Sport: Casey at the Bat

There was no joy on Coogan's Bluff. The fumbling New York Mets, starting their first season in the newly expanded National League, lost their first nine games—tying a National League record for frustration. The $2,500,000 team hit a dismal .225. was better at bat than in the field. For the first time in his illustrious career, crusty Casey Stengel, 71, seemed unable to do anything right. "I start my best pitcher," he complained, "and what happens? Right away they get five runs off him." Somebody told Stengel that a photographer had been assigned to cover the Mets until they won a...