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1978 New York Mets season

The 1978 New York Mets season was the 17th regular season for the Mets, who played their home games at Shea Stadium. Led by manager Joe Torre, the team had a 66–96 record and finished in sixth place in the National League East.

1978 New York Mets
LeagueNational League
DivisionEast
BallparkShea Stadium
CityNew York City, New York
Record66–96 (.407)
Divisional place6th
OwnersCharles Shipman Payson
General managersJoe McDonald
ManagersJoe Torre
TelevisionWWOR-TV
RadioWMCA
(Ralph Kiner, Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy)
StatsESPN.com
Baseball Reference
← 1977 Seasons 1979 →

Offseason

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Regular season

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On May 1, in a game against the Mets, Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox was ejected from a game for the first time in his career.[5] Cox would go on to set the record for most ejections by a manager.

On June 16, in his 12th major league season speckled with near-misses, Tom Seaver, now of the Cincinnati Reds, finally hurls a no-hitter. The Cardinals are the 4–0 victims as Seaver strikes out 3 batters.[6]

Season summary

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Expectations were low for the Mets heading into the 1978 season. The Amazin's only drew 11,736 for the season opener at Shea,[7] which had acquired the nickname "Grant's Tomb."[7] The Mets beat the Montreal Expos 3–1. Opening Day starter Jerry Koosman struck out seven in his complete game victory.[8]

From there, things went poorly for Koosman and the Mets. He only won two more games with the Mets in 1978, versus 15 losses despite a respectable 3.75 earned run average. His third win of the season came on July 13 in Cincinnati against Tom Seaver.[9] Following the season, Koosman would be traded to the Minnesota Twins for Jesse Orosco and Greg Field. Koosman had gone 11–35 in his last two seasons as a Met, bringing his career mark to 140–137—not nearly indicative of the stellar career he had with the Mets.

The ace of the staff turned out to be Pat Zachry, whom they'd acquired on June 15, 1977, as part of the infamous "Midnight Massacre", when he, Doug Flynn, Dan Norman and Steve Henderson were traded to the Mets from the Reds for Seaver.[10]

Zachry had a 10–4 record, and was selected by Tommy Lasorda as the sole Mets representative on the National League All-Star team, but did not play. After dropping his next two decisions, On July 24, Zachry was the starting pitcher against the Cincinnati Reds for the largest crowd of the season at Shea (35,939) as Pete Rose entered the game with a 36-game hitting streak. Rose was 0–3 until a seventh inning single gave him a 37-game hitting streak to tie the N.L. record. Four batters latter, Zachry was pulled in favor of Kevin Kobel. Frustrated, Zachry went to kick a batting helmet sitting on the dugout steps, missed the helmet and kicked the step—fracturing his left foot, and ending his season.[11] In his absence, Craig Swan assumed the role of staff ace. Swan went 7–1 following the injury to Zachry, leading the National League with a 2.43 ERA for the season.

With his hard, physical play, catcher John Stearns emerged as a Mets fan favorite for a team with desperately few stars. On April 8, he triggered a bench-clearing brawl by running into Montreal Expos catcher Gary Carter at the plate. On June 30, Stearns defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates by tagging out Dave Parker to end the game.[12][13] Parker, who had run over two other catchers in the previous two weeks, suffered a broken cheekbone in the collision with Stearns. When the Pirates in-state rivals (also the Mets' own division rivals), the Philadelphia Phillies, next came to New York, they thanked Stearns for standing up to Parker. Stearns also led the Mets in stolen bases with 25, and in the process broke the National League record for catchers, which had been held by Johnny Kling since 1902.[14]

Season standings

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NL East
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Philadelphia Phillies 90 72 .556 — 54‍–‍28 36‍–‍44
Pittsburgh Pirates 88 73 .547 1½ 55‍–‍26 33‍–‍47
Chicago Cubs 79 83 .488 11 44‍–‍38 35‍–‍45
Montreal Expos 76 86 .469 14 41‍–‍39 35‍–‍47
St. Louis Cardinals 69 93 .426 21 37‍–‍44 32‍–‍49
New York Mets 66 96 .407 24 33‍–‍47 33‍–‍49

Record vs. opponents

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1978 National League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta — 5–7 6–12 8–10 5–13 5–7 6–6 8–4 2–10 8–10 11–7 5–7
Chicago 7–5 — 7–5 6–6 4–8 7–11 11–7 4–14 7–11 7–5 4–8 15–3
Cincinnati 12–6 5–7 — 11–7 9–9 8–4 7–5 7–5 4–7 9–9 12–6 8–4
Houston 10–8 6–6 7–11 — 7–11 6–6 7–5 6–6 4–8 8–10 6–12 7–5
Los Angeles 13–5 8–4 9–9 11–7 — 8–4 7–5 7–5 7–5 9–9 11–7 5–7
Montreal 7–5 11–7 4–8 6–6 4–8 — 8–10 9–9 7–11 6–6 5–7 9–9
New York 6–6 7–11 5–7 5–7 5–7 10–8 — 6–12 7–11 5–7 3–9 7–11
Philadelphia 4-8 14–4 5–7 6–6 5–7 9–9 12–6 — 11–7 8–4 6–6 10–8
Pittsburgh 10–2 11–7 7–4 8–4 5–7 11–7 11–7 7–11 — 5–7 4–8 9–9
San Diego 10–8 5–7 9–9 10–8 9–9 6–6 7–5 4–8 7–5 — 8–10 9–3
San Francisco 7–11 8–4 6–12 12–6 7–11 7–5 9–3 6–6 8–4 10–8 — 9–3
St. Louis 7–5 3–15 4–8 5–7 7–5 9–9 11–7 8–10 9–9 3–9 3–9 —


Opening Day lineup

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  1. Lenny Randle 3B
  2. Tim Foli SS
  3. Steve Henderson LF
  4. Willie Montañez 1B
  5. Ken Henderson RF
  6. Lee Mazzilli CF
  7. John Stearns C
  8. Doug Flynn 2B
  9. Jerry Koosman P

Notable transactions

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Roster

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1978 New York Mets
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C John Stearns 143 477 126 .264 15 73
1B Willie Montañez 159 609 156 .256 17 96
2B Doug Flynn 156 532 126 .237 0 36
3B Lenny Randle 132 437 102 .233 2 35
SS Tim Foli 113 413 106 .257 1 27
LF Steve Henderson 157 587 156 .266 10 65
CF Lee Mazzilli 148 542 148 .273 16 61
RF Elliott Maddox 119 389 100 .257 2 39

Other batters

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Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Joel Youngblood 113 266 67 .252 7 30
Bruce Boisclair 107 214 48 .224 4 15
Bobby Valentine 69 160 43 .269 1 18
Ron Hodges 47 102 26 .255 0 7
Tom Grieve 54 101 21 .208 2 8
Ed Kranepool 66 81 17 .210 3 19
Dan Norman 19 64 17 .266 4 10
Sergio Ferrer 37 33 7 .212 0 1
Gil Flores 11 29 8 .276 0 1
Ken Henderson 7 22 5 .227 1 4
Alex Treviño 6 12 3 .250 0 0
Butch Benton 4 4 2 .500 0 2

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Jerry Koosman 38 235.1 3 15 3.75 160
Craig Swan 29 207.1 9 6 2.43 125
Nino Espinosa 32 203.2 11 15 4.73 76
Pat Zachry 21 138.0 10 6 3.33 78
Mike Bruhert 27 133.2 4 11 4.78 56
Tom Hausman 10 51.2 3 3 4.70 16

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Kevin Kobel 32 108.1 5 6 2.91 51
Juan Berenguer 5 13.0 0 2 8.31 8
Roy Lee Jackson 4 12.2 0 0 9.24 6

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Skip Lockwood 57 7 13 15 3.57 73
Dale Murray 53 8 5 5 3.65 37
Dwight Bernard 30 1 4 0 4.31 26
Paul Siebert 27 0 2 1 5.14 12
Butch Metzger 25 1 3 0 6.51 21
Mardie Cornejo 25 4 2 3 2.45 17
Bob Myrick 17 0 3 0 3.28 13

Farm system

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See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Tidewater Tides International League Frank Verdi
AA Jackson Mets Texas League Bob Wellman
A Lynchburg Mets Carolina League Jack Aker
A Wausau Mets Midwest League Dan Monzon
A-Short Season Little Falls Mets New York–Penn League Chris Krug

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Lynchburg

Notes

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  1. ^ Kevin Kobel page at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ "Baseball-Reference.com". Archived from the original on September 15, 2008. Retrieved August 12, 2008.
  3. ^ Sergio Ferrer page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Ricky Jones page at Baseball-Reference
  5. ^ Lake, Thomas (July 26, 2010). "Thumbing his Way back home". Sports Illustrated. Time Inc. p. 49.
  6. ^ "Cincinnati Reds 4, St. Louis Cardinals 0". Baseball-Reference.com. June 16, 1978.
  7. ^ a b Smith, Red (April 8, 1978). "Jerry's Name in the Lineup". The New York Times. p. 15.
  8. ^ "New York Mets 3, Montreal Expos 1". Baseball-Reference.com. April 7, 1978.
  9. ^ "New York Mets 4, Cincinnati Reds 2". Baseball-Reference.com. July 13, 1978.
  10. ^ Madden, Bill (June 17, 2007). "The true story of The Midnight Massacre". New York Daily News.
  11. ^ "Former Met of the Day: Pat Zachry (1977–1982)". Retrieved April 23, 2009. [dead link‍]
  12. ^ Keese, Parton (July 1, 1978). "4-Run Rally In 9th Beats Pirates, 6–5". New York Times. p. 13.
  13. ^ Feeney, Charley (July 1, 1978). "Fireworks Start in 9th as Mets Barely Nip Pirates". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 11.
  14. ^ Kaplan, Jim (September 25, 1978). "A Hard Catcher To Nab". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on January 2, 2013. Retrieved July 13, 2008.
  15. ^ Mark Davis page at Baseball Reference
  16. ^ "Rick Anderson: Career Statistics". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 14, 2018.

References

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  • Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
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