Sports: 50th Anniversary of the Greatest Year in NY Sports

As 2019 has begun, it seems that anniversaries are the biggest thing talked about in the first couple of days. Some of the more historical anniversaries to occur in 2019 include the ratification of the 18^th amendment in 1919. Also, the League of Nations began 100 years ago as well. 2019 will also be the 75^th anniversary of D-Day. In the entertainment world, 2019 will also be the 50^th anniversary of Sesame Street. In the sports world, 2019 will be the 50^th anniversary for the single greatest year in New York Sports.

When it comes to New York Sports, the fans have this expectation that their team will always be in the championship game. As of 1969, the New York Yankees were the only team to have any success in winning titles. Up to 1969, the Yankees had already won 20 world series championships. We would get to 1969 and the two baseball teams were trending in opposite directions. The Yankees would be seeing losing seasons, something they were not accustomed to. The New York Mets on the other hand had winning seasons and looked tough to beat. For starters, they would go on to win 100 games that season. A feat that would only happen two other times (1986 and 1988). One of the main reasons they were able to win 100 games that season was due to Tom Seaver.

During that season, Tom Seaver would end up going 25-7 with a 2.21 ERA. He did get help from pitchers like Jerry Koosman and Gary Gentry. What also helped was that they would turn to this unknown pitcher named Nolan Ryan. What people forget about that year was that the Chicago Cubs were in first place for most of the season. Come August and September, that would all change. The New York Mets would end up going 21-10 in August and 23-7 in September. They went 44-17 in the last two months of the season. What people also forget is that they only had one series before the World Series.

They would first have to get through their future NL East rivals, the Atlanta Braves. By sweeping them in three games, the Mets would become the first expansion team to win the pennant. This would set them up with the heavily favorited Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles came into the World Series being the favorites because they were led by several future Hall of Famers. This would include Frank Robinson and Brooks Robinson. In addition, they also had Jim Palmer in their rotation. In some sort of way, the New York Mets were able to defeat the Orioles in five games to claim the team’s first World Series champion. The term Miracle Mets would begin as well.

While the Mets pulled off the upset in defeating the Baltimore Orioles. Another New York team would upset a Baltimore team in the championship game. For this, we need to go back to January 12, 1969. The New York Jets of the AFL would defeat the Baltimore Colts of the NFL by the score of 16-7. This was a significant Super Bowl because Jets quarterback Joe Namath would guarantee the victory. Three days before the big game, Joe Namath was at a nightclub in the Miami area and told people he expects the Jets to win. Heading into the Super Bowl, the writers were not giving the Jets a shot at winning the title.

The feeling was that the AFL was less talented than the NFL. The biggest thing I take away from these two underdog teams was that if you can’t predict sports. Any team can win on any day and that’s why we are sports fans. These two teams embodied the image of being the underdog and having no one expecting them to do anything.