The Mets entered the National League in 1962. Since that time the Cubs and Mets have played a total of 687 games. With yesterday's win, the Cubs have won 343 of the games, the Mets, 342, and there were three ties.
Yep, that's right. After 49 seasons of play, the two teams have nearly split their games right down the middle! And if the Mets win today, it will be a 50/50 split.
In the sixties, the two teams were battling each other to stay out of the cellar. When division play came in 1969, a pretty fierce rivalry was struck between the two. The Mets got the Cubs in 1969, but in 1984 the Cubs turned the tables. I miss the days of 18 games against division foes. Now that the two teams are in different divisions, they only play each other 6-7 times a year. WIth only one visit a season to New York, the Cubs / Mets rivalry is dead.
I wanted to find cards of players who suited up for both teams. As I was trying to come up with a list, I checked out the Mets 1962 roster, the team that lost a whopping 120 games. Guess what I found.....there were 11 players on that roster that also played for the Cubs sometime during their career. That helps explain why the Mets were so bad!
Nine of the eleven had a card from their time with the Cubs. The only two without were catcher Chris Cannizzaro and pitcher Bobby Smith. Here are the other nine '62 Mets in Cubbie blue:
Three ties?!?!
ReplyDeleteThey were likely games called on account of darkness. If it was an official game, and tied. That's how it went into the books and they generally replayed the games. Check Games Played by Billy Williams though out the 1960s.
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