Bob Scheffing was promoted to Mets General Manager after the untimely death of Johnny Murphy in January 1970. The Mets had just come off of their "Miracle" season of 1969 with their first Playoff, World Series, and Championship in its brief seven year history.

The two sided answer to the question, was 1969 a fluke? would be answered in the next coming months as the Mets prepared for yet another Spring Training in St. Petersburg Florida, where they shared the training facilities with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Bob Scheffing came to the Mets organization after a career as a player with a little over 500 games with the Cubs, Reds, and Cardinals. A rather pedestrian .263 career lifetime average set no fires blazing in that realm.

He managed both the Cubs and the Tigers, did a little broadcasting, and some scouting before becoming the Mets GM.

I have nothing against the man personally, and his only point of note in Mets' history is that it was under his tenure that Nolan Ryan was traded to the Angels for Jim Fregosi in what has been called the most lopsided trade in Mets' history.

Scheffing was put in a corner by Ryan. Nolan, clearly not a big city boy, absolutely hated New York and wanted out of this city in the worst way.

So what did Scheffing do?

He sent him to LA.

Now that was a real small town in 1971.

Right.

Here was a great opportunity for the Mets' ownership to build this franchise and make it a force to be reckoned with for the next decade. They went with a relatively inexperienced person in a front office position where they needed a power guy.

This, now looking back, begins the pattern of poor moves that we still see almost 40 years later.

Here is the starting lineup for the 1970 Mets.

1.  Tommy Agee        CF

2.  Bud Harrelson       SS

3.  Joey Foy                3B

4.  Cleon Jones           LF

5.  Art Shamsky         1B

6.  Ron Swoboda        RF

7.  Wayne Garrett       2B

8.  Jerry Grote             C

9.  Tom Seaver            P

This was a pretty good team, and it was expected to be near or at the top of the National League Eastern Division.

The Mets finished the 1970 season with an 83-79 record. They had the same record in 1971 and 1972, and, although the pitchers did well, the lack of hitting and run production resulted in three straight third place finishes.

I moved to Vernon, Connecticut in August of 1970 because a good teaching job became available at a small private school specializing in Special Education. My wife, when the Mets' record was now a glimmering 0-8, was pregnant with out first child.

The house we rented had one of those huge roof top antennas, which rotated 360 degrees. So I was now able to get both New York as well as Boston TV channels as clear as day.

Life couldn't get better than this.

Prior to the 1972 season, one of my boyhood heroes that I got to know personally, who carried himself with dignity and pride, passed away. Gil Hodges was dead at 48-years-old from a massive coronary heart attack, just like my Dad.

My memories of the years (following the '69 Mets until the "Ya Gotta Believe" Tug McGraw's rallying cry in the summer of 1973) were that of a fan who now expected his team should and could win all the games they played.

Neither the team nor I, I'm sorry to say, had a whole lot of enthusiasm.

I had an excuse. They didn't.

When they started their great comeback in the summer of '73, the Mets sat in the cellar in the east with a 61-71 record. Yogi Berra, who was as much fun as Casey Stengel, in the sixties, made one outrageous statement after another that kept the media close and put the spotlight on a team that seemed to cherish the limelight they were in.

Every baseball fan knows his best quote of that year, "It ain't over till it's over." That was Yogi's answer when asked about the Mets' chances that summer.

On Sept. 3, 1970, Ellen and I drove to the city in my 1967 Dodge Charger with more horsepower beneath the hood than in all of General George Custer's Seventh Cavalry.

I was so positive that "Her Streak" was going to end that day, I promised her dinner at Mama Leones in the city the next day.

The Mets had beaten the Phillies 5-0 the previous day and had won three of their last four, so the NL Eastern Division had five teams within six games of first place, all of them with a losing record.

Oh the mediocrity, or oh the parity depending on your perspective.

The Mets led 3-2 going into the fifth inning, and I was feeling good.

Craig Swan was pitching well. He had given up a run in each of the first two innings, but we had scored three. I figured if we win the game and end the streak, I might even consider the request to have a third child, which was very much on Ellen's mind at the time.

Barbara Lynn Marsh came to us on Jun. 25 that year, and I had her in Mets pink from day one, while my now almost 3-year-old son, Russell Michael, was sporting his first Gil Hodges first baseman's glove.

My dream, however, was short lived as Greg (The Bull) Luzinski blasted a two run home run off Swan as the Phil's went on to defeat the Mets 6-3.

Guess who never got to Mama Leones that next day.

She was lucky I took her to Nathans for dogs and fries.

Over 30,000 of us went home thinking that no way were the Mets going to make it to the postseason, and her streak stood now at nine.

Of course, wouldn't you know it, after my trip to Shea, the Mets went on to win 18 of their next 25 and win the pennant with an 82-79 record.

Now this was a miracle.

Every lifelong Mets fan alive knows that these underdogs of underdogs went on to beat up the Big Red Machine in the playoffs, and Bud Harrelson kicked Pete Rose's ass.

They also just missed winning their second World Series in five years as they led the powerful Oakland A's three games to two, with Seaver and Koosman to pitch Game Six and Seven.

But that victory was not meant to be.

That year ended another streak in Mets' history. They finished over .500 for five consecutive years. They had the opportunity to become a dynasty with this team. The ownership made poor decisions from the GM down.

Mrs. Payson might have been a wonderful little old lady, but she knew squat about baseball and turned the operation over to people who knew little more than she did. The fact that they did as well as they did, during these five years, was because they had kept some of the talented pitching core together with the exception of Nolan Ryan.

Plus, frankly, during this time the rest of the National League wasn't having any breakout teams as of yet.

This trend will only get worse during the next 10 years, which I call "The Lost Years" coming to you in part five of the Anatomy of a Franchise.

Thanks for listening.

Anatomy of a Franchise: The New York Mets- "Amazin"

What the New York Mets achieved in 1969 was truly amazing and the world witnessed not only mans first steps on the moon but equally remarkable, the first World Championship by a National League team in New York in 14 years.

I had just turned 24 that April and I was unable to attend opening day on April 8^th where the Mets lost to the newly created Montreal Expos expansion team 11-10 in front of 44,541 fans. What had become a tradition of sorts was to try to get go to the game on April 11^th. Where the St. Louis Cardinals were coming to town and the proposed matchup was going to be Steve Carlton vs. Jerry Koosman. I was stoked only in those days no one ever said the word stoked.

Jerry Koosman was a left handed pitcher who complimented Tom Seaver at the top of the Mets staff. In 1968 he went 19-12 and actually had one more victory than Tom Terrific. With 7 shutouts, I was there for one of them, and a .208 ERA I couldn't wait to see him against Carlton.

Steve was the sharper pitcher that day and Joe Torre hit a monster Homer off Koosman as my wife Ellen and I moved from the upper reaches of Shea Stadium down to the box seats right over the 3^rd base dugout. You see it was pretty easy to do that since only 12,591 showed up for that pitching matchup.

Since my wedding on August 25^th 1968 my wife and I attended 5 Met games. We went 0-5. Hmmm. The stirring of rumbling deep within my mind was staring to take shape. Wait until you hear my final scorecard with Ellen and me at Met games. You will not believe it. But you'll have to wait a segment or two for those results.

By the way a step backwards a couple of days here is the starting line up for the 1969 opening day New York Mets.

1. Tommie Agee  CF
2. Rod Gaspar      RF
3. Ken Boswell    2B
4. Cleon Jones     LF
5. Ed Charles       3B
6. Ed Kranepool  1B
7. Jerry Grote       C
8. Bud Harrelson SS
9. Tom Seaver      P

Most sportswriters and other so called prognosticators picked the Mets to finish near the bottom of the newly created divisions. I thought they had a chance to do better than expected. Maybe an 81-81 record but never in mine nor just about everybody else could foresee this team winning 100 games, sweep the powerful Atlanta Braves team led by Hank Aaron and then go on to beat the "unbeatable" Baltimore Orioles in the World Series.

Bing Divine who succeeded George Weiss as General Manager left after one year to go back to his beloved Cardinals. He was succeeded by Johnny Murphy. Murphy had a decent career as an American League relief pitcher. He played for the Yankees and some of his teammates included Babe Ruth, Joe D, Lou Gehrig and Bill Dickey. He pitched along side of Lefty Gomez and Red Ruffing. That's some pretty good company.

Murphy's promotion to the top GM position came at the same time the Mets were developing some of the best young pitchers in baseball. Unfortunately Murph never had the chance to become a long standing GM as he died suddenly from a massive coronary in January 1970. In my opinion, this was the turning point in the Mets history that has haunted them for the next 40 years.

The Mets and its organization from the owner down through the GM, Player Personnel and their decisions along with poor evaluation from the scouting department this team's future which looked so bright as the new decade launched would soon be in disarray for years to come.

Getting back to the 1969 season, there were so many different accounts of what happened that I'll only point out a few that I personally witnessed.

By May 27^th after suffering from a 5 game losing streak the Mets stood at 19-23 in 4^th place and 9 games behind the Chicago Cubs who by there own accounts were already planning on what look the playoff tickets would have. Black (cat) and blue would have been my choice.

On May 28^th I was back at Shea to see the San Diego Padres. All Jerry Koosman did that night was pitch 10 innings of 4 hit ball with 15 KO's. Tug McGraw pitched a scoreless 11^th as I hoped my bud (Ted Blecher) and I wouldn't have to sit through a 20+ inning game.

Cleon Jones reached first base on an error by Roberto Pena who was playing third. Billy McCool (One of the great sports names of all time) then struck out Ed Kranepool. Frank Reberger then gave up a single to center to Ron Swoboda. Cleon moved to third. Jerry Grote was then intentionally passed to load the bases.

Believe it or not and I swear that's all holy that what happened next would change not only the Mets season but bring me immense pain and  pleasure with 20 seconds of each other. With the bases stacked, Bud Harrelson smacked the first pitch a screaming line drive right at us. I dove (I could do that then) for the ball, missed it and broke 2 fingers on the railing as my friend Teddy snagged it like he was Brooks Robinson.

I was screaming so loud (what a pussy!) that I missed Buddy's single up the middle to win the game.

The Mets went on to have an 11 game winning streak and by the All Star Break which was late that year they were 53-39 in second place and just 5 games behind the Cubs. They went 34-16 during that stretch. I went to one more game with my wife during June. Grant Jackson shut us out and Beat Don Cardwell 2-0 Hmmn.

On August 13^th the Mets came staggering home from a miserable road trip ending in Houston where the Mets were swept and fell into 3^rd place 10 games behind the Cubs. This called for drastic measures.

August 16^th is my brothers' birthday and he had no love lost for the Mets but he never in his life turned down free tickets to a game especially since I was taking him to Shea as a birthday present. I'm sure he would have rather had the cash but he agreed to go. My wife stayed home. I wonder why.

The Mets went on to win that game 2-1 and by the way my brother catches a foul ball off the bat of Bud Harrelson as I was hiding under my seat.

The rest is history. The team went on to win 38 of their next 49 games and miracles were alive and well in Flushing Meadows. My wife and I went to one more game that season and given the play of the team down the stretch I knew my curse with her was over. If not maybe well maybe, naaah we didn't think those things, besides my mother would kill me dead if I came over to her place some night and I told her I was leaving my wife because she's bad luck for the Mets. Anyway, the game, an 8-2 loss to Bob Veale on September 19^th. 

I'd love to tell you that I attended playoff and World Series games that year but I promised to keep this truthful with only a touch of literary license. So, no, the best I could do was watch the games on the tube like millions of fans across the country.

You know the story for sure. The Mets went on to glory and I think it was in the second or third week in November that a couple of my childhood buddies suggested we drop in and talk to Gil. So off we went to Gil who now lived about 3 blocks from our apartment on Kings Highway and East 23^rd Street.

Sure enough as he often did when we were kids, Gil and Joan were home and we sat and talked baseball with him. His house hadn't changes a lick in almost 20 years. As we walked out the door Gil said, "Hey guys want to see something cool?" Like we would say no. He then opened a desk draw and flipped a ball to me. I didn't drop this or break anything. It was just a ball signed by a player whose signature I could not read. The ball had a black smear on it. I said, "You've got to be kidding me?" He just smiled as I tossed it back to him.

Simply "Amazin".

In this past month the New York Mets have turned into the New York Bets, people all around the world are betting on when the next Mets player will find himself with all the others on the bloated DL.  Some even go a little bit farther and pick a player. 

Some of the biggest names on the Mets' disabled list are Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, JJ Putz, Oliver Perez, John Maine, and the newest player to join the club, Carlos Beltran. 

It seems like David Wright is the last starter standing.  Although Wright leads the league in batting average, he only has five home runs on the whole year. 

With that stat and everything else happening around the Mets, the trade talks have begun a bit earlier than the Mets expected. 

It seems that the main need for the Mets is a power bat, the home run leaders for the Mets are Carlos Beltran and Gary Sheffield with eight.  The Mets just haven't been hitting the ball hard and high enough.  Everybody must feel bad for the chicks that dig the long ball. 

A few of the biggest names out there are Matt Holliday, Adam Dunn, Carlos Lee, and Aubrey Huff.  The one that would most likely cots the most is, the Oakland Athletics, Matt Holliday. 

Holliday has been one of the leagues best players for the past couple of years, he helped the Rockies reach the World Series in 2007 and he came to Oakland looking to do the same.

As of now, the A's stand at the bottom of the AL West 6.5 games behind and with a record of 31-38.  The Athletics are falling short of their expectations and might be ready to go into rebuilding mode and before they do that they will have to get rid of Matt Holliday and his huge contract.

You can't rebuild without young stars and that is one of the reasons why I think the Mets should not go after Holliday.  The A's will be asking for at least, one of the biggest prospects, Fernando Martinez.  Along with him could also be Jonathon Niese, Bobby Parnell, Daniel Murphy, and strikeout machine, Brad Holt. 

If you haven't heard of Holt just look at his stats on the Brooklyn Cyclones a year ago, they are phenomenal.  He is, to me, one of the Mets brightest prospects in their system. 

I hope that the Mets know better enough,  not to trade that amount of talent for a guy who is hitting 270. with eight home runs.  That's the thing about Holliday, he's nowhere close to putting up MVP numbers.  He also lacks the long ball and that's what the Mets need.

The player that makes the most sense to me to trade for is Adam Dunn.  Dunn leads his team with 18 long balls and the Mets could really use his bat.  Dunn would cost some good prospects, but not nearly as much as Holliday.

Although Adam Dunn sounds like an ideal fit for the Mets, he is not what they need right now at this point in the season.  They are only 1.5 games behind the Phillies in the NL East and that's with their second string team on the diamond.

The Mets are staying alive and that's all they need now.  Like Mets' manager Jerry Manuel said, "I just want my team to stay above 500.".  I totally agree with that, Jerry has the right idea.  Sometimes I question Jerry, but I think he might be doing the team some good with what he said.

For those of you who wanted Jerry to say that the Mets have to go out there and win every game, you must be out of your mind.  If Jerry said that then right now his team would be underachieving.  Right now the Mets are achieving their goal of keeping their head above the water until the regulars come back. 

Unless this team finds themselves five games under 500. than they should consider making a trade.  But only if they are not giving up a good amount of their biggest prospects.

A lot of people don't look at it this way, but the Mets do have help coming on the way.  That is their players on the disabled list that are making their way back.  Those players are all the help the Mets should need.  The Mets are in striking distance of the Phillies and can be sitting at the top of the NL East as early as the weekend.

With that, their is no need for the Mets to make a trade.  They would just be giving up too much for too little production.  The Mets have what they need and that is the determination to prove everybody wrong, and that they can go to the playoffs despite their recent tough times.  They will prove everybody wrong, you watch.

Starting on Tuesday, the New York Mets will be playing their biggest division rivals for a three-game series.  They will be playing the Philadelphia Phillies at the Mets' new home, Citi Field.  When the Phillies come to New York, they won't be seeing the Mets team that they usually face.

They will be, in a way, playing the New York Mets' second-string team.  You ask, why? That is because the injury bug has hit the Mets, and it hit them hard.  There are a countless amount of players on the New York Mets' disabled list. 

Some of the names that highlight that long list are Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes, JJ Putz, and many more key players to the Mets.  Without these players, it takes away a lot of the luster on the Mets team that was predicted to win the World Series by Sports Illustrated (let's hope they break the curse). 

I'm not saying that  that won't happen, but if they want that to happen, then they will have to work a lot harder.  So, with that, the Mets have a lot of key players injured and they are going into their hardest part of the schedule of the whole year.

Those two things don't usually equal success, but I think that the Mets can pull it off.  They have to take it one game at a time. They have their ace, Johan Santana going on the mound for them on Tuesday night against, the Philadelphia Phillies' JA Happ.

To me, and many more, that is a must-win game for the Mets.  When you have  your ace on the mound, you should always be able to have a good shot at winning, especially when your ace is one of the best pitchers in the game.  Santana has been doing that this whole year, and he still has three losses. 

Johan Santana is coming off a tough couple of games, but the good thing about him is that a bad game for him is still a quality start.  Santana has the ability to bounce back and I am 99 percent sure that he will. 

He tends to shine the most in the spotlight.  That is exactly what he, along with the whole Mets team, will be in this whole week.  They will be playing their two biggest rivals, their division rival Philadelphia Phillies and their crosstown rivals, the New York Yankees. 

Both of those teams have been playing phenomenal baseball in this past month.  Both teams have also had their share of being No. 1 in their division for a pretty long time and they will both be fighting for that spot in their own divisions for the rest of the year. 

When the Mets play the Phillies and Yankees, there are many keys to what they have to do in order to win.  But some of the biggest ones are playing good defense, being aggressive on the base paths, and good pitching.

This whole year, the Mets have been very inconsistent with their defense.  At the beginning of the year their defense was dreadful; they made quite a few errors that had cost them games.  When the year started to progress, so did the Mets' defense.  The Mets had a hot streak and led by their defense.  After that, their defense began to get a little shaky but not that bad.  As of now, their defense can go either way.

With the Mets' biggest base-stealer on the DL, you might not think that they can be overly aggressive on the base-paths.  The Mets have some of the greatest overall speed in the game, and if they use it right, then it will help them so much.  David Wright is used to stealing bases; he only stole four bases in a game a couple of weeks ago.  Another legit base stealer is Carlos Beltran, who runs like a track star.  Speed is a big part of his game.  Rookie Fernando Martinez also has great speed and he has already swiped a couple of bases this year.

Even though stealing bases is a big part of being aggressive on the base-paths, it's not the only part.  Sometimes taking the extra base can really set your team up for a big inning and that is what the Mets have been doing in the past week.  The Mets have to keep that style of play now that they are facing tougher teams.  Sometimes they were called out, but when they were safe, they really helped themselves out. If they can perfect taking the extra base, that would give them a great edge on the base-paths in the series to come. 

The last big key for me is that the Mets' need good pitching, if not great.  The Mets' pitching started out a little sluggish, but began to round out and since then the Mets have one one of the best pitching rotations in all of baseball.  Pitching is always a big part to any team's game, but right now, it is a huge part to the Mets winning. 

With all of the injuries that the Mets have been suffering, the pitching must hold up.  The Mets don't have an offense that can overcome a large amount of runs.  There's not enough pop in the lineup, but maybe their trip to the new Yankee Stadium, a.k.a. BamBox, will get their power started up.  Anyway, I would love for each pitcher for the Mets to go out their every day and pitch quality starts, but we all know that that won't happen.

Every pitcher has their bad days, but when they do, they can't kick themselves on the mound.  Many Mets' pitchers have been doing that this year, especially Mike Pelfrey and John Maine, two of the biggest keys to the Mets rotation.  The Mets' pitching rotation has to take a lesson from Livan Hernandez, who you can't tell if he's down by 10 runs or if he's throwing a no-hitter when he's on the mound.  They just have to relax, and success will come.

If the Mets do those three things, then Mets fans won't be hearing a lot of yapping from Phillies and Yankees fans for maybe...a couple of weeks, maybe days.  It'll also really help the Mets in the standings if they can take two out of three in both series.  To me, the Mets have a great chance at beating both of the tough teams they will be facing this week.  I only ask for three things from them: win, take my three keys of winning on the field, and last but not least, don't get inured.  We've had enough that.

Before I get started, for those who do not care for long articles you may want to skip this one. As I write it, I'm not sure just how long it will be, but it will focus on many things have bothered me throughout the 48 seasons I've have watched, grown up, and loved, the New York Mets.

It was April 10th 1962. The very next day I would celebrate my 17th birthday. I was a Senior at Midwood High School in Brooklyn New York and my life was well again because baseball, real National League baseball, was back in New York City where it truly belonged.

My boyhood team, the Brooklyn Dodgers abandoned me at the end of the 1957 season seeking out greener pastures in Los Angeles California which for me at the tender age of 12 was as devastating a heartbreak that I could recall in my life.

My Dad, a lifelong Giants fan got the tickets for opening day at the Polo Grounds where he, as a kid himself, watched some of the all time greats play there in the 30's through the 50's. He was my hero and at 17 I was not ashamed to tell anyone that I got my love of baseball and life through him. Little did I know that in a little more than 2 years later he would be gone from me forever.

I was so excited because the weather forecast for the Mets opener said mild and sunny with high's in the upper 50's with zero possibility of rain. I awoke early knowing that I would be at the game in a few hours and I was happy to miss a day at school.

Hell I was a senior, I had been accepted at Northeastern University in Boston as well Albany State College and Long Island University in Brooklyn. I was holding out for my first choice, Syracuse University but I knew I had to make a decision soon.

Back to the weather. When I awoke around eight it was raining like cats and dogs and the revised forecast was forgetaboutit, the game was postponed by 11:00AM. Now what?

Game two, scheduled for my birthday, was not a sellout so that hero of mine made a couple of calls and told me all was well and we would still be able to catch an opening game-day to remember.

WRITERS UPDATE: I now see where this is going so I have decided this will be way too long for one single article, so I know pronounce this a "series" with I'm not sure how many parts, so please if you love baseball and the Mets in particular, bare with me.

So on April 11th 1962, my Dad and I got on the D train and headed into "the city" to Meet the Mets. The 1962 team came about as each National League team left a few unprotected players which the Mets and the Houston Colt.45s would chose from. These were not front line players by any stretch of the imagination and the two clubs differed on how they would stock their team.

The Houston club would stock their team with young, unproven and not well known players. Given this was Houston's first time in the majors it made perfect sense. The Mets were owned by Joan Payson and George Weiss, the man who built the Bronx Bombers of the 50's and 60's was the Mets first general Manager.

Weiss knew that by bringing in former Dodgers and Giants despite the fact that they were well past their prime would draw fans to Coogans Bluff. Little did I know at the time that this first stroke of lousy ownership and General Manager ineptitude would be the stamp placed on this franchise that still permeates today 48 years later and the reason behind the motive to chronicle this series.

Former Brooklyn Dodgers on that 1962 Mets team. Don Zimmer, Roger Craig, Charlie Neal,and Clem Labine. Former New York Giants included, Hobie Landrith, Ray Daviault, johnny Antonelli, and Joe Pignatano.

The starting lineup for the 1962 New York Mets.

Richie Ashburn    CF

Felix Mantilla      SS

Charlie Neal       2B

Frank Thomas    LF

Gus Bell            RF

Gil Hodges        1B

Don Zimmer      3B

Hobie Landrith    C

Roger Craig        P

Now if this were the lineup say 5-7 years earlier they had some fine all stars in this group loaded with speed and power and decent defense. I think the average age was around 48 or so. It least it seemed to me that day. Did I care? no. With a hot dog in one hand and a Needix Orange Drink in the other I felt as alive as I have ever been.

The game itself was over before I knew what I had to eat. The Mets lost and another 8 straight after that. As so many fans know, they went on to lose 120 games that year and I was 1 - 8 but couldn't care less. If I remember correctly that year, I saw Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal, Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, Roberto Clemente, Eddie Matthews, Ernie Banks and Hank Aaron. Not too shabby at all.

I was turned down at Syracuse and decided to go to Northeastern University in Boston. Early that fall of 1962 I got to go to Fenway Park for the first time and was completely blown away. Love at first sight.

Coming Soon; Part II Anatomy of a Franchise; The New York Mets Lost in Space.