Oh, did this game break my heart. I can still see Seaver walking off the mound. He was awesome, but two later homers and no run support did him in.

Bench and Rose with 8th and 9th inning homers. I forget which order. Both solo shots, one to the opposite field...ugghh. Good thing we went on to win the series!

I remember Seaver pitched one of the best games of his career and he drove in the only run the Mets got ! I watched the game with my Uncle Tommy (now deceased) and his friend John McNamara. Thanks, Tom Seaver, for the memories.

I remember watching this game well.This was one of the best games Tom Seaver ever pitched. People need to note how great the Reds hitters were to really appreciate Seaver's performance. Bench, Rose, Morgan,and Perez were all future Hall Of Famers. And Dan Drieson batted over 300 in 1973. I watched the game with my Uncle Tommy, now deceased. Thanks, Tom Seaver, for the memories.

Wow...surprised that I'm the first to post on this fantastic game.

As I mentioned in the Jon Matlack memories section, this was hands down the best game ever pitched by a NY Met. Ranks up there with best post-season performances in MLB history.

Mets were down 1 game to 0 in a best of 5, on the road against the Big Red Machine. Matlack pitched a two-hit shuthout. Just amazing, and clutch as can be.

The two Cincy hits were by Andy Kosko, of all people. I assume JM went the whole nine. Will look that up in a minute. Does anyone else miss those days, when a manager let a pitcher go the whole way?

I can't stand this Tony LaRussa crap that is now the standard operating procedure: go to your eight innning guy and then go to your ninth inning guy. That template would have made this '73 gem just another bland victory by committee.

Just so you know Lendog you were right. John Matlack did go all 9 innings. And Andy Kasco did get both hits. Also even if this was current day baseball, any manager would let John Matlack go all 9.

Jon Matlack stifled the Big Red Machine with a two-hit shutout. Matlack struck out nine batters and the NLCS was even at one win each. Rusty Staub slugged a solo homer and the Mets collected five singles in the ninth inning for four more runs. Great game.

Andy Kosco singled for both Cincinnati hits. I remember Kosco also hitting a drive down the left field line that was over the wall, but foul by inches. Kosco, Sparky Anderson and a few coaches argued the call to no avail.

LenDog, I couldn't agree with you more. Baseball was so much better back then with pitchers going all the way. Could you imagine Ray Sadecki or Harry Parker coming in, in the eighth? They would have pitched to 2 pinch hitters, then Rose...who knows what could have happened.

As a young (11 years old) Mets fan in 1973, I got the thrill of my life when my father told me that I was going to attend that day's playoff game against the Cincinnati Reds. At the time, a friend of my father, Stanley Binger, worked as a host in the Diamond Club restaurant at Shea Stadium, so the plan was that he would be taking me into the game and I would be sitting by myself in the lodge section just outside the Diamond Club area (imagine a mother allowing THAT to happen today!). I was being supervised to some degree by one of the ushers, who Mr. Binger obviously trusted with my well being. Even though I was a rather shy eleven year old, I certainly couldn't pass up the chance to see my heros play The Big Red Machine in a playoff game, so if I had to sit in a big stadium amongst thousands of complete strangers, then so be it!

It was a wonderful game as the Mets jumped out to an early 9-2 lead. All of a sudden, in the fifth inning, everyone around me jumped to their feet and roared. Since I was so small I was unable to see what was happening with all the adults standing up around me. I asked the man next to me what was going on, and he told me that Pete Rose was beating up Bud Harrelson. I remember saying, "He can't do THAT!" I also remember vividly, Willie Mays and Yogi going out and pleading with the fans in the left field stands to stop throwing things at Rose, or the Mets would have to forfeit the game. I couldn't imagine what a riot that might have caused.

The fans calmed down, however, and the Mets won the game, and I was probably the happiest baseball fan on the planet that day. I have no souveniers from the game (I don't think I was even concerned about souveniers that day), but I will always have that memory of my greatest day as a Mets fan.

I was a beer vendor covering the left field side of the upper deck. After the fight between Pete Rose and Bud Harrelson, people were grabbing the cans of beer off my tray to throw onto Rose's head in left field. Because of that incident, 1973 was the last year vendors sold beer out of cans at Shea.

I was in the mezzanine down the LF line with a couple of friends. The whole incident with Rose played out right in front of us. What people may forget is that Rusty Staub hit two home runs that day despite a wrist injury that forced him to essentially swing the bat with one hand, sort of like a tennis player.

I was sitting in the upper left field stands. After the Rose incident I remember Rusty Staub coming out to left field to plead with the fans to stop throwing objects. He had his bat with him and was pointing to the scoreboard to stress that the Mets were way ahead and we were in danger of forfeiting. If I'm not mistaken Willie Mays and Seaver were with him. I remember being scared because the upper stands started to sway with all of the fans jumping around. Props to Wayne Garrett for being the first one to literally jump in to save Buddy.

Game 3 of the 1973 LCS is the earliest memory I have of an actual Mets baseball game. Of course, what I remember most was that my dad actually took me (at 9 years old), my younger brother and two cousins to a playoff game! The series was tied at one game each with the Cincinnati Reds coming to Shea. The Mets jumped out to a huge lead as Le Grande Orange hit two homers and drove in four runs.

My clearest memory of the game occurred at the end of the fifth inning. With the Mets ahead 9- 2, future Hall-of-Famer Joe Morgan hit a ground ball to John Milner at first. The runner on first, known as Charlie Hustle, slid hard into second base in an unsuccessful attempt to break up a 3-6-3 double-play that ended the inning.

From our seats in the upper deck behind home plate I told my dad that something was happening at second base. He told me that the inning was over, completed the entry in his scorebook, and then looked up to see Pete Rose beating up Bud Harrelson. The crowd went wild. We went wild.

Rose got the best of little Bud, but the Mets got the best of the Big Red Machine in the game and in the series. The Mets secured the pennant and I secured my dad's scorebook.

I was 13 at the time and planning my day around watching the game on NBC. It was Columbus Day and we were off from school and my friends and I played touch football late morning to early afternoon then we watched the game at my friend's house in Cambria Heights, Queens. I remember Koosman was sharp striking out Tony Perez to end the top of the 1st. Then the Mets started hitting. Rusty Staub had a huge day. Then the famous fight between Rose and Harrelson. NBC's camera had the back of the Reds 3rd base coach and I remember yelling at the TV for him to move. Jim Simpson and Maury Wills did the game for NBC. Then the Mets had to tell the fans too stop throwing stuff at Pete Rose in left field. It was a great game. Looking to acquire the tape of that game and series. Does anyone know where I can purchase a copy of that game and or series?

I thought this game was played on a Saturday afternoon, because I was outside playing with my friends (mom didn't believe in her kids staying in on a nice sunny afternoon, so she kicked me out) when my mother called over to me and told me about the Rose/Harrelson fight. Hearing her tell it was just as exciting as watching it.

Anyway, I have to agree with Stan. I would LOVE to see A/E put out the complete 1973 NLCS on DVD. The games do exist, and the series was one of the most exciting ever.

When someone mentions Columbus Day, I don't think about Queen Isabella, the 3 Ships or any parade (although I am 1/2 Italian); I think about game 3 of the 1973 NLCS and the now famous Buddy Harrelson-Pete Rose brawl. I still get chills listening to Bob Murphy's blow by blow account and to this day my friend Kathy (who's all time fave Met is Buddy) cannot stand Peter Edward Rose and the Mets got sweet revenge when the Amazin's won in 5 (the NLCS was best of 5 until 1984).

Two things that stick out: If you look up the website retrosheet.org and go to the boxscore, it doesn't even mention the fight. Also, go on youtube.com and type in Our World Fall 1973. It was a ABC News show that would air a period of time in the world's history and that particular episode mentions the 1973 NLCS as well as more serious matters like Watergate and the troubles of the Middle East.

How about during the brawl...Pedro Borbon picked up a Met hat and put it on. When he realized it he threw it to the ground and stomped on it! There was a lot of emotion out there.

Pedro Borbon did pick up a Mets cap and put it on. But actually he put the bill in his mouth and ripped it off with his teeth, when he realized it was a Mets cap.

I was a freshman in high school on the cross-country team, and on this day had brought my transistor radio to practice so I could listen to the game. We were out in the middle of nowhere running a several-mile loop when I heard Bob Murphy describing the Rose/Harrelson fight. This marked the beginning of a prickly relationship between Rose and the fans at Shea. For years afterward, fans would hoot and holler whenever Pete came to bat--and I imagine some of the Met fans doing so were too young to even have any knowledge of the fight. (I also think it was done more out of a quirky "tradition" as opposed to any genuine hostility.) This was briefly put on hold in 1978 when he was in the middle of his 44-game hitting streak; when he came to bat, everybody cheered! Then after the drama of the streak was over, the fans were less animated but you could still sense some restlessness when Pete was in town. I remember Ralph Kiner wryly observing, "Only in New York."

Isn't this the game where Pete Rose won it for the Reds with an extra-inning home run? I think it was the day after the Rose-Harrelson fight. I will never forget how happy Pete Rose looked when he hit that home run; he was easy to hate in those days.

This was the game when Rusty Staub made that great catch in right field, where he slammed into the wall and robbed Dan Dressien of an extra base hit. Unfortunately he separated his shoulder in the process. If he was 100% in the World Series, who knows what might have been. Rusty Staub was truly the M.V.P. of the series.

Milner grounded out to Pedro Borbon to end the game, not Joe Morgan. Retrosheet is wrong.

I was a Shea beer vendor for Harry M Stevens, but on this day I wasn't too interested in selling beer. My vendors badge allowed me to get into the ballpark. My father took my sister out of school--- told the principal there was a family emergency--- and got tickets in the upper level. I couldn't wait to run onto the field since I saw it done in 1969. In the eighth inning we crouched in the aisles in the field level, perched to run onto the field. As soon as the final out was made, all the temporary plywood stands along the field crunched over in unison. It sounded like hundreds of fireworks going off together. I danced onto the field and took some sod samples to plant in my parents Levittown lawn. One sad note, though. At the final out, Mets centerfielder Willie Mays was attempting to run off the field through the right field bullpen. I suppose a fan tried to nab Willie's hat or glove, because I saw Number 24 wrestle the fan to the ground inside the bullpen and beat him up.

I was a senior in college and my friend and our two girlfriends cut class and drove to Shea. I remember walking up to the ticket both and getting 4 tickets. Wow! It was an exciting game and everybody booed Pete Rose the whole game. Seaver pitched a great game and it was a nice touch when Yogi took him out to a standing ovation in the ninth. By then we all moved down and stood in the lower box section. When Tug got the last two out everyone piled onto the field and a great dust cloud covered it. Grass chunks were missing from hundreds of spots. I stayed in the stands and saw the last NL Chamionship banner right in front of me. I asked the cop next to me if I could have it and he said 'sure'. The Mets had derailed the Big Red Machine and were '73 NL Champions headed to the World Series.

I was 12 yrs old, already a die-hard fan. I had missed school to watch games 3 & 4 on TV. So on that morning, I resigned to the fact that I couldn’t miss school again, and I would miss the start of the game. But as luck would have it, my older brother came up with a wild idea – he informed me not only was I going to miss school again to watch Game 5, but that we were going to the Big Shea and try to but tickets to the game!

We bought general admission tix at the window for $3.00 each, up from the usual $1.50. I still have the colorful stub.

We all know what happened in Game 5 - plus I remember the 'Spiro Agnew resigns' flash on the scoreboard. During the 8th inning, my brother and I made it from the last row in the upper deck to about the 4th row behind 3rd base as the Reds threatened in the ninth.

We were among the first to make it onto the field, and I remember my jubilation quickly turned to horror as none other than Pete Rose was running right at me. He was like a blocking fullback, knocking over anyone in his path. Rose headed right at me, who was weighing in at about 80 lbs at the time. Luckily, I saw him in time and dodged him, then I had to duck a couple of other Reds as well.

I remember seeing many injured fans laid out, hurt in the stampede. I then went to home plate, but others were already cutting it up with an army knife. Ditto for the pitching rubber. So after grabbing a piece of the infield grass, we headed to the right field pen, where we cut up a piece of the bullpen tarp. We took the grass home, rolled up in the tarp. I then planted the grass in my parents back yard, and the grass still lives today!

My employer gave me a box seat ticket for this game. The box was #257E, seat 8, field level. I was very happy to attend this game but the end of the game proved to be more interesting. I recall people jumping over the rails, pulling out huge chunks of sod and throwing them into the stands. I caught one of the chunks and brought it to a co-worker who was a REAL Mets fan. He treated it like gold, took it home and planted it in his backyard, and surrounded it with a tiny fence. He was thrilled to have that bit of the Mets right in his own backyard forever. I still have the ticket showing "Mr. Met" running with his cap falling off.

The legal notes kept by Supreme Court justice Harry Blackmun were released to the public on March 4, 2004. Among the papers was a small memo that was handed to Blackmun from fellow justice Potter Stewart while the two were on the Supreme Court bench hearing arguments in a court case. The undated memo reads, "V.P. Agnew Just Resigned!!" Below, it says, "Mets 2, Reds 0." The note must have been passed after the first or second innings, or early in the third. The date could only have been Oct. 10, 1973. I am pleased to see that some of the most powerful men in the United States, hearing a legal case that was important enough to merit the high court's attention, still took a few moments to keep abreast of the NL championship -- as well as other matters of national importance.

I was 11 and my father pulled me out of school to go to the game. Our seats were great. Box seats on the first base side. I was in awe of the Big Red Machine. Who wouldn't be? Rose, Perez, Morgan etc. This was only a few days after the celebrated Rose Harrelson Fight and passions were inflamed. Tom Seaver was my favorite and he was on the mound. I think I remember the sign man being on the other side of the field. It was a noisy crowd. I remember Seaver pitching great, and Willie Mays' crummy little infield squibler (third base side?) which we thought might be his last hit.

I remember watching the wild celebration on the field and my father hanging on to me so that I wouldn't be knocked over as what seemed like thousands of people swarmed past us onto the field. My dad was not a huge baseball fan, but he definitely was excited when he learned that Agnew resigned. I remember him telling me Agnew was a crook, who never should have been Vice President. I'd been to games before, 100's of games after, but that one game made me a fan for life. That's why my email address is Metsfan@compuserve.com.

I was 15 in 1973 and a rabid Mets fan. Played hooky and went to the game (day game, do they still exist?). Got to Shea early, bought a three dollar ticket and wandered around the old World's Fair site before the game. My friend and I snuck down to the box seats and amazingly weren't thrown out. A lady actually gave us 2 tickets.

Bear with me here. 1st inning a great omen as Willie Mays "legs out" (remember he was 90 at the time) an infield semi-chopper. Crowd is insane all game after recent mugging of 112 Lb. Harrelson by arch-vilain Rose (historical footnote-scoreboard shows Agnew being forced out of White House at gunpoint, or at least being asked to leave). End of game.

It seems that all 58,000 people are in the aisles or on the baseline's temporary barriers (set up for cameramen), most of them on my back. As the final out is made 58,000 souvenir hunters storm the field. I'm looking for something to grab. Unbelievably Darrel Chaney is still in front of the Reds dugout (was he on deck?). Chaney was filling in at shortstop for the injured Dave Conception. I run over to him at about 90 miles an hour, jump on his back and grab his hat. It seemed right at the time. I ran off and he actually swung the bat he was holding and caught me in the arm. I didn't blame him then and I don't blame him now.

If fans tried this stuff today they'd be trampled by 1,000 horses brought up from Philadelphia.

I return to school the next day (Brooklyn's Xaverian) with the hat to show off. Unfortunately Chaney sports a 6-7/8 hat size, too small to even fit most high schoolers so of course everyone figures I'm full of crap (as some of you may now). I'm crushed.

Millan's error cost us the two unearned runs and you could say the Series. I can still see that ball going right under his glove and through his legs. A ball he caught thousands of times before, a ball a little leaguer could have caught.

I was a 9 year-old at the game by myself. My dad was able to get one ticket and he gave it to me. I sat at the top of the stadium, but I remember Ken Holtzman's double down the left field line and the thrill of getting to see Willie for the last time. I was fortunate enough to see him with the Giants at Candlestick against the Pirates in the 71 playoffs. Growing up in the East Bay, I was a huge A's fan. What a crazy, talented team they were in those days.

I remember this is the World Series where Reggie Jackson earned his nickname "Mr. October" - mostly for his explosive bat in Games 6 and 7. But oddly in this game Tug McGraw actually walked Bando intentionally to get to Jackson to go with the percentages (Lefty vs. Lefty). Grote just missed a 2-run HR (barely foul) late in the game that would have won it. You can make an argument the Mets should have won all of the first 5 games - but it just didn't happen. They never had a chance in 6 or 7 - Thanks to "Mr. October", who either scored or batted in 5 of the A's 8 runs those last 2 games.

This was the attempted sac fly by Felix Millian. Bud Harrelson trying to score from third only to be called out on a blown call by the umpire. On constant replays of 1973 highlight film he was safe.

I have seen replays of this game on ESPN Classic. Watching this game shows how baseball has changed in the past 30 years. It is remarkable to see Tug McGraw, a relief pitcher, go six full innings in this game. A relief pitcher would never go this long today. Also, this game was historically significant because it was the last game that Willie Mays ever played.

The thing I remember about this game was that Catfish Hunter and Tom Seaver were both warming up in the bullpen. Dick Williams knew how to manage. He got Hunter up and Yogi responded by getting Seaver up.

I remember thinking about this game in 1999 when Valentine let Kenny Rogers walk in the series winning run against the Braves. He could have brought in Rick Reed, who was scheduled to pitch game 7.

Game 3 of the 1973 World Series, the last game Willie Mays played.

At age 42, Mays was well past his prime, but he started Game 1 and played in the field in Game 2. His final appearance was as a pinch-hitter, stepping in for reliever Tug McGraw. He grounded into a forceout and never played again in the series, quietly ending one of the greatest careers of all.

Still the best ballplayer that I've ever seen and I'm sure that he never needed a steroid!

Met catcher Jerry Grote dropped the third strike from Harry Parker in the top of the 10th inning which lead to Oakland scoring the lead run.

Wasn't there but what coulda been. Without the Grote passed ball, maybe the Mets win the game and the series in 5 (as they won the next two). That arguably would have gone down as the biggest WS upset after the Miracle Mets 69 win.

Game 3 of the 1973 World Series was my very first World Series game that I attended. Shea Stadium was rocking. I can still see all the great highlights of the game. Wayne Garrett's first inning home run. Tom Seaver striking out Reggie Jackson three times and Willie Mays batting for the last time in his career. Even though the Mets lost the game being at a Mets World Series game is the greatest.

At the outset of that 4th game of the 70th World Series between the Athletics and Mets in the since-demolished Shea Stadium, (God rest his soul) the late Nelson Briles, who was pitcher at that time, sang the "Star-Spangled Banner" (the U.S. National Anthem).

This was my first World Series game, and only baseball game that I went to with my Dad (RIP). What I remember most about this game that Rusty drove in 5 of the 6 runs and Ken Holtzman not getting out of the first inning.

I think Cleon Jones played this game with 102 fever and the flu. I was only 7 at the time but I remember the announcers saying this. And Jones had a good game going 2 - 4 with a run scored! Another great post-season start by Kooz with McGraw finishing it up. It looked like the Mets were on their way to winning it all.

After this game I remember my father saying "well no matter how it turns out at least they (the Mets) won 2 out of 3 for the home crowd." This was of little consolation to me after the A's won the series in 7.

I was at this game. I remember Tug McGraw coming in to relieve all psyched up, tossing his mitt to the batboy and jumping off the golf cart before it even came to a stop. The crowd going wild with that Irish Jig music that accompanied his entrance. If memory serves, he struck out the side in the 9th on nine pitches. But, if it didn't happen that way, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

This was also the game Mike Andrews got the standing ovation from Mets fans when Charlie Finley was forced to restore him to the roster after Finley tried to replace him following a game in which Andrews made two errors.

How about the Scoreboard flashing......

Miricle number 2...Just 3 Thousand miles away

I was ten then; I'm forty now. I've had thirty years to think about it, and I still don't understand it. Why did Yogi pitch Seaver on three days rest when he had a 3-2 lead? Imagine how tough the Mets would have been in game 7 with Seaver starting and Matlack in the bullpen. I didn't get it then. I don't get it now, and my best guess is that I won't get it when I'm seventy.

I still don't understand why Yogi pitched Seaver on three days rest when he was one win away from their second World Championship in 5 years. This decision still frustrates me 33 years later.

Ok, I too have been wondering and have been bothered about all this for 35 years. Let's go over what preceded it. The Mets rotation went Seaver-Matlack-Koosman-Stone. When the Mets were up 2 games to one against the Reds, with a game they could afford to lose, Yogi went with Stone. Bear in mind that Stone had a career year, going 12-3, and pitched very well against the Reds, giving up only one run and getting a no-decision. The Mets lost the game in 12 innings but had a well-rested Seaver in Game 5, which they obviously won.

Now we get to the World Series. An almost identical situation, except the Mets were on the road in Oakland for the last two games. They had been home against the Reds.

Anyway, the Mets were up 3 games to 2 and could afford to lose one. What is crucial for younger fans to understand is that Tom Seaver was the biggest proponent of the fourth day of rest. He was very vocal about it his entire career. And there is no doubt that Seaver was simply not as dominant on three days rest.

But Yogi chose to go with Seaver in game 6 and Matlack in Game 7. And we all know what happened.

For years, I have given Yogi the benefit of the doubt, but I've changed my mind for two reasons. Last year, I heard the 1973 Oakland manager Dick Williams say he was shocked at what Yogi had done, and felt the A's simply could not have beaten a well-rested Seaver in a Game 7.

Then just last week, in an All-Star game interview on WFAN, Ed Kranepool, who said the 1973 Series loss was the most devastating point in his career, criticized Yogi's decision.

Kranepool said that Yogi was worried about being criticized in the press for not going with his two best pitchers.

Yogi should have started George Stone this game and saved Seaver for Game 7. Stone was 12-3 2.40 for the year winning his last 8 decisions and he deserved to start. And Seaver would have been well-rested for Game 7. Seaver did not pitch terrible in Game 6 but he did not have his best stuff. Could you imagine this happening today with SNY, ESPN, WFAN and all the sports coverage out there now? This decision would have been analyzed and re-analyzed then second-guessed ad nauseum. I was only 7 in 1973 and I remember a big deal being made about it back then.

I saw Stone at a baseball card show with a friend like 10 years ago and asked him about it and he definitely wanted the ball in Game 6. We'll never know what could have been.

It doesn't make a difference whether or not Yogi pitched Stone. Why don't they criticize Dick Williams for pitching Catfish on 3 days rest, or Holtzman for that matter. Rusty Staub could have put the Mets ahead, but struck out in game 6 (only because of his separated shoulder). Matlack was the hottest Met pitcher down the season stretch. It made sense pitching him in game 7. Tom Seaver said so himself, repeatedly, that it was the right move. Injuries were the plague of the 1973 season. If the Mets were completely healthy, they would've won over 90 games and be world champs!

Joe is correct, Matlack was darn near unhittable the last month of the season. Berra would have been skewered by the press if he pitched Stone in 6 and Seaver in 7 and pushed Matlack out of a start - who would know Matlack would stink it up in Game 7? Hindsight is 20/20. There are lots of fingers you can point at why the Mets lost this World Series: Millan's error, Grote's passed ball, Reggie Jackson's 2 GREAT catches playing CF for an injured Bill North, Tenace and Bando's clutch hits in Game 3, Staub's K in Game 6, Mets inability to drive in runners in scoring position in tight games. Definitely a shame. It was still an amazing 6 weeks for this third grader. I can still feel the sinking feeling when Garret's pop up came to rest in Campy's glove. Weren't we all sure they would win?

The fact to the matter is, no one questioned why Seaver started game 6 until after the World Series over. It's always easy to second guess.

If you followed Tom Seaver's career, he has been no stranger to 3 days rest. He had 3 days rest when they won the NL pennant. It is not unusual. No one worried about pitch counts in those days.

Here's something else to think about: The Mets had a 3 games to 2 lead. Did they really want to face Catfish in game 7? As a result, they faced Holztman. Better odds I think.

Frank The Met:

In the NLCS Game 4, Yogi had to go with Stone because Seaver pitched Game 1, and they played 5 straight games without a day off.

Jimmy B is Right! No one questioned why Seaver started game 6. During the game after the game, or after the series. All hindsight years later. Here's my second guessing, should've, could've would've criticism:

Harrelson should've led off instead of Garrett. Better OBP than Garrett, good bunter, and good speed around the bases. Rusty Staub shoud've played game 1 and play 1B with his sore arm. He was no stranger to 1B, as he played it before in Houston and Montreal. John Milner in left field. And if Mays was healthy, I would have started him in CF. Willie was an excellent defensive field captain. But because of those bad knees and his injured ribs. Hahn was the better choice.

Here is my line up:

SS Harrelson
2B Millan
1B Staub
RF Jones
LF Milner
CF Mays or 3B Garrett
3B Garrett or C Grote
C Grote or CF Hahn
P

You are playing the "what if" game. Since the Mets scored only 1 run in game 6... Stone and the rest of the Mets staff would have had to throw a shutout to win. The Mets scored only 2 runs in game 7. Yes... that obviously could have been enough with Seaver pitching in game 7... but it's not a guarantee either. Starting pitchers pitched on 3 days rest all the time in this era. Sandy Koufax pitched a shutout in game 7 of the '65 World Series on 2 days rest. You can't fault a manager for wanting to go with his best starters in a World Series. Catfish Hunter also pitched on 3 days rest in game 6 and went 7 1/3 IP & allowed only 1 earned run and got the win. To say Yogi blew it because he didn't realign his starting rotation especially after Matlack had thrown 8 innings allowing 0 earned runs in his previous start... is preposterous. Also... you can't predict what stuff a starting pitcher will have each start. Again... Yogi went with his best. You can second guess him... but again to say he "blew it" is ridiculous.

I distinctly remember that gargantuan Jack-ass Reggie Jackson homering off of Matlack and standing at Home- Plate for about a week and I half to admire it.. I was 15 years old at the time and watching at my Uncles house in South Beach,Staten Island and recall thinking that if I were on the mound this shameless Hotdog would be tasting dirt the next time up.I remember my anguish when Wayne Garrett popped up to end it but then I realized what a truly remarkable season it had been. If Tom Seaver would have beaten Catfish Hunter the day before we would have been World Champions, but it was not to be.

I was nine going on ten when I watched this game. From late August until Game 7, it was probably the best stretch of Mets baseball I had ever seen. (And that includes '86!)

Only time I ever cried after a Mets game. Why did Yogi not rest Seaver until Game 7?

This was the game Seaver should have pitched. This was the game that might not have even happened if Yogi hadn't started Seaver on three days rest the day before. But it was not to be. As a New York sports fan (who despises the Yankees), there are four players in sports history who stand out as villains. There is Reggie Miller, Chipper Jones, Derek Jeter, and Reggie Jackson. When Jackson hit that monster blast off Matlack you could tell it was over, but it was a great season. However, after this season their team fell apart at the seams and they would not become contenders again until the Doc Gooden age.

I was a 14 year old girl, this team was my life, and this game devastated me. I remember thinking that we fans had willed this over-achieving team into the WS, and that it was destiny. I loved these guys.

After the last out, my mother called us in for spaghetti dinner. I was crying silently, absolutely devastated. I couldn't even talk. My mother asked my sisters, "What's wrong with her?" They all said, "The Mets lost the WS." She didn't say much to me, but she didn't force me to talk or eat. I didn't eat a bite of my favorite meal. I went upstairs to my bedroom and cried my eyes out. It was a sad day.

I was 7 years old when I saw this game. I watched Games 6 and 7 in Virginia because my parents had friends there that we were visiting. This was the first time I experienced real disappointment as a child to the point where it hurt.

And I'm still not totally over it years later. Matlack was a great pitcher for the Mets but he just did not have it on this day. I will always wonder what could have been if George Stone pitched Game 6 and a well-rested Seaver started Game 7 (if necessary!)

I have read the preceding comments and I sadly have to agree. It has been 40 years and I have not gotten over this loss. Nothing can console me, not even the 1986 World Series win. To be one game away, to be up three games to two, to come so close and not win, well, it has been devastating. A win in this World Series would have given the Mets a wonderful narraive - two World Series championships in a 5-year period with basically the same players - the Seaver, Jones, Harrelson, Koosman, McGraw era. Indeed, it should have been Stone in Game 6 and then Seaver in this game. Still, the 1973 Mets will also be a beloved group to the Met fans who remember the wonderful run in September and October. It was truly magical.

I was heartbroken then, but 40 years has allowed reality to set in: this was the true Miracle Mets, insofar it was Amazin' that a team so erratic and in last place only two months earlier could find themselves in Game 7 of the World Series. The 1969 team likewise was offensively weak, but steady and well managed. Yogi's inability to give Seaver and Matlack more breathing room and pull off the Gil Hodges-type moves proved fateful, but the story of this Series: the better team won. But a dramatic run, no doubt. A team that wins a pennant with the super platoon of Don Hahn and Davey Schneck in center field because it's better than Willie Mays? The Miracle of 1973!

Matlack was the right call. Since July (before the fateful last Game 7 inning) he had a 2.13 ERA, 7 complete games and 4 shutouts including a complete game shutout against the Reds in the NLCS. In 25 post season innings that October (prior to the last one) he gave up no earned runs. He pitched well on 3 days rest during that stretch, who was to know it would fall apart. I wonder what Grote thought of his arm the first two innings.. They could have won each one of the first 6 games. It will always be the Series of what might have been.. "of all the words of tongue and pen, none are more painful than 'what might have been' ".

Like some of the other commenters, I was about 10 years old and still not over it, all of these years later. Jon Matlack was a great pitcher, it happens how it happens. Lots of people would like to see NYC focused on the Mets this year and win it for Yogi. He was a great manager and his humor is right up there with how baseball affects society for the better.