METS FANS SHARE THEIR MEMORIES OF THE JUNE 24, 1998 GAME:
revolve
February 8, 2002
I had a 6-pack of tickets that year and had bought the particular pack I did because it contained tickets to one of the Met-Yankee tilts at Shea. It also included this ho-hum affair against Baltimore. Some might find the chance to see Cal Ripken Jr. as exciting, but I cannot respect a man who stayed in a different hotel than his team did during road trips. In any event, the three things I remember about this game are: 1. The Mets winning it impressively, 2. the return to Shea of two prior Met failures in Pete Smith and Rich Becker (who fittingly, struck out) and 3. the girl fight two sections over. Since this game took place two nights before the first Met-Yankee game, tensions were bubbling to the point of boiling over. Even on Opening Day, after the Mets won, various "Yankees Suck!" chants would erupt. They were more persistent on this night, despite the stadium being half- empty. Anyway, somewhere in the middle of the game--maybe the 3rd or 4th inning, all I remember was that it was still twilight--a "Yankees Suck!' chant gained momentum to the right of where I was sitting in the Mezzannine by 1st base. Looking over, I saw two girls--one in Met colors, the other in Yankee colors--get in each other's face and commence to jaw at each other and then finally...trade blows. A few left hooks later,and one of them tumbled down into the next row. A few fans cheered--I'm assuming the Met girl won, since the Yankee fans were silent--and that was that. I don't even think the police were involved. In fact, I don't even think I saw an officer the whole night. Fortunately their presence was much more evident 2 nights later...
Sha-Le
January 23, 2013
This was the first Mets game I ever went to with my dad when I was 7 years old and in 2nd grade. After looking at the starting lineup for that night, I now realize even more why I feel a particular attachment as a fan to mediocre players like Baerga, McRae, Gilkey and Huskey. It's because they were some of the first players I saw for myself and that's why I remember some of the 1998 Mets so well.
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