METS FANS SHARE THEIR MEMORIES OF THE OCTOBER 21, 1973 GAME:
BIGSTRO
October 25, 2000
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.
Vinny
May 19, 2005
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?
Lee
March 17, 2006
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.
Claudia
October 7, 2008
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.
Buzz
October 15, 2008
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!)
Frank the Met
April 17, 2013
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.
Larry at 12 Remembers
October 22, 2013
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!
J
March 3, 2015
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' ".
Denise Rose Rutan
October 6, 2015
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.
Joe Santoro
July 3, 2024
Jon Matlack threw a good pitch to Bert Campaneris. But he reached out and slapped it over the fence. Years later they both talked about it, when they were teammates in Texas.
They were both shocked and amazed.
The pitch to Reggie however.. his grandmother could have hit it.. hanging curve ball.
I wonder if it would have been wise to walk him, and take your chances with Gene Tenace. There were 2 outs with Joe Rudi on first. Walking Reggie would have put Rudi in scoring position.
Who knows? It's all second guessing.
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