Jerry Koosman, the left-hander who pitched the Mets to the final out of their first World Series championship and spent 12 seasons in New York, died Sunday at 83.
The Mets announced his death and offered condolences to his family. Koosman won 140 games for New York from 1967-78, with a 3.09 ERA, according to MLB's account of his career.
Two wins helped deliver the 1969 championship
Koosman gave the Mets a chance to recover after losing the opener of the 1969 World Series against Baltimore. In Game 2, he kept the Orioles hitless until Paul Blair singled to open the seventh inning, and New York won 2-1 to even the series.
He returned for Game 5 at Shea Stadium and pitched a complete game to clinch the championship. His leap into catcher Jerry Grote's arms after the final out became one of the enduring images of the Mets' title.
Koosman also helped New York reach the 1973 World Series. He beat Cincinnati in Game 3 of that year's National League Championship Series, then earned a win and a no-decision against Oakland in the World Series.
Beginning in 1968, he and Tom Seaver anchored the Mets' rotation together until Seaver was traded to Cincinnati in June 1977. Koosman's best win total in New York was 21 in 1976. A year later, he lost 20 games despite a 3.49 ERA.
An Army teammate helped bring him to the Mets
Koosman was born Dec. 23, 1942, in Appleton, Minnesota. After being drafted into the Army in 1962, he played baseball at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas.
MLB's account, citing Irv Goldfarb's Society for American Baseball Research biography, described how catcher John Luchese helped the Mets discover him. Luchese, a Queens native, told his father, an usher at Shea Stadium, about the pitcher. The information reached Mets minor league official Joe McDonald.
New York signed Koosman for $1,600 in August 1964. He made his major league debut April 14, 1967, and appeared in nine games that season.
His breakthrough came in 1968, when he finished 19-12 with a 2.08 ERA, made the first of two consecutive National League All-Star teams and placed second to Johnny Bench in NL Rookie of the Year voting. From 1968-76, he averaged 31 starts and 14.3 wins per season. His combined record fell to 11-35 with a 3.62 ERA in his last two Mets seasons.
A trade linked the Mets' two championship closers
The Mets traded Koosman to Minnesota at the 1978 Winter Meetings for pitcher Greg Field and a player to be named later. Field never reached the majors. The Twins completed the deal in February 1979 by sending Jesse Orosco to New York.
Orosco later pitched the last two innings of Game 7 of the 1986 World Series against Boston. The trade therefore connected the pitchers who recorded the final outs of the Mets' two championships.
Koosman told MLB in 2021 that he and Orosco had gotten to know each other during later meetings and that he took pride in Orosco's career and their shared success as left-handers.
Koosman also pitched for the White Sox and Phillies, retiring with Philadelphia in 1985 at 42. He finished his 19-year career with a 222-209 record, a 3.36 ERA and 2,556 strikeouts.
Mets retired his No. 36 in 2021
Koosman remains the Mets' leader among left-handers in starts with 346, complete games with 108, wins with 140, decisions with 277, innings with 2,544 2/3 and strikeouts with 1,799. His 26 shutouts tie Jon Matlack for the franchise lead among left-handers.
Among left-handers who made at least five starts for New York, only Matlack's 3.03 ERA is lower than Koosman's 3.09.
“He was a warrior,” former teammate Ron Swoboda told MLB in 2021, recalling Koosman's competitive approach and willingness to pitch deep into games.
The Mets retired Koosman's No. 36 on Aug. 28, 2021. He became the third Mets player honored that way, following Seaver and Mike Piazza. The club had also retired the numbers of managers Casey Stengel and Gil Hodges, while Jackie Robinson's No. 42 was retired throughout baseball.
Keith Hernandez, Willie Mays, Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry and David Wright later joined that group.
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