# The Miracle Mets Complete Their Improbable Rise: April 24, 1969

On April 24, 1969, the New York Mets defeated the Montreal Expos 4-2 at Shea Stadium, improving their record to 9-7 and moving into first place in the National League East for the first time in franchise history. While this might seem like just another regular season game, this moment represented a seismic shift in baseball's cosmic order and foreshadowed one of the greatest underdog stories in sports history.

To appreciate the magnitude of this achievement, you need to understand just how laughably bad the Mets had been. Since their inception in 1962, the "Amazin' Mets" were amazing only in their futility. They lost a modern-record 120 games in their inaugural season. They finished last or next-to-last every single season of their existence. They were lovable losers, a punchline, a team that made fans wear paper bags over their heads. The Mets finishing first in anything seemed as likely as humans walking on the moon.

But 1969 was a year of impossibilities becoming possible.

On this April afternoon, Gary Gentry pitched effectively for the Mets, and the lineup—featuring a young Tommie Agee and Cleon Jones—provided just enough offense. When the final out was recorded, the Mets stood atop their division. Manager Gil Hodges, the beloved Brooklyn Dodgers legend, had instilled discipline and belief in a roster of castoffs and youngsters that nobody else wanted.

The Shea Stadium crowd of over 16,000 fans erupted with genuine shock and joy. First place! The Mets! The same franchise that had employed "Marvelous" Marv Throneberry, whose comedic incompetence had defined their early years!

What makes this date so significant is what it represented: the beginning of belief. This wasn't a fluke or a hot streak that would fade. The Mets would remain in contention all season, eventually winning 100 games and capturing the National League pennant before stunning the heavily-favored Baltimore Orioles in the World Series. The "Miracle Mets" would complete the most improbable worst-to-first transformation in baseball history.

That brief taste of first place on April 24th gave the team and their long-suffering fans permission to dream. It planted a seed that maybe, just maybe, this year would be different. And it was—gloriously, impossibly different.

Later that summer, Neil Armstrong would walk on the moon, and the Mets would win the World Series. As the saying went in New York that magical year: "If they can put a man on the moon, the Mets can win the World Series."

It all started becoming real on April 24, 1969, when the Mets climbed to first place and refused to come down.

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Miracle Mets Reach First Place April 24 1969