The 1962 Mets No Longer Hold Season Loss Record

The 1962 New York Mets held the record for most losses in a single season (120) until the 2024 Chicago White Sox came along to relieve the Mets of 62 years ago of that ignominious title. The 2024 South Siders have now etched their name in the record books for the most futile season in history with 121 losses in a single season.

The White Sox locked down the record with a 4-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Friday night. Chicago was able to sweep the Los Angeles Angels earlier this week — their first of the season—to delay the inevitable, but ultimately fell to a hot Tigers team that clinched a postseason spot with their victory.

They now have two games left in the season to further cement the record.

If you have followed the New York Mets for any period of time, you know some of the names from the original 1962 team. The manager was Casey Stengel. “Marvelous” Mark Throneberry was the first baseman. Frank Thomas was the team’s best power hitter with 34 home runs. Richie Ashburn led the team in batting average with a .306 mark. Choo-Choo Coleman (such a great name) was one of the catchers. On the mound, Roger Craig (future manager of the San Francisco Giants) led the team with 10 wins. Al Jackson netted 20 losses, and Yale graduate Ken MacKenzie once heard from Stengel, “treat them like they was the Harvards.”

The 2024 White Sox have some interesting players, such as Andrew Benintendi (19 home runs), Luis Robert Jr. (14 home runs) and All-Star pitcher Garrett Crochet. Former Cleveland legend Grady Sizemore (8-31) took over the managerial duties in August from Pedro Grifol (28-89).

The White Sox started the year off 0-4 before winning their first game against the Atlanta Braves on April 2. The 1962 Mets began their campaign 0-9 before beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-1 on April 23. They never had a winning streak of longer than three games. The White Sox’s longest winning streak this season has been four games. They have drawn just over 1.3 million fans to Guaranteed Rate Field, second-to-last in the American League. The 1962 Mets attracted 922,530 fans to the Polo Grounds, ranking No. 8 out of 10 National League teams.

The stories from 1962 are many and varied. One involves Throneberry hitting a triple and being called out for missing first base. Stengel came out to argue, and supposedly the umpire told Casey to calm down, because Throneberry had missed second base as well. Stengel allegedly said that he knew Throneberry did not miss third base, because he was standing on it.

Other notable tidbits from 1962 include Ed Kranepool making his debut at 17-years-old. Future manager Don Zimmer was on the team also, as was catcher Joe Pignatano, future Mets’ pitching coach and gardening guru (he grew tomatoes in the bullpen).

To the White Sox, many Mets’ fans say “thank you” for getting the Orange and Blue out of the record books for the worst season in history. It took 62 years for the record to be broken, let’s see how long the Pale Hose can keep it now.

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