CARDWELL WAS SIMPLY AMAZIN'

Phil Mushnick
New York Post



January 18, 2008 -- Don Cardwell died Monday. He was 72. Geez, Don Cardwell...
My college roommate, freshman year, lived 90 minutes up the road, outside of Pittsburgh.

He'd warned me that Bob Prince could grow cranky when the Bucs showed their futile side. And this night, the one-of-a-kind Pirates' KDKA radio broadcaster grew cranky early. And stayed cranky.

It was Friday, Sept. 12, 1969, and The Miracle Mets, in first place by two games over the Cubs and eight over the Pirates, were in Forbes Field, which was in its 60th and final full season, to play a twi-night doubleheader.

This was it for the Bucs. A sweep wasn't mandatory, but close. In the first game, Jerry Koosman shut them out, 1-0, on three hits. Roberto Clemente had two, Matty Alou the other. But it was worse for the Bucs and Prince than just that. Koosman, who batted .048 that year - a total of four hits - got one of them in the fifth off Bob Moose, driving in Bobby Pfeil, for the only run. Amazing. And there was more where that came from. In the second game, Cardwell allowed four hits, two by Willie Stargell, over eight innings.



(From left to right) Bill Mazeroski, announcer Bob Prince, Gene Alley, Roberto Clemente, and National League president Warren Giles pose for a photo as Maz, Alley, and Clemente receive Gold Glove awards.

Tug McGraw pitched the ninth and the Mets again won 1-0. The only run, off starter Dock Ellis, was scored in the second inning. Bud Harrelson scored on a hit by - would ya believe? - Cardwell. Cardwell's lifetime batting average was .135. Amazing, squared. Oh, yeah, Bob Prince was in no mood for his customary fooling around and home-spun expressions, that night.

The Pirates had hit too many "Home runs in an elevator shaft" - pop ups. The Pirates totaled seven hits over 17 innings against the Mets' starters, lost both games, 1-0, and the only run in each game was driven in on hits by the pitchers, both of whom batted ninth only because they couldn't bat tenth. Pirate pitching threw 21 strikeouts and allowed two runs in 18 innings.

The Bucs should have finished the night six back. Instead, they were 10 back, and through. While tales of the Amazin' Mets of 1969 have hardly been forgotten, that night widely has been. But it was the most amazing night of their season. The Mets' radio flagship in 1969 was Hackensack-based WJRZ-970 AM, couldn't pick it up where I was.

But sitting in that cinderblock dorm room in deep southwestern, Pa., listening to the growling of Bob Prince as he tried to come to grips with what Koosman and then Cardwell were doing to his Bucs, well, I could almost hear Bob Murphy or Lindsey Nelson sounding nothing like him.

phil.mushnick@nypost.com