This is part of a series honoring the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Miracle Mets. Here’s a look at where they are now:
Gil Hodges
Manager
After managing two more seasons with the Mets after the magical 1969 run, Hodges died suddenly of a heart attack on Easter Sunday in 1972 at the age of 47. The Mets retired his No. 14 in 1973. Hodges still isn’t in the Baseball Hall of Fame, but he will be up for reconsideration in 2020 by the Golden Era Committee.
1. Jerry Grote
Catcher
Grote went on to play 11 more seasons in the majors, eight and a half of them with the Mets, before getting traded to the Dodgers in 1977. After a brief retirement, he came back for the 1981 season, then retired for good. Grote managed in the Tigers’ farm system, and post-baseball, he ran a cattle ranch in his home state of Texas, where he still lives.
2. Ed Kranepool
First baseman
The Bronx native played his final season in 1979, a career spent entirely with the Mets. After retiring, Kranepool worked as a stockbroker and co-owned a credit card processing company. He came back into the spotlight recently when he needed a kidney transplant and finally found a donor match in April before undergoing successful surgery in May.
3. Donn Clendenon
First baseman
Played two more seasons with the Mets and another with the Cardinals in 1972 before retiring. Clendenon went back to school, earning his law degree from Duquesne in 1978, and then practiced criminal law. He later battled drug addiction before becoming an addictions counselor to help others. He died from leukemia in 2005 at the age of 70.
4. Ken Boswell
Second baseman
Traded to the Astros following the 1974 season, Boswell played his final three years in his home state before retiring. He went on to work in antique auto sales. The 73-year-old lives in Horseshoe Bay, Texas.
5. Bud Harrelson
Shortstop
After serving as a manager in the Amazin’s farm system, he won another ring as the third-base coach on the 1986 Mets. Harrelson then took over for Davey Johnson as manager in 1990, holding the job until late in the 1991 season. He later helped bring the Long Island Ducks into existence, and in 2000, became their co-owner, senior vice president of baseball operations and first-base coach. Harrelson was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2016 and lives in Hauppauge.
6. Wayne Garrett
Third baseman
The former Rule 5 draft pick was traded to the Expos in 1976 and finished his MLB career with the Cardinals in 1978. He then went to Japan to play for two more seasons. Garrett later moved back to Sarasota, Fla., where he worked at an irrigation company, and is now retired there.
7. Cleon Jones
Outfielder
After catching the final out of the World Series, he played six more seasons with the Mets before finishing his career with the White Sox in 1976. He went on to coach baseball and softball at Bishop State Community College in Mobile, Ala. He still lives there, working as a community organizer and running his own foundation.
8. Tommie Agee
Outfielder
The Gold Glover patrolled center field for three more years with the Mets before getting traded to the Astros in 1972. It was the first of three trades in just over a year, which led to the end of his playing days. Agee came back to Queens to open the Outfielder’s Lounge, a bar near Shea Stadium on Astoria Boulevard. He died of a heart attack in 2001 at the age of 58.
9. Ron Swoboda
Outfielder
Best known for “The Catch” in Game 4 of the World Series, he was traded to the Expos in 1971 and later that season to the Yankees. Upon retirement, Swoboda worked as a sports anchor and reporter in New York, Milwaukee, Phoenix and New Orleans. He currently serves as the color commentator for the Triple-A New Orleans Baby Cakes.
10. Art Shamsky
Outfielder
After getting traded to the Cardinals in 1971, he was released and played his final season in 1972 split between the Cubs and Athletics. Shamsky has remained active in retirement, from calling Mets games on radio and TV to hosting his own WFAN show to writing books to working as a real estate consultant to coaching a team in the Israel Baseball League in 2017.
11. Rod Gaspar
Outfielder
Despite playing 118 games in 1969, he played only 60 more major league games the rest of his career across three seasons, the last two with the Padres. After retiring, Gaspar founded an insurance company and also won national handball titles. He lives in Mission Viejo, Calif.
12. Al Weis
Second baseman
The pride of Bethpage, who won the Babe Ruth Award as the postseason MVP, played two more seasons with the Mets before retiring in 1971. Weis retired to Elmhurst, Ill., where he still lives with his family.
13. Ed Charles
Third baseman
Game 5 of the World Series was the last one Charles played before retiring, walking off in style. He later came back to the organization to work as a scout and then as a coach for the rookie league team in Kingsport, Tenn. Charles also worked with troubled youth at group homes in the Bronx. He died in 2018 at the age of 84.
14. Duffy Dyer
Catcher
The backstop was traded to the Pirates after the 1974 season and played seven more years before retiring in 1981. He stayed around the game, mixing stints as a coach for the Cubs, Brewers and A’s with managing teams in the Twins’, Brewers’, Orioles’ and Tigers’ farm systems. He also served as the Padres’ minor league catching coordinator. Dyer currently manages the Kenosha Kingfish in the Northwoods League.
15. J.C. Martin
Catcher
Months after the World Series win, Martin was traded to the enemy Cubs and played his final three seasons with Chicago. He even doubled up as their interim pitching coach for a time before the 1971 season began. After retiring, he worked a year broadcasting White Sox games alongside Harry Caray. He is now retired in Matthews, NC.
16. Tom Seaver
Pitcher
Tom Terrific went on to pitch until 1986, but was traded away from the Mets in an ill-fated deal with the Reds at the 1977 trade deadline, also known as the Midnight Massacre. While he came back to the Mets for a season in 1983, he finished his career in Boston before getting inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1992. In retirement, Seaver worked as a Mets and Yankees broadcaster and started his own vineyard in California. In March, his family announced he was retiring from public life as he battles dementia.
17. Nolan Ryan
Pitcher
Infamously traded to the Angels in 1971 in one of the most lopsided deals ever (for infielder Jim Fregosi), Ryan went on to become one of the game’s all-time great pitchers and owner of the career strikeouts record (5,714) during a 27-year career. Enshrined in Cooperstown in 1999, Ryan later worked as the Rangers’ president and CEO before moving to his current post as the executive adviser to the owner of the Astros.
18. Jerry Koosman
Pitcher
After his All-Star season in 1969, the lefty pitched 16 more seasons, more than half with the Mets, before getting traded to the Twins in 1978. He later served as a minor league pitching instructor for the Mets from 1991-92 and eventually retired in Osceola, Wis.
19. Gary Gentry
Pitcher
The starter pitched three more seasons in Flushing before getting traded to the Braves for the final three years of his career. Gentry re-signed with the Mets in 1975, but an elbow injury in the minors derailed his comeback. He later got involved in the real estate business and is now retired in Scottsdale, Ariz.
20. Ron Taylor
Pitcher
After retiring in 1972, Taylor attended medical school at the University of Toronto and became the Blue Jays’ team physician in 1979. Taylor also worked at his family practice and a sports medicine clinic in Toronto. He has four World Series rings — for pitching with the Cardinals (1964) and Mets and for keeping the Blue Jays healthy in 1992 and 1993. Retired in Toronto.
21. Don Cardwell
Pitcher
Cardwell finished his career with the Braves in 1970. He went on to work for Ford and served as an executive at car dealerships in his home state of North Carolina. Died in 2008 at the age of 72 from Pick’s disease, a form of dementia.
22. Tug McGraw
Pitcher
The Mets traded McGraw to the Phillies after the 1974 season and the reliever won another World Series with them, securing the final out in 1980. The creator of “Ya Gotta Believe!” retired in 1985 and later worked as a TV reporter in Philadelphia. McGraw died of brain cancer in 2004 at the age of 59.
23. Cal Koonce
Pitcher
Purchased by the Red Sox during the 1970 season, he played his final two years in Boston before retiring. The reliever went on to be the head baseball coach at Campbell University and later worked as GM of a Tigers minor league team and a scout for the Rangers. Koonce died from lymphoma in 1993 at the age of 52.
24. Jack DiLauro
Pitcher
The Mets lost him to the Astros in the 1969 Rule 5 draft and the reliever pitched the following season in Houston, his last in the major leagues. He later returned home to Ohio and served as president of the Greater Akron AA League. After baseball, he worked for a sporting goods company and still lives in Malvern, Ohio.
25. Jim McAndrew
Pitcher
Traded to the Padres after the 1973 season, he finished his career with one last season in San Diego before retiring. McAndrew went on to work in the coal industry and is currently retired in Fountain Hills, Ariz.
Note: Thanks to Jay Horwitz and the Society for American Baseball Research.