a record for futility by losing a MLB record 120 games while winning just 40. But on the bright side it could have been worse; two of the games were washed out and were not played, so they could have lost 122 games.

Managed by former Yankee Casey Stengel and filled with a roster of cast offs, has beens and never will be's, the Mets used 45 different players during the course of the season in an attempt to find a winning combination, a combination that would never come. They lost their first game in franchise history to the St Louis Cardinals on April 11^th and would lose another 8 in a row before finally recording their first win, a 9-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on April 23rd. But as was the Mets fortunes that season very few saw or heard the game. Only the 16,676 fans in attendance at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh witnessed it as it was not shown on TV or broadcast over the radio.

Playing their home games in the old Polo Grounds, the 1962 season was filled with a many lowlights. The Mets had three losing streaks of 10 or more games including a franchise record 17 straight from May 21^st to June 6^th - a record that still stands today. They were also no hit by Sandy Koufax - the first of four no-hitters Koufax would pitch during his career. Pitcher Roger Craig set a franchise record with 24 losses.

But there were some highlights. On May 12^th the Mets won both games of a doubleheader with walk off home runs, Hobie Landrith in game one and Gil Hodges in game two. Richie Ashburn, hit .306 and was the first All Star in franchise history. Frank Thomas proved to be solid power hitter with 34 home runs, a franchise record that stood until 1975. And of course Ed Kranepool made his Met debut at the tender age of 17 - Kranepool would go on to play 17 straight seasons for the Mets and become one of the most beloved players in franchise history.

But regardless of how the season turned out, the fact that National League Baseball returned to New York for the fist time since 1958 when the Dodgers and Giants packed their bags and moved west made the season a success. Thousands of New Yorkers became baseball fans once again and started a lifelong love affair with a team that would bring them more heartache than happiness in their history.

Final record: 40-120 - 10^th place National League

All-Stars - Richie Ashburn

Team Leaders

Home runs - Frank Thomas -34

RBI's - Frank Thomas - 94

Average (Based on 502 plate appearances) - Felix Mantilla - .275

Hits - Frank Thomas - 152

Doubles - Frank Thomas - 23

Triples - Charlie Neal - 9

Stolen Bases - Richie Ashburn and Elio Chaco - 12

Pitching

Wins - Roger Craig - 10

Losses - Roger Craig - 24

ERA (Min 1623 IP) - Al Jackson - 4.40

Strikeouts - Roger Craig and Al Jackson - 118

Innings pitched - Roger Craig - 233 1/3

Shutouts - Al Jackson - 4