1969 National League Championship Series

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The 1969 National League Championship Series was a best-of-five match-up between the Eastern Division champion New York Mets and the Western Division champion Atlanta Braves. The Mets swept the Braves 3 games to none.

Managers: Gil Hodges, New York; Lum Harris, Atlanta

Umpires: Al Barlick, Augie Donatelli, Ed Sudol, Ed Vargo, Chris Pelekoudas, Mel Steiner

Television: NBC (Jim Simpson and Sandy Koufax announcing)

1 Background
2 Summary
- 2.1 New York Mets vs. Atlanta Braves
3 Game Summaries
4 Trivia
5 External links

[edit] Background

This was the first year of the two-division format in Major League Baseball, after 99 consecutive years of straight non-divisional play.

This was the year of the "Miracle" Mets. The team had finished only one game better than last the year before, had never finished better than ninth in their seven-year history, were generally picked for third or fourth in the new six-team National League Eastern Division, and were a 100-to-1 longshot to win the World Series. In third place and 8 1/2 games behind the division-leading Cubs on August 2, the Mets rallied to win the East Division title by 8 games, winning exactly 100 games.

The Braves, led by Hall of Famers Henry Aaron, Orlando Cepeda, and Phil Niekro, won a tough five-team race in the West Division, and were favored over the Mets as the playoff began, even though the Mets had a better record than the Braves. In what was expected to be a pitching-rich series, the teams combined for 42 runs, batted .292, hit 11 homeruns, and posted a combined 5.94 ERA in the three games. Henry Aaron hit three homeruns for the Braves, while Tommy Agee and Ken Boswell hit two each for the Mets.

The Mets would also go on to beat the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series, 4 games to 1.

It was the first of four NL pennants for the Mets. The Braves would not reach the NLCS again until 1982.

[edit] Summary

[edit] New York Mets vs. Atlanta Braves

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Score	Record (NYM-ATL)	Attendance
1	October 4	New York	9	Atlanta	5	1-0	50,122
2	October 5	New York	11	Atlanta	6	2-0	50,270
3	October 6	Atlanta	4	New York	7	3-0	53,195
NYM won 3, ATL won 0. New York wins the National League Championship and advance to the World Series

[edit] Game Summaries

[edit] Game One

October 4, Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	5	0	9	10	1
Atlanta	0	1	1	0	1	1	1	0	0	5	10	2
WP: Tom Seaver (1-0) LP: Phil Niekro (0-1) SV: Ron Taylor (1)
HRs: ATL – Tony González (1), Henry Aaron (1)

[edit] Game Two

October 5, Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York	1	3	2	2	1	0	2	0	0	11	13	1
Atlanta	0	0	0	1	5	0	0	0	0	6	9	3
WP: Ron Taylor (1-0) LP: Ron Reed (0-1) SV: Tug McGraw (1)
HRs: NYM – Tommy Agee (1), Cleon Jones (1), Ken Boswell (1) ATL – Henry Aaron (2)

[edit] Game Three

October 6, Shea Stadium, Flushing, New York

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Atlanta	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	4	8	1
New York	0	0	1	2	3	1	0	0	X	7	14	3
WP: Nolan Ryan (1-0) LP: Pat Jarvis (0-1)
HRs: ATL – Henry Aaron (3), Orlando Cepeda (1) NYM – Tommy Agee (2), Wayne Garrett (1), Ken Boswell (2)

[edit] Trivia

The New York Mets became the first team ever to sweep a best-of-five National League Championship Series playoff, they have not swept a playoff series until 2006 as the Mets swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division Series 3 games to 0.

Game 3 was Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan's first playoff victory of his career.

At that time(1969),The New York Mets became the fastest expansion team to win a National League Pennant with only seven years of existence. 28 years later (1997), the Florida Marlins would break that record at reaching the World Series with only 5 years of existence. 4 years after the Marlins the Arizona Diamondbacks would break that by reaching the World Series in just their 4th year.