National League Standings, July 29, 1974
METS FANS SHARE THEIR MEMORIES OF THE JULY 29, 1974 GAME:
Frank Fazekas
August 1, 2021
This game was my second time at Shea. I was so eager to get to the stadium in time to see batting practice, my dad and I took an earlier train from Princeton and wound up at Shea 2 hours before it opened. While we were waiting outside the stadium, after about an hour we were approached by a guy who asked to see our tickets. At 11 years old I was less trusting and more "City Savvy" that my dad and immediately thought "scam." My "Spidey Sense" grew stronger when the guy pulled out of his wallet two thin pieces of paper. By then my dad also had his tickets out and the guy asked us if we knew where we were sitting. We thought we were close to the field but the guy said no, our tix were for seats way down the right-field line in the mezzanine, and he offered us the little paper slips in exchange for our tickets. He told us he couldn't sell his but he could sell ours. It turned out the slips of paper were season tickets for a Field Box just beyond the third base dugout and the guy was an usher.
To this day the only autographs I ever got at a baseball game were from the Montreal Expos in my Mets program, and I still have it to this day.
During the game the usher came down to check on us and see how we were enjoying the game. My Dad tried offered him $10 to thank him for the tickets and he refused to take it. I learned something important about New York City that day.
Anyhow, just to add to an already fantastic day, John Milner hit a blast to center for a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 8th, driving in Bud Harrelson from first, who was in the game as a pinch-runner for Jerry Grote, who led the inning off with a single (Grote was batting 2nd that day!), and the Mets wound up beating the Expos 4-3, my first Mets Shea Stadium win.
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