1963 New York Mets season explained

New York Mets
Season:	1963
League:	National League
Ballpark:	Polo Grounds
City:	New York City, New York
Record:	51–111 (.315)
League Place:	10th
Owners:	Joan Whitney Payson
General Managers:	George Weiss
Managers:	Casey Stengel
Television:	WOR-TV
Radio:	WABC (AM) (Ralph Kiner, Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy)
Espntn:	NYM
Brtn:	NYM

The 1963 New York Mets season was the second regular season for the Mets. They went 51–111 and finished tenth in the National League, 48 games behind the World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers. They were managed by Casey Stengel. They played their home games at the Polo Grounds, the second and final season there for the Mets before moving to Shea Stadium the following season.

Offseason

• October 11, 1962: Ron Hunt was purchased by the Mets from the Milwaukee Braves.^[1]
• October 14, 1962: Norm Sherry and Dick Smith were purchased by the Mets from the Los Angeles Dodgers.^[2]
• November 26, 1962: Paul Blair was drafted from the Mets by the Baltimore Orioles in the 1962 first-year draft.^[3]

Regular season

On June 14, Duke Snider of the Mets hit his 400th home run against the Cincinnati Reds. The opposing pitcher was Bob Purkey. The homer came in the 6,783rd at bat of his career.^[4] Snider became the ninth player to reach 400 homers. Along with Eddie Mathews, Snider became part of the first duo to reach the 400-plateau in the same season.^[4] Afterwards, Mets outfielder Jimmy Piersall told Snider that he could get more publicity for his 100th home run.^[5] Nine days later, on June 23, Piersall ran the bases backward after hitting the 100th home run of his career off Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Dallas Green.^[6] He was released by the Mets one month later, with that home run being the only one he hit in a Mets uniform.

Notable transactions

• May 8, 1963: Larry Foss was traded by the Mets to the Milwaukee Braves for Chico Fernández.^[7]
• May 23, 1963: Gil Hodges was traded by the Mets to the Washington Senators for Jimmy Piersall.^[8]
• July 1, 1963: Charlie Neal and Sammy Taylor were traded by the Mets to the Cincinnati Reds for Jesse Gonder.^[9]
• July 29, 1963: Jacke Davis and cash were traded by the Mets to the St. Louis Cardinals for Duke Carmel.^[10]
• July 27, 1963: Jimmy Piersall was released by the Mets.^[11]
• September 5, 1963: Ron Swoboda was signed as an amateur free agent by the Mets.^[12]

Roster

1963 New York Mets
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		Outfielders		ManagerCoaches

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		106	247	44	.178	3	9
1B		123	375	79	.211	10	41
2B		143	533	135	.272	10	42
SS		119	331	64	.193	1	23
3B		72	253	57	.225	3	18
LF		126	420	109	.260	15	60
CF		146	494	113	.229	17	51
RF		129	354	86	.243	14	45

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
	86	273	57	.209	2	14
	109	191	46	.241	1	9
	56	159	36	.226	5	22
	64	149	33	.221	1	8
	47	149	35	.235	3	18
	63	147	20	.136	2	11
	58	145	29	.200	1	9
	42	126	38	.302	3	15
	40	124	24	.194	1	10
	50	106	15	.142	2	8
	41	100	22	.220	0	3
	17	54	15	.278	1	5
	39	50	8	.160	0	2
	20	42	10	.238	0	3
	22	35	9	.257	0	6
	16	33	8	.242	0	4
	11	22	5	.227	0	3
	6	15	2	.133	0	1
	14		14	2	.143	0	1

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
	46	236.0	5	22	3.78	108
	37	227.0	13	17	3.96	142
	30	183.0	9	14	3.10	101

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
	51	155.2	7	15	4.34	81
	39	154.2	6	17	4.71	110
	41	152.2	4	14	5.48	89
	20	49.2	1	1	2.72	39
	3	9.1	0	2	8.68	6

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
	58	3	8	4	3.42	48
	34	3	1	3	4.97	41
	26	0	0	0	4.28	27
	9	0	0	0	5.21	13
	1		0	0	0	10.80	1

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

• Duke Snider, outfield, reserve

^[13]

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

References

• 1963 New York Mets at Baseball Reference
• 1963 New York Mets team page at www.baseball-almanac.com
• Book: Johnson. Lloyd. Wolff. Miles. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. 3rd. Durham, North Carolina. Baseball America. 2007. 978-1-932391-17-6. 767.

External links

• 1963 New York Mets season at Baseball Reference

Notes and References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/h/huntro01.shtml Ron Hunt page at Baseball Reference
2. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1338&dat=19621015&id=t61YAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TfcDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4658,3691777&hl=en Norm Sherry sold to Mets
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/blairpa01.shtml Paul Blair page at Baseball Reference
4. https://archive.today/20060507080216/http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/snidedu01.php Duke Snider | The Baseball Page
5. http://www.ultimatemets.com/profile.php?PlayerCode=0052&tabno=7 Ultimate Mets Database – Jimmy Piersall
6. http://www.nyfuturestars.com/players.php?player=jim_piersall Jim Piersall – stats photos pics mets – NYFS nyfuturestars.com
7. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/fernach01.shtml Chico Fernández page at Baseball-Reference
8. https://www.baseball-reference.com/p/piersji01.shtml Jimmy Piersall page at Baseball Reference
9. https://www.baseball-reference.com/g/gondeje01.shtml Jesse Gonder page at Baseball Reference
10. https://www.baseball-reference.com/c/carmedu01.shtml Duke Carmel page at Baseball Reference
11. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=860&dat=19630723&id=XwNPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NUsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5619,959071 Jimmy Piersall released by New York Mets
12. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/swoboro01.shtml Ron Swoboda page at Baseball Reference
13. Web site: 1963 All-Star Game.