Miracle Year, 1969: Amazing Mets and Super Jets

Sports fans in the city of New York will never forget 1969. Act One took place on January 12, when the New York Jets, led by a flamboyant, image-breaking quarterback named Joe Namath, turned the football world on its ear by defeating the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in just the third Super Bowl ever played. Not only had an upstart American Football League team pulled off one of the greatest upsets in sports history, but the victory gave New York sports fans the biggest jolt of excitement they had seen in years. The strong-armed Namath had even been so bold as to "guarantee" a victory over a team considered the very best the established National Football League had to offer.

The JetsÂ’ victory would have been more than enough to satiate the appetite of rabid sports fans, but in 1969 New York there was still time for an encore. In late summer, the New York Mets, perennial cellar dwellers since entering the National League via expansion in 1962, stormed into first place, catching the fancy of the baseball world. Led by a pair of hard-throwing young pitchers, Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman, and a manager who was already a New York legend, Gil Hodges, the Mets completed their improbable run by winning the first-ever National League divisional playoff series against the Atlanta Braves before blasting the Baltimore Orioles out of the World Series in five games. Miracle Year, 1969: Amazing Mets and Super Jets is the story of two teams that defied almost insurmountable odds to win it all for a city that has always loved champions, underdogs, and its heroes.