METS FANS SHARE THEIR MEMORIES OF THE OCTOBER 16, 1973 GAME:
Feat Fan
March 22, 2004
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!
Donald Stokes
January 17, 2006
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.
paul
October 5, 2006
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.
Bob (Diehard Mets fan)
February 9, 2009
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.
Dave VW
March 8, 2025
This game played out much like Game 1 of the NLCS did: Mets grab an early lead but get shutout the rest of the way, allowing the opposition to steal a victory away from Tom Seaver.
Seaver struck out 12, which is still the Mets World Series record. But he noticeably started running out of the gas in the later innings, giving up a run in the 6th and a run in the 8th. Meanwhile, the Mets left a runner on base every inning but the 8th, completely unable to come up with a big hit. Bert Campaneris, my vote for MVP thus far in the series, finally drove in the go-ahead run with 2 outs in the 11th inning, and the Mets wasted a lead-off single by Wayne Garrett in the bottom of the 11th to suffer the loss.
After throwing nearly 100 pitches in Game 2, Tug McGraw was right back at it in Game 3. He was summoned into the game in the top of the 9th after the first two batters of the inning reached base off an unlucky Ray Sadecki, and McGraw stranded them both. He then worked in and out of trouble in the 10th before getting pinch-hit for. Such is life for clearly the only pitcher Yogi Berra trusts in the bullpen at the moment.
They made mention on the broadcast this was the first time the World Series featured back-to-back extra-inning games since 1933.
Also, it later came to light that Oakland manager Dick Williams told his clubhouse he was going to resign after the end of the series, win or lose. He had finally reached a breaking point with owner Charlie Finley's intrusions after the Mike Andrews fiasco, which caused Oakland to only have 23 of a possible 25 players available for Game 3. Williams held to his word and was set to manage the Yankees in 1974 before Finley filed a protest, which forced Williams to begin the season unemployed if he did not manage the A's.
And we think the rift between Bobby V and Steve Phillips was bad.
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The Mets suck! Smith made three errors in this game, and hit into a
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