RobKirkpatrick.com

Last week I posted a link to a theologian’s blog, in which he listed 1969: The Year Everything Changed among his best books of the year.  Today, I just came across this posting on An Atheist’s Answer, where the book is listed as one of five nonfiction books to buy instead of the Bible:

http://atheistsanswer.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/good-books/ 

Wow.  No pressure there.

It had me wondering: If I made like John Lennon and declared myself “bigger than Jesus,” would the ensuing book burnings help drive sales?  Whatever helps move stock…

1969: The Year Everything Changed got an honorable mention of sorts in fellow Huffington Post blogger Laurence Hughes’s tongue-in-cheek list on The 10 Best Years That Are Books:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laurence-hughes/the-10-best-years-that-ar_b_397174.html

Nice idea re: 1964, but he must have missed Jon Margolis’s The Last Innocent Year.

And here’s 1969 in someone’s “best of 2009″ list – admittedly a more surprising inclusion, but also appreciated:

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2009/12/19/sam-stormss-top-10-books-of-2009/

Thursday, October 16, 1969

The New York Mets are World Series champions.

The Amazin’s overcame an early three-run deficit to beat the Baltimore Orioles 5-3 in Game Five and close out the series at home. Jerry Koosman pitched a complete game to earn his second series win, series MVP Donn Clendenon homered in his third straight appearance, and Al Weis hit a key game-tying home run, his first ever homer at Shea Stadium.

After hitting .215 in the regular season, Weis finished with a .455 series average.

The Mets fell behind in the third when Orioles pitcher Dave McNally smacked a two-run shot over the leftfield wall. Three batters later, Frank Robinson drove a towering home run over the centerfield fence for a 3-0 Orioles lead.

But it was the last time Baltimore would score in ‘69.

Koosman settled into a groove, and the Mets got on the board in the sixth when Cleon Jones was hit by a pitch and Clendenon followed with a drive that ricocheted off the upper deck in leftfield. At first, umpire Lou DiMuro ruled that McNally’s pitch had missed Jones’s feet before it hit the ground and bounced into the Mets dugout. But manager Gil Hodges emerged with a ball that bore the mark of shoe polish, and after inspecting it, DiMuro awarded Jones first. This enraged Baltimore manager Earl Weaver, as in the top of the inning, Frank Robinson had struck out after claiming to have been hit by a Koosman pitch.

With the Mets trailing by one, Al Weis sent the fans to their feet with his game-tying home run off McNally in the seventh. In the eighth against reliever Eddie Watt, Jones led off with a double high off the centerfield fence, and he scored the go-ahead run one batter latter on Ron Swoboda’s bloop single to left, which landed just in front of a lunging Don Buford to the delight of the enraptured Shea faithful. After Ed Charles flew out, Jerry Grote lined a hard grounder to Boog Powell at first, and when Watt mishandled Powell’s toss to first, Swoboda came around to score a key insurance run.

Protecting a two-run lead, Koosman made a mistake in walking Frank Robinson to begin the ninth. But Koosman got Powell to ground into a force play and retired Brooks Robinson on a fly to right.

Davey Johnson stepped to the plate next. I recount what happened next in 1969: The Year Everything Changed:

Second baseman Davey Johnson hit a deep fly ball to left that might have made many a fan hold their breath, but when Jones stopped moving backward and calmly settled under the ball just shy of the warning track, it was all over.

He collected the ball and brought his hands down as he practically knelt to the Shea grass in a solemn gesture. Veteran baseball writer George Vecsey wrote, “Shea Stadium was caught quivering as Jones sighted the ball, and the whole city erupted as he caught it, and the fans poured onto the field, and the New York Mets were the champions of baseball. There were a million exciting things happening and it was hard to focus on any one incident. But out in left field, if you had been looking there, you would have seen Cleon Jones, with fans racing over to pummel him, stop for a moment, drop quickly to one knee. Later, he explained his brief genuflection. ‘Someone was good to us.’ ”

The Mets, the laughingstock of baseball in their first seven years of existence, were now the best team in all of the land. All jubilant hell broke loose. Fans ran onto the field in celebration. Some collected dirt from the infield; others dug out home plate as a souvenir. It was just before 3:30 on that Thursday afternoon, October 16, and throughout the city, New Yorkers began their celebration. White-collar confetti danced downward upon spontaneous revelers. Strangers danced in the streets, young with old, black with white—one of the few moments of harmony during a year that had seen the nation divided by age and race.

Here’s an Onion article on an outspoken, oil-covered otter:

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/shell_executives_accuse_oil?utm_source=a-section

…which reminded me of an actual statement made by an oil exec in the aftermath of the Santa Barbara Oil Slick in February 1969:

Fred Hartley, the president of Union Oil, traveled to Washington to appear before a subcommittee on air and water pollution to testify on the episode, which he put off as “Mother Earth letting the oil come out.” Fed up with the outrage over the oil slick his company had created, Hartley commented, “I’m amazed at the publicity for the loss of a few birds.”

You can read more about the Santa Barbara slick, the infamous Cuyahoga River fire, the controversial People’s Park riots, and other ecology-related episodes from that year in 1969: The Year Everything Changed.

Thursday, October 2, 1969

At the end of a season that began so promisingly, the Cubs saved a little face with a win against the Mets at Wrigley in the regular season finale for both teams.

New York jumped out to two runs in the first, both on a single by Ken Boswell. Gary Gentry, the team’s projected no. 3 starter for the playoffs, gave up one run in a four-inning tuneup.  Don Cardwell took the loss, giving up four runs in two innings. Ernie Banks had a triple, home run, and three RBI for the Cubs. Ron Santo also homered. Bill Hands allowed three runs in five innings before rookie Joe Decker came on to earn his first Major League win with four scoreless innings in relief.  Chicago won despite committing four errors in the field.

Recapping from 1969: The Year Everything Changed:

During the season finale on October 2, one member of the Bleacher Bums tossed a smoke bomb onto the field near Cleon Jones that sent a stream of red smoke wafting into the air. Later, a procession of Bums left their seats, made their way past the Wrigley Field ushers, and found their way down to the top of the home and visitor dugouts, where they tried to take over the show. They eventually returned to the left-field stands, and after the last out of a meaningless win, they climbed over the ivy-covered outfield wall and jumped onto the field. Some ran around the infield and slid into bases, urged on by civilian base coaches. In the ugliness, one girl severely hurt her back and was taken to the hospital, and another girl suffered an ankle injury. Amid the commotion, the park’s organist mockingly played “Happy Days Are Here Again.” The season had come to a bitter conclusion. As one player had said before the final game, “This is just like the last day of school. I can hardly wait for it to end.”

Cleon Jones went 2 for 5 and finished third in the National League with a .340 average. Pete Rose won the batting title with a .348 mark, and Roberto Clemente finished strong at .345. Next up for Jones and the Mets: Game One of the National League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves on Saturday, October 4.

Cubs 5, Mets 3.  W: Decker (1-0)  L: Cardwell (8-10)

FINAL NL EAST STANDINGS          W    L    T   PCT    GB    RS   RA
New York Mets                  100   62    0  .617     -   632  541
Chicago Cubs                    92   70    1  .568   8.0   720  611
Pittsburgh Pirates              88   74    0  .543  12.0   725  652
St. Louis Cardinals             87   75    0  .537  13.0   595  540
Philadelphia Phillies           63   99    0  .389  37.0   645  745
Montreal Expos                  52  110    0  .321  48.0   582  791

Wednesday, September 24, 1969

With Bill Hands pitching the Cubs to a win over the Expos at Wrigley today, the Mets had to take care of business themselves if they wanted to clinch the Eastern Division of the National League.

And take care of business they did, scoring five runs out of the gate off Steve Carlton, the starting pitcher for the National League in this past summer’s All-Star game.

Don Clendenon got the scoring started in a big way with his first inning home run, after Bud Harrelson had lead off with a single and Tommie Agee reached on a walk.  Two batters latter, Ed Charles went deep with a two-run shot to knock Carlton out of the box, and the Shea Stadium crowd could sense that this was the Mets’ night.

From there, rookie Gary Gentry kept the Cardinals at bay, allowing just four hits on the night. Clendenon homered again in the fifth inning, his fifteenth roundtripper of the season, to give the Mets another insurance run.

Gentry carried the shutout into the ninth. Lou Brock and Vic Davalillo both singled to open the inning. But Gentry struck out Vada Pinson for the first out, and the next batter, Joe Torre, bounced a tailor-made groundball to Harrelson. The Mets shortstop threw to Al Weis for the out at second, and Weis turned and fired to Clendenon for the final out of the game.

I recount what happened next in 1969: The Year Everything Changed:

Mets announcer Lindsey Nelson officially proclaimed: “At 9:07 on September 24th, the Mets have won the championship of the  Eastern Division of the National League!”

As the Mets players ran into the dugout and began spraying champagne inside the locker room, fans stormed the field to celebrate an event that had seemed unthinkable in the team’s first seven years. In what the Associated Press called “one of the most incredible souvenir-snatching safaaris in baseball history,” the Shea crowd tore up as much as 1,500 square feet of sod. The AP quoted a police report the next day that summarized the festive damage: “They celebrated by  breaking three wheels off the batting cage and stripping the netting off it. They celebrated by tearing up the all-weather matting in the coaches’ boxes behind first and third base. They celebrated by taking pieces of the scoreboard. They celebrated by stealing home plate.” Fans also sprayed graffiti across the wall in centerfield and stole the stadium’s American flag from atop its outfield post.

The Mets now await the winner of the National League West, which the Atlanta Braves currently lead by 1.5 games over the San Francisco Giants and 3 over the Cincinnati Reds.

Cubs 6, Expos 3.  W: Hands (19-14)  L: Renko (6-7)

Mets 6, Cardinals 0.  W: Gentry (12-12)  L: Carlton (17-11)

***

NL EAST                          W    L    T   PCT    GB    RS   RA
New York Mets*                  96   61    0  .611     -   615  531
Chicago Cubs                    90   67    1  .573   6.0   706  595
Pittsburgh Pirates              82   73    0  .529  13.0   691  632
St. Louis Cardinals             82   74    0  .526  13.5   567  527
Philadelphia Phillies           62   92    0  .403  32.5   624  711
Montreal Expos                  52  105    0  .331  44.0   574  762
* clinched division

NL WEST                          W    L    T   PCT    GB    RS   RA
Atlanta Braves                  89   68    0  .567     -   667  613
San Francisco Giants            87   69    0  .558   1.5   690  619
Cincinnati Reds                 85   70    1  .548   3.0   771  750
Los Angeles Dodgers             82   74    0  .526   6.5   628  538
Houston Astros                  78   76    0  .506   9.5   652  638
San Diego Padres                50  106    0  .321  38.5   447  716

The late Ted Kennedy writes of the Chappaquiddick incident in his forthcoming autobiography, True Compass.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/09/02/2009-09-02_sen_ted_kennedy_wrote_chappaquiddick_haunts_me_every_day_of_my_life_in_true_comp.html

Nothing really surprising here, as this is basically what he said 40 years ago in a nationally televised statement, just a few days after the moon landing.  It was a week like no other in the history of American broadcast news.

- Rob

Tuesday, September 2, 1969

The Chicago Cubs completed one win and then won a complete game.

The June 15 game at Crosley Field between the Reds and Cubs had been suspended after 7 innings with the Cubs leading 5-4.  The game was resumed today in Cincinnati, and Ken Johnson kept things status quo by pitching two shutout innings. Paul Popvich’s home run and three RBI back in June proved to be the difference.

For the day’s originally scheduled game, Fergie Jenkins gave up two runs and struck out seven in nine full innings. Don Kessinger doubled and homered, and both Glenn Beckert and rookie Oscar Gamble had two hits and three RBI. Pete Rose was 3 for 4 for Cincinnati. The two official wins on the day increased Chicago’s division lead to five full games.

Cubs 6, Reds 5 (1).  W: Nye (3-5) L: Arrigo (2-6) SV: Johnson (2)

Cubs 8, Reds 2 (2).  W: Jenkins (19-11)  L: Cloninger (9-15)

The Mets built a lead against the host Dodgers thanks to two home runs by slugger Don Clendenon and three hits from Ken Boswell.  New York starter Gary Gentry lasted into the ninth, when Los Angeles mounted a comeback that fell one run short when Tug McGraw came on to strike out Willie Davis with men on first and third.

Mets 5, Dodgers 4.  W: Gentry (10-11)  L: Sutton (15-13)  SV: McGraw (10)

***

NL EAST STANDINGS

                                              W    L    T   PCT    GB  
Chicago Cubs                    84   52    1  .618     - 
New York Mets                  77   55    0  .583   5.0 

This summer’s B&N promotion was quite successful for 1969: The Year Everything Changed, and BookScan numbers are closing in on the goal I’d set for the book.  It’s not too late to celebrate the 40th anniversary of this wild year!  (Visit the BOOKS page, top right, and click on the direct link to 1969 at your online bookstore of choice.) 

“Kirkpatrick makes a good case that it was a year of ‘landmark achievements, cataclysmic episodes and generation-defining events.” – USA Today

“A riveting look at a pivotal year.” – Booklist

“In this compelling account, Kirkpatrick treats the tumultuous events of 1969 with the skills of a journalist, a historian, a sociologist, and a sportswriter and manages to insert moments of lightness and triviality into his grand tour.” – Library Journal

“A compelling account of the historic year.” – History Channel Magazine Club

“What a year!  [A] fast-paced, readable book.” – Rutgers Magazine

“Kirkpatrick weaves an astonishing tale.” – Sean Lahman, author of The Pro Football Historical Abstract

Here’s a link to an interesting article from the Boston Herald.  I offer it without any accompanying commentary, except to say that I obviously discuss this incident in 1969: The Year Everything Changed.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1193605&srvc=rss