# 1963 New York Mets season

The 1963 New York Mets season was the second regular season for the Mets. They went 51–111 and finished tenth in the National League, 48 games behind the World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers. They were managed by Casey Stengel. They played their home games at the Polo Grounds, the second and final season there for the Mets before moving to Shea Stadium the following season.

## Offseason

* October 11, 1962: Ron Hunt was purchased by the Mets from the Milwaukee Braves.
* October 14, 1962: Norm Sherry and Dick Smith were purchased by the Mets from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
* November 26, 1962: Paul Blair was drafted from the Mets by the Baltimore Orioles in the 1962 first-year draft.

## Regular season

On June 14, Duke Snider of the Mets hit his 400th home run against the Cincinnati Reds. The opposing pitcher was Bob Purkey. The homer came in the 6,783rd at bat of his career. Snider became the ninth player to reach 400 homers. Along with Eddie Mathews, Snider became part of the first duo to reach the 400-plateau in the same season. Afterwards, Mets outfielder Jimmy Piersall told Snider that he could get more publicity for his 100th home run. Nine days later, on June 23, Piersall ran the bases backward after hitting the 100th home run of his career off Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Dallas Green. He was released by the Mets one month later, with that home run being the only one he hit in a Mets uniform.

### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 99 | 63 | .611 | — | 50‍–‍31 | 49‍–‍32 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 93 | 69 | .574 | 6 | 53‍–‍28 | 40‍–‍41 |
| San Francisco Giants | 88 | 74 | .543 | 11 | 50‍–‍31 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 87 | 75 | .537 | 12 | 45‍–‍36 | 42‍–‍39 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 86 | 76 | .531 | 13 | 46‍–‍35 | 40‍–‍41 |
| Milwaukee Braves | 84 | 78 | .519 | 15 | 45‍–‍36 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Chicago Cubs | 82 | 80 | .506 | 17 | 43‍–‍38 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 74 | 88 | .457 | 25 | 42‍–‍39 | 32‍–‍49 |
| Houston Colt .45s | 66 | 96 | .407 | 33 | 44‍–‍37 | 22‍–‍59 |
| New York Mets | 51 | 111 | .315 | 48 | 34‍–‍47 | 17‍–‍64 |

### Record vs. opponents

1963 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MIL | NYM | PHI | PIT | SF | STL |
| Chicago | — | 9–9 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 12–6 | 11–7 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 7–11 |
| Cincinnati | 9–9 | — | 11–7 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 11–7 | 8–10 | 11–7 |
| Houston | 9–9 | 7–11 | — | 5–13 | 5–13 | 13–5 | 8–10 | 6–12 | 8–10 | 5–13 |
| Los Angeles | 11–7 | 10–8 | 13–5 | — | 8–10–1 | 16–2 | 7–11 | 13–5 | 9–9 | 12–6 |
| Milwaukee | 6–12 | 8–10 | 13–5 | 10–8–1 | — | 12–6 | 10–8 | 7–11 | 10–8 | 8–10 |
| New York | 7–11 | 8–10 | 5–13 | 2–16 | 6–12 | — | 8–10 | 4–14 | 6–12 | 5–13 |
| Philadelphia | 9–9 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 11–7 | 8–10 | 10–8 | — | 13–5 | 8–10 | 8–10 |
| Pittsburgh | 10–8 | 7–11 | 12–6 | 5–13 | 11–7 | 14–4 | 5–13 | — | 5–13 | 5–13 |
| San Francisco | 8–10 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 12–6 | 10–8 | 13–5 | — | 8–10 |
| St. Louis | 11–7 | 7–11 | 13–5 | 6–12 | 10–8 | 13–5 | 10–8 | 13–5 | 10–8 | — |

### Notable transactions

* May 8, 1963: Larry Foss was traded by the Mets to the Milwaukee Braves for Chico Fernández.
* May 23, 1963: Gil Hodges was traded by the Mets to the Washington Senators for Jimmy Piersall.
* July 1, 1963: Charlie Neal and Sammy Taylor were traded by the Mets to the Cincinnati Reds for Jesse Gonder.
* July 29, 1963: Jacke Davis and cash were traded by the Mets to the St. Louis Cardinals for Duke Carmel.
* July 27, 1963: Jimmy Piersall was released by the Mets.
* September 5, 1963: Ron Swoboda was signed as an amateur free agent by the Mets.

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

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 | Choo-Choo Coleman | 106 | 247 | 44 | .178 | 3 | 9 |
| 1B | Tim Harkness | 123 | 375 | 79 | .211 | 10 | 41 |
| 2B | Ron Hunt | 143 | 533 | 135 | .272 | 10 | 42 |
| SS | Al Moran | 119 | 331 | 64 | .193 | 1 | 23 |
| 3B | Charlie Neal | 72 | 253 | 57 | .225 | 3 | 18 |
| LF | Frank Thomas | 126 | 420 | 109 | .260 | 15 | 60 |
| CF | Jim Hickman | 146 | 494 | 113 | .229 | 17 | 51 |
| RF | Duke Snider | 129 | 354 | 86 | .243 | 14 | 45 |

#### Other batters

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 |
| Ed Kranepool | 86 | 273 | 57 | .209 | 2 | 14 |
| Rod Kanehl | 109 | 191 | 46 | .241 | 1 | 9 |
| Joe Hicks | 56 | 159 | 36 | .226 | 5 | 22 |
| Joe Christopher | 64 | 149 | 33 | .221 | 1 | 8 |
| Duke Carmel | 47 | 149 | 35 | .235 | 3 | 18 |
| Norm Sherry | 63 | 147 | 20 | .136 | 2 | 11 |
| Chico Fernández | 58 | 145 | 29 | .200 | 1 | 9 |
| Jesse Gonder | 42 | 126 | 38 | .302 | 3 | 15 |
| Jimmy Piersall | 40 | 124 | 24 | .194 | 1 | 10 |
| Cliff Cook | 50 | 106 | 15 | .142 | 2 | 8 |
| Larry Burright | 41 | 100 | 22 | .220 | 0 | 3 |
| Pumpsie Green | 17 | 54 | 15 | .278 | 1 | 5 |
| Ted Schreiber | 39 | 50 | 8 | .160 | 0 | 2 |
| Dick Smith | 20 | 42 | 10 | .238 | 0 | 3 |
| Sammy Taylor | 22 | 35 | 9 | .257 | 0 | 6 |
| Chris Cannizzaro | 16 | 33 | 8 | .242 | 0 | 4 |
| Gil Hodges | 11 | 22 | 5 | .227 | 0 | 3 |
| Cleon Jones | 6 | 15 | 2 | .133 | 0 | 1 |
| Marv Throneberry | 14 | 14 | 2 | .143 | 0 | 1 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Roger Craig | 46 | 236.0 | 5 | 22 | 3.78 | 108 |
| Al Jackson | 37 | 227.0 | 13 | 17 | 3.96 | 142 |
| Carl Willey | 30 | 183.0 | 9 | 14 | 3.10 | 101 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Galen Cisco | 51 | 155.2 | 7 | 15 | 4.34 | 81 |
| Tracy Stallard | 39 | 154.2 | 6 | 17 | 4.71 | 110 |
| Jay Hook | 41 | 152.2 | 4 | 14 | 5.48 | 89 |
| Grover Powell | 20 | 49.2 | 1 | 1 | 2.72 | 39 |
| Craig Anderson | 3 | 9.1 | 0 | 2 | 8.68 | 6 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Larry Bearnarth | 58 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 3.42 | 48 |
| Ken MacKenzie | 34 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4.97 | 41 |
| Don Rowe | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.28 | 27 |
| Ed Bauta | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.21 | 13 |
| Steve Dillon | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.80 | 1 |

## Awards and honors

All-Star Game
* Duke Snider, outfield, reserve

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Buffalo Bisons | International League | Kerby Farrell |
| A | Salinas Mets | California League | Ken Deal |
| A | Raleigh Mets | Carolina League | Clyde McCullough and Tommy Byrne |
| A | Quincy Jets | Midwest League | Sheriff Robinson and Wally Millies |
| A | Auburn Mets | New York–Penn League | Dick Cole |