METS FANS SHARE THEIR MEMORIES OF THE JULY 22, 1975 GAME:
YAAKOV KANAREK
November 8, 2000
In the third inning of that game Jerry Koosman stole the only base of his career, advanced to third when the catcher's throw went into centerfield, and scored a key run on a sacrifice fly by Wayne Garrett.
Hank M
August 2, 2006
Wow, I remember this one - the night Jerry Koosman got a stolen base! Kooz was on first with none out when he (shockingly) ran on the pitch. Reds' catcher Bill Plummer hesitated before throwing to second, where no one was covering. The ball went into center field as Kooz slid into second. He then got up and ran to third, again sliding in safely. After scoring on Garrett's sacrifice fly, Jerry was shown on TV in the dugout laughing his head off while being teased by his teammates. Later in the game, the big message board jokingly stated that he was only 117 stolen bases behind Lou Brock's record, set the previous year. Why did Jerry run? To my understanding, he looked toward Eddie Yost (the third base coach) and saw what he thought was the hit-and-run sign. As a result, he caught the Reds (and everyone else) off guard by taking off. This "mistake" helped his own cause in a complete game win.
rht
June 11, 2007
I remember the Koosman steal rather well. I thought this was a pretty hilarious moment against what was a rather solid team in the Big Red Machine. By the way, wasn't Koosman later presented with an honorary 2nd base in a mock ceremony?
Frank the Met
September 22, 2007
The answer is yes, the very next night before the game at Shea Stadium there was a mock ceremony at homeplate with Tom Seaver at the microphone and Koosman standing next to him. Seaver presented Koosman with the "Lou Brock Award" for what Seaver termed Koosman's "first, and probably his last stolen base at Shea Stadium." Seaver then placed a paper bag over Koosman's head. The "ceremony" actually took place before the game went to air, so it was shown to the TV audience about a half hour after it took place.
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