Sad News:Jim McAndrew, who pitched for the 1969 and 1973 New York Mets, dies at 80

 

Jim McAndrew, who pitched for the 1969 and 1973 New York Mets, dies at 80

Associated Press

Updated March 16, 2024

4 min read

 

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FILE – Jim McAndrew poses in New York Saturday, June 29, 2019. McAndrew died Thursday, March 14, 2024, at HonorHealth Scottsdale Shea Medical Center in Arizona after a brief illness, Mets spokesman Jay Horwitz said Friday. He was 80. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)

FILE – New York Mets pitcher Jim McAndrew is shown in St. Petersburg, Fla., March 1970. McAndrew died Thursday, March 14, 2024, at HonorHealth Scottsdale Shea Medical Center in Arizona after a brief illness, Mets spokesman Jay Horwitz said Friday. He was 80. (AP Photo/Harry Harris, File)

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Obit McAndrew Baseball

FILE – Jim McAndrew poses in New York Saturday, June 29, 2019. McAndrew died Thursday, March 14, 2024, at HonorHealth Scottsdale Shea Medical Center in Arizona after a brief illness, Mets spokesman Jay Horwitz said Friday. He was 80. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)ASSOCIATED PRESSMore

NEW YORK (AP) — Jim McAndrew, who lost his major league debut to Bob Gibson in a 1968 spot start for the New York Mets when Nolan Ryan was called away to military duty, then beat Steve Carlton a month later for his first win, has died. He was 80.

 

McAndrew died Thursday at HonorHealth Scottsdale Shea Medical Center in Arizona after a brief illness, Mets spokesman Jay Horwitz said Friday.

 

A right-hander at the back end of the Mets rotation from 1968-73, McAndrew started one of the most significant games in franchise history: a win over Montreal in September 1969 that put the long downtrodden team into first place for the first time in New York’s eight seasons.

 

 

 

Pitching for the Mets during a seven-year major league career, McAndrew didn’t appear in the postseason for the 1969 World Series champions or 1973 NL pennant winners.

 

He was 36-49 with four saves and a 3.65 ERA for the Mets in 105 starts and 41 relief appearances, then was traded to San Diego and went 1-4 with a 5.62 ERA in two starts and 13 relief appearances. That left his final big league record 37-53 with a 3.65 ERA.

 

McAndrew made his major league debut in a doubleheader opener at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on July 21, 1968, when Ryan — a future Hall of Famer — was fulfilling his duty as a member of the Army reserve. McAndrew’s first batter was future Hall of Famer Lou Brock, who singled, and McAndrew pitched around Roger Maris’ leadoff double in the fourth.