1962 Mets 'would not want' White Sox to take the record

This story was excerpted from Anthony DiComo’s Mets Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

PHOENIX -- Shortly after the 1961 season, Reds pitcher Jay Hook was driving around Illinois in his Austin-Healey when he heard on the radio that he’d been selected in the Expansion Draft by the Mets. Hook’s initial reaction was one of disappointment. Although he had missed much of the prior campaign due to illness, Hook had still been a member of the National League pennant winners. His future seemed bright.

The more Hook began examining the situation, however, the more he felt at peace with it. In addition to Hook, the Mets had drafted several players with strong track records at the highest level, including eight-time All-Star Gil Hodges and Dodgers rotation staple Roger Craig. Soon after, they acquired standout center fielder Richie Ashburn from the Phillies. They hired an active Hall of Famer in hitting coach Rogers Hornsby and a future one in manager Casey Stengel.

"I thought, ‘You know what? This might not be so bad,’” Hook recalled in a recent telephone interview. He chuckled. “But obviously, it was."

Sixty-two years after the Mets’ inaugural 1962 season, that team not only remains the worst in modern baseball history, but a symbol of futility even beyond the game -- at least for now. For the first time in more than two decades, the ’62 Mets face a realistic challenge to their record 120 losses from a White Sox club featuring a 31-104 record and a 124-loss pace. What’s more, the Mets have a chance to bury the White Sox further when they visit the South Side of Chicago for a three-game series beginning Friday.

"It might happen,” said Craig Anderson, another ’62 Mets pitcher who finished his career with a 19-game losing streak. “We understand it might happen. But no, we would not want them to do that."

"I wouldn’t wish it on anybody,” agreed Hook. “Why would I wish that somebody is terrible?"

Much as the Mets waited 50 years for their first no-hitter, their 40-120 record in their inaugural season is more a quirk of history than a referendum on the franchise. It’s always been part of what has made the Mets the Mets.

Rather than bemoan all those losses, members of the ’62 team recall the summer fondly. They have warm memories of Stengel charming reporters at the tail end of his career, and of fans who packed the Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan, thrilled to have National League baseball back in New York.

"You know, it could have been a horrible year,” said Hook, who kept the ball after recording the first win in Mets history in the franchise’s 10th game. "But I think with the fan base that we had, and the attendance we had and the way the fans treated us, it wasn’t. It could have been horrible, but it wasn’t that bad."

Over the years, a few teams have challenged the Mets’ record -- most notably the 2003 Tigers, who managed to win five of their final six games to finish 43-119. But none have toppled it.

Only nine members of the ’62 Mets are still alive, and much as in ’03, their attention has been piqued. While Hook doesn’t watch much professional baseball from his home in North Central Michigan, fans still mail him cards and other pieces of memorabilia to sign -- a level of fame, at age 87, that he understands he wouldn’t have if not for his status as the first winning pitcher in Mets history. Anderson, who lives in Florida, pays a bit more attention. Not long after the ‘62 season, a media member gifted Anderson a commemorative paper listing every game and result of that campaign. He recently took it out of storage and has been consulting it to track the White Sox progress.

"They’re closer than I thought,” he said.

Looking back, Anderson calls the summer of ’62 “a special time for me,” which is a common sentiment among living members of that team. About 20 years ago, when the Tigers made their run at the Mets’ record, the Los Angeles Times asked Hook to write an editorial about their pursuit. In it, he reflected on the fact that he and so many of his teammates experienced success after that summer, whether it be in sports, politics, business or elsewhere.

“I look at that and I think, ‘You know, it was a terrible year,’” Hook said. "You’ve got to admit that. But people didn’t quit trying. It didn’t ruin their life.”