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Al Jackson

Al Jackson
Ultimate Mets Database popularity ranking: 68 of 1218 players
Jackson
Alvin Neill Jackson
Born: December 25, 1935 at Waco, Tex.
Died: August 19, 2019 at Port St. Luci, Fla.
Throws: Left Bats: Left
Height: 5.10 Weight: 170

Al Jackson has been the most popular Ultimate Mets Database daily lookup 15 times, most recently on July 16, 2022.

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Non-playing roles with Mets
  • Coach 1999 - 2000

First Mets game: April 14, 1962
Last Mets game: May 22, 1969

Share your memories of Al Jackson

HERE IS WHAT OTHER METS FANS HAVE TO SAY:

robert lanzarotta
Al Jackson was absolutely my favorite Met from the 60's. He was one of the most hard luck pitchers I've ever seen who had the best stuff on the mound. He suffered from lack of run support but was usually brilliant on the mound. However, the one thing that stands out most in my mind was that I had his wife for my teacher in high school. She was so sweet.

Chris
In a 10-team league where every other team was better than the Mets every year, and the Mets scored runs basically only by accident, 10 of this guy's 43 wins were shutouts, and he threw 41 complete games. Show me a pitcher in the past 25 years with 43 wins, 10 shutouts and 41 complete games. You can't, 'cause there ain't any. Like it or not, this guy WAS a decent pitcher who would have won a lot more games on a better team.

Won Doney
January 6, 2001
How could you say he wasn't a good pitcher? He was great on those teams of the early 60's. An ERA in the 4 range isn't bad.

Rick
October 29, 2001
I'll always remember Bob Murphy refering to Al Jackson as "the battling little left hander from Waco, Texas". I remember him as a good pitcher and to think he won 13 games for the 63 Mets that only won 51 games all season is "amazin". I remember him pitching a complete 15 inning game (I believe he lost 3-1) against the Philles. I think it was 1963 and was typical of the non-support he got as a Met. What many people forget is how many out the Mets fielders of that era gave the other teams. Not only were most of the players behind Al Jackson "has beens", most were "never would be's"!

Loren
July 23, 2002
Following the Mets right from the start, Jackson was an all-around player who could pitch, field, run and hit (a little). There are three things that mark his career, he gained "fame" with the losing Mets as a good pitcher and just missed out on two World Series rings ('67 Cardinals and '69 Mets). He was cheated.

Roger Craig, who pitched good with the Mets but not as well as Jackson, got a ring with the '64 Cardinals.

Richard Kissel
September 14, 2002
"L'il Al" was a great pitcher in the early years of the Mets. He had good stuff and would have had a winning record with a better team. I was glad when the Mets brought him back from the Cardinals. He played for the 1969 Mets but didn't make it to the end of the season. He was also the bullpen coach on the 2000 National League Champs.

Karl de Vries
December 25, 2002
Apparently Al only had 19 losses going into the last game of the awful 1962 season. However, Casey was short of starters, so he looked at Jackson sadly and said, "Al, do you mind?"

Herbert Sweet
June 30, 2003
I believe Jackson's 15 inning complete game was in 1962. I also believe that Chris Cannizaro was forced to play the outfield in that game and made a miscue costing Jackson the game. It was the only time Chris ever played the outfield for the Mets. Does anybody remember this?

bobster1985
September 13, 2003
Jackie - Al was a good pitcher but he had the bad luck of pitching for the Mets when they were a terrible team. I'm glad to hear he turned out to be a nice guy, too.

Deb Deb
May 19, 2005
It's unfortunate Al played on so-so teams for the most part. He was such a great guy. Really nice, and very personable. Years ago, he gave my dad and brother tickets to a game in Seattle. My brother is now 22, and still has the baseball Al threw him!! Wonder how Po' Jack is?

Jonathan Stern
June 13, 2005
Having Al Jackson back in 1999 and 2000 as a Mets coach was a really nice thing considering what he went through as a Mets player. I just wish we could have won it all while he was here, but a pennant is a pennant, even without smart baserunning. Jackson also played briefly for the 1969 team, only to be traded in mid-season. I hope he got a ring.

KMT
September 24, 2005
Another player way before my time! I've heard enough about him to know he was a warrior whenever he took the mound! Like Jack Fisher, Al was a regular in the rotation, and seemed to get 9-10 appearances each season in relief! What are the chances you would see something like that today? Pitched about as well as you could during those early days. I don't know if he's a Met Hall of Famer, but he should be!

feat fan
March 22, 2006
Former Reds outfield great, Vada Pinson ,described this 5'10" Texan as "very competitive, small, big heart - he knew how to pitch. He fought you every kind of way to help beat you."

Although Jackson went 8-20 for the fledgling Mets in both 1962 and 1965, the gutty southpaw threw all four of the Mets' shutouts in 1962. His 43 career victories were a pre-Seaver Met high. Jackson went 9- 4 with the World Champion '67 Cards but did not appear in the

I always traded him to better teams in my youth strat- o-matic leagues and one year, while hurling for the mid 60's Pirates (his original team), Alvin went 21-9 with a 2.67 ERA tossing 265 innings! He could have been that effective with a better team surrounding him.

George Fiala
May 24, 2006
I also remember that game against Gibson at the end of the 1964 season. I'm 53 now but was eleven then and I remember raking the leaves for my mom listening to the game on the radio - Lindsey Nelson commented that it was exciting to be able to play the role of the 'spoiler.' In other words the Cards were just a game away from clinching and that great game held off their clinching.

feat fan
December 22, 2006
July 26, 1964. Little Al takes Warren Spahn deep for his only big league dinger and I was there as an excited 9 year old. Two wild games, Alvin started the first, came on in the nightcap.

Alan
December 30, 2006
I was fortunate enough to have Al Jackson and family live in a rental apartment in the building next to the one I lived in with my Mom. One day early in 1963 my Mom meets the Jackson family in the Laudermat. She told Mrs. Nadine Jackson, that she's taking me up to the Polo Grounds Saturday to see the Mets. Mrs. Jackson was also attending the game and was gracious enough to drive us up to the game.

After the game ended we made our way down behind the screen where the players wives' still sit today. We then waited with her for Al to come out of the clubhouse. You can't imagine the thrill of a 13 year old had when every player I asked to autograph my Mets yearbook did so willingly. I still have that book, along with one from every season. The shelf is starting to sag.

From memory I know I got - Duke Snider, Charley Neal, Cliff Cook, Larry Bearnarth, Galen Cisco, Jay Hook, Rod Kanehl and eventually years later, Ed Kranepool. I know I missed and will never get Gil Hodges and Marv Thronberry. I think its a wonderful book to hand down to a grandson some day.

pete hamner
September 7, 2007
Al was my pitching coach in extended spring training of 1976. He was an excellent coach, stressing location over everything. He was also very nice, always upbeat. Oh yeah.....he never tried to borrow money from me

BobR
September 16, 2007
Al made it all the way to the '69 Mets but left the team before the end of the season. I always thought it was a shame he didn't get to pitch in the World Series that year, given the lean years he suffered through with the Mets. If Al had played for a good team his whole career, he would have had a good record.

Frank S
August 5, 2009
Al pitched a one-hitter in 1962 and I remember sending him a congratulatory letter since this definitely was one of the high points of that season.

I was 11 at the time and it was the only letter I have ever written to any Met.

MELVIN CAULEY
December 6, 2010
Little Al Jackson was a giant of a man. At a time when not many black pitchers of such small stature were even in baseball, Mr. Jackson held his own. He was cursed to be on one of the worst teams in baseball history, yet he made the best of it. I personally saw him pitch, and he was never given the credit that he deserved. He was a hell of a man as well as a humanitarian. He definitely endured the hard times.

Deb Deb
August 18, 2011
Al Jackson was my dad's favorite pitcher, and he took me to see the Mets, what seems like every time he pitched. When Li'l Al (as my Daddy called him) was pitching on another team, I just couldn't wrap my little mind around what was happening. All I know is we always rooted for him. My Dad is gone now, and I always wondered where Mr. Jackson was. We went to a Yankee game when he was the pitching coach for Boston and Baltimore. He had good stuff my Daddy told me!

Bill Deegan
February 7, 2014
Does anyone know if the Mets gave a World Series ring to Al in 1969?

Mike Wuttke
August 11, 2015
What a wonderful guy, I had the pleasure of a good 5-10 minute conversation with him in Port St Lucie this March. Talked about the ’62 Mets, and how Casey was a character and played it one way for the media and another way for the players. He told me that even though the ’62 team was a bunch of older guys they all respected and liked Casey. I asked him if Casey knew his name, and Al said “He knew it all right, but never called me by it.” He laughed and seemed to enjoy reminiscing about the old days. Class act got a picture with him and my boy…a true New York Met treasure!

Todd Schuster
August 19, 2019
Although I was not around when the Mets came into existence (I was born in 1965), I had the pleasure of meeting Al at a card show some years back. What a delightful gentleman and to spend 50 years with the franchise as a pitcher, a coach and other jobs is remarkable. Though his record was only 43-80, that does not take away from what he accomplished. When the team averages 110 losses the first 4 years of its existence, it's very hard to have winning records. To go 13-17 in 1963 for a team that was 53-109 was amazing. A fond farewell to Alvin Neil Jackson. RIP.

David Moseder
August 19, 2019
Al Jackson was the starting pitcher in the first Mets game I ever went to, at the Polo Grounds. He gave up three runs (only one earned) in seven innings. The Mets beat the Cardinals 5-4 (on a two-run, pinch-hit “walk-off” HR by Marv Throneberry).








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