Apr. 19, 1963 - The Mets won their first victory of the season today, and they came from behind to do it. You would have thought they just won the World Series by the way they reacted to Ron Hunt’s game-winning double in the last of the ninth inning. The rookie cracked the hit that drove in a pair of runs to beat the Milwaukee Braves, 5-4, at the Polo Grounds. After gaining a surprising 3-run lead, the Mets had dribbled it away and then fell behind, 4-3, as Milwaukee scored a run in the ninth without getting a ball out of the infield. But Clarence (Choo Choo) Coleman snapped the fans out of their gloomy state by opening the last of the ninth with his third single of the day. Tim Harkness lined out to center, but Jim Hickman followed this with a double to left off the Braves’ third pitcher, Frank Funk, who then hit the showers. In came Claude Raymond to face Hunt. On a 1-1 count, Hunt slammed a high fastball to left for a double that scored the tying and winning runs. As Hickman rounded third, Cookie Lavagetto, third-base coach, went frantic waving home the Mets’ first winning run of the year. What followed was the usual World Series type of back-slapping as the team mobbed the 22-year-old infielder. The fans went along with it. It seemed that all 13,546 persons on hand were screaming and jumping with joy. Thus, in a blaze of glory rarely experienced by a last-place team, Casey Stengel’s Mets saved themselves from suffering their ninth straight defeat to open the season. Last year, the new National League team had dropped its first nine games and put its name in the record book along with Boston and Brooklyn as the National League teams suffering the most losses in a row at the opening of a campaign. This year’s Mets almost equaled that dubious record, but Hunt saved the day. “What a hard way to win,” sighed Casey Stengel when it was all over.
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