Jim Serven
June 2, 2010
A special game for me, my first Met (and MLB) game at age 10. My grandfather brought me to this game. Many years later, after his death, I went to a library and dug out the NY Times account of the game. Turns out it was Senior Citizens Day so he got in for free (which is presumably why he chose it) except for a very negligible service charge, which could not have been more than 50 cents and was probably less.
As might be expected, vague memories are mixed with some very vivid ones, such as:
- The pitching match-up was Jackson vs. Jackson. Larry Jackson is perhaps not well remembered but I certainly remember him as one of the great Met killers, in addition to the usual suspects such as Koufax, Drysdale, Gibson, Marichal, etc. Of course, the Mets lost, although they had just come off a doubleheader sweep of the Cubs in which Ron Swoboda had won both games with home runs. Swoboda was the darling at that time but he tailed off badly the rest of the season.
- Billy Williams hitting a home run.
- Casey Stengel ambling out to the mound to pull Al Jackson. Not soon after Stengel broke his hip and retired.
- Chuck Hiller (nicknamed 'Dr. No' due to his bad hands) making a crucial error that opened the floodgates.
- Larry Bearnarth getting shelled. I've lived in Colorado for many years now and was quite delighted when he became the first Rockies' pitching coach.
- The first sight of a big league playing field, Jane Jarvis on the organ, etc. etc.
A special day.
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The Mets suck! Smith made three errors in this game, and hit into a
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