National League Standings, July 20, 1975
METS FANS SHARE THEIR MEMORIES OF THE JULY 20, 1975 GAME:
Joe Figliola
June 30, 2003
This was the wildest Mets game of 1975 and it's in my top 10 of greatest regular-season games I ever saw.
What I love about the Mets teams of the past was their ability to come back. You'd have thought that the Mets were dead in the water after Houston jumped out to a 7-1 lead. But what do the Amazin's do? Right. Match the five runs and make it a game.
I think it was also the game that kind of put Dave Kingman on the map as a home run hitter. I recall him hitting two bombs and the Shea Stadium crowd going berserk. So was this then 12-year old from his bedroom.
I also remember yelling over to a couple of area playmates who were next door in a swimming pool that the Mets had won and watching them splash around in joy.
What a game... should've scored it!
Barry F.
July 10, 2003
Joe, you are quite right. This is one of my favorite Met games ever....yet few people ever talk about it because '75 was not a pennant-winning season or maybe because the Mets were just mediocre. Anyway, I was 8 and living in Roselle Park and yet it seems like it was yesterday. The Mets got off to a terrible start. They were down 7-1. Kingman comes up and hits a three-run shot in the 5th. This was the same inning in which Jack Heidemann hit a routine fly to Cesar Cedeno in center. Cedeno lost it in the sun, it broke his thumb and Heidemann had a triple. Cedeno, it is often said, was never the same player after a shooting incident. But this also contributed to his demise from superstar status to merely a decent player. Anyway, I saw the first Kingman homer, then my mom and sister take me out to go food shopping in Elizabeth. The game see-saws. I get back and the Astros are up 9-7 in the bottom of the eighth. Up comes Kingman again and again he swats a three- run shot. Mets win it, 10-9. Of course watching it all again on Kiner's Korner was sweet! So many twists and turns.
Joe Figliola
July 20, 2003
Wow, Barry, you jogged my memory big time about Cedeno misplaying the pop fly. Thank you. That was such a freakish thing... the kind of things that make the Mets so Amazin'
Anyway, I would love to try and find a color video of this game. Anyone?
g.s.grinter
June 14, 2004
I had my cheap Kodak camera at this game,the orange-yellow rainbow jerseys of the Astros came out great. After Kingman hit his 2nd homer, the scoreboard had "DAVE" in huge type. Was one of the most exciting regular season games I've ever been to. I was from upstate NY and only could go to one game a year, what a treat that this was the one I got to.
rht
July 22, 2007
For some reason, I remember the Mets getting two outfield assists in this game. And the plays were carbon copies of each other because it seemed to be the same Astro player who got thrown out at the plate each time. Each time there were at least two runners on. The batter gets a hit each time. The first runner just trots home from third base, but the other player following him is just FLYING around third and sliding into home only to be tagged out. And I think they both ended an inning as well.
Can anyone back me up on this one?
Vinny T
August 11, 2015
I JUST found this site, although I think I heard about it before. Thank you for all of the comments I read above, even though they are 8 to 10 years old, they are great to read, BECAUSE THIS GAME was my FIRST ever baseball game I attended as a 9 year old. Attended with my Dad and my Uncle, both were Yankee fans. I remember when the Mets were down big in this game, they asked me if I was ready to leave and of course there was NO way I was leaving my first game early. I remember the Cedeno play and the wildness around that and of course when the Mets came back and Kingman had the second home run, that was incredible.
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