Previous Game:
May 10, 1996
Mets 2, Cubs 0
1996 Regular Season Game 34
May 11, 1996
Mets 7, Cubs 6
Next Game:
May 12, 1996
Cubs 3, Mets 0
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National League Standings, May 11, 1996

Box Score Game Memories Scorecard Mets Stats
Thru This Game

METS FANS SHARE THEIR MEMORIES OF THE MAY 11, 1996 GAME:

Mets2Moon
March 10, 2004
This was the infamous Pete Harnisch/Scott Servais/Kevin Foster brawl, where Foster threw a pitch over Hundley's head in the 1st, Harnisch hit Foster with a pitch in the 2nd, then Terry Adams threw a pitch behind Harnisch in the 5th. Harnisch then began jawing with Cubs Catcher Scott Servais, then closed-fisted him in the face, setting off a brawl that spilled into the Cubs dugout. I believe Harnisch, Adams, Servais and Hundley all got tossed.

Then, of course, after the Mets led 6-2, Henry came in and blew the lead.

Rico Brogna, in his last great moment (and there weren't that many) as a Met, hit the game winner, his 2nd of the game, in the 9th.

Bob P
August 6, 2004
As mentioned by Mets2Moon, there were NINE ejections in this game, including Servais and Harnisch, who was also fined and suspended for eight games for throwing the punch. Mets bullpen coach Steve Swisher was also thrown out and suspended for two games, and John Franco was thrown out too, and today was John Franco Day at Shea!

Rico Brogna had a triple and a single to go along with his two homers.

Michael
May 28, 2010
To my knowledge.....this game is where a Mets player came the closets to hitting 3 homers in a game at Shea (it never happened).

Brogna hit 2 homers and then hit a triple that hit the VERY top of the wall.

Dave VW
July 19, 2023
A wild game to say the least. To clear up the ejections: it was Harnisch, Hundley, Franco, Blas Minor and Steve Swisher for the Mets, and Servais, Leo Gomez, Turk Wendell and Scott Bullett for the Cubs. I guess they let Terry Adams stay in the game because he didn't actually hit Harnisch and didn't do anything egregious during the brawl.

The fight is still well-documented to this day. I found a blog post written by a fan who claimed to have been punched (accidentally?) during the fracas by Mark Grace, found here: http://studiousMetsimus.blogspot.com/2021/05/25-years-ago-when-mark-grace-punched-me.html

There's also an interesting article from 2016 written in the Seattle Times about how Harnisch and Servais were actually good friends at the time -- as they were teammates for several seasons with the Astros prior to 1996 -- and the two mended fences and worked together as coaches with the Angels and Mariners, found here: https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/buddies-at-brawl/

Thanks goes to Michael, as I did not know there never was a Mets player who hit 3 home runs while Shea Stadium existed. There's actually been 4 players who've already done it at Citi Field, which I guess proves Citi is a better hitter's ballpark than Shea was. They are (in chronological order) Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Lucas Duda, Robinson Cano, and Francisco Lindor.

It really was a great day for Rico. He had a 2-out, 2-run single to tie the game in the 1st, then homered, tripled, and hit his first of two career walkoff homers (but only one he'd hit with the Mets) that was likely assisted by a gusty wind that grew stronger as the game wore on. This win would perhaps be the apex of good feeling the Mets would achieve in 1996.

There was so much else going on in this game besides the brawl and Brogna's homer. Jeff Kent was just barely thrown out at home with the bases loaded in the 3rd. In the 6th, with two runners on base, Lance Johnson made a spectacular running catch slamming into the wall to end the inning. Then, the 9th inning saw some interesting strategy employed by the Cubs, as they opted not to bunt with Mark Grace with 2 on and no one out, risking a double play. But then, after Grace flew out, the runners pulled off a gutsy double steal with Sammy Sosa at the plate. Sosa struck out after a controversial strike 3 (as the scoreboard had the count wrong and manager Jim Riggleman came out to argue), and then the Mets intentionally walked Luis Gonzalez to have Henry face the right-handed Jose Hernandez with the sacks full. Down to his last strike, Hernandez poked a single to center that tied the score, eventually leading to Brogna's heroics.

Oh, and there was also an epic visit by Jerry Seinfeld in the broadcast booth that lasted an inning and a half, as he was grilled about his love life (he was dating the stunning 20-year-old Shoshanna Lonstein at the time, who was also at the game), instinctively took over the play-by-play call at times, and was then told by Ralph Kiner not to quit his day job as he was leaving. Absolutely hilarious.



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