Former Met Jay Hook hopes White Sox avoid record-breaking losses

CHICAGO - What is it like to play for — and root for — the losingest team in baseball history?

That question is taking on relevance for White Sox players and fans, as the team approaches the modern record for most losses in a season.

So we reached out to one of the two players still alive from the 1962 New York Mets, whose record the Sox are trying to avoid. We asked retired pitcher Jay Hook whether he’s rooting for the White Sox to beat the Mets’ record for futility.

"No, I've said this to many writers. I've said I wouldn't wish that on anybody," Hook told us via Zoom.

Hook is now 87, turning 88 in November, and living with his wife on a small farm in northern Michigan.

But in 1962, he was one of the so-called "Amazin' Mets," an expansion franchise that set the modern-day baseball record, losing 120 games – now threatened by the White Sox. Hook said in 1962 nobody was paying attention to the record number of losses.

"No, that wasn't a big deal at that point. I don't recall even many papers writing about it."

Hook was born in Waukegan and grew up in northwest suburban Grayslake in a mixed-baseball family.

"My father followed the White Sox and my uncle, who ran a lumberyard, was a Cubs fan. So there was a lot of in-house fighting between the Cubs or the White Sox."

Hook pitched for Northwestern University, then signed with the Reds in 1957. He was the third player chosen by the Mets in the 1962 expansion draft, along with several aging stars. New York was so excited they threw a parade before the 1962 season even started.

"Well, I thought this can't be so bad. It was Gil Hodges and Duke Snider and Casey Stengel was the manager. It didn't turn out so well."

Hook won the Mets' very first game – after nine losses to start the season. His final record that year was eight wins and 19 losses.

But as awful as the Mets were, the fans loved them.

"The fans were absolutely terrific at that time," said Hook. "They came out to the ballpark and it was a big deal to be on that team."

Which can't be said for the 2024 White Sox, now at 115 losses. The Sox have to go at least seven and four in their last 11 games to avoid tying or breaking the Mets' record for futility.

Hook says he's hoping the Sox fall short.

"The thing you gotta realize in Chicago is that every one of those players was a winner sometime in their life. Because they wouldn't be there if they hadn't been a winner."

After his playing career ended in 1965, Hook got a master's in thermodynamics from Northwestern University, where he later served as an engineering professor. He also prospered in the corporate world, helping to run some big companies. And he says there's a lesson in that for this 2024 White Sox team.

"It's not defining each individual guy. They've got a lot of lives. I mean they've had a terrible year just as we did in '62. But they can't let it get them down."

Hook said he recently got a call from one of his grandsons asking whether he wanted to go to Detroit where the White Sox close out the season and possibly see the Mets’ record broken.

"He said I think we should wear one of those shirts we wore in New York with the Mets all over them and I think we should go to one of those games. And I said Hunter, I don't think we'd better do that."

Hook reminds us that just seven years after setting the record for losses, the Mets won the World Series. So White Sox fans, circle your calendars for 2031.