1972 New York Mets season

1972 New York Mets
File:NewYorkMets.gif
Division	Eastern Division
Ballpark	Shea Stadium
City	New York, New York
Owners	Joan Whitney Payson
Managers	Yogi Berra
Television	WOR-TV
Radio	WHN (Ralph Kiner, Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy)
Seasons

The New York Mets' 1972 season was the 11th regular season for the Mets, who played played home games at Shea Stadium. Led by manager Yogi Berra, the team had a 83-73 record yielding a 3rd place finish in the National League's Eastern Division.

Offseason

December 10, 1971: Nolan Ryan was traded by the New York Mets with Frank Estrada, Don Rose, and Leroy Stanton to the California Angels for Jim Fregosi.

Regular Season

Opening Day Starters

• Tommie Agee
• Ken Boswell
• Jim Fregosi
• Jerry Grote
• Bud Harrelson
• Cleon Jones
• Ed Kranepool
• Tom Seaver
• Rusty Staub

Season Standings

NL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Pittsburgh Pirates	96	59	0.619	—	49–29	47–30
Chicago Cubs	85	70	0.548	11	46–31	39–39
New York Mets	83	73	0.532	13½	41–37	42–36
St. Louis Cardinals	75	81	0.481	21½	40–37	35–44
Montreal Expos	70	86	0.449	26½	35–43	35–43
Philadelphia Phillies	59	97	0.378	37½	28–51	31–46

Transactions

• April 5, 1972: Rusty Staub was traded by the Montreal Expos to the New York Mets for Ken Singleton, Mike Jorgensen, and Tim Foli.

Roster

1972 New York Mets roster
Roster
Pitchers		Catchers Infielders		Outfielders		Manager

An Unexpected Tragedy

On April 2, 1972, Gil Hodges and his coaches Rube Walker, Joe Pignatano and Eddie Yost, were in West Palm Beach, Florida. As they were returning to their motel after a round of golf, Walker said, "What time do you want to go to dinner, Gil?".

The question never answered. Without a sound, Hodges suddenly pitched backward and with tree-trunk rigidity fell, his head striking the stone sidewalk with a sickening knock. The skipper of the New York Mets was dead, victinm of a brutally sudden and fatal heart attack, two days short of his forty-eighth birthday.

Throughout baseball there was genuine sadness and mourning for Gil Hodges. He had spent nearly three decades on the big-league scene, as slugging first baseman and successful manager; he had been a man of high character, God-fearing, devoted to his family. And an intriguing man, for there had always seemed to be something at the core of this immensely strong, soft-spoken, and slyly witty man that had never quite been penetrated by those who felt they knew him.

For the Mets it was a time of terrible ambivalence. The grief for their loss was sincere and ran deep, but a new season was approaching and they needed a manager.

A New Man In Charge

On April 6, the mets announced the name of their new skipper. it was a surprise to no one- Yogi Berra, former catcher and pennant-winning manager for the New York Yankees, one of baseball's best-known and well-liked personalities; one of the game's few names, in fact, that transcended it and was known to the non-baseball world. The Berra legend was already a quarter of a century in the making, and it came with a full complement of malaprops and apocryphal stories. But those who knew him, knew that much of the Yogi Berra legend was the product of newspapermen, and that Berra, in his milieu, was a very keen student of the profession he had been practicing with remarkable success for so many years. While he did mangle a phrase now and then, with Yogi it was important that you listen to what he was saying, not how; and what he said generally made very good sense.

Player stats

Batting

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

Other batters

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI

Starting pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO

Other pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO

Relief pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	SO

Awards and Records

• Willie Mays, Starting Centerfielder, MLB All-Star Game
• Tug McGraw, Pitcher, MLB All-Star Game
• Tom Seaver, Pitcher, MLB All-Star Game

External links

• 1972 New York Mets
• 1972 New York Mets team page at www.baseball-almanac.com