The Orioles Win Game 1 and the Mets Lose for the Last Time

On October 11, 1969, the Baltimore Orioles beat the New York Mets 4-1 in Game 1 of the World Series at Memorial Stadium. Don Buford led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run off Tom Seaver, and Mike Cuellar held the Mets to six hits. Baltimore had won 109 games that season and swept the American League Championship Series. The result surprised nobody.

The Mets were in just their eighth year of existence. They had lost 120 games in their inaugural 1962 season and had never finished higher than ninth place before 1969. Their turnaround that summer, when they overtook the heavily favored Cubs to win the National League East, had already earned them the nickname "Miracle Mets." Most experts considered the World Series a mismatch.

Buford's leadoff home run reinforced that view. He pulled a Seaver fastball over the right-field fence before the Mets had even recorded their first out. Baltimore added three more runs across the middle innings while Cuellar mixed his screwball and changeup to keep the Mets off balance. Seaver, who had won 25 games during the regular season, took the loss.

The Game 1 defeat was the last loss the Mets would suffer that October. They won the next four games in a row, taking Game 2 in Baltimore, then sweeping Games 3, 4, and 5 at Shea Stadium to close out the Series. The Mets' comeback transformed a franchise that had been the league's longest-running joke into World Series champions in four days.