Picture this: You’re a rookie starting pitcher from a hamlet in Iowa, making your big-league debut on the road against the reigning World Series champions. The opposing starter is a future Hall of Famer who rarely has allowed a run during a winning streak on his way to a Cy Young Award.
That’s the challenge Mets right-hander Jim McAndrew faced when he got the start in his first major-league game against Bob Gibson and the 1968 Cardinals.
The degree of difficulty McAndrew faced hardly lessened. In his first four starts, McAndrew allowed six runs total, but the Mets scored none _ and he lost all four.
McAndrew finally got his first win by pitching a shutout, beating the Cardinals and their other future Hall of Famer, Steve Carlton.
A hard-luck hurler, McAndrew nearly quit when he was in the minors but Whitey Herzog convinced him to stay. McAndrew had one winning season in seven years in the majors, but played for two National League pennant winners and a World Series champion.
Help from Herzog
McAndrew grew up on his parents’ 750-acre farm in Lost Nation, Iowa, and developed into a top prep ballplayer. Cardinals scout Ken Blackman showed interest but advised McAndrew he’d be better off playing college baseball, according to the Society for American Baseball Research.
A psychology major, McAndrew pitched for the University of Iowa. On the recommendation of their St. Louis-based scout, Charlie Frey, the Mets took him in the 11th round of the 1965 amateur draft. (Their 12th-round pick was another right-hander, Nolan Ryan.)
After producing 10 wins and 1.47 ERA for a Class AA club managed by St. Louisan Roy Sievers in 1967, McAndrew was dejected when the Mets didn’t put him on their 40-man big-league winter roster. He thought about quitting and going to graduate school. “I had confidence in myself but nobody else seemed to,” McAndrew recalled to Newsday.
When Mets director of player development Whitey Herzog learned McAndrew was thinking of leaving, he talked him out of it. McAndrew was assigned to Class AAA Jacksonville in 1968, but manager Clyde McCullough moved him to the bullpen. “Whitey told McCullough to put McAndrew back into the starting rotation,” Newsday reported.
In July 1968, when Nolan Ryan reported for military duty, the Mets called up McAndrew to replace him.
The heat is on
On a sweltering Sunday, July 21, 1968, McAndrew made his debut against Bob Gibson and the Cardinals at Busch Memorial Stadium. “Some people thought it was throwing a lamb to a lion.” Newsday noted.
Instead, “for five innings he matched zeroes with Gibson, who is in the midst of one of the hottest streaks in all baseball history,” the New York Times reported.
Then, in the Cardinals’ half of the sixth, Bobby Tolan drove a pitch to right-center. Outfielders Cleon Jones and Larry Stahl pursued it, thinking a catch could be made, but the ball hit against the wall. Neither Jones nor Stahl was in position to get the carom and the ball got between them and rolled away. Tolan circled the bases with an inside-the-park home run, giving the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.
After the inning, McAndrew left the game because the searing 94-degree heat got to him more than the Cardinals batters did. “He needed oxygen between innings,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
The Cardinals added a run in the eighth and won, 2-0. Gibson completed his seventh shutout of the season, stretching his win streak to 10 and improving his career mark against the Mets to 20-3. He threw 144 pitches and struck out 13.
McAndrew told the New York Daily News he felt good about how he pitched, “but I didn’t win, and that’s what I’m supposed to do.” Boxscore
Runs are scarce
In his next three starts, McAndrew and the Mets lost 2-0 to the Dodgers, 1-0 to the Giants and 1-0 to the Astros, giving him an 0-4 record. The Mets finally scored in his fifth start, but McAndrew got shelled and lost to the Giants, a 13-3 final.
McAndrew brought an 0-5 record and 3.38 ERA into his next start, a return to St. Louis against Steve Carlton on Aug. 26.
The game was scoreless in the seventh when Tim McCarver lined a pitch deep to left. “McCarver would have had a three-base hit, two bases, at least,” Mets manager Gil Hodges said to the Post-Dispatch, but Cleon Jones made a diving catch. “Maybe the best play we’ve had in the outfield all year,” Hodges said.
The importance of the play was underlined when the next batter, Mike Shannon, singled. Instead of driving in a run, it was a harmless hit because McAndrew worked out of the inning unscathed. “I don’t win it if Cleon doesn’t get that one,” McAndrew told the New York Daily News.
The Mets manufactured the run McAndrew needed against Carlton in the eighth. Tommie Agee singled, moved to second on a Phil Linz sacrifice bunt, stole third and scored on a Cleon Jones sacrifice fly.
Given the 1-0 lead, McAndrew did the rest, retiring the Cardinals in order in the eighth and ninth to secure the shutout and his first win.
Recalling how Whitey Herzog stuck with him earlier in the year, McAndrew said to Newsday, “I attribute my being here tonight to him.” Boxscore
Five nights later, in a rematch at New York, Carlton and Joe Hoerner combined on a shutout and beat McAndrew and the Mets, 2-0. Boxscore
In three starts against the 1968 Cardinals, McAndrew allowed three runs in 23 innings and was 1-2.
Fit for a king
After the 1968 season, the Mets offered the Reds Dick Selma, Larry Stahl and their choice of either McAndrew, Gary Gentry or Steve Renko for Vada Pinson and Hal McRae, according to columnist Dick Young, but Pinson went to the Cardinals for Bobby Tolan and Wayne Granger.
The Mets also offered McAndrew to the Expos for Donn Clendenon but were turned down, The Sporting News reported. (Later, in June 1969, the Mets acquired Clendenon for a package of players and he was a key run producer for them.)
McAndrew stayed with the Mets in 1969 and contributed to their championship season. On a staff with Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan and Jerry Koosman, McAndrew pitched in 27 games, including 21 starts, and was 6-7. One of those wins was a three-hitter against the Cardinals on June 30. Boxscore
The Mets won four of five against the Orioles in the 1969 World Series, but McAndrew didn’t pitch in any of the games.
“He was the team intellectual, the quiet one of the clubhouse, the loner,” Joseph Durso wrote in the New York Times. “On the field, he was even more isolated than that _ the sixth man in a five-man rotation, the hard-luck pitcher nobody scored any runs for, the trade bait whenever deals were discussed.”
To the people of his hometown, though, McAndrew was someone special. On Nov. 1, 1969, residents of Lost Nation held a parade and dinner in McAndrew’s honor. “McAndrew received a number of gifts, including a plaque from Lost Nation mayor Shorty Ales noting Jim’s inspiration for the youth of the community, and a specially designed gold ring,” the Quad-City Times reported.
“Everyone has treated me just like a king,” McAndrew said to the newspaper.
Ups and downs
In 1971, McAndrew twice was injured in on-field accidents. At spring training, he was running in the outfield when a line drive off the bat of teammate Art Shamsky struck him in the jaw. “I lost four teeth,” McAndrew told the Post-Dispatch.
In July that year, during batting practice at Houston, McAndrew was fielding balls hit to the outfield and pitcher Gary Gentry was shagging tosses from coach Rube Walker. While chasing a liner, McAndrew collided with Gentry. McAndrew needed 20 stitches and plastic surgery for a wound over his right ear. Gentry took 15 stitches for facial cuts.
McAndrew had his best season in 1972, finishing 11-8 with a 2.80 ERA. Two of the wins were against the Cardinals, including his first complete game in two years. Boxscore
“He’s sneaky fast,” Mets catcher Duffy Dyer told Newsday. “He’s not a strikeout pitcher and there’s a lot of first-ball swinging.”
The Mets were National League champions in 1973, but McAndrew wasn’t much of a factor. He was 3-8 and had no wins after May 13. The Mets didn’t use him in any of the seven World Series games against the champion Athletics.
Afterward, the Cardinals offered to trade Joe Torre to the Mets for Jerry Koosman. The Mets countered with a package that included McAndrew, but the Cardinals said no. The Mets then sent McAndrew to the Padres. He pitched his final season in the majors with them in 1974.
McAndrew had a career mark of 37-53, including 6-6 versus the Cardinals.
In 1989, his son, pitcher Jamie McAndrew, was taken by the Dodgers in the first round of the 1989 amateur draft. He got to the big leagues with the Brewers in 1995. The catcher in his debut game was Mike Matheny. Boxscore
RetroSimba 
I’m glad they lowered the mound…the low scoring games in that era sound kind of tedious. Besides, chicks dig the long ball. (yes, I’m being facetious)
Another fun write-up with my morning coffee. I swear that you are single-handedly keeping my interest in baseball alive, Mark.
I’d hate to ruin that first cup of morning coffee, Gary, so I’m glad you liked the piece.
In the you-can’t-figure-out baseball department, Jim McAndrew had much success versus Hall of Famers such as Frank Robinson (0-for-7 against), Bill Mazeroski (0-for-11 against), Willie McCovey (2-for-17 against) and Tony Perez (4-for-23 against), but Willie Crawford (.889 on-base percentage, six hits and two walks in nine plate appearances) and Ralph Garr (.647 on-base percentage, 10 hits and a walk in 17 plate appearances) drove him crazy.
I’ve always felt how teams warm up/practice before games are dangerous. This piece justifies that concern. Considering how much baseball players are worth these days…I continue to wonder why I still see players going in different directions sometimes. Nice to see Jim’s story here. (He was “a baseball card” to me back in the day…🙂…an interesting career!)
Good point about those batting practice and warmup injuries, Bruce. Cardinals fans still are in disbelief about the leg injury Vince Coleman suffered before Game 4 of the 1985 National League Championship Series when the automatic tarpaulin at Busch Memorial Stadium was rolled out during a batting practice rainfall and ran over Coleman.
Though these weren’t batting practice-related, the Phillies have had some weird injuries in recent years. In 2022, Phillies reliever David Robertson strained his calf while jumping for joy when teammate Bryce Harper hit a home run in a National League wild-card game. In 2020, Phillies pitcher Zach Wheeler caught the nail on the middle finger of his pitching hand while putting on his pants. Wheeler’s finger was sore after the incident, forcing the Phillies to bump his start at Miami. “Can’t make this up,” Phillies manager Joe Girardi said to MLB.com.
Back to Jim McAndrew, he was 6-6 versus the Phillies. So 12 of his 37 career wins came against the Cardinals and Phillies.
It must have been difficult at times always being in the shadows of the likes of Seaver, Ryan, Koosman and McGraw. It’s also unfortunate that he dealt with a lot of nagging injuries and some tough luck. Still though, he was a part of what was an excellent Mets pitching staff. And it doesn’t surprise me that Whitey Herzog really believed in him and encouraged him to not give up.Even though he never saw any postseason action he at least has the honor of being the Mets starting pitcher on the day the took over 1st place for good during their magical season of 1969.
Those injuries you mentioned were indeed quite prevalent, Phillip. In addition to the ones noted in the story, Jim McAndrew was struck in the pitching hand by a ball off the bat of the Cardinals’ Tim McCarver in April 1969. Several blood vessels were broken in the hand. In a September 1972 game versus the Astros, a Johnny Edwards liner struck McAndrew and cracked a rib.
I didn’t know Ryan was taken so late in the draft….a 12th rounder. Nowadays, there are only 20 rounds. I preferred when it was 40 rounds providing excitement for more players, short lived excitement as most players don’t make it, but still, it must be a thrill to be drafted.
What a wild name for a city – Lost Nation!
I appreciate that McAndrew remembered what Herzog did for him, encouraging him to stay at it, to not quit.
I’m reminded of Jim Brosnan in the way McAndrew was described as an intellectual. I think I’ll give one of the Brosnan books another read. You had mentioned a while back Mark about how satisfying rereading a book is, discovering new things. I agree.
And yet another obscure Brewers player I had never heard of – McAndrew’s son Jamie. Excellent!
Mets scout Red Murff, who pitched for the 1956-57 Milwaukee Braves, was sending glowing scouting reports on Nolan Ryan, but when Mets executive Bing Devine came to Texas at Murff’s urging to see Ryan pitch, the teen had a rare poor outing. In his book “The Memoirs of Bing Devine,” Devine recalled, “Let’s say he didn’t make much of an impression … Murff was almost in tears.” Later, when the 12th round of the draft came and Ryan remained available, the Mets relented and took him at Murff’s insistence.
The town of Lost Nation, Iowa, was founded in 1872. According to the Des Moines Register, “Several stories are cited as the creation myths behind this town’s name. One refers to a tribe of Native Americans that starved and froze in the area long before settlers arrived. Another cites a man named Balm looking for relatives in the area, saying he was looking for a ‘lost nation.’ Another source tells of the area’s first French settlement, called ‘New Nation,’ that was wiped out by disease.”
Jamie McAndrew sat out the 1994 baseball season after having rotator cuff surgery. With the big-league players on strike, McAndrew signed with the Brewers as a replacement player for spring training 1995. He later told the Associated Press that in crossing the picket line and becoming a replacement player, “I made a bad error in judgment … It wasn’t a smart thing at all. It’s not something I’d do again.”
When the strike ended and the 1995 regular season began, the Brewers sent Jamie McAndrew to the minors. He got called up in the summer of 1995. On Aug. 17, he got his first big-league win, a 7-3 Brewers victory against the Indians at Cleveland. McAndrew, who was matched against Cleveland starter Dennis Martinez, pitched eight innings. Of the 24 outs he got, 17 came on grounders. The Indians, who won the American League pennant that year, had a lineup against him that included Jim Thome, Eddie Murray, Albert Belle, Manny Ramirez, Carlos Baerga and Kenny Lofton: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1995/B08170CLE1995.htm
I hope you’ll re-read Jim Brosnan. His writing is witty, clever and self-deprecating without resorting to obscenity and scatology.
How exciting to learn that Lost Nation, the name, has such mysterious origins, so many theories.
Adding to the mystery, Steve, is how a town the size of Lost Nation (its peak population was 567 in 1960) could produce two major-league players.
In addition to Jim McAndrew, outfielder George Stone was born in Lost Nation in 1876. Stone played seven seasons in the big leagues with the Boston Red Sox (1903) and St. Louis Browns (1905-10).
With the 1906 Browns, Stone was the American League batting champion (.358), finishing ahead of Cleveland’s Nap Lajoie (.355). Stone had 208 hits that season. He also was the 1906 American League leader in on-base percentage (.417), slugging (.501) and total bases (291).
In 1904, Stone had an outstanding season for the minor-league Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association. Stone batted .406 for the 1904 Brewers, with 254 hits in 626 at-bats.
That is wild! Two guys from such a tiny town making it to the majors. I wonder if they named a street after one of them or built a statue? And a Milwaukee Brewers American Association connection! Thanks for adding to what was already a great article.
Up until ‘69, all Mets pitchers were ‘hard-luck hurlers.’
That’s a good line, Ken, because it’s both funny and basically true.
Before 1969, the only Mets pitchers to attain double-digit wins and a winning record in a season were Dennis Ribant (11-9 in 1966), Bob Shaw (11-10 in 1966), Tom Seaver (16-13 in 1967 and 16-12 in 1968) and Jerry Koosman (19-12 in 1968).