Opening Day, 1974 at the Vet...this was the first sign that 1974 would resemble the first five months of the 1973 season rather than the last month.

The Mets took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the 9th with Tug on the mound. A single and a sac bunt brought the Phils' #8 hitter to the plate, a guy who had hit .196 in his rookie season the year before. The batter hit a 2-run homer and the Phillies won the game, 5-4.

The batter was Mike Schmidt.

The Mets had the lead into the 9th and Tug McGraw gave a home run to Mike Schmidt to lose 4-3. I knew this was a game with bad times ahead for the next 8 or 9 years.

Adding to the overall misery of the day was the constant drizzle, 40 degree temperature, and a grotesque streaker who jumped out of the seats behind first base.

One of Harrelson's hits, however, was a double off the very top of the left field fence in front of the Mets' bullpen (batting righthanded). It was the longest fly ball I ever saw Buddy hit!

This game was very disappointing. The Mets had a 9th inning lead and let it get away. Mike Schmidt hit a home run off Tug McGraw to pull one out for the Phillies. It was a tough start to a season that didn't get a whole lot better.

Schmidt's homer was significant in more ways than one. It was the only thing that prevented the Mets from having a perfect record in season opening games in the 1970s. They won their other nine openers during the decade. For Schmidt, it marked the beginning of the first of his seven seasons as the National League home run leader. Also, there was irony in that the next season, Tug and Schmidt would become teammates with the Phils, leading them to a great deal of success over a ten-year span.

More than anything else, though, it was the start of a dismal Mets' season after one that produced a pennant.

I went to this game as a 12 year-old and don't remember too many details, except for one bizzare quote from Bob Apodaca which appeared in the next day's New York Times. Apodaca got the save in this game, and I remembered (at least I THOUGHT I remembered, but years later checked microfilms to make sure -- and I wasn't dreaming) that he said something like "shaking Jerry Grote's hand after the game was the greatest feeling in the world, except maybe for sex". I could not believe that the New York Times would print that in 1974. But it's there!

I didn't go to the game, but I remember that quote from the Times as well. I've got to look it up someday.

I remember this game all to well. I was 12 years old and opening game was delayed one day because it had snowed in NYC the day before. Upon arriving at Shea it was still extremely cold. My game day tickets were in the GA section upperdeck above home plate. It was a thrill to watch the unveiling of the 1973 NL pennant on the field. I was proud watching it raised onto the flag pole. Since I had arrived during batting practice, by the second inning I was literally frozen. I drank so much hot chocolate I spent the majority of the game in the restroom. One thing I do know is the Mets won.

Going through an album full of old ticket stubs, I found one from this game, which I attended as a 13-year-old!

I saw this home opener on TV after coming home from school. Jerry Koosman pitched well for eight innings and Jerry Grote drove in two runs with a single and a homer. It was the only time in my life that I saw Grote actually hit a home run. He didn't do it very often.

Very first game ever. I just turned 9. Had a black-and-white TV so it was magical coming out of the tunnel and seeing Shea in color for the first time. The green grass, the bright colors on the logo hanging high up in right-center field. The enormity of the entire stadium... quite a thrill. I remember Koosman throwing a gem and the only thing that kept him from being pulled for a PH in the 7th was Garrett's HR to dead center two batters ahead of him. Ended up with a 5-hit complete game. Great memory for a 9-year-old.

We were engaged at Shea - 50 years ago on this 20th day of April 1974. We still have the ticket stubs -and we’re still married and diehard Mets fans. Great game, and I remember seeing her diamond ring sparkling in the sun in right field- LGMs!!!

The Mets, who had lost 11 of their first 15 games in 1974, looked good on this night at Candlestick Park.

Felix Millan and Cleon Jones scored in the top of the first thanks to an error by Giants 2B Bruce Miller. The Mets added three more in the third, with the third run of the inning coming on an RBI single by Tom Seaver. Seaver singled again and drove in the Mets' sixth run in the eighth. Tom also pitched a four-hitter, walking none and striking out seven. Seaver retired 16 batters in a row between the fourth and ninth innings, and Tom finished the game by retiring 18 of the last 19 batters he faced.

Tom Seaver was dominant in this game. He pitched a four-hitter with seven strikeouts and no walks for a solid win at Candlestick Park. Seaver even helped his own cause with a pair of RBI singles to boot. The Giants just couldn't handle him all night long.

Here's an amazing fact. This was the fourth time over a five-year span that Tom had a complete game win without issuing a base-on-balls on April 26th. Unlike his previous gems on that date in '70, '71 and '72, this one was a shutout.

I remember this game well. I had just moved to San Francisco from New York three weeks before. When "my team," the Mets, came into town, I went out to Candlestick Park for my first visit. I walked up to the ticket window an hour before the first pitch and bought a box seat about 10 rows behind the Giants' dugout. I was amazed that it was possible to buy such a good seat on game day. It wasn't too far into the game that I realized why I had been so lucky to land such a great seat. There were only about 3,000 people at Candlestick that day! And as the game progressed, it was all Mets....both on the field and in the stands. Of the 3,000 people at the game, at least 2,000 of them were Mets' fans, mostly transplanted New Yorkers like myself. During the 7th inning stretch, I said this is absurd, and I became a Giants fan, right then and there. And I've been a Giants'fan ever since --- it will be 30 years next April!

Jon Matlack held the Giants to four singles, one hit-by-pitch and issued no walks in this doubleheader opener. He faced 30 batters and pitched the first of his league-leading seven shutouts for the 1974 season. Also, Dave Schneck slugged a pair of home runs for his second two-homer game of April. Schneck would hit only one more homer in his major league career.

Tom Seaver pitched twelve innings in this game, allowing just three hits. The first Dodger hit was a fifth inning leadoff home run by Steve Garvey. Tom also allowed singles in the eighth and twelfth innings. He walked two and struck out sixteen. Wow.

Wayne Garrett's home run off Andy Messersmith (who pitched a pretty good game himself) tied it at 1-1 in the eighth, and it stayed tied until a bases loaded single by Garvey off Harry Parker in the bottom of the fourteenth.

My dad took me and my brother to this freezing cold Helmet Day in our brand new Gremlin! . It was the 2nd Met game I ever went to, with Cleon and Rusty hitting back to back homers in the big Helmet Day win. Still got the scorecard somewhere. Jeez, The Big Shea was only ten years old then, now it's gonna be gone soon. Man, I'm getting old!

My bad, it was Milner and Staub hitting those homers, man I'm getting old!

My uncle Joe took my brother Joe and I to the game. It was our first game ever as we were children of Italian immigrants. I remember the hot chocolate and hot dog. I also remember my little brother Joe jumping up and down when Rusty and Milner both hit home runs in the same inning. One last funny thing, I remember the rats in the subway, it was the first time we ever went on a train. I was 10, Joe was 7. Thank you Zio Pino.

I remember watching the first game while waiting by the phone. That morning, I had dropped my wife off at the hospital and waited to hear from the doctor whenever she gave birth. It was a rare midweek day doubleheader and I endured both losses and waited even further into the evening before my son, Mark was born.

Tom Seaver lost the first game 4-3 giving up 3 runs in the 8th yet completed the game.

I made this entry on 5/7/2004. My son is 30 years old today. Happy Birthday, Mark.

First game I attended that the Mets won. Two of those were by 1-0 scores and the other 6-2. So it was a thrill when the Mets put up a 4-spot in the first. It was batting glove day.

Yes, batting glove day. Packed house. My friend's uncle took us, and we went right after a little league game that morning. I was 12 and heard the uncle talking to some other fans about Matlack complaining about run support. That if he couldn't coast today, he never would. He pitched a gem though...

I'm a Braves fan, and this was my only time to see Tom Seaver. At the time, we had Buzz Capra starting against Seaver, and I believe Buzz led the league in ERA at the time, so we all anticipated one of the greatest pitching duels ever. Capra, however, lasted only 1 and 2/3 innings, so the big matchup fizzled. For years, I remembered that Seaver also bombed, but I just recently located the box score and it turns out he did fine. But the Braves somehow won. That was very rare back then.

I was at this game. This was the only time I saw Cleon Jones, my all-time favorite Met, hit a home run in person.

The Mets just came up short this night.

It was the first big league game I had ever been to. I went with my cap league team (ages 8-9) with all the other players. Rusty Staub hit a home run, and we all cheered like crazy. We were too young to be cool, so we wore it on our sleeves that day. I was able to find out the date of that game by visiting Rusty Staub's restaraunt in NYC some 25 years later. It's nice to be able to put something like the date and box score next to a lifelong memory.

This game occurred on Father's Day 1974. Seaver left the game after walking pitcher Andy Messersmith with the bases loaded. I wonder how few times Tom ever walked the pitcher with the bases full? I was sitting up in the right field mezzanine with my Dad, and Tom argued the ball four call with home plate ump so vociferously that we thought Tom had been ejected. It doesn't show up as an ejection in retrosheet, so apparently Yogi just removed him from the game. This was Tom's first frustrating year as a pro, with his being hindered by a sciatic injury over much of the season.

This was Hank Aaron poster night. Every fan got a nice poster, which I wish I still had. Bowie Kuhn was booed when he was introduced before the game.

My seat was a box seat down the right field line. Ken Boswell lined a foul ball right over my head. If I had brought my glove I would have tried to catch it.

I remember this game vividly. This was my major league debut. I was almost 8, and my Dad had asked me in the offseason to pick a game for my 1st trip to Shea Stadium. Hank Aaron was my favorite non-Mets player, and so I picked this Braves game the year he broke Ruth's HR record. Two weeks or so before, I caught chicken pox, and it was possible I wouldn't be able to go. Like Gary Carter refusing to make the last out in Game 6 in '86, I willed myself to shake off the pox. June 19 was the 1st day I was healthy enough to go back to school, and, thankfully, my parents let me skip school to go to this afternoon game. What a thrill. My 1st time walking in to the beautiful stadium, seeing the amazingly dark green grass. We had box seats about 20 rows up behind the 1st base dugout. We got there early, and walked down to the dugout railing, and I was so excited to get backup shortstop Teddy Martinez to sign my very 1st scorecard and program! I didn't even know who he was at the time, but I didn't care. I got a Met's autograph at my 1st game!!!

Jon Matlack started, pitched 4 shutout innings, and shut down Aaron, who was later removed from the game, to my disappointment. Then, whichever Bob Miller relieved Matlack let the game get out of hand in the late innings, and the Mets had no chance to come back. My Mets heroes showed NO offensive abilities that day against former teammate Buzz Capra. We stayed to the end, however, soaked up all the atmosphere. And my 5 1/2-year-old sister capped off the day with comic relief by asking Dad and me after the final out was made and we sighed together in disappointment: "Who won?" The Braves did. A forgettable, midseason, lopsided shutout loss, but a HUGELY memorable, once-in-a-lifetime day for the ages for this little boy, who managed to not get busted by the Channel 9 cameras for "claiming" to be out of school with chicken pox, only to be taking in a Shea matinee on "a beee-yooo-tiful day for baseball," as Bob Murphy must've said that lovely Wednesday.

This was the first Mets ROAD game I ever attended...well, actually it was the SECOND Mets road game, because this was the second game of a doubleheader and I was at the first game too! As I recall, this was a twi-nighter (remember those!) I remember sitting out in the outfield stands somewhere and looking down at Don Hahn in CF. Towards the end of game two we moved down to the lower level behind home plate on the first base side. Overall though, it was not a very successful night for the Mets. They lost both ends of the twinbill and the undefeated Mets wives softball team lost their first game to the Phillie wives! All part of a disappointing 1974 season.

A group of friends drove south to attend this twin bill (plus Mets vs Phils wife's softball game between games). Mets ended up 0-3 for the day! We sat in the upper deck behind home plate. During the game, some of our group paraded a "Far Rockaway Loves the Mets" banner around the circular stadium. For their troulbe, they were pelted with all kinds of objects!! I expected nothing less from the Phillies fans.

Second game I ever went to. Quite a comedown from my Sept 1973 debut to MLB attendance. The game was over by the second inning. I remember thinking this was how Torre must've been all season in 1971. I did have a good tasting hot dog though.

My first-ever game, I was 7 years old. Old-Timers Day, and I got to watch my father weep when they opened the gates in center field and Willie, Mickey, Duke and Joe D all walked in.

Better, Jon Matlack threw a 1-hitter, and the only Cardinals hit was by ... John Curtis, the opposing pitcher. I remember my dad telling me I almost watched history and I remember telling him, what's the big deal, we'll see a no-hitter sooner or later. And we're all still waiting ...

My first game too, also 7 years old. Wow, how weird is that. I was there with my Dad, my sister (who lived in Manhattan), and her roommate. I remember one of the old-timers coming out in a horse-drawn carriage (Joe D?) The Curtis single was a clean shot into right field, a no-doubter.

I remember watching this game on TV at my grandparents' house on E 13 St in Brooklyn. I was 8 years old and although Matlack pitched a gem I remember feeling bad because he just missed a no-hitter and to make matters worse it was the opposing pitcher who got the only hit. I thought Curtis' hit was a clean one-hop single to center (not right) but I could be wrong. Little did I know that I'd be seeing one-hitters like this from Mets' pitchers for years to come with no one ever getting that elusive no-no.

Tim and Buzz,

It's funny; if you look the game up on retrosheet.org, it lists the hit by Curtis as "Curtis singled to left."!!!

I was at this game as well, Mezzanine section 22. I kept score, and show Curtis's hit as L7, a line drive to left. One of the most overpowering Met pitching performances I've ever seen.

My first METS game and I was also 7 years old! I am starting to see a trend here! I remember it was Willie Mays's first "game" after retiring. He got caught in a run down between second and third and I remember a fan near me yelling out "Don't you dare tag him!"

I also remember my dad always commenting about how the pitcher, of all people, had gotten the only hit! He kept score, I still have the scorecard!

I have since seen Seaver-1977-versus Cubs (Ontiveros) and Cone-1988-versus the Padres (Gwynn) come close to making Met history.

Finally, I read Mr. Vaccarro's column about Shea in the Post back in '03. It still hangs in my office because of the similar memories it shares with my own past.

Coincidence, coincidence. Like the previous Mets one-hitter where the pitcher got the only hit, this one was broke up by a Cardinals pitcher in the 3rd inning. Funny about Curtis. I remember him on the Red Sox and remembered him as a big, tall pitcher who was something like 6 foot 6, but looking him up he was only 6 foot 1. I guess he looked big on his baseball cards.

I was at that game as a young kid..... I remember that they dedicated a moment of silence before the game to the victims of the tragic club fire in Portchester that killed 24 people. This memory came back to me after hearing about the Rhode Island fire.

I went to this game with my entire family. All seven of us were at Shea on a hot Wednesday afternoon. Before the game, we were treated to a 2-inning softball game (or was it 3 innings?) played between the wives of the Mets and Phillies players. I remember Angela Jones (Cleon's wife) hitting the ball all the way to the outfield grass in left.

In the regular game, Cleon had a shot of his own - a home run over the 410-foot mark in dead center field! Rusty Staub also homered and Ted Martinez had a run-scoring double.

Harry Parker, who was having a rough season, shut out the Phillies for eight innings. A Dave Cash triple in the ninth led to two runs and Parker's being taken out. He still got a well- deserved win, though.

This was the very first Mets game at Shea Stadium that I attended. My uncle and me took the subway to the game. I bought a batting helmet, yearbook, and I was in seventh heaven. Even though it was a very hot day (about 85 degrees), I proudly wore my batting helmet during the whole game. It's still one of my most favorite memories as a baseball fan even though the Mets lost the game. My uncle passed away a few years later and remembering this day makes me remember him as well. He was a longtime Brooklyn Dodger fan who followed the Mets when they came to town. Whenever I get off the No. 7 train and see the ballpark in the distance, I always remember this day and my uncle. Thanks for helping me share this great memory.

My God, the scary thing is I remember this game like it was yesterday. My mother took me to this game. I made a banner about Rusty Staub, but I was too shy to unveil it at the game. I can close my eyes and still see Teddy Martinez rounding the bases for a triple. We weren't that good that year, but I wouldn't have wanted to be anyplace else.

Ted Martinez got a triple with the bases loaded in the first inning of this game. The ball hit the top part of the wall and all three Mets on base came around to score. Martinez then came too far off third, got caught in a rundown and was tagged out. This was the closest that any Met player has ever come to an inside-the-park grand slam.

Ron Bryant was 24 game winner in ‘73, second to Seaver in the Cy Young award. He didn’t get out of the first inning this game.

I was at this game. For some reason, the Padres' relief pitchers ran from the bullpen to the field instead of taking the cart. I wonder if their manager had a rule against using the cart.

"The Yankees just helped the Mets!"

This is what my father said after we saw what happened in the sixth inning. Horace Clarke, who had been released by the Yanks because of his continuous shoddy fielding, let a two-out ground ball get through his legs. This error allowed the tying run to score and paved the way for a 4- run inning. The Mets would go on to win, 4-2, with all runs unearned.

The game of baseball can provide a lot of strange twists. This game is a good example. It was won with a little help from our "friends" in the Bronx. Thank you, Yankees, for releasing Horace Clarke, allowing the Padres to sign him. It came in very handy on this night.

Well described, Hank M, about Clarke's error of Rusty Staub's two-out grounder in the sixth. It brought home Jon Matlack from third base and three more runs followed on singles by Ed Kranepool and Jerry Grote. But here's another interesting thing that happened in the bottom half of that inning. Rod Gaspar, a Miracle Met from '69, led off as a pinch-hitter for the Padres and took a called third strike from Matlack. This was the last appearance for Gaspar in a major league game.

George Theodore hit his only home run of the season in the game, the first of three consecutive Mets home runs hit by Theodore, Rusty Staub, and Cleon Jones.

Ken, I'm following you around! As I noted in my comments under George Theodore, The Stork, Rusty, and Cleon went back-to-back-to-back off journeyman RHP Lowell Palmer in the top of the 5th. Jerry Koosman reached a milestone in the game, notching his 1,000th career strikeout in the 8th inning. The victim was future Hall of Famer Dave Winfield.

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.

This was my first ever Mets game. My father took me. I was 9 years old. I have been a big fan ever since. Good times and bad. It was a great thrill to see my hero Tom Seaver. The greatest right-handed pitcher ever. Think of all the games he would have won if he had a team that scored runs. He would have won 400 games.

An early Mets game I was at as a 10 year old. Game 1 of a twin bill. The only detail I remember was that unknown Cub catcher Rick Stelmaszek was injured with a foul tip and he was down on ground for a very long time and needed to leave the game. As a young boy, this was a scary scene, as there was silence at Shea and then applause as he left the field (perhaps on a stretcher?). Does anyone remember this? I also got autographs of two Cub legends that day...Oscar Zamora and Jim Todd.

I remember this game that for the second year in a row, we had front row field level seats by the tarp. Got a nice picture of Tug McGraw as he walking from the bullpen before the game. My father had a Grote foul ball bounce out of his hands, the closest we had to a foul ball. I remember the Cub catcher going down in the game as well, it was scary, in the age before the Yeager flap. A shame they lost both games.

50 Years ago today I attended this twinight doubleheader and got the thrill of participating in the Banner Day Parade. My cousin Frankie and I walked in from centerfield carrying our simple banner "We believed in '73 and even more in '74" I remember walking onto and kicking the mound. There was security at home plate who was sending marchers off towards the Mets and Cubs dugout and bullpens. We were directed towards the Cubs side but went around security towards the Mets. Only player we saw was newly acquired Jack Aker watching from steps of Mets dugout.

This was the first major league game I ever attended. My recollection is that the Reds only run came on a homer by Johnny Bench that went into the parking lot.

This is the second game I ever went to, and the first one I recall.

Two memories stand out:

1. Bob Apodaca started and won. 2. Pete Rose was booed like crazy.

And I got the autograph of The Sign Man, who sat me in his box seat when Rose batted, in order to hold up, I suppose, an anti-Rose sign.

This was the first game I ever attended. I was 7 years old. I went with my Father, brother and Uncle.

My Uncle passed away several years ago. My Father has ALS and may not be around much longer.

I sat between home and the Mets dugout. I clearly remember Bench's HR. I also remember Hahn's. I began following Hahn's career because I thought it was so cool that he hit a dinger while I was there. I didn't (couldn't) follow it very long.

I also remember a kid with his father (I suppose) who seats were near ours not only catching a foul ball...but catching two!

I thought it was just a given that I would get a few. Still waiting for my first foul ball. 30 years and counting...

Great web site fellas.

None of the previous entries of this game mention its most noteworthy thing - Bob Apodaca's run-scoring double that put the Mets ahead for good. Apodaca's hit came with two outs in the fourth inning and got a sign card displayed by Karl Ehrhardt in the stands that said "Apodacado" (a take off on Fred Flintstone's 'Yabba Dabba Doo'.)

This was my first ever baseball game at Shea. I was only 7 years old and could not appreciate that I was seeing one of the best pitchers ever in his prime. What I do remember was that it was Camera Day and the Mets would walk around the field and you could get photos while the Reds had batting practice. We had seats in the upper deck (and in fair territory). The closest we could get was underneath the auxiliary scoreboard. I still have those photos. George Theodore walked around with a red beret. We even got one of the bullpen cars that used to bring relievers into the game: those baseballs with the team cap on top. As for the game, I can only remember a few things, the Reds winning, Seaver getting a first pitch strike on Pete Rose, my mother and grandmother bringing a lot of food, the subway ride to and from the game, leaving the game early (my parents were Communists!) and trying to watch it from the subway platform.

This was my first game too. I was also 7 years old.

This was my first baseball game attended in person. It was on my birthday and it was a complete surprise. I remember being very excited to see the game and still recall a foul ball hit by Joe Morgan striking my mother's wrist breaking her watch. The ball rolled away and was grabbed by the guy sitting next to me. I have been to many games since and that is still the closest I came to getting a foul ball.

This was the only complete game of Harry Parker's career, a nine-hitter won by the Mets, 3-1. John Milner had a solo home run.

Andy Messersmith was the losing pitcher, only his third loss of the year on the way to a 20-6 record.

For more details on the game, please see my comments under Harry Parker.

I remember this game because it was my first Met game in Shea. I also remember The Hammer's homer was a very long one off the scorboard.

I remember the crowd roaring after Milner's homer hit halfway up the scoreboard. Parker pitched an excellent game that night...

Only 8 at the time. My third trip to Shea. The first trip with a happy recap as the Mets came back against Mike Marshall. Watching Marshall in the World Series that year, I thought if Mets can beat him, they can't be that bad. Experience has tempered that early optimism.

I remember that my Grandfather was on vacation and took me to this weekday afternoon game. Sat in the mezzanine, third base side.

I have always remembered the Mets coming back against Marshall in this one. But not until looking at the box score here was I reminded that Marshall was being asked to complete his 4th inning of relief. This from a man who would appear in 106 regular season games as well as the post season.

As I recall Rusty Staub lined the game winning hit over the drawn in outfield. I also had a memory of Davey Lopes stealing 2nd and coming up from his head first slide choking from the dirt, but looks like he was thrown out on the play.

And how about that noted speedster Bill Buckner with 2 stolen bases giving him 26 on the way to a career high 31. Who could have predicted what fate had in store for him on this very field?

This was my first game at Shea Stadium, in fact the first time I had seen a game in person, at the age of thirteen. I went with my aunt, uncle and cousins, who were also all Mets fans. The trip seemed too long at the time (4 hours). Today, the trip seems so much shorter. No one ever forgets the feeling of walking up tunnel from under the stands and seeing the green playing field for the first time. I've been to many games since then, and the feeling is still the same. My most vivid memory of this game is of Rusty Staub getting the game winning hit in the bottom of the 9th. He was my first favorite Met and will always be a favorite.

The first game I ever went to with my Dad! I remember taking the bus from the S.I. Ferry terminal and the bus driver did not know the way to Shea! What stands out for me the most though was that Tug pitched two scoreless innings and got the win in this game! It was a shame that he was gone at the end of the season! It was the first and only time I got to see Tug pitch! I had forgotten that Tom Seaver had started this game. Still, it was a great day at Shea all the same!

Philip J Fry was born right after the Mets won this game. His mom was listening to it on the radio during labor.

Hard to believe it is 50 years ago today that my vacationing grandfather took me to this weekday afternoon game.(Or that I first commented on this game 19 years ago.) I also realize I am older today than my grandfather was on this day. Thanks Pop Pops!

This was my first Mets game. I was a 9 year old kid at the time. I still have the ticket stub and Mr. Met button my parents bought me.

After 30 years, I still have fond memories of this game.

Thanks Mom & Dad for making my dreams come true.

Let's Go Mets!

This game certainly had an ironic twist to it. Ray Sadecki pitches a complete game and drives in the only run with a single for a 1-0 shutout win. The player who scores the run on Sadecki's hit is Jim Gosger. When the Mets acquired Sadecki in a trade with the Giants a few years earlier, Gosger was sent to San Francisco in the deal.

Isn't it funny how things can work out in baseball?

On this night Mets LF Bennie Ayala hit a home run in his first major league at bat. It came with one out in the bottom of the second off Houston RHP Tom Griffin.

My dad took me to this game for my 14th birthday and we sat in the left field Mezzanine among a bunch of Benny Ayala's extended family - cousins, uncles and such. They were thrilled that Benny was starting in his first Major League game and when he hit a Home Run in his first at-bat they went wild, hugging and kissing each other (and us!)

It was a great memory I often shared with my father for many years afterwards, and remains one of my fondest memories of time spent with him.

Back when night games started at 8:05, my sister and her boyfriend took me. We left our house in Bridgeport a little before 7:30 and as we were walking to our seats I saw this #18 circling the bases. I had no idea who he was. It was Benny.

This was also the first of four starts that the Mets gave Tug McGraw at the end of the 1974 season. I'm not sure whether it was a test to see whether to convert him back to a starter in 1975 or to increase his potential trade value, but of course, he was eventually traded to the Phillies.

I brought a banner my friend and I made out of a manilla folder to this game - years later we had our Citi Field brick inscribed with the same message. I sat in the loge on the 3rd base side and kept score. Still have that program with my 11 year old's scratchy handwriting denoting Benny's blast.

This was my 10th birthday .... I think that they gave away "photo albums" that day. I can remember my father bringing several of my friends to the game and we all got those great photo albums with framable (sp?) pictures of Teddy Martinez.

It was Dairylea photo album day, and Shea was packed. It was my first trip to a big-legue game and Seaver completely dominated Houston that afternoon. I've been a Met fan my whole life, and I'll never forget that game.

This was my very first Met game. I was 11 years old, and could not sleep the night before in anticipation of going to my first game. I remember that it was a Thursday afternoon, 4:05PM start, and most of the Met subs started that day, like Theodore, Martinez and Dyer. However, Tom Seaver started, and pitched his finest game of that subpar season, in which he went 11-11. I'll never forget the feeling I had when I saw the field in person for the first time. We got great seats in Loge behind home plate, first row. That day will live in my memory forever.

Wow, apparently this was a first for many people. I was 8, and this was the first Mets game I ever attended. It was a make-up game for a rain-out earlier in the year and my Dad and I drove out to Shea at the last minute because he heard tickets were still available. The seats weren't terrific, but Tom sure was.

I was seven years old and this was the first game I ever went to. For some reason I always thought that this game was played on a Sunday. I remember that the place was packed and that Tom Seaver pitched a shut-out that day.

My parents are from France, so this was also the first game my father, mother, and sister attended. My sister’s friend was supposed to come with us, but she stepped on a bee that morning.

My father wasn’t a baseball fan, but he really enjoyed watching George Theodore play. He thought that the gangly outfielder was funny. My mother became a baseball fan and Rusty was her favorite player. My sister loved Wayne Garrett and Buddy Harrelson was my favorite.

We were all happy that day because each person’s favorite player was in the game. I remember my sister and I were really excited to receive the photo album. It seams strange now, but in those days it was really rare to find large color pictures of baseball players. My sister cut each individual picture and tacked them to her wall. I remember they stayed on her wall for about two years.

My sister remained a Met fan until Wayne Garrett was traded for Pepe Manguel. Then she switched her allegiance and started following the Yankees (How terrible!). My mother and I remain Mets fan until this day.

This was my first MLB game as well. I was 8 years old, and my family was up from D.C. visiting friends. Made me a life-long Mets fan. I vividly remember Seaver pitching the complete game, and that it was a shutout. I had forgotten about the photo albums until visiting this site. Wow, brings back memories. I also recall that Seaver had to pitch his way out of a (bases-loaded?) jam in one of the later innings to preserve the goose egg. Anyone else recall that?

I remember the News joking the next day on the back page saying if you were gone for the whole summer and thought the Mets were in a pennant race with packed house you would be mistaken. I loved my photo album and Seaver pitched very well in an off year for him....

I remember one very unique moment from this game. In the eighth inning, the Mets had runners on second and third base and Wayne Garrett was being walked intentionally. On the fourth pitch to Garrett, the ball sailed over the catcher's head and a run came home. It was the only time I ever saw a wild pitch thrown during an intentional walk.

It was the first Mets game I ever attended and I went with my Cub Scout pack when I was 9 yrs old. The thing I remember most about this game was the Triple Rusty Staub hit to drive in the winning run against the Braves. It was also Hank Aaron's last appearance in New York with his original club in the National Leauge before going to Milwaukee, then in the junior circuit. Back to Staub's Triple, it was a rare sight to see and I'm sure he didn't hit too many of those in his career after that! Final score Mets 6, Braves 5

Glenn, your facts about this game are a little mixed up. Rusty Staub's triple came with two outs in the fourth inning. Ed Kranepool (no faster a runner than Staub) scored from first base on the hit and it gave the Mets a 4-0 lead. After a Braves comeback that put them ahead, Rusty came through with a two-out single in the eighth to drive home the tying and winning runs.

Also, Hank Aaron did not play in this game. His last appearance in New York as a Braves player and National Leaguer came the next day.

This was clearly the best starting assignment of Tug's career. Relief pitchers like Tug rarely start games today, but Tug did make occasional starts throughout his career with the Mets.

This was Henry Aaron's final appearance against the Mets. He batted cleanup and went 1-for-4 against Tug McGraw, who pitched a complete game five-hit shutout for the only shutout of his career. It was also the fifth and final complete game of Tug's career.

Aaron grounded into a double play in the first, singled in the fourth, lined out in the sixth, and popped out in the ninth.

It was a Sunday morning, and my Little League team -- Citizens National Bank -- from Tell City, Ind., was heading to a Big League game. It would be my first. Our coach had said earlier it would either be the Dodgers and the Reds, which pretty much everyone wanted to go to (in Tell City, along the Ohio River about an hour west of Louisville, Ky., almost EVERYONE was a Reds fan in the mid-70s), or the Mets at St. Louis. There were about three Cardinals fans on our team, and one Mets fan: me. Tom Seaver was my hero. Even at age 12, I realized I had to be different; I couldn't root for the Reds since everyone else did. I chose the Mets. I was born in 1962; they were born in 1962. It was destiny.

That morning, we gathered at the coach's house and he broke the news: the Reds and Dodgers, in the heat of a pennant race, was sold out. We were going to St. Louis. My prayers were answered.

It was the only time I saw Seaver pitch in person, but what a glorious day. He had a bad year that year, but won that game on a Wayne Garrett home run into the right field corner. Lou Brock stole an important base, can't recall if he tied a record or what. It was the same day Evel Knievel attempted his idiotic rocket jump across Snake River canyon. But my thoughts were only on Seaver, the Mets and the bobble headed Mets guy and the big Mets pennant I bought and the Mets win. I was about the only happy guy on the long 4-hour drive home that day!

Woke up about 3 or 4 in the morning.....they're still playing.....Cards go ahead in the top of the 25th....Bob Murphy says, "Wouldn't it be great if the Mets tied it up.....and we went another 10 or so......."

I went to this game! Was getting ready to head for the exit with the Mets up by two runs - two out in the top of the ninth. Ken Reitz hits a homer and ties it up. We stick it out until about the 15th inning. One long subway ride later - I get home to see it's still on TV! Don't think I made it past the 20th before calling it a night.

I was in college at the time and sat down when the game became tied. I told myself I would watch it until the end. Osteen pitched a great game 9 + innings late in the game. He was near the end of his career. Bake McBride scored all the way from 1st on an overthrown pick off throw to 1st. After the game on Kiner's Corner, he was asked why he kept running around third even though the coach did not signal him to run. He said sonething like we have been here long enough already and I just wanted to go home.

I lived ten minutes from Shea Stadium. In around the 15th inning I called a friend and we headed off to Shea. We walked in to the stadium and grabbed a box seat somewhere behind home plate, on the 1st base side. I was well aware that the longest game ever ended in a 1-1 tie in 26 innings due to darkness in 1920. Here we are sitting in on history, although we missed the first 16 innings.

Bake McBride is on 1st base in the top of the 25th with no one out. He's taking a big lead and the Mets pitcher has him picked off easily, as McBride heads for 2nd. OOPS! He throws the ball down the right field line, and McBride is off to the races. It's like little league where the guy is not going to stop for anything in the world. The 3rd base coach has his arms up pleading for McBride to stop at 3rd with no one out. McBride flies thru the stop sign. The relay from rightfield to the infield to home was on the money, and McBride is going to be out from Flushing to Bayside. Only problem the throw short hops the catcher who can't hang on. The next 3 Cardinals went down in order.

Mets fail to score in the bottom of the 25th. We still got to see 9 innings.

A couple of obscure records were set in this game. The Mets sent 103 batters to the plate, the largest total in major league history...and the only time 100 batters have been up for one team in one game (St. Louis had 99 plate appearances in the game).

Also, a record 45 men were left on base by the two teams.

Thirty-five year old veteran Claude Osteen pitched 9.1 innings in relief, coming into the game in the fourteenth inning, and leaving in the 23rd. Jerry Cram pitched eight innings of shutout relief for the Mets.

It was also the first major league game for Bruce Boisclair, who came on as a pinch-runner for Duffy Dyer in the 23rd inning.

The Mets did not score over the final twenty innings of the game.

Blame Ken Reitz for the late night: it was his two-out home run in the top of the ninth that tied the score and spoiled Jerry Koosman's bid for a complete game four-hitter. Reitz averaged just eight home runs per 162 games in his career.

Joe Torre went 2 for 9. The SS for the Cards was Mike Tyson (NOT the boxer). The Mad Hungarian pitched in this game (When I would play wiffle ball with my friend I would imitate Al H. and his mad as heck pitching stance.) Plus making a brief pinch-hitting appearance was a St. Louis rookie who went 0 for 1. You may have heard of him: Keith Hernandez.

I was in school; the year had just started. My older brother took me to the game. We stayed the whole time. My father yelled at my brother when we got home. I got into big trouble. Talk about being out late on a school night!!

Talked with Jerry Cram in 2009 in Bakersfield at a local game (Bak vs San Jose Giants). Jerry being my cousin answered my question, what do you remember about THAT game, said, "I came in at one o'clock in the morning and was still pitching at three." I did not go to the game. My mom's a Cram.

I went to this game with 3 guys I worked with. I was an avid Cardinal fan. When Reitz hit his HR in the 9th and the Mets failed to score in the bottom of the inning, we were thrilled to get extra innings. The other 3 guys, including my boss, wanted to leave around the 14th inning, but I refused to go. We all had to be at work at 8:00 sharp that morning. We stayed through 23 innings and then gave up and left. I think it was around 3 AM. Then we got lost on the way home, heard the end of the game on the radio, and realized we should have stayed til the end.

The worst part was that I bought 2 tix that night to the next night's game. My buddy came to pick me up the next afternoon and I was so sound asleep that I didn't hear the doorbell. He went to a pay phone and called me and I dragged myself out for another game. Barely stayed awake through that one.

I've always been glad that I was there on Sept 11 to see history but regret that I left after 23 innings.

Of all of the games I've been to, this one will always be one of my top favorite memories, because

#1 - in those days, players who were taken out of the game were not allowed to leave the ballpark until the game ended, but many of the Mets players got bored sitting in the locker room for such a long time, so some of them came and sat in the stands with their families or by themselves to watch the rest of the game. George Theodore sat in the row behind us.

#2 - As the game went on and on and Shea Stadium emptied, it became more and more fun to be one of the overtired faithful few that remained. We stayed until the very end.

#3 - Late in the game, they were calling Ralph Kiner over the PA system, asking him to return to the broadcast booth. Later on, they found him asleep in the Kiner's Korner Studio, where he had gone to prepare for his show in the 18th inning, when it looked like the game would be over soon.

I was 16 years old and a sophomore at Ramapo High School in Franklin Lakes, NJ. My father took me and our neighbor who was a custodian at Ridgewood High School a die-hard Cardinals fan to the game. My dad caught a foul ball and we stayed for the whole game. There wasn't a lot of people left and some were sleeping when the game ended. We got home around 5 am and I made it to school the next day. What a wild game, only to have it end on a error! That was one of the best memories I have of my father and neighbor!

The Mets were just playing out the season.

The Mets and Cardinals played a 25-inning game that was decided by an unearned run. This marathon featured Cleon Jones' 93rd and last career homer, Bruce Boisclair's major league debut in the bottom of the 23rd and Brock Pemberton's first hit in the 25th. Boisclair had entered as a pinch-runner and was left stranded at third base. Jerry Cram, who pitched eight scoreless innings of relief, singled in the 18th for the only hit of his career. The whole thing lasted a total of seven hours and four minutes.

Not that Mets fans would be interested, but I've got to include this. While the Mets and Cards were going on and on and on, the Yankees were playing a twi-night doubleheader in Baltimore. The Orioles won the opener in 17 innings and the Yanks took the nightcap in the regulation nine. The two New York teams combined for 51 innings in three games on one night. That's a lot of baseball!

This was my first game attended as an 7 year old child. The Mets were blown out 12-0, but I still had a great time. In the 30 years since, I have attended hundreds of games, including many incredible memories.

I was at this game, and I remember that the scoreboard posted a message that Bill Madlock was taken out of the game because he was injured when he slid into home. I don't know if it was common to post information like that on the scoreboard in those days, but that's the only time I ever saw something like that.

This game served as the debut of a young Expo named Gary Carter and a former first-round draft choice pitching for the Mets named Randy Sterling. Sterling got the better of the game (his only MLB win) and got Carter out twice as Gary went 0 for 4, but their careers diverged after that. Carter grounded out to 3B (Garrett to Milner) in his first at-bat. He did throw out Mike Jorgensen trying to steal.

My bad on the last post. Mike Jorgensen was, of course, already an Expo by this game.

Making his major league debut for the Expos as a late season callup in front of 9000+ diehards at Parc Jarry? Gary Edmund Carter. He went 0 for 4, not a way to start a great HOF career but then again Willie Mays went 0 for 24 before getting his 1st hit. As they say "You Never Know". R.I.P. Kid 1954-2012

Ed K, Carter could not have thrown out Mike Jorgensen stealing in this game. Both of them were playing for the Expos. Jorgensen was thrown out by Mets catcher Ron Hodges in the first inning.

Jon Matlack pitches a 3-hit shutout for his 13th and final win of the season. In 1974 Matlack had 13 wins and 7 of them were shutouts.

This was Jon Matlack's seventh shutout of the season which led the National League for 1974. Matlack pitched a three-hitter and even helped his own cause by driving home two of the Mets' four runs. Two years later, Matlack would pitch six shutouts to tie for the league lead with the Giants' John Montefusco.

One word of note here is that the Mets' third run was scored by pinch-runner Jim Gosger on a single by Wayne Garrett. This was Gosger's last game of his career.

Was Belt Day at the Vet. Game 1 of double header. Seaver pitched well. Tommy Hutton had good luck against him.

A rainy cold miserable day at Shea with 2 rain delays totaling over an hour. Went with the boy scouts and the 2 dad scout leaders saying what the hell are we doing here freezing and wet. Every time they wanted to go home, we said no! Pirates had so much hitting with Oliver Zisk Stargell and Parker I was jealous as a 12 year old. Those dads had gotten the tickets very early in the year thinking there would be a pennant race...

This was Fan Appreciation Day at Shea. All fans passing the turnstiles received a Mets tote bag. It was the first time my friends and I attended a game without adult supervision. We had a group of about twelve 11 and 12 year olds. We waited in a long line for our $1.30 GA tickets. They were stamped "Standing Room Only". Despite the disappointing season, Shea was packed. Nobody knew where the "Standing Room Only" area was so we wound up running around the ballpark and missing most of the game. At one point we were on the terrace above the 341 mark in RF and watched a young Nino Espinosa tune up the bullpen. A security guard directed us to seats in the last row of seats (row V) in the RF upper level. We finally sat in the top of the seventh just in time to see Bob Apodaca lose his no-hit bid! A wild day for a bunch of kids, we missed most of the game but I was just the first of endless treks to Shea for my for my buddies and me.

I still have my tote bag, and pics of the game. I was 9, sitting on the Mets side. There was a rain delay. Bob Apodaca was great that day.

This was the game Seaver needed 13 K's to keep his streak of consecutive seasons with 200 strikeouts goings. He did it with one to spare - but lost the game 2-1 anyway, so typical of the Mets offense in the early 1970's.