Jerry Koosman, Left-Hander Who Recorded the Final Out of the 1969 Miracle Mets' World Series Win, Dies at 83

Jerry Koosman, the All-Star left-hander who recorded the final out of the Miracle Mets' 1969 World Series victory over the Baltimore Orioles, died Sunday at age 83. The team said he died of multiple illnesses in Osceola, Wisconsin, surrounded by family, after being sick for about a year. Over 19 major league seasons Koosman went 222-209 with a 3.36 ERA, and he was 140-137 with a 3.09 ERA for the Mets from 1967 to 1978. The 1969 club, a franchise that had never finished with a winning record, surged into first place in September, swept the Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship Series, and then upset the heavily favored Orioles. Koosman later pitched for Minnesota, the Chicago White Sox and Philadelphia.

Left-leaning NBC News leads with the death and the iconic image of Koosman leaping onto catcher Jerry Grote, quoting Mets spokesman Jay Horwitz, a line from Peter Golenbock's 2002 book and Koosman's 2019 remark that he feared losing, while stressing the Mets' losing history before 1969. Alternative sources ESPN and TMZ report only the core facts (death, age, final out, Osceola) in brief notices, with TMZ citing the team's Medium post. Right-leaning sources differ in emphasis: the New York Post runs a 2008 piece in which Koosman discusses the Tampa Bay Rays' World Series run and calls the 1969 Mets unmatched, and its excerpt does not report the death. The Daily Mail reports the death and quotes Horwitz's statement, then highlights Koosman's 2.28 ERA, the Mets' league-low 541 runs allowed and the NLCS and World Series wins.