Amazin’ Mets (Amazins)
The Amazin' New York Mets, or simply the "Amazins," has been a popular nickname through the baseball team's existence.
The nickname was created before they played a single official game. During that first expansion year (1962), the Mets were amazingly bad.
There is little doubt that this was said by Mets manager Casey Stengel. The Daily News (New York, NY) published on January 20, 1962:
"An old friend and new-maker hit town shortly after noon yesterday and Casey Stengel immediately starting things jumping with the team he calls 'My Amazin' Mets.'"
Wikipedia: Casey Stengel
Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel (/ˈstɛŋɡəl/; July 30, 1890 – September 29, 1975), nicknamed "The Old Perfessor", was an American Major League Baseball outfielder and manager. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966.
Stengel was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and originally nicknamed "Dutch", a common nickname at that time for Americans of German ancestry. After his major league career began, he acquired the nickname "Casey", which originally came from the initials of his hometown ("K. C."), which evolved into "Casey", influenced by the wide popularity of the poem Casey at the Bat. In the 1950s, sportswriters dubbed him with yet another nickname, "The Old Professor" (or "Perfessor"), for his sharp wit and his ability to talk at length on anything baseball-related.
20 January 1962, Daily News (New York, NY), "Casey Hits Town, Names Rajah Coach; "No Platoon'" by Joe Trimble, pg. 22, col. 1:
An old friend and new-maker hit town shortly after noon yesterday and Casey Stengel immediately starting things jumping with the team he calls "My Amazin' Mets."
29 March 1962, Daily News (New York, NY), pg. 78, col. 1:
Kanehl's Double Keys Mets
To 4-3 Win in 9th Over LA
By Dick Young
St. Petersburg, Fla., March 28 -- They're a strange conglomeration, these amazin' Mets.
(...)
(Col. 2 -- ed.)
THE 3,192 MEMBERS of the Stengel fan club went wild. They are enjoying these late-inning heroics of the Amazin' Mets, almost expecting them.
(Above the col. 2 box score is "Slightly Amazin'"- - ed.)
13 April 1962, Fort Meyers (FL) News-Press, pg. 1-B, col. 5:
Amazing Mets Greeted With
Ticker Tape Parade by Fans
New York, April 12 (AP) -- New Yorkers gave the ticker-tape treatment to some losers today, hailing Casey Stengel and his "amazing" Mets in a parade through lower Manhattan's skyscrapered canyons.
31 May 1962, Oakland (CA) Tribune, "Can Casey Cure Liz?" by Jim Murray, pg. 40, col. 1:
"Team Will Shock and Amaze You'
"This is a team which will shock you and amaze you but not all the time and I am not running for office but I'm making a study of the players for two years to see if we can give you some competition, y'unnerstand."
(Spoken by New York Mets manager Casey Stengel. -- ed.)
OCLC WorldCat record
Amazin'Mets '69
Publisher: Columbia Pictures Home Movies, ©1969.
Edition/Format: Film : Film Visual material : English
Database: WorldCat
Summary:
Mets were World Champions in 1969.
OCLC WorldCat record
The amazing Mets.
Author: Jerry Mitchell
Publisher: New York, Grosset & Dunlap [1970]
Edition/Format: Print book : English
OCLC WorldCat record
Amazing : the miracle of the Mets
Author: Joseph Durso
Publisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1970.
Edition/Format: Print book : English
OCLC WorldCat record
Amazin'! : a celebration of the 1985 New York Mets
Author: Fred McMane; United Press International.
Publisher: Chicago : Contemporary Books, ©1985.
Edition/Format: Print book : Biography : English
OCLC WorldCat record
The Amazins : celebrating 50 years of New York Mets history.
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Triumph Books, [2011] ©2011
Edition/Format: eBook : Document : English
Database: WorldCat
Summary:
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of this beloved franchise, Triumph Books and the New York Post are jointly publishing The Amazins, a history of the Mets that includes all the highlights, the lowlights, the Hall of Famers, the underachievers, the great games and the memorable moments, virtually everything, in fact, from the rich history that makes their fans as passionate about their team as any in baseball.
The nickname was created before they played a single official game. During that first expansion year (1962), the Mets were amazingly bad.
There is little doubt that this was said by Mets manager Casey Stengel. The Daily News (New York, NY) published on January 20, 1962:
"An old friend and new-maker hit town shortly after noon yesterday and Casey Stengel immediately starting things jumping with the team he calls 'My Amazin' Mets.'"
Wikipedia: Casey Stengel
Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel (/ˈstɛŋɡəl/; July 30, 1890 – September 29, 1975), nicknamed "The Old Perfessor", was an American Major League Baseball outfielder and manager. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966.
Stengel was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and originally nicknamed "Dutch", a common nickname at that time for Americans of German ancestry. After his major league career began, he acquired the nickname "Casey", which originally came from the initials of his hometown ("K. C."), which evolved into "Casey", influenced by the wide popularity of the poem Casey at the Bat. In the 1950s, sportswriters dubbed him with yet another nickname, "The Old Professor" (or "Perfessor"), for his sharp wit and his ability to talk at length on anything baseball-related.
20 January 1962, Daily News (New York, NY), "Casey Hits Town, Names Rajah Coach; "No Platoon'" by Joe Trimble, pg. 22, col. 1:
An old friend and new-maker hit town shortly after noon yesterday and Casey Stengel immediately starting things jumping with the team he calls "My Amazin' Mets."
29 March 1962, Daily News (New York, NY), pg. 78, col. 1:
Kanehl's Double Keys Mets
To 4-3 Win in 9th Over LA
By Dick Young
St. Petersburg, Fla., March 28 -- They're a strange conglomeration, these amazin' Mets.
(...)
(Col. 2 -- ed.)
THE 3,192 MEMBERS of the Stengel fan club went wild. They are enjoying these late-inning heroics of the Amazin' Mets, almost expecting them.
(Above the col. 2 box score is "Slightly Amazin'"- - ed.)
13 April 1962, Fort Meyers (FL) News-Press, pg. 1-B, col. 5:
Amazing Mets Greeted With
Ticker Tape Parade by Fans
New York, April 12 (AP) -- New Yorkers gave the ticker-tape treatment to some losers today, hailing Casey Stengel and his "amazing" Mets in a parade through lower Manhattan's skyscrapered canyons.
31 May 1962, Oakland (CA) Tribune, "Can Casey Cure Liz?" by Jim Murray, pg. 40, col. 1:
"Team Will Shock and Amaze You'
"This is a team which will shock you and amaze you but not all the time and I am not running for office but I'm making a study of the players for two years to see if we can give you some competition, y'unnerstand."
(Spoken by New York Mets manager Casey Stengel. -- ed.)
OCLC WorldCat record
Amazin'Mets '69
Publisher: Columbia Pictures Home Movies, ©1969.
Edition/Format: Film : Film Visual material : English
Database: WorldCat
Summary:
Mets were World Champions in 1969.
OCLC WorldCat record
The amazing Mets.
Author: Jerry Mitchell
Publisher: New York, Grosset & Dunlap [1970]
Edition/Format: Print book : English
OCLC WorldCat record
Amazing : the miracle of the Mets
Author: Joseph Durso
Publisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1970.
Edition/Format: Print book : English
OCLC WorldCat record
Amazin'! : a celebration of the 1985 New York Mets
Author: Fred McMane; United Press International.
Publisher: Chicago : Contemporary Books, ©1985.
Edition/Format: Print book : Biography : English
OCLC WorldCat record
The Amazins : celebrating 50 years of New York Mets history.
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Triumph Books, [2011] ©2011
Edition/Format: eBook : Document : English
Database: WorldCat
Summary:
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of this beloved franchise, Triumph Books and the New York Post are jointly publishing The Amazins, a history of the Mets that includes all the highlights, the lowlights, the Hall of Famers, the underachievers, the great games and the memorable moments, virtually everything, in fact, from the rich history that makes their fans as passionate about their team as any in baseball.