--- description: Color photos of the 1969 Miracle Mets -- players and coaches like Seaver, Agee, Koosman, Grote, Clendennon, Hodges, Berra and more. title: New York Mets: Color Photos of the Legendary 1969 Championship Team image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf92d867fb0e91900/69884a6035ba6f426ac0ca9d/20_112260024.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Amazin': Remembering the Miracle Mets by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 4, 2014 3:06 AM CUT  Donn Clendenon, 1969. Donn Clendenon, 1969.Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 4, 2014 3:06 AM CUT The 1969 New York Mets were, in one respect, like a lot of other phenomena from that long-ago, undead decade: even people who weren’t yet born “remember” that championship team, in much the same way they “remember” [Woodstock](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodstock "undefined"), the moon landing, MLK’s assassination, Altamont, the release of [_The White Album_](http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-beatles-white-album-mw0000418113 "undefined") and other cultural and political touchstones of the era. The ’69 “Amazin’ Mets” of Seaver, Clendennon, Koosman, Kranepool, Jones, Agee, Grote and the rest are part of pop-culture lore as surely as _Electric Ladyland_ and the police riots at the Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968 — not because they were the most dominant team of the age, but precisely because they weren’t. They were the Bad News Bears of the majors . . . except that, in the Mets’ case, they actually won it all in the end. Here, at the beginning of another hopeful, already troubling season in Queens — with the Mets scraping by, playing .500 ball — LIFE.com remembers the marvelous 1969 team with a series of color photos made late in the summer of that celebrated, improbable season. [\[See a gallery of LIFE’s best baseball photos.\]](http://life.time.com/culture/baseball-classic-photos-of-the-national-pastime-from-life-magazine/#1 "undefined") So much about the game of pro baseball has changed in the four-plus decades since these pictures were made — from the fit of the uniforms to the players’ body types to the use of extraneous batting, running and fielding gear (hardly any back then, and so much these days) — that one might almost be forgiven for thinking the photos in this gallery document an entirely different sport than the one played today. But look a little closer, and the core elements of the pursuit remain unchanged: bat, ball, glove, grass, dirt, sweat and — perhaps above everything else — camaraderie. Those guys on the Miracle Mets genuinely seemed to be having fun while working their tails off, against all odds and expectations, in the pursuit of a World Series title. They seemed, in other words, to really _like_ one another. Simply amazing. _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk "undefined")_._  LIFE Magazine  Tom Seaver, 1969. Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Bud Harrelson, 1969. Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Ed Charles, 1969 Mets. Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Donn Clendenon, 1969. Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Ron Swoboda, 1969. Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Tom Seaver, 1969. Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  1969 New York Mets. Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Manager Gil Hodges, 1969 Mets. Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Donn Clendenon, 1969. Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  1969 New York Mets (Jerry Koosman, #36). Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Art Shamsky, 1969. Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Manager Gil Hodges (right), 1969 Mets. Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Ed Kranepool slides against the Pirates (Jose Martinez), 1969. Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Tom Seaver, 1969. Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Manager Gil Hodges (right), 1969 Mets. Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Ed Charles scores against the Pirates (Manny Sanguillen, catcher), 1969. Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Tom Seaver, 1969. Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Pittsburgh's Willie Stargell slides against the Mets, 1969. Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Mets vs. Pirates, 1969. Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Donn Clendenon, 1969. Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Ed Charles, 1969 Mets. Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  1969 New York Mets (Tommie Agee, Donn Clendennon, Bud Harrelson, Ron Swoboda). Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Tom Seaver, 1969. Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Mets catcher Jerry Grote, 1969. Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  J. C. Martin, 1969 Mets. Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Yogi Berra, Tom Seaver, Al Weiss, 1969. Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3879745/the-1969-new-york-mets-color-photos-of-a-legendary-team/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3879745/the-1969-new-york-mets-color-photos-of-a-legendary-team/"},"headline":"Amazin': Remembering the Miracle Mets","datePublished":"2014-05-04T03:06:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:43.241Z","description":"Color photos of the 1969 Miracle Mets -- a team with players and coaches with names like Seaver, Agee, Koosman, Grote, Clendennon (above), Swoboda, Hodges, Berra, Harrelson and more.","url":"https://time.com/3879745/the-1969-new-york-mets-color-photos-of-a-legendary-team/","keywords":["Sports topic","Baseball","photography","Ben Cosgrove","1969","color photography"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf92d867fb0e91900/69884a6035ba6f426ac0ca9d/20_112260024.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf92d867fb0e91900/69884a6035ba6f426ac0ca9d/20_112260024.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donn Clendenon, 1969","caption":"Donn Clendenon, 1969.","creditText":"Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3879745/the-1969-new-york-mets-color-photos-of-a-legendary-team/","name":"Amazin': Remembering the Miracle Mets"}}]}] ```