Jerry Koosman, the Minnesota farm kid who pitched the New York Mets to the first World Series victory in franchise history, has died, the Mets announced Sunday. He was 83.
In 1969, just seven years after the team’s founding, the Mets won the National League pennant and faced the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series. After losing Game 1, the Mets reeled off four straight wins to clinch the championship. Koosman was the winning pitcher in two of those games, including Game 2, making him the first Mets pitcher ever to win a World Series game.
“The 1969 Mets had a multitude of heroes, but no one was bigger than Jerry Koosman, who passed away this morning after battling multiple illnesses. Jerry who was 83 years old died in Osceola, WI surrounded by his family,” wrote Mets public relations director and team historian Jay Horwitz.
While no specific cause of death has been revealed as of Sunday afternoon, in April 2002 at age 59, Koosman suffered a serious heart attack and underwent double-bypass surgery. In the summer of this year the Mets legend was hospitalized multiple times. On August 7, 2026, Horwitz reported that Koosman “has been in and out of the hospital, but he is home now and feeling much better. I spoke to him last night and his voice is much stronger.”
Over 19 big-league seasons, Koosman went 222-209 with a 3.36 ERA and struck out 2,556 batters. His 140 wins in a Mets uniform trail only Tom Seaver and Dwight Gooden.
Jerry Koosman’s Role on the Miracle Mets
Born Dec. 23, 1942, in Appleton, Minnesota, Koosman grew up on his father Martin’s farm, hauling chores and playing ball in the hayloft. The Army drafted him in 1962, and a Shea Stadium usher’s son spotted him pitching at Fort Bliss in Texas. That tip led scout Red Murff to sign him on Aug. 27, 1964.
He broke in at 19-12 with a 2.08 ERA and seven shutouts in 1968, finishing second to Johnny Bench for NL Rookie of the Year. A year later, Koosman posted a 17-9 record and 2.28 ERA as the Mets erased a 9 1/2-game deficit to the Chicago Cubs.
Then came October.
Koosman started Game 2 of the World Series in Baltimore after Seaver lost the opener, and he no-hit the Orioles through six innings. Final line: 8⅔ innings, two hits, one run, in a 2-1 win. Al Weis’s ninth-inning single gave New York the lead, and Ron Taylor got the last out.
Koosman closed the Series with a complete-game 5-3 victory in Game 5, rallying from a 3-0 deficit. He finished 2-0 with a 2.04 ERA. Photographers caught him in catcher Jerry Grote’s arms after the final out. Teammate Ron Swoboda called him the team’s “protector.”
Jerry Koosman’s Life After Baseball
Koosman stayed in the Mets rotation through 1978, including the 1973 World Series run and a 21-10 season in 1976 that made him the Cy Young Award runner-up. He then requested a trade to his home-state Minnesota Twins, and the Mets got Jesse Orosco in return, a left-handed reliever who was the Mets closer in 1986 and recorded the final out of the Mets World Series victory — their second and, to date, last — in that year. Koosman also pitched for the Chicago White Sox and Philadelphia Phillies, where he gave up Pete Rose’s 4,000th hit. His last game came Aug. 21, 1985.
The Mets inducted him into their Hall of Fame in 1989 and retired his No. 36 on Aug. 28, 2021, joining Seaver and Mike Piazza.
Koosman settled near Osceola and ran Mesa Technology, Inc., a machine-design firm. He briefly coached in the Mets’ minor-league system in 1991 and 1992. But his post-MLB life also had its dark moments. In 2009, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor tax evasion over unpaid taxes from 2002 through 2004 and served six months in federal prison, released in June 2010. This year, he began auctioning memorabilia, including his World Series ring.
Koosman married LaVonne Sorum in 1967. They divorced in 2003. He is survived by children Danielle, Shawn and Michael and grandchildren.
Jerry Koosman Cause of Death: What Happened to the 1969 Mets World Series Hero?