Every other NL stadium the Mets visited in 1962, they opened their first game ever there with a loss. But they won their first game ever at Wrigley on this day.

Gil Hodges tied the game in the eighth on an inside-the-park homer! He was exhausted at home plate.

Hodges inside-the-park homer was the first ever by a Met hitter.

From May 12 through May 16, the Mets went 4-1 and had 4 (FOUR) walkoff wins (what were they called in 1962?) in five days, this game being the last one in that stretch.

Jay Hook got the win in relief and after this game he had a winning record (3-2). Still, I don't support that. Why use starters in relief? That's a rhetorical question, but maybe someday I'll call WFAN and complain that Casey Stengel used starting pitchers as relievers for the 1962 Mets just for fun.

After this game they were 9-18, only 9 games under .500. This was also their second walkoff win against the Cubs in as many days. It's cool that Gil Hodges hit that inside-the park-home run. Would have been great to see. All the Brooklyn Dodger fans turned Mets fans must have been elated.

I can imagine seeing that home run on a black and white TV and thinking if Hodges could do this all season, the Mets could make a run at the pennant.

After this win, the 9-18 Mets were in 9th place and 2.5 games ahead of the last place Cubs, who were 9-23.

By the end of the year, the Cubs (59-103) were the only team the Mets didn't have a losing record against, going 9-9 for the season series.

This game broke a 17 game losing streak. I had a sprained ankle and listened to the game on the radio. The Met's announcers treated the ninth inning like the seventh game of the World Series.

This was the first game of a doubleheader at Wrigley and the Mets finally ended their infamous losing streak which had reached 17 games. I recall hearing the end of the game on radio after I got home from school - most weekday games on the road were not televised back then. Charlie Neal hit a SF in the top of the 9th to bring in an unearned run to put the Mets ahead, and Craig Anderson saved it for Jay Hook in the bottom of the 9th - although saves were not an official stat yet.

Of course, the Mets promptly went out and lost the nightcap!

The game in which Marv Throneberry in the first inning messed up a would-be triple by not touching 2B. When Casey went out to argue the ump's call, the most common version of the story is that the Mets' 1B coach told him not to bother because Marv had missed touching 1B too.

This first game of a Father's Day doubleheader helped launch two fabulous careers. As mentioned above, the first belongs to Marvelous Marv Throneberry. Although Marv was at the tail end of a mediocre career as a player, his "triple" on this date placed him squarely on a path that would lead to immortality with Whitey and the Mick in the Lite Beer Drinkers' Hall of Fame.

This game also had the distinction of helping the Cardinals become the 1960's National League Team of the Decade, when a second great career emerged on this date. This occured in the first inning, as Cubs rookie center fielder Lou Brock stepped in against Al Jackson - lefty versus lefty. At the time, Lou had only two things going for him in making the jump from Class C ball: more speed than Maury Wills and - unfortunately for Cubs fans - more straight away power than Frank Howard. In this game, as he faced Jackson with two out and a runner on third, the 5'9", 175 lb. Brock missed the first pitch on a bunt attempt, then took ball one outside. Waiting to unload on pitch #3, Lou may have thought back to a Sunday three months earlier in Mesa, when he faced another lefty breaking ball specialist in a Cactus League game, and drove Warren Spahn's screwball 500 feet through thin desert air.

Of course, that was spring training, and Spahnie wasn't overexerting himself as he prepared for his 18th season with the Braves. But on this hot and muggy June 17th in New York, Jackson, like Brock, was only a rookie, trying to close-out a first inning in which the Cubs already had scored two runs. Brock, however, did connect with his next pitch, driving the ball high above Richie Ashburn in center, just to the right of the clubhouse, where it hit the top of the 30 foot high Batter's Eye background, 475 feet from home plate. As it bounced another 20 feet into the stands, Lou became the only lefty hitter who would ever reach the Polo Grounds bleachers (other than Babe Ruth in 1920-22, when home plate was 20 feet closer).

That home run, Brock's seventh in just his first two months in the majors, brought Lou instant recognition as a power hitter, and very well could have sealed his fate as the Corey Patterson of the 60's, because it led him to swing more often for distance. He began to strike out regularly and, two years later, had managed to hit only 13 more home runs for the Cubs, while compiling a .260 lifetime batting average. Along with these numbers, Lou's play in right or center field was always an adventure, as he would sometimes break the wrong way on line drives, or let pop ups bounce off the heel of his glove.

Fortunately for Lou, his incredible shot to the Polo Grounds bleachers did not spell the end of his effectiveness as a hitter, nor did it remain the high point of his career. Teams in the NL other than the Cubs were not managed by an inept College of Coaches, and leaders such as Gene Mauch, Danny Murtaugh, and Johnny Keane quickly recognized what Brock's speed could do at the top of a lineup. All of them pushed their front offices to trade for him. The Cards, of course, won out, and Brock became an instant star in St. Louis, playing left field to limit his defensive shortcomings, hitting line drives or hard grounders through the infield, and literally stealing his way into Cooperstown.

I was an 11 year old kid at this game, we sat on the third base side. I remember Throneberry's triple that wasn't because he missed touching the bases. I also remember Lou Brock's home run into center field. I remember someone in the crowd near us listening to a transistor radio at the time saying that no one else ever hit a homer into those seats. We were amazed because the stadium was old as the hills. I also remember the Cubs rookie 2nd baseman Kenny Hubbs. Before the first game the Cubs were taking practice. And a ball rolled near the stands and a mentally challenged boy, either ran a step onto the field or reached over and grabbed the ball. Either way, one of the users ran over and took away the ball. The poor kid was devastated. Kenny Hubbs saw this and pulled a baseball from his pocket and brought it over to the kid. I became a Hubbs fan from that day on seeing the nice thing Hubbs did for that poor kid. Unfortunately Hubbs died young, he died in the off season, learning how to fly a plane like Munson years later. His plane crashed and he was killed. I guess it's true the good die young. When you are as young as I was then, you remember everything. It was my first Mets game, a doubleheader. And the Mets were a lovable team even though they stunk. They probably would have lost to my little league team. But I had been a Yankee fan and they were perfect. Perfection is boring, it's like rooting for Exxon (in those days Esso). Those Mets were "our Mets" -- who else would want them?

This is the game in which Casey put Richie Ashburn at 2B late in the game for the first time. Ashburn had only played outfield his entire major league career. A few days later, in the final game of the season (and Ashburn's career), Casey gave him a start at 2B.

I remember thinking at the time that Casey had run out of infielders but the boxscore does not seem to indicate it. There were only three pinch hitters and one other replacement during the game. Maybe Richie just asked to do it. The Mets were losing 9-2. Does anyone else recall the details?

Final home game of the 1962 season. The Cubs scored a run in the top of the first off Bob Miller but Frank Thomas tied it in the fifth with a home run and then Thomas won it for New York with a two out single in the bottom of the ninth.

A signature moment came in the bottom of the eighth inning of this game. At seventeen years of age, Ed Kranepool doubled against Cubs' reliever Don Elston for his first major league hit. Kranepool would collect a total of 1,418 hits over eighteen seasons with the Mets.

The paid attendance for this game at Wrigley was 595.

The better of the two Bob Millers on the team was the Met's fourth starter in the rotation and didn't win a game until this one which was his final start of the season in the Mets next to last game that year.

As Ed K says above, Bob Miller was the winner in this game for his only win and first complete game of the season in 21 starts. The win breaks a personal 12-game losing streak for Miller and he finishes the year 1-12.

The Cubs' only run came on a homer by Ernie Banks. Dick Ellsworth was the losing pitcher, his 20th loss of the year. Ellsworth bounced back to win 22 games in 1963.

Bob L. Miller pitched a seven-hitter in this game for his only win of 1962. Miller had been defeated twelve times during the year and also suffered losses in his last three decisions with the Cardinals the previous season. The win here ended Miller's own string of 15 straight defeats. It was his first mound victory since April of 1961.

As Bob P stated, Cubs' pitcher Dick Ellsworth lost his twentieth game of the season here, but then recorded 22 wins a year later. Miller also had better luck in 1963. Bob had a 10-8 record with the Dodgers on their way to a World Series championship.

This was an unfortunate day for the Mets. In this, the worst season in modern-day baseball history, the Mets actually had a chance to win the season series against the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs did not have a great team by any stretch of the imagination that year, as witnessed by the fact that the Mets beat them 9 times, but there is no doubt that the Mets wasted a golden opportunity there. Well, that's my take on that game, which was won by the Cubs. Of course, if anyone has anything else to say, they are more than welcome, since I wasn't born until 1984. Oh well, Cubs All The Way!

The final game of the first season...and how about this for typical: Joe Pignatano (who would later become a Mets coach under Gil Hodges) hit into a triple play in the 8th inning. It was the last major league at bat of Pignatano's career.

In an unrelated incident in Tampa, Florida, Dave Magadan was born on this day.

Piggy's triple play was the first-ever hit into by a Met. It happened in his last MLB at bat in the 8th inning. He hit a Texas League fly to shallow right that Cubbie secondbaseman Ken Hubbs made a great catch of and threw to Ernie Banks at 1B who threw to Andree Rogers (the SS) covering 2B. Ashburn and Drake were the baserunners caught off 1B and 2B. Hubbs, of course, was Rookie Of the Year and a Gold Glover in 1962 but died tragically in a small plane crash in Utah at the age of 23 just before Spring Training started in 1964.

One other item of note: It was the final game of Richie Ashburn's Hall-Of-Fame career and Casey started him at 2B. Ashburn had been solely an outfielder for fifteen years until Casey had let him play an inning or two at 2B late in a game earlier in the month. Ashburn retired and became a Phillies announcer for decades until dying of a heart attack while in NYC for a Mets- Phillies series.

The Mets' last game of their first season had quite a grand finale within itself. In the eighth inning, Sammy Drake and Richie Ashburn got consecutive singles before Joe Pignatano hit into a triple play in the final at bat of his career. It was also the end for both Drake and Ashburn, neither of whom ever appeared in the major leagues again. This is the only triple play in which each one of the three men out was playing his last career game.

This was the first shutout by a Met righthander ever - in 1962, lefty Al Jackson had all four Met shutouts. This was the first of four shutouts in 1963 by Willey. Grover Powell had the only other one by a Met all season.

This was also the first shutout by a Met pitcher that wasn't part of a doubleheader. All four of Al Jackson's shutouts in 1962 had been during the first games of doubleheaders - and the Mets lost the second game each time.

This was the Mets' FIRST EVER win of a regular season game on a Thursday, boosting their record to 1-19!

In the first game of a Memorial Day doubleheader at the Polo Grounds, the Cubs trounced the Mets 12-0, scoring ten runs in the top of the fourth.

Al Jackson and Larry Bearnarth allowed six hits and seven walks in the inning. Cubs 1B Stee Boros and C Dick Bertell each walked twice in the fourth inning.

Tim Harkness had three of the Mets' six hits.

Another great pitching effort by Hook. Falling behind in the 1st on a Ken Hubbs triple and a Ron Santo sac fly, Hook gave up only an 8th inning single by CF Landrum (I believe it was Ken) the rest of the way. The Duke was the Mets only offense this game accounting for both runs with a 4th inning homer and 2 out game winning rbi single in the 6th scoring Piersall who worked out a 1 out walk.

I attended this game, and I was 10 years old. The Cubs scored 2 runs in the top of the inning to take a 6-4 lead, and Jim Hickman hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 14th (I thought it was the 10th)to win it. If you can confirm this, or e-mail me a boxscore of this game, I will greatly appreciate it. My local radio sport-talk station, brought this game up and they believe that the score was tied when Hickman hit the grand slam. Obviously, if the final score was 8-6, the score was not tied and I was right. It would give great pleasure if you can send me this boxscore so I can present it to WFAN (N.Y) and prove I was right. Thank you, you have not idea how long I was looking for this game on the Internet. Your site is great!

Elio is wrong on one key fact. The grand slam was hit by Tim Harkness. Hickman's memorable grand slam that season came several weeks later when it ended Roger Craig's losing streak. Those 2 games still rank among my top 10 Mets games ever!

I was at this game as part of a Cub Scout outing. I was 8 years old at the time. It was the second and last game I ever saw in the Polo Grounds. We left in the 11th inning, and later I heard that Harkness hit a grand slam to win it. Over the years, I have read many books about the Mets first few years, books that have described some individual games, good and bad (mostly bad, of course). But I have never seen this one mentioned. I kept thinking, if the Mets really won a game in 1963 on an extra-inning grand slam, wouldn't one of these books have mentioned such a dramatic event? So I began to believe that it really didn't happen. I figured that it was just another loss to the Cubs. This confirms that there really was such a game. If anyone can dig up a box score, I would be thrilled. Thanks a lot.

Thanks to retrosheet adding more boxscores recently we can finally re-create the events of this memorable game!

It was a Wednesday afternoon at the Polo Grounds, the final game of a six-game homestand which saw the Mets win three of the first five. Al Jackson was the Mets starter but he got in trouble right away, giving up runs in each of the first two innings. As the game went to the bottom of the sixth, Chicago's Bob Buhl had a 4-0 lead and he was working on a two-hit shutout. But the Mets pulled together a two-out rally thanks to a single by Ron Hunt, and RBI double by Duke Snider, and a two-run homer by Frank Thomas. In the eighth, Thomas singled in pinch-hitter Choo Choo Coleman to tie the game at 4-4.

As the game went to the 14th inning, the Met bullpen--Larry Bearnath, Tracy Stallard, Carlton Willey and Galen Cisco--had pitched five innings of hitless relief. The Cubs had not had a hit since the fifth inning. But Cisco walked Don Landrum with one out in the 14th and with two outs the Cubs got their first hit in nine innings: an inside-the-park homer by Billy Williams.

The Mets came up in the bottom of the inning and got a leadoff single by Jim Hickman. Ron Hunt followed with a single but Hickman was thrown out on the bases by RF Lou Brock. After a walk to Jimmy Piersall, Frank Thomas flied out for the seond out. Then LHP Jim Brewer came into the game to face lefty batter Sammy Taylor, who worked out a walk. Another lefty batter was next: Tim Harkenss. Tim had been 3-for-6 in the game so far (a popular misconception is that Tim was pinch- hitting here). Tim hit a walk-off grand slam to give the Mets one of their most memorable wins of the early days.

After the game, the crowd exited on to the field at the Polo Grounds. It seemed as if the entire stadium congregated at the clubhouse steps in centerfield. We were all screaming for Tim Harkness to come out and take a bow. It might have been the first 'curtain call' for a Met. He made an appearance at the doorway of the clubhouse and everyone went crazy.The 64 Met yearbook has a picture of Harkness from behind waving to the crowd.

I went to this game a part of an end of year school class trip. Being 13 years old at the time, me and a few friends thought that it would be fun to leave the main group of students (~60 or so) and find a better place to watch the game than the seats we had out deep left field. We departed the main group in about the 6th or 7th inning, and sneaked our way into some seats near third base. As the game went into extra innings, we never considered that the rest of the school would not stay until the end of the game (At that age, we were oblivious to the schedules of the bus driver, teachers, etc.). After the grand slam, we returned to where our classmates had been, only to find the area completely empty - except, that is, for one very angry school principal! Well, even though we all got into trouble (or as much trouble as you could get into at the end of the school year), we were all so excited by how Tim ended the game, that I'm sure we all would have made the same choice over again, given the opportunity. Of course, since the buses had left hours earlier with the rest of the kids, we had to ride back to Yonkers in the principal's car and listen to his tirade. It became clear as the ride progressed that much of this was an obligatory act, and in fact the principal, who was a "closet" Mets fan, had actually enjoyed having an excuse to see the whole game.

Having seen hundreds of games at Shea, Yankee Stadium, Oakland Coliseum, Candlestick Park, ATT Park, and a few other places, that afternoon in 1963 at the Polo Grounds is still my most memorable and favorite baseball recollection.

There was a magazine article regarding Met fans that showed pictures of Tim Harkness waving to the fans from the top of the clubhouse steps after this game. Anyone know which magazine and the date of the magazine?

My first Mets game and the start of my greatest summer ever, about to start high school, but not yet working, so literally being in the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium every week to Labor Day!

First, regarding the above query about a pix of Harkness on the steps. I don't know about the magazine, but there was a wire service photo that appeared in the NJ Star-Ledger the next day, and yes, this was one of the most memorable games I've ever seen.

Look at the Cubs line-up: Who knew? Future HOFers Banks, Brock and Williams.

The Frank Thomas HR was a blast over the LF roof, and the Harkness game-winner was a cannon shot into the deepest part of RF, where the stands curved out, no PG chippie.

I was at this game too when I was 13. The game was tied and went to the 14th inning. The Cubs scored twice in the top half and the Mets were down to their last out in the home half when they loaded the bases and Hickman’s count ran to 3 and 2. I remember standing in Center field outside the clubhouses before exiting the field through the center field doors. We stood and chanted "Hickman, Hickman" who came out and gave us a wave. Great guy who was always willing to sign autographs for kids. Baseball the way it should be. I have an original scorecard from that game.

After the game my friends and I followed Ron Santo all around the outside of the park trying to get his autograph. He wouldn't sign unless we knew who he was, and we didn't. After going through the whole Cubs lineup we finally got it and he signed autographs for us. Unfortunately, we weren't as lucky with Billy Williams who was "too busy", talking with his "girlfriend".

I was the lucky guy that hit that latest inning grand slam in National League history, 14th inning to help beat the Cubs 8 to 6. It was a very hot day and having faced Jim Brewer many times in the minor leagues I knew what to expect and got a hold of one his low fastballs and drove it deep to right center four hundred and forty feet away. The fans wouldn't leave until I came out from the clubhouse in the Polo Grounds. Thanks to everyone who remembers the moment. Regards, Tim Harkness.

Based on these comments, there sure were a lot of 13 year olds at that game. I was one of them. What I remember was the pandemonium after the game, in the corridors leading out of the Polo Grounds and down into the subway. Everyone was just chanting "Let's Go Mets" and the sound was bouncing off the walls. It was so much fun. One thing I miss about New York baseball (either team) is going to and coming back from the game on the subway, where the excitement of the fans is really magnified. I live in Dallas now and when you go to the game you are isolated in your car with the windows closed and the air conditioning blowing. You just don't get the same feeling as being part of the crowd. Of course it is 100 degrees out. Tim Harkness - thanks for the memory!

I will remember this game for Mr Harkness and his grand slam. I didn't watch or listen to much of this game, as I was a kid playing outside. My father who wasn't much of a baseball fan drove up and called me urgently to the car to listen to the game. The game was crazy and exciting enough even for my father to listen. I ran through some sprinklers to get to the car and heard maybe one pitch called and then Harkness got it! An amazing Met win and Grand Slam to boot.

I was at this game with my father when I was eleven. We would drive down from Connecticut once or twice a year to see a game. I was a Cubs fan. I remember eating popcorn and then using the popcorn holder as a mini megaphone. I was positive the Cubs pitcher struck out Tim Harkness on a two-two count with a fastball on the outside corner. The ump said ball three and the pitcher went nuts. Next pitch--boom--game over. I was devastated. I remember the home run as a 280-foot shot down the right field line. Obviously I am wrong on that. I also remember how you could walk across the field to get to the parking lot in center field. It was a long drive back to Connecticut.

This was one of my favorite memories, although for the past 46 years I thought it was Lou Brock, not Billy Williams, that had set the stage in the top of the 14th. Playing stickball or baseball we always imagined; last at bat, two outs, trailing by 3 with a full count. It was nearly perfect. I was out in right, standing in a position that would allow a dash to the IND. I was high the entire 2 hour train and bus trip home. I attended 'game 6' with my wife and kids but I always rate this 1963 Cub game as number 1 in my Met memory bank. Probably because it is only a memory.

This memorable game was a turning point for both franchises. Almost by itself, it reignited the great New York-Chicago rivalry that had once been so important to National League baseball and, even today, decades after this game was played in front of a few thousand fans on a mid-season afternoon in the decrepit Polo Grounds, its fallout helps define both clubs. The Harkness Slam of '63 not only foreshadowed the undeniable Luck of the Mets that helped carry New York teams to titles in 1969, 1973, and 2000, (not to mention Game 6 in the '86 Series.) It also locked-in the defeatism that has surrounded the Cubs for more than 60 years. Yes, to any Cubs fans who may read this, I say - forget the Goat, Bartman, the over-the-top salesmanship of Jack Brickhouse, the constant moaning of Ron Santo, or even the cussedness of P.K. Wrigley himself. If you really want to pinpoint the source of your troubles since '63, look no further than - Tim Harkness!

This game has always meant a lot to me because I saw it with my late father. I was sitting to the right of home plate and saw Frank Thomas hit the ball right down the left field line. My impression was that he hit it out of the park towards the apartment buildings behind the left field stands. I also remember that the Billy Williams inside the park home run was sliced down that ridiculously short left field line and caromed off the wall away from the left fielder, giving him time to circle the bases. I'll always remember the sights, sounds, and smell (yes, smell- a peculiar combination of cigar and pipe smoke mixed with spilled beer) that you just don't get at the park today. I remember everyone rising to their feet as the 3-2 pitch was thrown. Oddly, I don't remember the flight of the ball (someone may have blocked my vision). I always think that this was the game that condemned me to a lifetime of Met baseball addiction.

I listened to this game from a curious vantage point: in the family car parked next to an empty Yankee Stadium. We'd packed the car that morning to head to our summer home, but my younger brother Roy -- 14 that year (not 13, as were so many other witnesses writing above) -- went to the game at the Polo Grounds, and plans were made for him to take the subway the one stop to Yankee Stadium after the game and join our northward passage. We were there by the eighth, and my father -- not a big ball fan -- was unenchanted as the game progressed into extra innings. We waited and listened, listened and waited.

Bob P, above, points out that the Met bullpen pitched hitless relief; in fact, they did so for eight and two-thirds innings -- 27 outs, including the last out of the fifth -- until Williams hit a fly that somehow eluded Frank Thomas in left, landing on the track before bouncing against the wall. (How Thomas allowed a fly ball to hit the track behind him in the Polo Grounds' notoriously short left field corner still rankles.) And my father groaned when the Mets loaded the bases in the bottom half of the fourteenth, envisioning the game re-tied and going on and on. But as Roy said when he joined us, Harkness hit it into the darkness, and we had a victory that still lifts the spirits -- almost half a century later.

This has now come full circle. I was the one who started this thread on Jan. 19 2001. It was so much fun reading everyone's comments, including the man who created the memory - Tim Harkness. I want to thank Fletcher Rabbit for correcting me that it was Tim Harkness and not Jim Hickman who performed the heroics, but again, I was only 10.

This game was always special to me but now it's even more special with all the comments you provided.

Thanks, to all of you.

I remember listening to that game on my portable transistor radio. School was over for the day, and I was in the playground in front of my building in the projects. I was eight years old and just about to finish fourth grade.

When Harkness came up with two outs and the bases loaded, I recall thinking how great it would be if he hit a grand slam. But that was too much to hope for; the Mets were such a bad team in those early days.

When it really did happen, you can imagine how great it felt.

Harkness had a brief (1961-1964) career and hit only 14 HRs. I imagine that one was the most memorable. He's 72 now; I'm 55.

It was one of the great moments in Met history, if not THE greatest.

I believe the game was not televised. Week-day games at home were the only home games that were not. Williams' inside-the-parker in the top of the 14th was described by Lindsey, Ralph, or Bob as a ball that Thomas should have played it safely on. I pictured Frank racing in and trying for a shoestring and missing it; the ball going behind him.

It was devastating. And then the wonderful Harkness hit the home run!

Unforgettable and truly memorable!

I remember sitting on the first base line. The count was full. Everyone in the Polo Grounds stood and started yelling. Harkness swung and you could hear the ball whistle on a line towards the right field wall. It cleared. It sounded like 50,000 people were there.

I was there too. After nearly 50 yrs it still is one of my favorite games. My cousin and I from New Rochelle subwayed from Woodlawn in The Bronx. In the top of the 14th I looked at my scorecard and realized that Mets pitchers had gotten 27 outs without allowing a hit since 2 outs in the 5th ( I don't think we have done that since that game.) We were so ticked off when Hickman was thrown out over running 2nd base while we tried to rally in he 14th, but then Harkness came through. We were on he field going crazy after the game when he took the curtain call from the top of the clubhouse steps. I think Life or Look Magazine ran the photo.

COOL FOLLOW UP: During the last season in Shea, former Mets were invited to different games to count down the final games at the stadium. My son was working as a Mets intern and called me saying he was escorting Tim Harkness and Ron Hunt who were there before the game to represent the 63 team. I told him to ask Harkness about a 14th-inning walk off granny. My son later called me to say how happy Harkness was when he mentioned his major league highlight.

I was at the game with a Hebrew Scholl and I was 11 years old and it was my first baseball game. What a memory. Tim Harkness became my hero.

I was at the game with my brother. The day was extremely hot - well over 90 - but our seats were in the shade. I remember the top of the 14th and the attempt by Frank Thomas to catch the sinking liner that turned into an inside-the-park home run. The home run as I recall came with 2 outs and a 3-2 count. It has to be one of the most memorable games that I have ever seen.

I listened to most of this game on the radio at home. I was a few days shy of my 14th birthday. When Harkness worked the count to 3 and 2 I wasn't even thinking about a home run..I was just praying that he could walk and bring us that much closer to a tie. When the announcer (I think it was Bob Murphy but it could have been Lindsey or Ralph) called the homer I went crazy with joy. I still remember that moment as a new senior citizen 51 years later.

I was 8. My uncle took me. This was my first game I ever attended. When Harkness hit the grand slam the crowd went crazy and I was hooked for life.

Yes yes I was there with a few of my diehard friends on a blistering 96 degree day. Only a few hundred fans stayed for the end of a game that lasted over 4 hours for a team that lost 111 games that season. When Harkness hit that impossible shot it impacted my life in a very powerful and profound way. Anything was possible when things looked hopeless . Euphoria propelled us out to the clubhouse steps in center field as we chanted for Harkness who finally appeared shy and a humble hero. It felt big. The following week that moment appeared in Life Magazine and in the adoring crowd is my crazy happy grinning face.

Was 11 and at the game with my cousin. Keeping scorecard I noticed that Met pitchers had thrown 9 innings of no hit ball from end of 5th thru beginning of the 14th. Then the Cubs rally on inside the park homer. Down 2 we are still hopeful and excited when first 2 Mets get hits and then Hickman is caught off of second base. We were furious with him. But true die yards we kept hoping. When we loaded the bases with 2 outs and the count went full we were going crazy and then Harkness blasts the walk off grand slam. The stadium was rocking. We were slapping hands and hugging strangers. We stood in center field cheering for Harkness until he came out and took what is the first "curtain call" I remember. My son met Harkness at Shea during the last season there and told him that I had told him about this game from 1963 being one of my favorite Met memories. Harkness was humble but excited to discuss it with him. Still brings a smile thinking of this game.

I was at this game with the Cub Scouts. I was 9 years old. We were forced to leave after 9 innings to return to NJ. My grandfather was a chaperone and we listened to the rest of game on a transistor radio. After the Harkness HR, Pop told me that was why you don’t leave games early. Over the years I have attended hundreds of games and very rarely left a game early. My wife and I watched the Mets beat Cardinals in 18 innings at St. Louis in 2015 for my longest game.

That was the first game I was allowed to attend without being accompanied by an adult, at age 11. My cousin and I were dropped off by our moms, who were to pick us up right after. About the 10th inning, my cousin’s mom talked her way in and as the crowd had diminished by that point, found us in the upper unreserved grandstand right behind home plate. She tried to get us to leave, saying my mom was waiting outside in the car. I knew my mom, knowing what a rabid Mets fan I was, wouldn’t expect me to leave a tie game before it was over, and would follow its progress on the radio. So we adamantly refused to leave, even when the Mets fell behind in the top of the 14th. When Harkness hit the HR to win it, we were vindicated, and even my cousin’s mom admitted it had been worth remaining. After all, she got to see four innings for free, complete with one of the most dramatic endings imaginable.

What a wide variety of memories! After 60 years, not surprising. This was one of the first games I got to watch in person (as a 10-year-old. before Shea Stadium was built). I could swear that the home run bounced off the right-field overhang, just down the right field line. This is the type of ending everyone could wish for!

Me and my cousin were 14 years old and had that grand slam hit right to us. We had the ball stuck between the slots on back of the seat, almost no people around, his fingers wrapped around one side of ball and mine on the other. I had his dad's camera and it was my responsibility so I let go and I really don't know who ended up with it, but in my mind, I'm 73 and it was like yesterday. Thanks Tim Harkness for the grand slam.

This was my first Cubs game 53 years ago today, doubleheader. Cubs won both. Yesterday, Mets completed 4 game sweep of Cubs in NY.

Jim Hickman hit a grand slam to end Craig's 18-game losing streak. Afterwards, a reporter asked Hickman if Craig thanked him, and Hickman replied, "I think he kissed me."

As mentioned by Joe in November 2001, Roger Craig finally got a win in this game, thanks to Jim Hickman's ninth inning grand slam off Lindy McDaniel.

The Mets were shut out nine times in 1963 with Craig on the mound.

Craig switched to uniform #13 to change his luck.

Billy Williams went back on the high fly which Hickman hit. Just as he pounded his glove the ball went into the first deck of the left field overhang in the Polo Grounds.

I was 13 and went to the game with my uncle. We sat on the first base side in foul territory looking across the outfield. After Hickman hit the homer it was as if they won the 7th game of the World Series; Met fans were going crazy and one guy behind us had a hand cranked siren that he turned for what seemed like a half hour. I still remember the homer as if it happened yesterday.

I remember watching this game on tv (WOR) and seeing Roger Craig run out of the dugout to greet Jim Hickman as he crossed the plate, and the Mets and me and my brother jumping up and down like they'd just won the World Series. Also I remember Lindsey Nelson and Bob Murphy saying that at this moment, the NY Mets were in 7th place, and I thought we had reached the stratosphere.

I was a young boy, loved baseball and was becoming a Mets fan. I recall listening to this night game on my AM radio (think it was WJRZ 970) and the announcer calling the play: "tie score, bottom of the 9th, bases loaded, 2 out, 3-2 count on Jim Hickman, here's the pitch and he hits it deep to left field...going....gone...home run...grand slam...Mets win!" (Maybe not the exact call, but this was the situation.) The electricity and adrenaline this baseball moment generated for me sort of initiated my absolute love of playing and now watching the game. There is no clock to run out of time, play hard every pitch of every inning of every game no matter the score, and that is the true greatness of the game of baseball.

I recorded the final play on tape recorder. It went something like this "this will be a pay off and real payoff. Ball hit to left. It is hanging up there. And it is a home run"

A scoreless tie through eight innings turned into a Cubs victory.

Galen Cisco had allowed just two hits through eight innings: a third inning double by Cubs pitcher Larry Jackson, and a seventh inning single by Ron Santo.

But in the ninth Lou Brock led off with a single to right and Ellis Burton followed with a homer to right. Hits by Ron Santo and Ken Hubbs around a Merritt Ranew walk added two more runs.

In the bottom of the ninth with two outs and nobody on, Al Moran and Choo Choo Coleman walked, but pinch hitter Tim Harkness grounded out to end the game.

My first Mets game. Age 9. It was Camera Day. Later I realized that a high number of the pictures had Jim Hickman (last night walk-off grand slam) with Roger Craig still at his side. Craig still wearing #13 from his (loss) record-stopping win the night before. The game itself was a typical early Mets loss. Close but not quite.

Carl Willey, the Mets' "Maine Man" in 1963, pitched another gem, a six-hit shutout. This was victory number 41 for the '63 Mets, thereby ensuring a better record than the '62 legends. Willey even drove in the Mets' second run (Jim Hickman's leadoff HR scored the first). I don't know if it's a record, but Casey Stengel used three consecutive pinch-runners during the Mets 3-run ninth. The rally began with -- surprise! -- Ron Hunt getting hit by a pitch. Cal Koonce pitched well in defeat and six years later was rewarded by the Amazin's with a World Series ring.

Ron Hunt hit the first home run by a Met at Shea Stadium in this game.

A great day in the early Met years. My recollection is that Charlie Smith was the hitting star capping the day with a three run homer for a six run ninth inning to finish off the Cubbies.The wind must have really been blowing out at Wrigley that day.

The apparently true story is that in those days before the Internet, ESPN or even all-news radio, a Met fan called the sports desk at a newspaper to find out how the Mets had done. When told that the Mets had scored 19 runs that day, he responded: "Yes, but did they win?"

Fat Jack Fisher pitching. We all loved that guy; he was the best Mets pitcher between Roger Craig and Tom Seaver.

Yes, Ed K is right.

"The Mets scored 19 in Chicago today."

"Did they win?"

Ah, those were the days!

I always remembered the fact that Jack Fisher made the first and third outs in the ninth inning. Your box score proves my memory was accurate some 49 years later. I was ten years old at the time and came home from school during the fourth inning. It was one of those "radio only" games from Wrigley.

According to retrosheet.org, both Frank Thomas and Ron Santo were called out in this game for getting hit by their own batted balls while in fair territory!

I attended this twilight/night double header with a friend. We were siting in right field, having a few beers, and heard Bob Murphy on the radio say that the knowledgable Mets fans were cheering Billy Cowan (then with the Cubs) who had struck out 6 times so far that evening. Neither of us were aware of this. For us it was a respite from our hard year of undergraduate school. My friend turned out to go on to law school and become one of the finest legal minds since Cheever J. Loophole (Marx Brothers - At the Circus).

My first baseball game with my dad. I was 7 years old. We left in the 7th inning I guess to beat the traffic

After a nice late win, the Met players, between doubleheader games, came out of the dugout unrolling a long banner that read "To Met fans, we love you, too!"

Bobby Klaus had a Met homer that hit the left field foul pole. They won this game in the 9th, and I believe won the first game of this doubleheader also in the 9th. What a thrill to see a Mets doubleheader sweep, something during these years as rare an event as, say, a Bobby Klaus home run (of any kind).

The Mets sweep a Sunday doubleheader at Shea with this win after winning game one 2-1 in ten innings. Willard Hunter is the winning pitcher in both games. Hunter won just four games in his major league career and two of the wins came on this day!

Correction on first comment, Klaus' HR wasn't a 9th inning game winner. Ed Kranepool and Charlie Smith had the walk-off game winning singles of respective games in this doubleheader sweep.

Another memory of this doubleheader was the Met team coming out of the dugout, probably between games, to unfurl a long banner with a message on the order of "To Met Fans - We love you too!", in response to all the banner carrying fans of those days.

I am surprised the Mets did not have more 2nd games of doubleheaders at Wrigley cut short before lights were installed there.

The Mets swept this holiday weekend doubleheader at Shea, winning game one by the score of 3-2. Warren Spahn made his second-to-last appearance for the Mets and pitched four innings. Larry Bearnarth pitched five innings of one-hit relief for his third and final win of the 1965 season.

The Mets scored three runs in the first. Billy Cowan and Roy McMillan both singled, then with one out Ron Swoboda hit his fourteenth home run of the season. Jim Hickman followed with a single. But the most memorable thing about this game was that after Hickman's single, Cubs' pitchers Dick Ellsworth and Lindy McDaniel retired the last 26 batters they faced!

Another amazing coincidence---this was the last time the Mets had all their hits in the first inning of a game they won until 41 years to the day later, when they pulled off the same feat against Pittsburgh.

This was Tom Parsons' shining moment in his major league career: his final major league win (he only had two), his second complete game, and his only shutout.

The Mets swept this doubleheader at Shea and in game two Parsons allowed six hits as the tenth place Mets gained ground on the ninth place Cubs. Ron Swoboada hit a two-run homer in the second and Jim Hickman drew a bases-loaded walk in the fourth for the only other Mets run.

Unfortunately, after this sweep the Mets went on a ten game losing streak.

Parsons finished the year 1-10 for New York but was a part of their long term success in that he was traded to Houston after the 1965 season in exchange for Jerry Grote.

A special game for me, my first Met (and MLB) game at age 10. My grandfather brought me to this game. Many years later, after his death, I went to a library and dug out the NY Times account of the game. Turns out it was Senior Citizens Day so he got in for free (which is presumably why he chose it) except for a very negligible service charge, which could not have been more than 50 cents and was probably less.

As might be expected, vague memories are mixed with some very vivid ones, such as:

• The pitching match-up was Jackson vs. Jackson. Larry Jackson is perhaps not well remembered but I certainly remember him as one of the great Met killers, in addition to the usual suspects such as Koufax, Drysdale, Gibson, Marichal, etc. Of course, the Mets lost, although they had just come off a doubleheader sweep of the Cubs in which Ron Swoboda had won both games with home runs. Swoboda was the darling at that time but he tailed off badly the rest of the season.
• Billy Williams hitting a home run.
• Casey Stengel ambling out to the mound to pull Al Jackson. Not soon after Stengel broke his hip and retired.
• Chuck Hiller (nicknamed 'Dr. No' due to his bad hands) making a crucial error that opened the floodgates.
• Larry Bearnarth getting shelled. I've lived in Colorado for many years now and was quite delighted when he became the first Rockies' pitching coach.
• The first sight of a big league playing field, Jane Jarvis on the organ, etc. etc.

A special day.

Set a record for most-lopsided shutout win in Mets history. Later tied on 4-19-98.

Musgraves had his only MLB start in this game. He hurt his elbow, went on the DL, and never made it back to the big leagues. He is one of six Mets born on Christmas Day.

The Mets scored in the first but after that combined on a series of fielding errors and walks to lose to the Cubs, Chicago scoring seven runs even though they had only three base hits. I still remember the headline in a local sports page the next day: "Cubs Three Hit Attack Sinks Mets 7-1".

This was the sixth straight loss for the Mets on their way to eleven in a row. As Joseph Dubin said in an earlier post, the Cubs scored seven runs with just three hits!

The weirdness started in the first inning as Cubs starter Bill Faul was hit with a shot off the bat of Mets leadoff batter Johnny Lewis. Cal Koonce came in to relieve Faul and held the Mets to one run in 3.2 innings (an RBI single by Ron Hunt) before veteran LHP Billy Hoeft pitched five shutout innings for the win.

The Cubs scored four in the top of the fifth with just two hits. Glenn Backert led off with a single, and after a fielder's choice and error by Galen Cisco, the Cubs had runners at second and third with no one out. Pinch hitter Doug Clemens reached on an error by Ed Kranepool then an infield out gave the Cubs a 2-1 lead. After a walk, Billy Williams doubled in tow more runs and it was 4-1 Cubs.

In the seventh, Gordie Richardson walked a batter then hit a batter, and Billy Williams followed with a three run homer, giving him two of the Cubs' three hits and five RBI for the afternoon.

After losing game one of this doublehader at Shea, 7-6, the Mets take a lead into the ninth inning of game two. But the Cubs score six runs in the top of the ninth inning to win the game, 14-10, and sweep the four game series. Cubs catcher Chris Krug strikes out twice in that ninth inning.

It's the eighth straight loss for the Mets on their way to eleven straight (their longest streak of the year), and drops their record to 34- 78.

Recently released by the Mets, Warren Spahn wins his 361st victory and first as a Giant. San Francisco beats the Cards 6–4 ... In New York, the Cubs score six runs in the 9th inning to whip the Mets, 14–10. Chris Krug is not much help in the 9th, as the Cubbie strikes out twice. It's the first time since 1922 a Cub has K'ed twice in one inning.

I think that this was a banner day doubleheader. If I am correct, the famous " Don't Get Sore, The Mets And I Are Only Four" banner was paraded around the diamond between games and made the '66 yearbook!

Chicago's Larry Jackson wins the game for his eleventh straight win against the Mets!

Over his 14-year career Jackson finished a total of eleven games over .500.

This was the first time I went to Wrigley Field. It was a cold day and a real back-and-forth slugfest, until the great Dennis Ribant came in and shut down the Cubs (from what I remember, I think he retired about 6 or 8 hitters in a row, starting in around the 6th inning). By the end of the long game there was me waving my Mets pennant, and about 300 unhappy Cub fans... Unfortunately, on the way home some bully grabbed my Mets pennant and threw it down on the el tracks where it met its demise.

If anyone remembers any other details of the game (Ribant is all that's stayed with me), I'd love to hear it.

Further to Leonard's post from January 2004, here are some more details from this wild one at Wrigley.

First of all, Ribant came in with one out in the eighth and the tying run at the plate, and retired the last five Cubs batters for his first save of the season.

Jack Hamilton and Ernie Broglio started but both were not effective. The Mets fell behind early, but took a 4-2 lead in the third inning on back- to-back homers by Ken Boyer (a three run shot) and Ed Kranepool.

The Cubs came back with an unearned run to make it 4-3 but the Mets scored four more in the sixth. Johnny Lewis, Roy McMillan, and Ken Boyer each drove in a run and Mc Millan stole home as part of a double steal for the fourth run of the inning.

Back came the Cubs again, with four in the seventh to cut the Mets lead to 8-7. Randy Hundley drove in two with a single and Adolfo Phillips knocked in two more with a double.

In the top of the eighth, the Mets scored six times with just four hits plus two walks and an error. Ed Kranepool and Cleon Jones both drove in two runs in the inning, and the Mets had a 14-7 lead.

Darrel Sutherland was on the mound for the Mets in the bottom of the eighth, but gave up a walk and two singles around an out to make it 14-8. Dave Eilers came in but faced three batters and gave up three hits. That made it 14-11 and the Cubs had the tying run at bat. That's when Ribant came in and struck out Adolfo Phillips and got Glenn Beckert to ground out to first base. In the ninth, Ribant struck out Billy Williams, got Ron Santo on a pop to second, and retired John Herrnstein on a groundout, and the Mets won the darn game!

I attended this game with my Dad. It was also Willie Mays' birthday. In this game, I got to see an old-fashioned pitchers duel between Rob Gardner and Ken Holtzman. The Mets would win and I would get to see my first, in person, "Walk-off" home run as Cleon Jones won the game with a shot to left center field.

Coincidentally, 17 years later, to the day, I would attend another Mets game. This one was against Cincinnati and it was the debut of Darryl Strawberry. I would also witness another walk-off home run as George Foster homered in extra innings for another Mets win.

I went to this game as an 8-year-old, with my mother, my 10-year-old brother, and an adult male family friend. We sat in the "blue seats" (Mezzanine level, under the original color scheme). I had been to one game the year before, also at Shea, and understood absolutely nothing. On this, the night of my second baseball game ever, I remotely understood some of what was going on. Only very remotely, though. I don't remember doing this, but at one point early in the game I turned to our family friend and shouted out loud, "WHERE'S HOME PLATE?" Apparently that got a lot of attention! My brother and our family friend teased me about that for years afterward!

A few things stay in my mind, whatever is left!

Bob Shaw tosses a gem, cg 5 hitter and the Mets pull off a double steal, Jones and Luplow I THINK!

Was a big Adolpho Phillips fan back in those days and remember he screwed up all over the place!

An oddball game this one. As already pointed out, Adolfo Phillips was a big star in this game—for the Mets! First play in the game, we get to hear (on the surviving radio broadcast) Phillips ground into an unusual 7-4-3 out at first base. He hit what Lindsey Nelson described as a routine fly ball, which Larry Elliott proceeded to drop. I'm guessing that Phillips ended up on second base, though this wasn't made clear in the broadcast. Elliot then threw the ball to Chuck Hiller at second base and Hiller relayed it to Ed Kranepool. Kranepool stepped on first on the appeal play and Phillips was called out for missing first. Later on in the game, Kranepool hit a long fly that Phillips lost in the sun, ducked out of the way to avoid getting hit by the ball, and Kranepool ended up with a triple, scored on a Cleon Jones base hit for the game winning run, LOL.

With Phillips and Byron Browne in the line up, the Cubs were featuring two of the all-time strikeout artists in the same game. That would be good if they were pitchers, but they weren't. I only saw them later in their careers when Phillips was with the Expos and Browne was with the Phillies.

A couple of interesting tidbits from the announcers in this game. This July was the first winning month in Mets' history, as Bob Murphy mentioned several times. Ralph Kiner did add that the Mets had one previous month where they had a .500 record, pointing out that in 1963 they won two games and lost two games in October. Maybe that was better left unsaid. Also, in giving the out-of-town scores, they mentioned that Dick Stuart hit a home run for the Dodgers. So I guess his Mets career was already over. That didn't last long. Last, I think it was Bob Murphy that pointed out that the Mets, in ninth place, were closer to first place than last place. They were 14 games out of first place, but 14.5 games ahead of the 10th place Cubs. How bad were the Cubs that year! And how mediocre was the entire National League. Phew!

Tom Seaver got the first of his 311 career wins, on the way to his stellar Hall of Fame career.

In his fourth major league appearance and his third start, Tom Seaver pitches a ten inning complete game victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

A sixth inning RBI single by Jerry Grote gave the Mets a 1-0 lead.

Seaver allowed just four singles through eight innings. But leading off the ninth, Don Kessinger drew a walk. After Seaver retired the next two batters, an error by Buddy Harrelson brought the tying run home.

Despite having thrown 104 pitches, Seaver came to bat to lead off the tenth inning. He singled to right off Cubs reliever Bill Hands. With runners at the corners and two outs, Al Luplow singled off LHP Bob Hendley to drive in Seaver with the go-ahead run. Tom set the Cubs down in order on just seven pitches in the bottom of the tenth for the second of his 311 career wins and the first of his 231 complete games.

A critical moment occurred in the 8th inning when Adolpho Phillips hit a deep drive to right center and as the Mets right fielder Tommie Reynolds attempted to scale the ivy wall at Wrigley, 2 nine-year old kids sitting in the first row leaned over the wall (pre the wall baskets)to snag a souvenir and appeared to deflect the ball. The game tying run scored (with 2 outs) and Phillips was awarded a triple even thought the Mets argued for a ground rule double which would have left the tying run at third.. The Cubs went on to win it in the 9th. Replays of the "incident" appeared on the WGN news that night as well as an incriminating photo in the next days Chicago Sun Times.

The Cubs and Mets combined for 11 home runs in this game, seven by the Cubs. At that time the eleven homers tied a major league record. I'm not sure if that record still stands.

This game was a donnybrook with Adolpho Phillips crashing three home runs!

Originally scheduled as a single game, this became the back end of a Sunday doubleheader after Saturday's wash out.

In that game, Tommy Davis homered to left field off the Cubs Bill Hands to lead off the second inning of a game in Chicago. The Saturday afternoon game was rained out after four innings.

Great when the wind blows at Wrigley!

This is what I loved about baseball as a seven year old Mets fan. Sunday doubleheaders! Game two of this one was a classic even though the Mets lost. I don't know if Adolpho Phillips ever had a better day as a pro, but to my mind that day I thought he was going to go to the Hall of Fame. Probably the first game I ever watched on TV from Wrigley Field. I was hooked!

Unfortunately, a broadcast recording of this game doesn't seem to exist, but recordings of both games of the St. Louis-Dodgers doubleheader played the same day do survive, so you get to hear Vin Scully & Jerry Doggett follow and comment on this game from St. Louis, and on the exploits of Adolfo Phillips. Phillips gifted a game a year earlier to the Mets with some pretty shaky play, so here he takes it back.

BTW, the Dodgers lost both games of their double header, which I enjoyed. Their first game loss was very 1960's Mets-like, scoring 4 runs in the top of the ninth to tie the game at 7-7, then immediately losing it in the bottom of the ninth on some heroics from Roger Maris. No wonder, since there was a heavy Mets influence on that Dodger team, with two original 1962 Mets (Bob Miller, who was the LP in that first game, and Jim Hickman), plus Ron Hunt. And the WP in the second game, for the Cardinals, was another original Met, Al Jackson.

My first live Mets game ever. I was 9 years old and on a Knights of Columbus bus trip with my dad. Had mezzanine reserve seats that the old man sprung $2.75 a piece for. Of course, the Mets lost. And Shea was a dump then, too. I remember the cheesy Met picture board atop the large scoreboard in right field. As far as the game went, Hawk Taylor filled in for Grote that day.

My first major league game and, as I recall, it was pretty much over after the second batter: the Cub who made it 2-0 with a first-inning home run. I recall getting the autograph of coach Salty Parker who became the manager at the end of the year. I also have a vague recollection of many Met infielders hurling themselves at grounders that went through for hits. Despite the humiliating defeat, I was hooked for life.

My first major league game attended also, not long before I turned 10 years old. I was with a large group of Little Leaguers from Pompton Lakes, NJ. I can't remember if we had one busload or several.

I was, and still am, a Yankees fan, and hated the Mets. So this game was very enjoyable watching the Mets get slaughtered.

I'm thankful that the score was 9-1, and that I always remembered that, because it made it very easy to find the date and box score of the game so many decades later. Not sure if I'd have remembered the score if it had been 3-2 or something, and there wouldn't be just one possible game with that score.

It's funny that I don't remember any specific plays from the game, or exactly where I sat (somewhere in the upper deck on the first base line, I'm pretty sure) yet from a Yankees game I went to later the same season, I remember section number, row, and many specific plays which are still in my head available for "instant replay". I guess I remember stuff I care about, more than stuff I like watching but don't care about.

I cared somewhat about seeing Ernie Banks in this game, but if not for the box score here, I wouldn't be able to tell you what he did. Quite unlike my memories of Mickey Mantle and Horace Clarke a short time later!

Lots of "stuff" happened in this Thursday afternoon game between the last-place Mets and the third-place Cubs.

It started as a pitcher's duel between a couple of USC guys, Tom Seaver and Rich Nye. In the bottom of the fifth Don Kessinger hit a grounder to first but it bounced off Bob Johnson and all the way into the dugout. Kessinger moved to third on a Glenn Beckert bunt and scored on an infield out by Billy Williams. The Mets tied it in the sixth on an RBI single by Tommy Davis.

In the bottom of the ninth, Randy Hundley doubled down the right field line, and after Ted Savage bunted him to third, Wes Westrum decided to intentionally walk Adolfo Phillips and pinch- hitter Lee Thomas. At this point Westrum also replaced Tommy Davis in left field with Tommy Reynolds, and on the next pitch Kessinger hit one foul down the left field line where Reynolds made a running catch and threw Hundley out at the plate to send the game to extra innings.

The Mets never threatened to score again and in the eleventh Ernie Banks led off with a single. Hundley, trying to bunt, was hit in the shoulder by Ron Taylor. Leo Durocher sent Fergie Jenkins in to run for Banks, and had Ted Savage try to bunt the runners over. But when the count got to 1-2, Durocher called Savage back to the dugout and sent up veteran left-hand batter Al Spangler. Taylor's first pitch to Spangler was a ball, then Spangler looped one just over third and just inside the foul line, allowing Jenkins to score the winning run.

This was the start of the only 7-game series in Mets history. In April, the Mets and Cubs only got two games played in the Mets first trip to Wrigley. In July, a whole series got rained out, leaving them to play 7 games in 4 days on their final trip to Chicago for 1967. They lost this single game on Thursday, split doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday, and lost the doubleheader on Sunday.

Nice outing for Dick Selma as the Mets whipped the Cubs, 7-2.

Cleon Jones doubled off Ken Holtzman to drive in Tommie Agee in the bottom of the first. The Cubs came back to take a 2-1 lead in the second on a Ron Santo walk and a Randy Hundley home run. The Mets tied it in the third when Ken Holtzman lost his control and walked two batters and hit another. Jack Lamabe came in from the bullpen and walked Ed Charles with the bases loaded.

In the fifth an error, a walk ,and two singles gave the Mets a 4-2 lead, and a two-run homer by Ed Charles made it 6-2 in the seventh. Ken Boswell's pinch hit sac fly made it 7-2 in the eighth.

Selma had allowed just two hits through eight but gave up two more plus a Boswell error in the ninth, so Cal Koonce had to come in to get the final two outs. Cal came in with two men on and one out and got Randy Hundley to ground into a DP.

My dad took me to the game as part of my gift for Confirmation. We had great seats right behind 1st base in the field level. I had been to a few games before (courtesy of Bordens Milk coupons) but I never sat that close to the field. You could hear the players call "I got it" or "Mine" on pop-ups. It was a bright, sunny day at the Big Shea, and Dick Selma pitched quite a game and what a thrill to see "The Glider", Ed Charles hit one out! I've been fortunate enough to have gone to Shea hundreds of times since then, but that day was one of my fondest memories of going to a ball game with my dad!

Dick Selma hurled a five-hit shutout over the Cubs to give the Mets a split of a doubleheader at Wrigley Field. The Mets compiled a total of seventeen hits, three of which were singles by Selma himself. Dick threw 124 pitches in the game (starters were allowed to do this back then) and also scored the sixth of the Mets' ten runs.

I did not attend this game or even have memories of it since I wasn't born until two years later. I do however have a scored original program from this game. Some stats of note. Billy Williams went 3 for 4 with 3 doubles. Ernie Banks had a solo homer in the 6th. Cubs only other run came with Williams scoring on a Ron Santo single. Nye pitched for the Cubs. The Mets scored three times in the 5th with hits by Jones, Swoboda, and Tom Seaver, and a walk to Grote. In the 7th Grote doubled and scored on a single by Charles. Seaver's line, 2 runs, 10 hits, 3 walks, and 3 k's. Just thought someone may be looking for this info someday.

This was the first major-league game I attended, at age 11. I and the rest of my school's Safety Patrol sat in the lower grandstand on the third-base side. (Grade school principals can hardly afford to do this today!) My primary memories were that Ron Santo homered (we just lost him recently at age 70)-- and that there was a pregame moment of silence for Robert F. Kennedy, who had died that morning of his gunshot wound sustained the night before in Los Angeles.

I believe there was a rain delay during this game! Help! I went to the games with Cub Scouts Pack 100.

It was my first baseball game I went to. I was 8 years old. Went with my little league. Sat in the upper deck in left field. The one thing I remember best is that there was a foul pop up to the catcher and remember being amazed how high it was , that it was as high as I was in the upper deck and that It went straight up. I remember it was a sunny day. Even though the Mets lost, I became a Met fan.

Billy Williams hits three home runs in a game for the first time in his career , as they beat the Mets behind Bill Hands. Added to two home runs on September 8th, Williams has a ML-record-tying five over two straight games.

At the all-star break in '68, the sweet swinging Williams had hit just 8 home runs.

His torrid 2nd half tear (22) helped him reach 30 in this, the year of the pitcher.

Jim McAndrew beats Fergie Jenkins, 1-0 at Wrigley.

If you're wondering why 1968 was referred to as the "year of the pitcher," this games marks the fifth time this season that Jenkins loses a game 1-0. Despite that bad luck, he wins 20 games in 1968.

And in the month of August alone, McAndrew lost two games by 1-0 scores and another three by 2-0 scores.

I was there with my grammar school baseball team. Bill Hands was the Cub pitcher and he signed an autograph outside the stadium for us. Koosman hit a HR in this game I think.

Koosman hit the first (of two) homers in his Met career in this game. It was the first homer by a Met rookie pitcher ever.

I talked my mom into taking all my friends from the neighborhood to this Doubleheader- Wrigley was PACKED! we sat Upper Deck 3rd base Grandstands- Seaver was really "Tom Terrific" that day- He went the distance 7 SO -2bb- 9 hits , but only 2 runs - but also- got a walk , a hit and and scored a run. This was only game one...

Game 2 - Cubs Lost 1st game 3-2 to Seaver:

Next up? TUG MCGRAW- Same exact result. 3-2 Mets McGraw goes the distance 9 hits 8 SO 2 BB 2 runs- ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME AS SEAVER IN THE 1st GAME ! ! !

Hey! We heard ya twice the 1st time.

Amazing Three runs in the last inning when we were down two runs.Just think 17 years later it happened again.I wish I could get a tape of this game if anybody knows where to get it put the info on this site Thank you!!

Wow, what a game! Once again I'm in the cheap seats, but enjoyed every moment. What I recall most vividly was the almost surreal 9th inning. Nothing but clutch hit afer clutch hit. With each hit the crowd getting more and more electric. I could be wrong, but I recall the game winning hit to be a double, one hop off the wall, by that great Monroe alumni Ed Kranepool(#7). As the wining run scored that warm late afternoon in July,I became a believer. Lets Go Mets!

Dear Mr. T:

Kranepool won the game with a bloop single to left field.

It was my 15th birthday, and I was riveted to the TV. This was around the time you knew this was a special team. What a comeback in this game!

I was sitting in upper reserved - behind third. Kranepool homered, then blooped a game-winning single. Pandemonium. I have never seen the subway as crowded as it was after that game - afternoon rush hour.

I went to the game with my father and brother. I still have the scorecard. Jenkins vs. Koosman. Kranepool bloop hit over shortstop to win the game. I was 11 years old and I remember thinking when the crowd went wild, "Could the stadium handle the noise?" I thought the stadium would collapse underneath me. It was unbelievable. I will remember it all my life.

I was at this great game that has been forgotten by many because the next day Seaver threw his almost perfect game. Don Stankus, Lumpy McDonald and I were in Section 1 in the last row and I had to convince them to stick around until the last at bat. They thanked me later (or at least they should have). Crabby Leo Durocher blamed his centerfielder Don Young for not catching a couple of Met hits in the ninth.

This game is one of the great baseball memories of my life. I was fourteen and attended the game with a friend from school. As I recall, the Kranepool hit came on a 1- 2 count. It looked to me as though he was fooled by the Jenkins pitch, and Ed did a great job getting the bat on the ball. Tom (above) is dead on about the noise and the shaking stadium. I yelled myself hoarse. My friend and I walked back to Main Street, Flushing over the bridge after the game and we kept saying we had seen something very special. Years later, living far away from the city, I still remember that day with great happiness.

I still remember feeling the electricity in the air when I got off the 7 train. My friend Joel and I turned in coupons from Dellwood milk cartons and got in the upper deck free. I remember people dancing and yelling long after the game was over. Pity that the game was overshadowed the very next night, I consider that this game showed they belonged and were expansion jokes no more.

There is a tragic but legendary story surrounding this game where a Queens man killed his wife because he was watching the Mets and she wanted to watch "Dark Shadows" (a popular soap opera at the time).

This was a great game. The fact that we could come back in the 9th inning against the first place team showed that we were real. My brother and I took two buses and walked from Main Street to get to Shea in those days. The feeling on the trip home that day was incredible.

This was the first game I ever went to. I was 9 years old. I went with my grandfather and uncle the Mets were down 3-1 going to the 9th getting only one hit, a home run by Ed Kranepool.

It was first time I saw baseball in color!

My father collected newspapers from notable events. I have the NY Daily News from when the Mets won the World Series, Jets won the Super Bowl, etc. For years I kept coming up on the Daily News from July 9, 1969. About 5 years ago it hit me. That was the game my father took me and my cousin to. I still have the program. Sadly, my father died in 1978 but his sense of history allows me to go back and relive it again. I was 6 in 1969 and I remember the Mets winning in a wild way. Crowd was crazy!

Looking at the box score and play by play of this game, at https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN196907080.shtml, why didn't Cubs manager Leo Durocher replace starter Ferguson Jenkins with a relief pitcher during the bottom of the ninth? He was clearly getting very tired, as he had allowed three doubles before Kranepool's game-winning hit with two out.

If such a game was played in 2019, there would have been a far lesser chance that the Mets would have made such a comeback, because there would have been no way that a starting pitcher would have continued pitching through the end of the game after giving up so many hits in the ninth inning. With a 3-1 lead going into the bottom of the ninth (a save situation), the manager would have taken out his starter (if he hadn't been relieved earlier, which is likely under current baseball conditions) and put in his closer to complete the save.

I was 11 years old and at this game with camp. Due to the buses, we had to leave at the bottom of the 7th. We are all sitting in the buses, waiting for them to round-up all the kids when we could hear the screaming from the stadium. I was so angry we missed it but thrilled we won! Magical 1969!

I remember watching this game on channel 9 with my buddy Frankie. I vividly recall the ninth inning and going crazy when the Mets pulled it out. One of my favorite Met memories.

I was 14. We were in a pennant race with the much hated Cubs. Things were looking bleak heading into the bottom of the ninth. As I recall, my high school buddy and I snuck down from the $1.50 upper deck seats to the "expensive" $3.50 seats behind the Mets dugout. One by one, we started chipping away at the Cubs lead until Kranepool dropped one in into left field to win it!!! I remember total bedlam and hugging total strangers. The press the next day said that the noise from Shea was audible on the Grand Central Parkway. I'll never forget it. One of the happiest days of my life and, as Bob Murphy used to say: "and now for the happy recap"

Was at this game, sat in Loge in short right field. Long afternoon because we were in the row behind Cubs fans, including one guy who kept bleating about "Fergie Jenkins one hitter". Place full of kids in day camp T shirts. Boswell bloop double, then clink double that centerfielder couldn't hold as he crashed into fence. Jones' double over third base down the line. Then Eddie's Texas leaguer.

55 years later I still see these 4 hits in my mind's eye, second only to the Mookie at bat in 86.

I went to that game, with my older brother. I was 9 years old. Like everyone. We took the bus, and walked over the bridge. Got in, with the milk box coupons. The game was extremely exciting. It was unreal. Eddie Kranepool with the base hit! The next night as everyone knows, was Seaver's imperfect game. My next door neighbor had tickets to the game, and asked me to go. My father wouldn’t let me go; it was my moms birthday! 7/9/69!!

What else can you say about this game? Following the great comeback of the day before Tom Seaver was as dominating as he ever was or ever would be.

It sent a message to the Cubs that the Mets weren't going away. Ever though they slipped in August before making their Pantheon run in September, they still had to establish to the Cubs, the world and to themselves that they had the mettle to make a run for the division, pennant and World Series.

Shea was packed and the Mets scored early. After that it was all Tom Seaver. He mowed down Cub after Cub.

Randy Hundley unsuccessful bunt, followed by Jimmy Qualls clean single to left center are burned into my memory.

With all their great pitching the Mets have never had a no-hitter thrown on their behalf, this is still their best-pitched game. This performance was as good or better than most no-hitters. (see Joe Cowley's 8-walk no-hitter in 1986).

In the days before cable we were lucky this day when a local Albany station picked up the WOR feed. Little did my friends and I know that we would see the best pitched game of our lives. We were just thrilled to be able to watch a Mets game on TV. We were heartbroken when Qualls got that one out hit in the 9th. So close but still an amazing game.

I was 9 years old and watching this game from the guest house at my grandmother's summer place. It was the first season when baseball really mattered to me and I was a rabid Mets fan. I remember that every pitch Seaver threw after the sixth inning sent the crowd into a frenzy. For me, it was the best baseball game I had ever seen and I think it still is. Seaver deserved a perfect game but it shows that life isn't fair.

My oldest friend David and I were doing our usual roaming the streets of Brooklyn on a hot muggy night. His parents rented the basement apartment to a newly wed couple, we snuck into the backyard to listen to their joyous sounds of sex, lots of it, and I guess we stumbled or giggled but at any rate, we were about to get caught so we took off and landed at my house. We turn on the game as it goes into the ninth and immediately feel the tension without hearing any commentary. Qualls steps in as we are really getting pumped and the little bastard bloops his seeing eye single and we head back out across the street to check in on newlywed Bob!

I didn't see it cos I was only a baby. But 25 years to the day, I married my wife. I told her I would never forget our anniversary because of this game, one of the most incredible clutch pitching performances in the history of baseball. I never have.

I was at this game with my dad. I was 11. We were going to get in using the Dairy-Lea coupons from the milk cartons. When we got there, the game was sold out. But, my dad had tickets to the Mayor's Trophy game that was rained out on Monday July 7. He was able to exchange them for like the last 2 seats to be found. I remember Cleon Jones HR in the 7th caused the stadium to literally shake and was the loudest sound I had ever heard. The place was rocking.

My family was at a beach rental in Long Beach Island, NJ during this week.

I was 8 years old and my bedtime coincided with approx. the 7th inning, so I was in bed but listening to the sounds of the game on the TV in the next room.

I can still remember the groan my Dad let out when Qualls got the basehit.

Here we are, 35 years later, still waiting for the 1st Mets no-hitter. I was at the Dwight Gooden 1-hitter on 9/8/84 and was in attendance when former NY Met Nolan Ryan threw his 7th.

Gooden got no-no and Cone a perfecto with the Yankees. Arrrgggh. As if being a Met fan wasn't challenging enough.

Despite the fact that Jimmy Qualls ruined what would have been the Mets only no-hitter in history, this was still the best pitched game in Mets history. Long live Tom Seaver.

I was 13 at the time and had been a Mets fan since the days of Choo-Choo Coleman. The tension was unbearable as my whole family watched the game. When Qualls got the hit, it was like air out of a balloon. It was unquestionably the greatest pitching performance I have ever seen and that's saying a lot. Seaver really deserved the no-hitter but it was not to be. I am still a Mets fan.

Jimmy Qualls. Jimmy Qualls. He hit a dying quail to short left center. I will never forget that name, I will never forget that sight. I was 19 years old, the summer after my freshman year, working a summer job in downtown NY. We were all excited, with the Mets on a streak, maybe, just maybe, catching the Cubs and getting into the Series. We were hot with emotion.

I told my mother I was going to the game that night, a sultry summer night, and I'd be home after midnight. I got a general admission ticket behind home plate, the best seats in what was always a terrible place to watch a game (the Polo Grounds; now that was a place!). But I loved it upstairs in Shea.

Ninth inning, Qualls hits this little ball, half pop up, half line drive. I still remember the look of disgust on Seaver's face.

"My imperfect game." That's what Seaver always called it. The imperfect game.

I was at the game with Dad and others. We had gotten in free after collecting the appropriate number of Bordens milk coupons. We were sitting high up in the right field grandstands. It was a great game due to the race with the Cubs and the great game that Seaver pitched. We'll never forget the name Jimmy Qualls though.

We also made it to an earlier game in that Cub series where the Mets came back in the 9th to beat Ferguson Jenkins.

Of course the story of this game was the near perfecto that Tom pitched, but I was amazed that submariner Ted Abernathy pitched more than six innings in relief. Leo was so desperate for a win he went with Abernathy in a long relief role the likes of which he hadn't done since he was with Washington in the 1950's. Cleon Jones homered off of Abernathy and I remember him on Kiner's Korner after the game saying "I think he's lost a little something off that sinker." I loved that comment for Abernathy had seemed invincible over the last two or three seasons.

Shea was electric!!! Even though I was nine years old, I can still remember the small black and white television on WOR Channel 9. Seaver was so so sharp. My heart sank when Qualls lined that clean single to left-center. After the comeback in yesterday's game, the Cubs looked as they were in last, not first. What made it even sweeter was my neighbor next door was MR YANKEE and he had to eat this!

I remember this game so well, and the awful feeling when the ball dropped in. Seaver was - still in, in my mind - the greatest.

Announcer Lindsey Nelson: "...and look at Tom Seaver. He's happy, and yet he's sad..."

Watched it at home in NJ with my parents. Probably the best game of my Mets memory. I remember the crowd when Qualls broke it up. From huge noise to sudden silence... followed by the most amazing ovation ever.

Almost a Tom Terrific perfecto. Leslie, Rudi, Leslie's dad and I made the trip to Shea from Huntington Station and saw almost history. I remember Tommie Agee and Cleon Jones running all out to snare the drive off the bat of Jimmy Qualls, but alas to no avail. A long standing ovation for Seaver after the hit.

I recall attending that game as a 15-year-old and having a standing room ticket as Shea was packed to the rafters. My dad was also there attending (me with him) and alongside the 3-homer game by Reggie in the 77 World Series which I attended, this was a great happening to have witnessed in person.

I was there with my grandfather, my father and my kid brother, three generations. It was my first live game ever and we were sitting on the rail in the Mezzanine next to two Cubs fans. I was ten years old at the time and was keeping score. I didn't even notice that Seaver was pitching a perfect game until late in the game when the Cubs fan leaned over to me and mentioned it. I am not sure I even knew what a perfect game was. I bragged on this event for many years after. It is kind of a badge of courage for Mets fans to say they were at this one.

As a 15 year old, I remember getting into the game in the bleachers by cutting out 15 coupons from Borden milk cartons. My next-door neighbor's father, who was a Cub fan drove us there.、The crowd noise was unbelievable. I remember Randy Hundley laying down a bunt about 20 feet right in front of home plate, and how exhausted Tom Seaver was after he chased the ball and threw to first base to get the out. Truly an incredible game.

I listened to this game recently, and before the game even starts, Ralph Kiner gives us an early Kinerism when he calls the Cubs center fielder Jim QUAILS, instead of the correct pronunciation. This was Ralph foreshadowing here, not only future Kinerisms, but also the "dying Quail single" (a Bob Murphy quote) in the top of the ninth to break up the perfect game.

I was surprised to hear the game being halted in the second inning because apparently some young fans had climbed on top of the batting eye in deep center, and the PA announcer had to tell them to move. Can you imagine being one of those kids and doing that at THIS GAME? Where are those kids' memories on this site?

Also, a fan came to this game with a trumpet or a trombone and was playing discordant notes at odd times that the radio microphone picked up. It reminded me of the Dodgers 'Sym-phony' at Ebbets Field, but it was only one man.

Seaver's Line for the 'Imperfect Game': 9 IP, 0 BB, 0 ER, 1 H, 11 K, 100 pitches, 72 for strikes, Game Score 96, bringing his record to 14-3 with a 2.46 ERA and the Mets to a 47-34 record, and 3.5 games out of first.

I first saw the highlight of the Qualls hit in the Mets documentary An Amazin' Era in 1986 when I was eight, and I remember being devastated, but the Mets winning the World Series a few minutes later made up for it.

Hot Foot, I heard the radio broadcast of this game just like you did. My first impression of Ralph Kiner saying "Quails" was that it was a simple misreading of Jimmy Qualls' name. Kiner wasn't known for his strange quotations just yet, so I saw this as nothing more than an innocent mistake.

However, Ralph did give a more distinctive example of his future "Kinerisms" when Tommie Agee came up to bat in the fourth inning. In referring to Agee's run-scoring double in the bottom of the second, Kiner stated that the hit had knocked Cubs' starting pitcher Ken Holtzman "out of the batter's box." Ralph's oddball quotes didn't become apparent until he was worn down at an advanced age and ready for retirement many years later. But hearing this comment at a time when he wasn't quite so old had me thinking that he could've said a few things like this before then. I don't ever remember Kiner making such twisted statements until at least the mid-1980s.

One interesting note about this almost-perfect game by Tom Seaver is that Bud Harrelson did not make an appearance in it. Bud was serving military duty at the time and wasn't at Shea Stadium that night. He returned to the Mets the following weekend.

I was 19, waiting tables that summer out on Long Island. I came into town for the weekend and decided at the last minute to go to the game. I sat down the left field line way up in the upper deck, and still have visuals of this game in my head. After taking the 7 back into Manhattan--I was staying at my dad's place-- I still remember the mixed feelings of ALMOST seeing a perfect game, the excitement of beating the Cubs and maybe getting close enough to them to contend. What an exciting night that was!

This was the only game of this 3-game series that I wound up going to. The Mets played a terrible game. After the game Durocher gave his famous quote, "Those were the real Mets," which really got me POd.

I attended this game with my day camp (so you KNOW our seats sucked), but despite the Met momentum stopping that day, Cleon made a catch (I believe off Ron Santo) with Agee standing right next to him that robbed a homer. The photo has become a rather famous one, but not quite like those Agee would provide a few months later.

This was a frustrating loss for the Mets. Bill Hands was dominating for the Cubs. My most vivid memory of the game is Ken Boswell's at-bat leading off the top of the eighth inning. He hit a hard grounder that bounced off Ron Santo's glove and a few feet into foul territory. Boswell should have stayed at first base but tried to get to second on the play. He was easily thrown out by Santo. That was the Mets' last scoring opportunity.

At Wrigley, the Cubs top the Mets 1–0 to give Bill Hands (11–7) the win over Tom Seaver (14– 4). Billy Williams singles home the winner, boosting the Cubs lead to five 1/2 games. After the last out, Ron Santo jumps up and clicks his heels, igniting a roar from the crowd. The Mets think it's bush.

How is it that this premier third sacker is NOT in the HOF? Along with Gil Hodges, a blatant ommission.

This was a key game in the Mets' pursuit of overtaking the Cubs in the National League East Division race. The team took the lead for good when Al Weis broke a tie with a three-run homer in the fourth inning. It was Weis's first home run of the season and fifth of seven (plus one in the '69 World Series) he would have during his ten major league seasons. Weis homered again the next day in another Mets win over Chicago. Al's unexpected slugging was as much of a sign as any that the miracle was in progress.

This was the "Black Cat Game." I was there. It rained before the game and Gil Hodges wanted the game to start. He walked to home plate with the lineup card and it miraculously stopped raining.

The black cat crossed in front of Leo Durocher and the Cubs on deck circle. That's also the game where Randy Hundley can be seen jumping up and down 5 feet off home plate to protest a call.

Koosman beat Bill Hands. Agee, after being decked to lead off game, hit a big HR next time up. Mets moved into first within the next few days of this game and stayed there . Exiting the game after this win everyone sang "Good-bye Leo" to the tune of "Goodnight Ladies." The song echoed throughout the cement ramps and exits of the stadium.

In 2000 it was, "Who Let The Dogs Out?" But that year it was "Who Let the Black Cat Out?"

This was a monumental in your face game in what was rapidly becoming a bitter rivalry. Hands did indeed deck Agee but Tommie did not wait until the next at bat. He instead hammered the Parsippany New Jersey native's next pitch over the centerfield fence. This set the tone immediately and Koosman God love him nailed that notorious heel-clicker Ron Santo in the ribs as retalliation. Randy Hundley apparently not subscribing to the theory that white men can't jump vaulted at least four feet off of the ground on what he misconstrued as a botched call by the plate umpire. The black cat had nothing to do with this one as Chicago's luck had run out long befoe that memorable game.

If you look at the video tape of the game. Randy Hundley was right. The umpire made a bad call. But as "BIGSTRO" stated, Chicago's luck had run out. They were well into the infamous 8-game losing streak. (They lost 10 of 11 during that span.)

Bill is wrong. This was the Black Cat, Goodbye Leo Game. Sorry, Bill, but the Mets got out to a big lead pretty early in the game, which emboldened Mets fans to serenade Leo for the last few innings. That never would have happened in a 1-run game as you describe. Get your facts straight instead of letting your teary memories of 69 get the best of you. It was also the last game of the Cubs series and the last time the Cubs ended a game in first place.

It was awesome (I was there with my dad and three brothers). For the last 3 or 4 innings, everyone was waving handkerchiefs and throwing confetti. My brother ripped up a medical book that a neighboring med student had stowed under his chair and my dad had to make good to the guy to the tune of $30.

Friday the 13th fits squarely into the realm of sports superstitions, curses, and all things unlucky. On Sept. 9, 1969, the Cubs faced the Mets at Shea Stadium. Six days earlier, Chicago had been five games up on New York in the National League pennant race. But by the 9th, the lead was down to 1 1/2 games. As the day's leadoff batter, Don Kessinger, stepped into the box against Mets ace Tom Seaver, a black cat scooted out from under the stands, and took good long glares at Kessinger and Cubs third baseman Ron Santo, awaiting his turn on the on-deck circle.

Then the cat ambled over to the visitors' dugout, headed for Leo Durocher, raised its tail, and hissed at the manager.

"I knew right away we were in trouble," said Santo. "I wanted to run and hide."

Seaver pitched the Mets to a 7-1 win that day, giving the Mets a two-game series sweep and reducing the Cubs' lead to a half-game. Chicago ended the season in second place, eight games behind New York.

As a 9 year old at this game my memories of the game itself are not clear. I do remember my dad getting my attention to point out the black cat in front of the Cubs dugout. I remember shredding up The Daily News to make confetti, which was flying all over the stadium! The chorus's of "Good-Bye Leo" started while the game was still in progress, and continued as we were exiting down the ramps. I vaguely remember chants of "We're number 1", although we weren't in first place yet. For a 9 year old kid it was a summer to remember, first men walking on the moon and the Mets winning the World Series!

I was ten, going to the game with my uncle and grandfather to meet my dad at the game. To this day I have no idea where we parked. I remember them running out of programs, the goodbye Leo serenade, and the black cat. Our seats were in the left field corner, so when Seaver hit his double we weren't sure that it wasn't a home run.

A great game, a great year.

I was 11 years old at the time and my Dad, my friend and his dad attended the Black Cat game on Sept 9th. I remember everyone cheering when Santo looked at the cat running around on the field. When the game ended I remember walking down the ramps when slowly the Goodbye Leo chant started. It became louder and louder until you could hear it clearly across all the ramps. It was one of the two games my dad took me to in September and the other was the clincher on Sept 24th. I still can see in my mind's eye Harrelson flipping to Weis to start the gam-ending DP.

The 100th and last victory for the Mets in the 1969 Miracle season. Bob Johnson finishes it off by pitching a scoreless twelfth inning for his first major league save. The Mets would go on to win seven of eight post-season games and claim the World Championship.

According to William Bike, author of The Forgotten 1970 Chicago Cubs: Go and Glow, a woman came out of the Wrigley Field bleachers and gave rookie third baseman Wayne Garrett "a big smooch" in this game. Sounds like a perfect ending to the regular season, especially if you're 21 like Wayne Garrett was at the time.

That beautiful moment resulted in Wayne becoming an offensive powerhouse during that year's NLCS. He hit a home run, drove in three, and had a .385 batting average and a 1.236 OPS in the three game sweep of Atlanta.

I believe that Gentry was pulled after 4 innings to give Cardwell a chance to even his record at 9-9.

I remember Gary Gentry had a no-hitter for about seven innings. Ernie Banks broke up the no-hitter in the eighth inning and Gentry finished with a one-hitter.

Gary Gentry had what just might have been the best game of his career. On a 46-degree day in Chicago, he pitched a one-hit shutout over the division-leading Cubs. Gary surrendered only a walk to Ron Santo and faced the minimum 21 batters over the first seven innings. A two-out single by Ernie Banks in the eighth ended Gentry's bid for a no-hitter.

Gentry got all the run support he would need on Art Shamsky's home run in the top of the fourth. One inning later, Gary's own single drove home Wayne Garrett. The Mets added two more runs in the seventh when Garrett tripled to score Mike Jorgensen and came home on a single by Jerry Grote.

Two days later in Philadelphia, Tom Seaver threw a one-hitter against the Phillies. This gave the Mets one-hit victories in two consecutive games.

It makes you wonder how the Mets didn't win more during the 1970s when they had this kind of pitching staff. Seaver, Koosman, Ryan, and then someone like Gentry who could lock down a talented team like the Cubs (although they did choose to sit Jim Hickman on this day).

Gentry retired the first 12 to face him, including 6 via strikeout. He walked Ron Santo to lead off the 4th, but quickly got Johnny Callison to ground into a double play. He continued to face the minimum until there were 2 outs in the 8th when Banks hit a sinking liner to left. Dave Marshall dove for the ball but had it hit off his glove. Bob Murphy, calling the game on the radio, was on the fence whether it would be ruled a hit or an error, but there was no way the hometown scorer wasn't going to rule it a hit. I haven't seen a replay myself, if one even exists, so I have no idea if the right call was made. But the Mets booth said they thought that Marshall would make that catch 9 out of 10 tries.

The Cubs hit some deep flyballs in the 8th and 9th, but all settled into Mets gloves, and Glenn Beckert popped out to RF on a nice running catch going into foul territory by Ron Swoboda, securing Gentry's first of two career one-hitters.

Not to be completely outdone, Chicago starter Bill Hands struck out 12 in a losing effort. That tied his career high, with both accounts coincidentally coming against the Mets. In other Cubs news, catcher Jack Hiatt made his first start for the team, having just been acquired from Montreal to help fill the void left by the injured Randy Hundley.

In their first 1970 appearance at Shea following the wild and bitter 1969 pennant race, the Cubs jumped all over Jerry Koosman early and held on to beat the Mets, 6-4.

Kooz was on the ropes from the start as Don Kessinger led off with an infield hit and after an infield out Billy Williams reached on an Al Weis error. Ron Santo hit a sac fly to give the Cubs an early 1-0 lead, and then Jim Hickman folowed with his sixth homer of the year to make it 3-0.

A Glenn Beckert single made it 4-0 in the second and the Mets got one back in the bottom of the second with the help of two Cubs errors. The Mets got two more back in the third off Ken Holtzman but they had those runs in plus the bases loaded and one out, but Jerry Grote and Al Weis couldn't get the tying run in.

The Cubs got two more in the fifth and then Donn Clendenon homered to make it 6-4 in the bottom of the fifth. But Jim Colborn came in to relieve Holtzman and held the Mets to just one hit over the last 4.1 innings, at one point retiring eleven in a row.

This was my first major league game; I was 8 years old. I remember sitting by third base in the loge level. I remember Hickman hitting a HR to put the Mets down 3-0. I remember my dad getting up to buy me and my cousin Barry Mets batting helmets (which I believe were either $.50 or $.75) and while dad was getting the helmets, the guy right in front of us caught a foul ball. Like the cliches go - I will never forget how green the grass was at Shea that night and how vivid and colorful everything was the moment we walked through the portals. I also remember the torrential downpour and that the puddles in the parking lot almost came up to my knees.

The Cubs again gained a measure of revenge from last year's fadeout by taking the second game of this four-game series at Shea after winning the night before to start the series.

In this game, the Cubs jumped all over Gary Gentry after the Mets scored a run in the bottom of the first. The Cubs scored three in the second and three more in the third. When Gentry loaded the bases with nobody out in the fourth, Gil Hodges called to the bullpen for Don Cardwell, but Cardwell walked Jim Hickman to force in a run, then allowed a bases-clearing double to Johnny Callison. An RBI single by Ferguson Jenkins made it 11-1 Cubs.

The Mets scored at least one run in every inning from the fourth on, but still fell short by six runs.

Of the eighteen batters in the starting lineup, only one did not reach base at least once: Gary Gentry, who was 0-for-1.

The heart of the Cub lineup--Billy Williams, Ron Santo, and Jim Hickman--combined for five hits, six walks, and ten runs scored.

A note about this game is that it was part of a doubleheader where Ryan and Seaver were the starters. I am making this note in the part of the split that the Mets won. This was a one admission double header that featured the only two players to come through the Mets system to go to the Hall of Fame.(Hopefully one day this will no longer be true) The only Met memory I had about the game that Ryan won and Seaver lost. I also remember Cub Manager Leo Durocher arguing a call with the Umpire and seeing his eyes popping out of his head. I was sitting up in the top deck at Shea, but his eyes were so popped out of the sockets I could clearly see the whites of his eyes all the way up there.

The day this game was played, my parents bought me a graduation gift - a radio/cassette player. I popped in a tape and recorded the game from the third inning on. The Mets were behind 3-0 but came roaring back, winning on homers by Agee and Clendenon.

I recently found that old cassette, still in fine condition, and digitized it. I've been listening to it today on my computer. It's a wonderful record of the Mets of that era and of Kiner, Murphy and Nelson. What a wonderful team of broadcasters they were. Hearing Murphy's bubbly voice and Nelson's smooth professionalism is always a treat. I'm so glad I made and kept this recording!

This was a good old-fashioned hitters duel at Wrigley Field. Each team used five pitchers in a battle that featured a total of nineteen hits.

In the top of the ninth inning, Ken Boswell delivered a clutch two-out single that scored two runs to tie the game. Duffy Dyer (who entered in the eighth) slugged a two-run homer in the tenth to win it for the Mets. It was the first of two home runs that Dyer would have during the season.

After playing the last two innings of the game at first base, Ed Kranepool was sent down to the minor leagues. Ken Singleton was called up to take Ed's spot on the major league roster. Kranepool would not return to the Mets until mid-August.

In addition to the 19 hits NYB Buff mentioned, the two teams also combined to walk 17 times, so there were baserunners galore all throughout this game.

The Mets erupted for 7 runs in the 4th inning, sending 12 batters to the plate as the Cubs needed 3 pitchers to get 3 outs. That made the score 8-4, but Chicago came right back with a run in the bottom of the 4th, and 5 more in the 5th, chasing an ineffective Ray Sadecki, along with Don Cardwell (who faced 5 batters in the inning but only got one out). But the Mets bullpen held the Cubs scoreless after that, with Ray Folkers, in only his 2nd career Major League appearance, Ron Taylor and Jim McAndrew getting the job done. McAndrew got the final 3 outs of the game to earn his first career save.

As mentioned previously, Boswell and Dyer delivered the clutch hits to help the Mets win for the 9th time in 12 games, pulling them to within a game and a half of the 1st place Cubs.

Former Mets pitching coach Phil Regan blew the save and took the loss for Chicago, but one could hardly blame him. After all, not only was he pitching for the fourth time in the last three days for the Cubs, but was also asked to throw three innings. I'm sure his arm must have felt like it was about to fall off by the time Dyer hit the go-ahead homer off him.

In the game, outfielder Jimmie Hall received his final at-bat as a member of the Cubs, as he'd be sent to the Braves a few days later. This was also Steve Barber's last game with the Cubs, as he was released a week later. Jim Dunegan pitched 3 innings of scoreless relief for the Cubs, and also hit a 2-run double in the 5th for the only hit of his ML career, but he was also sent packing after the game to the minors. Chicago obviously thought they had some work to do on their roster after such a tough loss.

This was the first time I ever saw the Mets play. A doubleheader in Chicago, with the Mets taking both games. I believe this was also the day Ken Singleton made his Major League debut. I've wondered in recent years if this was the only time when two present or future 300 game winners ever started and won both games of a doubleheader for the same team. I still have the scorecard from the first game, won by Seaver.

This was the second game of a doubleheader at Wrigley and was the first major league game for Ken Singleton. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in a game started by RHP Archie Reynolds.

Nolan Ryan pitched seven innings and allowed just one hit, a Don Kessinger single leading off the bottom of the first. Kessinger stole second and came around to score on two infield outs. But that was all the offense the Cubs could manage. After Kessinger's single Ryan retired six in a row, walked two consecutive batters, then retired the next fifteen Cubs. He came out after seven innings in which he struck out only two (Cubs first baseman Willie Smith K'd twice).

Ryan also had two hits that helped keep Met rallies alive.

Nice description, Bob P, but you forgot to mention the most significant thing about this Mets win that completed a doubleheader sweep of the Cubs. It lifted the team into first place in the National League East, one-half game above Chicago.

Think this was my first game. All I remember was Joe Pepitone making a crazy shoestring catch.

This was the first game that my father took me to see (I had been to a couple other games with my older brother). We sat in the Loge section just past third base, and I remember being amazed at how loud the sound was when Ryan's fastball hit the catcher's glove. There were also numerous foul balls off Ryan that went way up into the upper deck behind home plate (not all that common at Shea). Unfortunately my mother threw out all of my programs years later so I don't have all of the stats (I know he struck out between 12 and 16, but can't remember the exact number) If anyone has, or knows where I can find a copy of the boxscore, please email me.

Hello! On Saturday night I heard Billy Crystal state the date of the first major league baseball game that he ever saw. This made me curious about what the date was for my first major league baseball game. Thanks to your website I have been able to determine that it was this game. August 4, 1970. I would have been 8 years old at that time. My father took myself and my cousin to this game. It was on a Tuesday afternoon, and Nolan Ryan threw a three-hit shutout. I remember that our car overheated in one of the tunnels after the game and we just barely made it out the other end before it stopped running. My father bought me a Mets cap that day, which is unfortunately long gone. I saved that ticket stub for many years, but now it is gone also and I don't have any momentos from that day.

Steve Cadwallader Cadwalladers@Citadel.edu

This was my first MLB game. My father who was a Cubs fan took me to Wrigley Field on Labor Day weekend Saturday. I was 7 years old. I have the scorecard my dad kept which is still in good shape. After this game and to this day I have been a Mets fan. From that point on we would take the train and elevated line to Wrigley Field at least once per year when the Mets came to town.

If I remember correctly, didn't Stanton hit a triple and then nearly get knocked unconscious by the relay throw? Gaspar then pinch-ran. I was 7 years old, don't ask me how I remember this!

Paul, Leroy Stanton did hit a triple in this game and then got knocked unconscious by the relay throw.

One day after getting eliminated from the N. L. East race, the Mets faced the Cubs to start a season-closing series for second place in the division. Donn Clendenon connected for a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning to tie the game at 3-3. The home run gave Clendenon 95 RBIs for the season to break Frank Thomas's team record at the time. Wayne Garrett then hit a three-run homer in the tenth to win it for the Mets.

This game had a great start and finish, with not a whole lot in between. Stanton, making his first ML start, boomed a triple to RF to lead off the game for the Mets. That also represented his first big league hit. As mentioned previously, the relay throw nailed him on the head, and they brought a stretcher on the field to carry him off, though he eventually got up and walked off under his own power. Rod Gaspar pinch ran and scored on Cleon Jones' 25th double play of the season. Jones ended the season with a league-leading 26 twin killings, which stood as the Mets record all the way until 1999 when Mike Piazza tallied 27.

The teams traded zeroes until the 6th, when former Met Tommy Davis hit a line drive 3-run homer. The score remained 3-1 into the 9th, and the Mets looked all but dead as Ken Holtzman had retired 9 in a row until Jones hit a 2-out single. Then Clendenon came up super clutch with a huge game-tying home run. The Cubs brought in 48-year-old Hoyt Wilhelm to pitch the 10th, and he showed every bit of his age in giving up a 3-run homer to Garrett, which represented the Mets' only walk-off home run of the 1970 season!

This game had one crazy bottom of the seventh inning! Don Hahn thought he was hit by a pitch and went to first base. It was called a foul ball instead and Gil Hodges argued over it. Hahn was then ruled to have been hit and the Cubs voiced their displeasure about the change in decision. The original ruling was restored and upset Hodges, who played the game under protest. The umpires then quarreled amongst themselves about what really happened before bringing Hahn back to the plate. The entire dispute took fourteen minutes.

Later in the inning, Cubs' pitcher Milt Pappas got angry with catcher Danny Breeden over a mistake that let Jerry Grote escape a rundown. Pappas blew his cool and went ballistic on Breeden right in front of everybody. Leo Durocher then took Pappas out of the game.

These guys seemed to give the seventh inning stretch a new meaning. The inning was extended much longer than it should have been.

A fantastic post by Scoey! What are the odds that, in the same inning, you'd not only see the umpires argue amongst themselves, but also see a pitcher completely lose his mind on his own catcher? I thought it was quite fitting that, after all the back-and-forth during the Hahn at-bat, Hahn wound up reaching first on a single anyway. After Al Weis' bunt attempt that resulted in Hahn being forced at second, Bud Harrelson came through with a single to score Grote and put the Mets in front for good.

The Cubs wound up leaving 12 runners on base in the game, and stranded the bases loaded without scoring in both the 4th and 8th inning. Nolan Ryan was his usual wild self but only allowed 3 hits to limit the damage. Ray Sadecki relieved him in the 8th, but a walk, a single and an error loaded the bases with 1 out. Danny Frisella came in and put out the fire, getting a pop out and a ground out before tossing a 1-2-3 9th for the save.

The Mets' other run scored on Bob Aspromonte's first homer with the team. It would be one of only a few bright spots he'd have in his one season with New York.

Second game of a doubleheader at Shea, and Burt Hooton gets his first major league win. Hooton, who had been pitching for the University of Texas four months earlier, had a no-hitter with two outs in the seventh inning when Mike Jorgensen singled, and then Ken Singleton hit a two-run homer to tie the game, 2-2.

But Billy Williams hit a pinch-homer off Danny Frisella in the top of the ninth to give Hooton his first of 151 victories. Burt struck out 15 Mets in the game.

This night sucked. Swept in a doubleheader and toyed with by a rookie in game 2.

I had seen the Mets sweep two or three doubleheaders before this night and two losses followed by that excrutiating Shea to New Jersey drive was a bummer.

The only vivid memory I have is of Singleton's HR clearing the wall.

Now that I'm older, I guess I appreciate the trivia of being at Burt Hooton's first win, but it was not fun at the time.

Tom Seaver takes a tough loss as Cubs pitcher Juan Pizarro homers off Tom for the only run of the game.

Pizarro was a pretty good hitting pitcher. He finished his career with 8 homers, 66 RBIs, and a .202 batting average, playing in an era where the league batting average was just .257.

The Vietnam war was still going on and I was a freshman at college. Students were still holding protests, but they were mostly half-hearted as the draft lottery was instituted (I was #182) and schools administrators were acquiescing to most student demands. (Kent State was a couple of years earlier.) The annual spring call for a strike from classes and rally in the quad went out. The first part sounded like a capital idea, the second, well, we could do better things, like head to the bar, or in my case, hit the subways for the day Mets game.

I had to go alone (sports weren't the biggest thing in '72), but what a great day. I see a Seaver shutout and get back in time for another great dorm weekend. I remember the game, but not the weekend. (Don't remember many details of those.) The immoral war ended. I graduated. Seaver got traded. Things end. memories endure.

This was my first visit to Shea at age 10. A neighbor had given my father two tickets, Field Level Box seats right behind third base; great seats that went for $4 each back then. The Cubs scored a run in the top of the first. In the bottom of the first, after Agee and Garrett were put out, Willie Mays cracked the first pitch over the fence in the left field corner. I clearly remember the final score, 6-1 Mets, but not much else after 31 years. I do remember Joe Pepitone's crazy hairstyle though. I'm glad I got to see the great Willie Mays in action... the homer was a truly great memory.

John,

Thanks for sharing! It's amazing what we can all remember about insignificant games from so long ago!

Thanks to retrosheet.org, here are some more details from the game:

The Cubs took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on a sac fly by Billy Williams after Bill North and Glenn Beckert led off the game with back-to- back singles.

Mays' homer tied it in the bottom of the first, and then the Mets took the lead for good in the third on an infield out by Wayne Garrett. Mays followed with a single and another RBI to make it 3-1.

In the bottom of the fourth, a Duffy Dyer sac fly scored John Milner, and in the fifth Mays struck again, this time another RBI single to drive in Garrett. Tommie Agee finished the scoring with a leadoff homer in the seventh to give the Mets a 6- 1 lead and that's how it ended.

What a performance that night by Jim McAndrew! He pitched a complete game three-hitter for his seventh win of the year. After giving up those back-to-back singles to the first two batters, he allowed just two more baserunners (one hit and one walk) the rest of the way. Meanwhile, the Mets tagged Fergie Jenkins with his tenth loss of the season, scoring all six of their runs off him.

The win improved the second place Mets to 54-44 and brought them to within 6.5 games of the first place Pirates. But the Mets would split their final 58 games to go 83-73 and finish in third place, 13.5 behind Pittsburgh, and two and a half games behind the Cubs.

I remember watching this game as a Cub fan the night before my family left to move to Florida the next day. I recall a ball dropping in deep in the OF near the great Willie Mays. He no longer had much of an arm and he had to flip the ball to one of the other Mets OFs in order to get it into the INF. Though he had a great game hitting-wise, it was sad to see his skills deteriorate to that point.

Seeing Willie Mays' 1st Inning HR...TREMENDOUS!!!

First at bat for Lute Barnes. Rbi base hit - soft liner over shortstop's head.

My first Mets game. We originally were to go over the summer, but Hurricane Elizabeth rained it out. This was the night before the first day of school, so it was a big deal. It was pretty amazing to be 9 and see Tom Seaver pitching... I remember that Hank Webb made his big-league debut this night. Too bad they lost.

Webb's debut was not one to write home about...his first batter in the 9th was Ron Santo. He walked. His second batter was Jim Hickman. He homered. That turned a 1-0 game into a 3-0 game.

Another odd thing about this game...Seaver came out after five innings down 1-0. He wasn't pinch- hit for, but Ray Sadecki replaced him to start the 6th. Maybe Tom was not feeling well? Seaver gave up four hits, two walks, and struck out five through five innings so he certainly wasn't struggling.

NY Times Select has helped answer my question from September 2003: Seaver did pull a muscle in his hip while pitching to Don Kessinger in the top of the fifth. He finished the top of the fifth and was removed for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the fifth.

What I most remember about this game is that I was sworn into the United States Navy before the game. Our boot camp company was know as "The Chicago Cubs Company. We marched onto the playing field from the right field corner door, down the first base line and made a 90 degree turn toward Waveland Avenue and another 90 degree turn at second base and continued onward to third base. Stretched aound the baselines were approximately 80 soon to be sailiors with long, soon to be much shorter hair. An admirial stood at the pitchers mound and had us repeat after him the oath of loyalty to our goverment, country and service.

After the swearing-in ceremony we marched off the field while shaking hands with Cub players such as Banks, Santo, Williams. We were given coupons for free hotdogs and Cokes and watched as the Cubs kicked some serious butt by pounding Tom Seaver and the Mets 18 to 5. Even the Cubs pitcher hit a grand slam!

I saw many newspaper, military and freelance photographers taking pictures of this event but have never seen copies of these pictures. The game was televised on at least one station and possibly more then one station.

I was 10. My 2 brothers and I were on the field before the game and were photograghed with with our favorite Cubs. We actually chose. Fergie Jenkins, Rick Monday and Jose Cardenal. Our father made us wear suits. It was a hot sunny day. We sat front row behind the Mets dugout with the sun beating down on us. I remember Tom Seaver and Willie Mays being so close as they changed fields. Burt Hooton hit a grand slam. I could not believe that a pitcher could do that. I distinctly remember the ball being hit so deep that it hit the scoreboard in centerfield but in my research of this game I found that the scoreboard had never been hit by a home run ball. I do, however, remember how so many walks in the game made it very boring for a little kid to watch despite the high score.

This had to be one of the worst starts of Tom Seaver's career. He lasted just 2.1 innings, allowing eight runs, six hits (two homers, including a Burt Hooton grand slam), plus five walks.

In fact, Met pitchers walked fifteen batters in this game to go along with seventeen Cubs hits. Catcher Elrod Hendricks walked five times (twice intentionally), and Jim Hickman and Rick Monday walked three times each. The Cubs batting average for this game was .425, and their on base percentage was .582!

The Cubs were up 13-1 after four innings. All 18 of their runs were earned.

I remember this game as it was one of the first of many 1-0 Mets losses. I was 8 and went with my brother and grandfather, "Daddy Frank," which is what we called him. Monday hit a homer over the center field fence and the Mets did not threaten all game. What I remember most, though, is going into school the next day with an absence note explaining I had missed school to go to a game with my grandfather. My 3rd grade teacher (who was, quite frankly, evil) said something along the lines of a ballgame is no reason to miss school. Note to all you teachers out there: there is no better reason for a boy or girl missing a day of school than to go to a ballgame with their grandfather! I am almost 50 now and still cherish the memory.

My buddy and I were in 8th grade when we went to this game. Funny thing, my memory was that it must have been a Saturday afternoon but I see now it was mid week so it must have been during Spring recess.

One of our moms drove us to the Manhasset train station and the other one picked us up on the way home.

Box seats in those days cost a whopping $4 each and it just so happened they had two available on the field level behind the Mets dugout, first row behind the walking path. These were probably the best seats I ever had in the 40 years I went to Shea.

I was so excited to see the Mets ROY on the mound, Jon Matlack, having already seen Tom Seaver at the stadium many times. He was going against a guy I never heard of before, Ray Burris.

Matlack was terrific, save a wild pitch in the first inning with a runner on third. That was all he gave up. Unfortunately, Burris was better. He gave up nothing in the 1-0 loss.

Everyone talks about how exciting pitcher's duels are, and they are, but when your team does nothing for 9 innings, it doesn't matter how great your seats are. We went home very disappointed.

George "the Stork" Theodore got his first MLB hit in this game - a double off Burt Hooten.

I went to this game and because of my father's connections with a charity organization, I got to sit on the bench in the dugout with the team before the game. I was 15 at the time and remember being intimidated and excited. I looked to my left and sitting next to us was Yogi Berra (who ignored me and my brother, he seemed pretty serious). I don't remember anything about the game, but I most remember Rusty Staub talking to us and to another guest who was a former player. Rusty was very friendly and made a comment about the other guest having had written a book and Rusty commenting that he had written a cookbook while in Montreal. I got an autographed team ball, which I still have, with the signatures of Yogi, Seaver, Koosman, Willie Mays, etc.

This was a tight mound duel between Tom Seaver and Rick Reuschel that turned into a mini-battle of solo home runs. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Adrian Garrett (Wayne's brother) homers to break a tie and give the Cubs a 2-1 lead. The Mets tie it again and then go ahead on solo shots by Ken Boswell and John Milner leading off the eighth and ninth, respectively. With the Cubs down to their last out, Gene Hiser connects for the only home run of his major league career to force extra innings. A run in the 10th then gave Chicago the win and dropped the Mets into last place, where they would stay for the next two months.

This was the first game that I ever went to. I was ten years old and I believe it was a Banner Day Doubleheader. We drove down from Newburgh, NY in our 1972 Chevy Townsman station wagon. It was my Dad and my brother Steve that went and we sat in the Loge section above third base. I remember walking into the stadium from the concourse and being amazed how green the grass was. The first time we saw Jerry Grote and Wayne Garrett we went crazy because up til then they had just been on TV for us. We had a great time and saw Ferguson Jenkins in the first game which the Mets won and we stayed for about 3 innings of the second game and my brother and I have been Mets fans ever since and have been at even more memorable games in the 80's and 00's, but nothing like your first.

I remember a rainy day and Dave Rosselo scoring the only run.

This is a somewhat less-remembered game at the end of the 1973 pennant drive, but man was it crucial. After the 7-game winning streak, the Mets actually lost two in a row. The first game of the doubleheader on this day, they lost 1-0 on a late-inning Ron Santo single. So they absolutely had to have this second game of the double header. They scored three runs in the first inning, helped by a big throwing error. The Cubs eventually made it 3-2, but once again Cleon Jones put the game away for Koosman with a big home run. The next day they clinched the division on the final game of the season.

I have zero memories of this day, but I was born a a little over four hours before the Mets played their final game to a Mets loving mom. She was pregnant throughout the entire spring training and regular season. She raised me to be a fan and I consider myself a Lifelong one at that. Growing up, we would celebrate many of my birthdays at Shea Stadium. Two stand out most: my eighth and sixteenth. This year for year 50 9.30.23, I'll be at Citi Field doing the same. #Since73

I remember bringing a transistor radio to my High School with me and listening to the score whenever I could sneak in the ear phone in class. The weather in Chicago was brutal and it seemed that the game would end in a snowstorm. Seaver pitched a clutch game and the umps did a good job of getting it in and then called off the second game of a scheduled doubleheader. The Pirates were playing a make up with the lowly Padres and needed a Met double header loss coupled with a win. The Pirates, when they got wind of the Met's victory, blew a lead and lost as well. It was an incredible August and September when the Mets, left for dead, came off the mat and made it to the 7th game of the Series.

The Mets clinch the National League East and only one fan memory so far? Anyway, it was a rainy day game at Wrigley Field, Cleon started the Mets off again with a home run and they built a 5-0 lead with Seaver. Things got a little hairy, though, as the Cubs made it 6-4. But Tug McGraw closed it out, with the game ending on a pop-up double play. John Milner caught the pop up on a hit and run play, so had an easy double play, stepping emphatically on first base to clinch the division. What an incredible run to the pennant!

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 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.

My first Mets game. I was 8 years old. I went with my Dad and two brothers and had great seats since my Uncle used to work for Schaefer.

I remember it being very cold. I used to yell to the Cubs outfielders "Drop it" when the Mets flew out but learned by the 5th inning that they don't drop a lot of fly balls in the Majors.

The Mets won this one 9-8 in ten innings, despite Bill Madlock going 6-for-6 for the Cubs.

Madlock tripled in the first inning, singled in the sixth, eighth and tenth, and had RBI singles in the third and fourth.

A pinch-single by Joe Torre gave the Mets the lead in the top of the tenth. Felix Millan had four singles and four RBIs in the win.

Dave Kingman broke the longstanding Met homer record by Frank Thomas by hitting his 35th homer of the season in this game.

Rusty Staub's two-run homer in this game made him the first Mets' player to drive in 100 runs in a season.

I remember listening to this game on radio during a weekday afternoon after returning home from school. It was during the last week of the regular season on a Wednesday afternoon, before Wrigley Field had lights.

In this game, Tom Seaver pitched 8? hitless innings before giving up a base hit to rookie Joe Wallis with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Seaver had retired the first 18 batters of the game before walking Don Kessinger to start the bottom of the seventh inning, breaking up a perfect game. He continued pitching no-hit ball into the ninth, and struck out the first two batters of the ninth inning before Wallis got the Cubs' first hit.

Wallis was a September call-up who, according to his profile on Retrosheet.org, had played his first major league earlier in the month on Sept. 2, 1975. Wallis thus joins a list of relatively indistguished players who broke up no-hitters by great pitchers, although Wallis, who played in 329 games over five seasons in the majors, did have a much longer and more productive career than Jim Qualls, who broke up Seaver's perfect game attempt against the Cubs in 1969.

Neither team had scored during the first nine innings of this game, so the game went into extra innings. Seaver pitched into the tenth and gave up two hits in the inning, but he got out of the jam when Manny Trillo, who had singled, was thrown out at home trying to score on George Mitterwald's double. John Milner pinch-hit for Seaver in the top of the eleventh inning, and the Cubs won in the bottom of that inning when reliever Skip Lockwood walked Bill Madlock with the bases loaded.

This was the last time that a Mets' pitcher had a no-hitter going into the ninth inning, according to ESPN. No Mets pitcher has ever pitched a no-hitter, although many former Mets pitchers, including Seaver himself, pitched no-hitters for other teams.

Kingman's second HR of the game landed on the porch of a house on Sheffield Street. I was recently in Chicago, and I paced off the distance from the porch to the back of the bleachers - approximately 220 feet. Add the width of the bleachers (25 feet) and the 365 feet from home plate to the LF wall, and we're looking at a 610-foot blast.

Most books report an estimated distance of 550 feet, which is, conveniently enough, 15 feet shorter than the 565-foot HR by Mantle recognized as the longest by Guiness Book of Records. Now you know the truth!

The Mets left 12 men on base in this game, many of them by Kingman, who went 0-for-5 and whiffed twice, including the final out of the game with the tying and winning runs on 2nd and 3rd. He reportedly had a major tantrum following this game including smashing his hair dryer and throwing stuff out of his locker.

The next night in LA, Kong hit 3 dingers.

This was the game that Mike Phillips became the third Met ever to hit for the cycle!

This was a very special day at the beginning of my Met fanatasism. I was so enthralled with the Mets at the age of 7 that my whole family forgot about me watching this game in my aunt's basement, that they left for my cousin's wedding without me and I didn't even realize it. The only thing I can remember from the wedding is that John Milner hit a grand slam and that the Mets won 10-2. I've suffered from Met Fan Disease ever since and hold a special place for The Hammer in my memories.

This was a Saturday afternoon game at Wrigley, the middle game of a 3-game series that the Mets swept.

After falling behind, 1-0 on a Rick Monday leadoff home run in the first, the Mets scored 6 in the top of the third inning. Felix Millan singled to tie the game and then Milner hit his grand slam to make it 5-1. Kingman followed with a home run (his 25th) and it was 6-1. Kranepool drove in two more with a bases loaded single in the fifth, and the other Mets runs scored on a triple by Del Unser and a homer by Mike Phillips, one of only 11 homers in his career.

Jerry Koosman allowed just two more hits after Monday's homer and Bob Apodaca came in to get the last seven outs.

Who remembers Medallion Day?!!

My best Mets memory as a child, July 2, 1976 - Koosman beat the Cubs and an eight-year old boy goes home with a Mets "Bicentennial" Medallion on his birthday.

Has anybody actually still got a medallion from "Medallion Day"? I imagine bats from "Bat Day" as being a dime a dozen, but who has kept any of those silver Met-logo emblazoned beauties? I wonder where mine is now?

My father took us to that game. I still have the medallion. Keep it in a small cloth bag.

Jerry Koosman was solid on this night. He entered the ninth inning with a one-hitter intact and retired the first two batters. Then a disruption on the field held up the game for a few minutes. I don't remember exactly what happened, but it must have affected Koosman because a pair of singles followed. Jerry then retired the next hitter to end the game for the win. It broke my heart a bit, though, that the one-hitter didn't happen for Kooz. He would never pitch one in his career.

This game was memorable to me because it was the only time I got to see Tom Seaver pitch as a Met at Shea. I became a fan in 1975 and Seaver to this day has always been my favorite Met. Also this day was Met Medallion Day (the next day the Mets had a huge Bicentenial Banner Day Doubleheader against the Cubs that I was at some neighbor's BBQ and I got into a fight with my brother playing running the bases) I remember the Mets winning on a single by Harrelson in the 10th (but perhaps I am wrong since the box score does not list an rbi for Harrelson but lists only two of the Mets 3 runs as rbi's) Our whole family would go to the game and sit in the mezzanine (don't recall where). My brother who sadly grew up to be a Yankee fan tells people, "My father abused me as a child" He took me to Shea.

I was at this game; it was the first time I saw a game from the field seats. It was an awesome experience. I still have the Mets medallion I got from this game.

Actually, Jimmy, Bud Harrelson did win this game for the Mets, but not with a single. In the bottom of the tenth inning, Bud led off with a TRIPLE to right. It was a long fly ball that went over the outfielder's head, landing in front of the Mets' bullpen. The ball must have gone at least 350 feet in the air - a rare display of power from Buddy. He later scored the winning run, I believe on a bad pickoff throw to first.

This was the first Mets game I ever went to and the only one my father took me to before he died.

I remember Tom Seaver pitching and the Mets Medallion that I still have.

I remember this game for the boxscore only. I was 10 years old on vacation with my family in Wildwood, NJ and already a huge Mets fan but I couldn't watch the Mets on TV down there because they only showed Phillie games. My only knowledge of how the Mets did was to check the boxscores the next day. (This was well before the days of Sports Center and endless highlights.)

Well when I checked the boxscore for this particular game not only did I see a Mets win over the Cubs but I saw that this guy Mazzilli (who I'd never heard of) had pinch hit and his boxscore read 1 1 1 3 which meant he'd hit a 3-run homer. I thought to myself, "Wow this guy hit a 3-run homer in his first at bat in the bigs!" but I soon came to realize that it wasn't his first AB but his second, still not too shabby.

I wrote my memories of Billy Baldwin on this game. It was my first night game, and it was quite a thrill to see the game won by a pinch hit walk off home run by Billy Baldwin. It was his only one as a Met, and it was memorable.

I was ten-years old and it was my first game. My mother passed away the Christmas before. I supposed my father thought it was about time for me to be a serious fan. Or maybe losing his best friend, he needed to start a new one. My father and I really don't communicate much, we never really recovered from my mother's death. But, when one of us blinks and decides its been too long since we last spoke, in good or bad times, "How bout those METS!" is as good as it gets...

Of all the games I went to as a kid on our family's Sunday ticket plan, this one sticks out. And the one play that sticks out is not Seaver's mastery over the hapless Jose Cardenal-era Cubs, but the single hit: a soft liner by Steve Ontiveros that Ed Kranepool tried to make a shoestring catch of, but ended up one-hopping. I'd never seen a no-hitter at the time (this would later be rectified thanks to Jim Abbott and Doc Gooden), and it burned me that Tom and I both missed our one chance because of our rightfielder's aged knees.

Flash forward six years. I am in high school, when a classmate comes running up to me with the news: "Guess who's here? Ed Kranepool!" He had dropped by to give an anti-drug talk or somesuch, and was now hanging out in the physics lab, just chatting with students.

I rushed up to him, this hero of my youth who'd been a Met since before I was born, and immediately blurted out: "Hi! I would've seen Tom Seaver pitch a no-hitter if not for you!" And related the tale of Ontiveros' lone single, and his failure to dive for the ball.

Without missing a beat, he replied: "Oh, yeah. I remember that play. Even Swoboda couldn't have made that play."

You gotta love Ed Kranepool.

Neil, at least you didn't have to bite your nails through the whole game! The single by Ontiveros came with one out in the in the fifth inning.

With the Mets up 3-0 after six and a half innings, here's how the bottom of the seventh started:

Roy Staiger reached on an error by Ontiveros. Bud Harrelson reached on an error by Larry Biittner. Tom Seaver struck out. Lee Mazzilli reached on another error by Biittner, scoring Staiger. Felix Millan reached on an error by Ivan DeJesus to load the bases.

Bruce Boisclair then singled to drive in two and give the Mets a 6-0 lead. But how about those gloves on the Cubs? The Mets had the equivalent of seven outs in that inning!

I was at this game also. 13 years old, with my Dad. Even though Kranepool couldn't come up with the hit by Ontiveros, I remember he did make a leaping catch at the fence to rob a homer from one of the Cubs. (Don't remember which one). Also remember Kingman hitting a home run that was tremendously high in the air, took forever to come down and just cleared the fence in left- center.

I remember watching this on TV. I can't remember the Cubs getting good wood on the ball the entire game! I remember the lone hit that Kranepool let drop in. I wouldn't even categorize it as a line drive! It was more like a looping fly ball that just fell in the grass in right field and died. Without a doubt, Tom Seaver deserved a no-hitter for that game!

Remember being at this game with a buddy (we were about 14 years old) and cringing before the start when a older guy - a grandpa with his family - started saying over and over before the game that "Seaver's pitching a no-hitter today. Today is the day. He's pitching a no-hitter today."

I was going to type what John S. already did.

I was also at this game with my dad (photo album day, wasn't it?), but, as a 10 year old kid, I rationalized it by saying without Kranepool's catch, the Cubs would have had a HR, so somehow the two plays canceled each other out.

I guess I'm outnumbered on this page, but I always remembered that Kranepool did dive, but still short-hopped Ontiveres's ball.

I feel like this one-hitter is never talked about in Mets lore, but as one-hitters go, this was as close as the Mets have come--maybe 3-4 inches?? The other one that comes to mind is Gooden versus the Cubs in '84 where Knight should have been given an error on Moreland nubber and then the Mets actually DO have their first no-no.

I remember this game very well; it was Mets Photo Album day,and my two favorite Mets of all time were playing. Being a Met fan, we all loved Tom Seaver. Tom pitched a masterful game, keeping the Cub hitters off balance all game. I remember Ed Kranepool leaping up over the right field fence and robbing a Cub player of a home run. Kranepool also slightly misjudged the low liner in right, causing Tom to lose his no-hitter. I also remember Dave Kingman hitting a towering home run over the left centerfield wall off of Bill Bonham. Kingman's homer was a moon shot that took forever to fall to earth. The standing ovation the Shea stadium fans gave Seaver after the last out was beautiful.

I was at this game at Wrigley Field, and remember it pretty well as a young Cubs fan. The big play in the bottom of the ninth was a collision in left-center field between Mazzilli and Henderson that allowed two runs to score to tie the game. It wasn't a hard collision - they just got tangled up with each other, both trying to make the catch.

My late father took me and two buddies (one who was a Cubs fan) to this game as a birthday present since it was my 18th birthday! I had my first legal drink at Shea Stadium in the Diamond Club. (In those days the legal age in NY was 18.) We sat in the old RCA box seats that were several rows back from third base. I remember Karl the Sign Man sitting a few rows in front of us. I went up to him before the game and had him autograph my game program! It was almost better than getting a player's autograph! I do recall the Mets winning the game, but I always thought the score was 2-1. This website corrected that error! This is a cool website! I'll be sure to save as a favorite!

The only real memory I have is that this was the night of the 1977 Blackout. After the stadium lights went out, the emergency lights at the exit ramps lit up. Looking out beyond the stadium you could see that the rest of the area was also in darkness.

My father, brother and I waited for a little while to see if the power would be restored. When we were reasonably sure that power wouldn't come back right away, we decided to leave. Since we had taken the #7 train to the stadium that night, we had to find an alternate route home. I remember walking along Roosevelt Avenue to Main Street and then down to Northern Blvd. to catch the Q66 bus back to our neighborhood. The next day I had heard that some of the Mets drove their vehicles onto the field and used the headlights to illuminate the field somewhat so they could entertain the remaining fans with some mock play.

As I research now I see that the lights went out in the sixth inning and the game was resumed on September 16th.

My father, brother and I were seated in loge section 5 when the lights went out with (I believe) Lenny Randle at the plate. In the shadows of emergency lights, we remember Jane Jarvis playing Christmas music on the organ, some players miming a game in the shadows of light provided by cars brought onto the warning track in center field, and M. Donald Grant making an announcement urging calm (just one month after trading "the franchise," Tom Seaver). We waited about an hour and joined a the thousands peacefully easing their way out. I had not heard they finished the game later that September til recently.

Andrew was watching this on TV when the lights, TV, and air conditioning went out. Like a robot, he got up to try and adjust the reception on the TV, not realizing the big blackout had started.

I was in Times Square. Good place to see a blackout hit!

It was the blackout of 77. I was at Shea with my Dad and Brother. Jerry Koosman was striking out the world! He must have had 15 by the 6th inning. Lenny Randle was waiting for a pitch when the lights went out. He later said "I thought the good lord had called me." The announcer said power would be restored momentarily, yet you could see the whole city was out. As we waited, the emergency lights were bright enough for us to watch the Mets dance in the dark to the Christmas music that Jane Jarvis was playing on the organ! You could smell the reefer as people lit up in the dark. It was a peaceful, party atmosphere. What an amazing memory!

I was at the game with two of my friends, Candido and Bernard. I know it's going to sound weird, but I remember just a couple of innings earlier Candido said something to the effect of (and I swear this to my dying day) "I wonder what would happen if all of these lights went out." And, the rest is history. Weird, huh?

I remember it being one of my first games ever going to. I remember when the lights went out everything was calm. They had the cars on the warning track in center and some of the players where on the field horsing around. I can remember also Koosman was on fire.

I hate to say it out of all the memories I have of that game one that stands out is the idiot father of a friend I was with scaring the life out of my friend and I. As soon as the PA announcer said the blackout was city wide he grabbed us and just said a bunch off stuff about how crazy the city was going to be and we have to get out of there as soon as possible and back to Long Island. Why scare kids, I think.

Another memory I have of that game is how when the game was resumed it was part of a doubleheader. They played the last 3 innings I think and then a whole second game. Jerry Koosman pitched in the resumed game 2 innings and the STARTED the second game. Let's see someone do that today.

The best memory of that game I have is in the resumed game doubleheader the second game was delayed by rain. I was able to sneak down near the Mets dugout and Lenny Randle jumped up into the stands and sat there and signed autographs and chewed the fat for about 15 minutes with several fans including myself. As an 11 year old at the time that is something I'll remember forever and tell my grandkids about.

I remember this game like yesterday. I was in 10th grade and went to the game with a gang of my friends. We got Dairylea tickets for $1.00 a piece to sit in the rafters. The game wasn't sold out but we were sitting all the way up just to bust the peanut guy's chops. I saw the lights go out on the bridges first then the rest just went black except for the exit lights. The stadium erupted after figuring out after 10 minutes that the lights weren't coming on. The Mets came back on the field with cars and played a mock game of baseball to keep the fans calm and we were. But the best memory I have is when we left you can hear people rolling the kegs of beer down the ramps but that was it. It was a calm place for the most part.

Wow. This was, I think, the second game I ever went to. What a bizarre night for a 10-year-old kid from New Jersey who had hardly ever even been to New York City.

What fun it was though, with my dad, grandfather, and 7-year-old brother. Never even occurred to me that it could have been dangerous situation!!!

Ironically, I attended a MLB game this night, not at Shea but in Philly. I was 17 and in a summer program at Shippensburg (PA) State College, now Shippensburg University. The college ran a bus trip to the Vet for the Cardinals-Phillies game, and a couple of us NY kids got a bedsheet and made a banner reading, "YA GOTTA BELIEVE, NY STILL LOVES TUG MCGRAW!"

Of course Tug wound up saving a win for Steve Carlton. During the game, the news was flashed on the scoreboard that the Cubs-Mets game was stopped due to a power failure, and this being only a month after the midnight massacre, my immediate reaction was, "What's wrong with the Mets now?" We didn't hear anything about the blackout until the next day.

I was at the finish of this game; my memory was that it was crappy night and after they finished this one, they called the full game. So we went to Shea to see all of three innings of a game that they were already losing!

Ironically, it seems that both SPs were able to resume their role in Sept!

This doubleheader was a make up game from Friday night, Sept 16th. It poured. I think there was a black out in New York that night.

On this sunny brisk Monday afternoon,my day was darkened by the announcement that Craig Swan was pitching. I couldn't believe this fat loser was still a Met and not Seaver. But what the WOR-TV audience was pleasantly surprised by, and Bob Murphy couldn't bear repeating, was Craig's Swan Dive (my term) in poundage. What I witnessed was a new pitcher ready to come into his own. With this brilliant performance, he proceeded to become the second Met to lead the NL in ERA, although like most Met pitchers a victim of gross nonsupport. Despite a career that ended prematurely due to arm injuries, Swannie became one of my all-time faves - and it began on a day where I loathed him as late as 2 PM.

Koosman got ejected for trying to bean Rick Reuschel. As Doug Flynn said Reuschel hit Henderson and Koosman tried to hit Reuschel--in the head. Flynn said he never saw a pitch go between a head and a helmet---Reuschel ducked. When Koosman was ejected he said to Flynn, "Maybe I should quit. I never miss."

This was not televised,so I remember Reuschel's beaning of Steve Henderson visually as I listening to the radio. It was a historic Mets moment, because Hendu was never Hendu again. He was hit in his front elbow, and the consequences were perceptible. The player who was the key to the Seaver deal, who started 1978 where he left off from his very good rookie campaign became an opposite field hitter with limited power. Already an inadequate left-fielder, now he's a one- dimensional hitter. The Mets should've offered him to any AL team as an excellent part-time DH, for which they might've received value. Possibly to the Yanks for Ken Clay?

This game marked the end of Ken Henderson's epic 7-game Mets career, so memorable that I have no memory of this game, only read about it recently. I never noticed his departure due to the ignorable impression he left on me for those precious few days. I only recall a veteran named Keith or Ken (Could it have been Harrelson?) playing RF only because the Mets couldn't find anyone else. It wasn't Harrelson because I would've made the instant name association to Buddy. But the connection to Steve Henderson is not lost on me: the immediate game before, Steve suffered a career altering beaning courtesy of Rick Reuschel. Ken Hen sustains a fateful foot injury running into the RF wall, which can also tie him to the other gem we got for Seaver,Pat Zachry. Your 1978 NY Mets: the Clown Paupers of MLB - starring the Hendont's!

My memory of this game is that I got up to get some ice cream and a foul ball landed in my seat......nuff said.......

This was a tough game. Mets Starter Tom Hausman gives up 6 runs and the Mets are down 6-0 going into the 7th or 8th inning. In the bottom of that inning, the Mets rally for 7 runs to take a 7-6 lead, only to see Paul Siebert come in the 7th inning and give the lead right back to the Cubs.

My second ever Mets game, and my second Mets shutout. Old-Timers Day. My sister swooned when Lee Mazzilli went deep to lead off the bottom of the 1st. That was all the scoring we would need.

I was at this game. Eartha Kitt sang the national anthem and did such a bad job that half of the crowd was booing, and the other half was laughing.

Opening Day, 1979: young Jesse Orosco makes his major league debut, coming in to pitch to one batter and getting the last out of the game. The batter he faced was....Bill Buckner.

I was very excited about the Hebner trade. I had remembered his play with the Pirates and I had high hopes for this season. Yes, I liked Richie Hebner but then again I like green ham. Opening day against the Cubs, Hebner is four for four and he came up with a runner on third and less than two out. I was hoping for a hit or a sacrifice fly so he could have a perfect day at the plate. He popped up to the infield. I felt a strange foreboding at that moment.

I remember that this was the first game in which the Mets had names on the back of their uniforms. This was because the National League put in a rule that the visiting team had to have names on the uniforms.

This was probably the worst game at Shea I ever attended. The franchise had hit bottom, but home from college, I caught up with a couple of high school classmates and we went to the game. The crowd was so small that they closed off the upper deck and with $1.30 general admission tickets we got were directed to the mezzanine level. The Mets fell behind quickly and the fans that were there were quite vocal about their discontent about the state of the team. The Mets did not even draw a million fans that year. Thank goodness the Mets were sold after the season and things got better in the 1980's.

I wrote about this game in the prior post. I was thinking about this game recently and decided to look up the attendance which I figured was maybe 8,000. It was even worse than that. Only 4,320 people for a doubleheader. I did not stay for the second game which they actually won. It really was an awful time for the team.

The Mets tied this game 3-3 in the top of the eighth on a homer by Lee Mazzilli, then scored six runs in the eleventh inning as Joel Youngblood and Mazz hit two-run homers and Steve Henderson tripled to drive in two more.

But after the Cubs got a run back in the bottom of the eleventh they loaded the bases and ex-Met Mike Vail hit a pinch grand slam to make it 9-8.

Ed Glynn came on to get the last two outs and save a wild one.

I remember watching this game...I couldn't believe they might blow the lead and that Mike Vail was going to be the reason.

My other memory was that the next day (remember it was a pre-internet, pre-Elias Sports Bureau era, so these things took a while!), it was reported that it was the most combined runs scored in a single extra inning.

This game stands out in my mind because I had just got married the night before, got in around 6 AM with my new bride, went to sleep for about 6 hours, woke up went to get us something to eat and put on the Mets - Cubs DH and remember Kingman hitting a long HR.

I went to this game with my friend Barry on a Saturday afternoon. Must have been less then 10,000 fans there. Anyway got great box seats and saw a great game. Only time I ever saw a batter hit 3 HR's in a game. Dave Kngman went 4-4 with 3 HR's yet the Cubs still lost. Mazzilli and Stearns homered for the Mets. When Kingman hit his 3rd HR of the game I remember Lee Mazzilli and Steve Henderson in the outfield shrugging their shoulders as if to say "what can you do about it?"

This was supposed to be a double header but it rained, afterwards we went to cousin Joe's in queens and saw Paul.

Oh yeah, Richie Hebner hit a homer run

During the summer of 79 I saw Kobel pitch 5 times. This was one of the good ones. We drove in a car that day that had no floor in the back seats so water was spitting up from the Whitestone Expressway onto the back seat.

I still have the ticket stub from this DH which was only one game due to the rainout of game 2. My mother had a friend who had season tickets to the Mets and I got to go with my older brother. I sat in the Field Level, Box 46C, Seat 1; Right near the Cubs bench and when Dave Kingman came out of the dugout to get to the on-deck circle, he looked like Hulk Hogan if he was wearing a powder blue Cubs uniform with pinstripes which was their road wear back then. As a 12-year old, I went "OH MY GOD". Looking at the boxscore, I see that Bill Buckner had an UNEVENTFUL 0 for 3. That seat in 1979 cost $400 for the entire season, just wondering what that same seat costs in 2006?

My wife was the biggest Dave Kingman fan,and I liked him, too, so we got tickets to the Sunday doubleheader against the Cubs. Well, Friday we didn't go to the game, and Kingman hit 2 home runs. Saturday we didn't go to the game, and he hit 3 home runs! So here we are, in miserable weather, for a doubleheader. Well, Kingman went 0-3; the game was called after 7 innings and a long rain delay. Obviously the second game was rained out. We got tickets for the make-up twi-nighter, where my wife's bad-luck-Kingman timing continued.

So my wife is this huge Dave Kingman fan with the worst luck/timing. We went to a Sunday doubleheader against the Cubs in July; Kingman hit 5 home runs on Friday and Saturday, then did nothing Sunday in the rain and cold, and one game was rained out. This is the makeup twi-nighter. The first game starts at 5pm, so my wife leaves straight from her job and gets there in the bottom of the third inning, right after Kingman knocked in 2 Cubs. He does nothing the rest of the game, neither do the Mets; they lose 2-0. Second game is 1-1 after 9 innings, with Kingman 0-4. It's late, so we leave to go home. On the radio on the way home, of course we hear that Kingman singles in a run in the 11th, and the Cubs win 2-1. At this point we're waiting for Kingman to call us and tell us to stay home when he plays!

This was the beginning of the Mets worst homestand ever as they went 0-9 hosting the Cubs, Expos, and Cards.

The New York Times got it wrong reporting this game. In their early editions, they headlined this loss of the first-game of a doubleheader as the Mets losing their 100th game of the season. In fact, the Mets needed to lose the entire doubleheader to get to their hundredth loss. Of course, they ended up winning the second game of the doubleheader and their final five games in 1979 after that to finish the year with "only" 99 losses.

The Mets won this game causing the New York Times to commit an embarrassing blooper. The Mets started the doubleheader with 98 losses and lost the first game and were losing this game which was the nightcap. The Times must have had a headline ready: "Mets Lose 100th Game." The Mets ended up rallying and winning this game but the Times erroneously ran the headline in some of their editions. The win began a six-game winning streak to end the season and the Mets never did suffer their 100th loss. They finished the season 63-99.

From Retrosheet I've figured out that this was the game that featured perhaps the funniest plays I've ever seen in baseball.

With a man on, Bruce Boisclair hit a sinking line drive to short right field. Larry Biittner of the Cubs attempted a shoestring catch but missed. As Biittner ran in his cap had flown off and when the ball got by him it rolled under the cap. When Biittner turned around the ball was nowhere to be seen. He started whirling in circles like a dog chasing his tail while the Wrigley crowd screamed at him to look under the cap. When he finally retrieved the ball the run had scored and Bruce was on his way to third, and Biittner fired the ball in and nailed Bruce at third base (I thought Boisclair got a triple, but apparently my 12-year old brain only remebered what it wanted to about the play).

I was in high school at the time and had tickets for this game. I was going to get out of school that day because I was planning to be "sick." However, the transit strike ruined my plans. I didn't have a driver's license, and my friend had his license but didn't have a car, so we had no way of getting to the game. I still have the unused tickets.

I was 9 years old and this was my first Opening Day game. I remember being so excited the night before that I couldn't sleep.

Transit strike. Eight of us car pooling from LI. Decide to play hookey, get drunk, go harass KINGMAN. Seats in LF. One of us boyz lived in same building as DK in Forest Hills in '76. DK was nasty to him always. Buddy screams at KONG before game, "You suck!" Kong homers, trots out to LF, looks over. More rant, "Bite me you jerk!" Another long poke. Still staggered and undaunted, buddy boy suggests that KONG do something that is biologically impossible. KINGMAN walks over between innings and flips him the bird and sez "You little f^#k, one more word from you and I'll show up on Dartmouth St and rip your d*#k off."

Funny stuff.

I took every game so seriously when I was a kid. Mets were up by 8 runs in this one, and Neil Allen blew most of lead. I went psycho and ripped up all my Mets pennants and pictures that were hanging on the wall in my bedroom. My parents banned the Mets from our TV until I could promise not to take the losses so hard.

The Mets blew a 9-1 lead in this game which is a team record for the largest lead blown in a loss.

It's funny how I don't remember what I had for lunch 3 days ago but I can remember listening to part of this doubleheader from the friendly confines on WMCA-AM 570 as I spent a fantastic sunny Wednesday afternoon in my cousin's backyard pool. I also got yelled at for dunking my cousin Meredith underwater due to the fact that she's had a history of earaches and she didn't have any ear plugs on.

John Pacella started this game. My dad and I spent much of the game counting the number of times Pacella's hat flew off his head in mid-delivery due to the torque in his motion.

This game ended an awful stretch for the Mets, where they went 3-25. Horrible. The once- promising 1980 situation of June through mid-August came tumbling down hard.

The Mets defeated the Cubs to end their thirteen-game losing streak on this day. Ed Lynch got his first major league win and Roy Lee Jackson pitched the final three innings for his first career save. This was also the last of seventeen straight games in which the Mets failed to hit a home run.

Lee Mazzilli homers in the seventh inning for the Mets. It is the first home run by a Met in 175 innings, or almost three weeks.

Of course, the next Mets homer comes two innings later when Steve Henderson hits one with two on and one out in the bottom of the ninth for the 10- 7 win.

Dave Kingman had two homers for the Cubs.

This was my first ever Mets game. I was there with my dad and sister. My dad bought tickets at the ticket window that day and we sat in the Loge behind home plate. The attendance that day was 10,003. We always joked that we were those 3. Remember the Lee Mazzilli HR like it was yesterday and the amazing comeback in the 9th inning.

A cold, rainy day in Chicago. Tim Leary started, blew out his arm early in the game and was never the same again. Given that Leary turned out to be a decent pitcher later in his career with the Dodgers, he probably would have been one the great Met pitchers if they took better care of him in the cold weather that day.

Took better care of him? How? Should they have taken him out after ONE inning? Plenty of pitchers pitch in the cold (e.g. Tom Glavine this year) and don't blow their arms out. It was a freak thing that happened; don't blame the Mets or anyone on the coaching staff.

Sat in a midtown bar watching as young fireballer Tim Leary threw 2 great innings before throwing his arm out in the 38* Wrigley cold.... My Brooklyn piazon Pete Falcone hurled 5 or 6 great innings in a 2-1 win... Leary made it back years later but never was the dominant flame thrower

Leary had made the team at age 22 after a great Spring Training and the press was playing him up as the great phenom. This was his first MLB game. Supposedly, he felt something in his last Spring Training game. Whether it was his fault or Joe Torre's is hard to say but the injury was devastating at the time.

Remember watching this game on my cousin's color tv (my family had a b/w until '82) and Tim Leary leaves after 2 innings due to a bad elbow on a day in Wrigley more suited for Sam Huff and Mike Ditka than Pete Falcone and Bill Buckner. Yes, Bill played and went 1-4, so did Leon Durham (0- 4) and Steve Henderson who went to the North Siders in the off-season, he went 1-3. Besides the game, Palm Sunday April 12, 1981 saw the passing of boxing legend Joe Louis and the first Space Shuttle launching.

I was there that night when the old scoreboard at Shea put up this message during the game - "The Mets have acquired Ellis Valentine from the Expos for Jeff Reardon and Dan Norman". I couldn't believe we were getting a player of that caliber. The crowd reacted with applause but we should have known that Valentine was not the same from beaning incident. He would play sparingly for us over a year and a half and be out of baseball soon thereafter while Reardon went on to great career saving 367 games.

I was also there that night and I remember the message coming on the scoreboard, the sad thing was that Reardon was in the bullpen and that’s how he learned about the trade. Of course he got the last laugh.

To resume the season after a two-month players strike, the Mets and Cubs squared off in a wild game at Wrigley Field. With the score tied at 1-1 after ten innings, Mookie Wilson reached on an error by first baseman Bill Buckner (hey, does that sound familiar?) with one out in the top of the 11th. Wilson stole second base before Rusty Staub was walked intentionally and replaced by pinch-runner Bob Bailor. Dave Kingman slugged a three-run homer to put the Mets in front. The Cubs then scored three times in the bottom half to tie it up again at 4-4.

Each team got a run in the 12th inning for a 5-5 tie. Joel Youngblood hit a one-out double in the top of the 13th. Ron Hodges was given an intentional walk and moved around to third base on Ellis Valentine's single that scored Youngblood. Hodges then came home on Hubie Brooks' force play grounder for a two-run Mets lead.

Greg Harris pitched a scoreless bottom of the 13th to finish it off. For Mets' pitcher Dyar Miller, it was the 23rd and final win of his major league career. It was also Harris's first career save.

Rookie Ray Searage not only gets his first major league win, he also gets a hit to go 1 for 1 in the entire 1981 season and bat 1.000!

Searage maintained this perfect lifetime batting average for years because he was mostly in the American League with the DH until finally making a couple outs while pitching for the Dodgers in 1990, his final year.

Young LHP Jesse Orosco gave up the game winning home run to veteran Bobby Bonds in the bottom of the 8th at Wrigley. It was the last HR of Bonds' career.

Recently watched this game.....probably only about 3,000 in the stands. Mazzilli wins it in the 9th and I figured out this was his last hit with the Mets before being reaquired in 1986.

This was one of the strangest Mets games I have ever been to. The Mets were out of the race, in fact I believe they were officially eliminated on this night. I remember getting general admission tickets and ended up sitting in the loge boxes behind home plate on top of the screen. There were only a couple of thousand diehards in the stands.

The highlights of the game were provided by Rusty Staub, who hit a pair of solo homers. With the game tied at 2, it started pouring and the game was eventually called off. At least Rusty's stats counted.

This was the famous game where Tom Veryzer wore a jersey that spelled his name "B-E-R-Y-Z-E-R" on the back. I remember watching the game on WOR and being astounded by this. By the way, the Mets wore their Blue alternate jerseys this day.

One memorable note from this game: Larry Bowa hit into a triple play in the 8th inning against the Mets. He hit a pop fly to Bob Bailor at SS who flipped to Wally Backman to double Jay Johnstone off of 2B and Backman flipped to Dave Kingman to catch Gary Woods off 1B. Mets lost anyway 5-0.

Mets also pulled off another triple play against the Cubs at Shea later in the year on September 29th.

In late innings, Dave Kingman foul-tipped one into the lower seating area behind home, just to the First Base side of the protective net. The ball loudly smacked a woman - who was carrying two beers down the aisle - right square in the chops. First, she spun around, beer splashing all over. Then she went down, like a sack of potatoes. With Kingman looking on, the Andy Frains swarmed her. After about 2 minutes with a hushed crowd watching in anticipation on this very hot afternoon, the lady thankfully revived and got to her feet, to much applause and the relief of all.

I sat in the bleachers at Wrigley for this game, which was not noteworthy other than being the first of two games in two different cities played that day by Joel Youngblood. He was traded during the game to Montreal and played later the same evening for the Expos in Philadelphia. He got hits in both games!

Amazing he was able to get out of O'Hare that quickly.

I recall listening to this game on radio, hearing that Joel Youngblood was removed during the middle of the afternoon game at Wrigley Field because he was traded to the Montréal Expos. Later that night, I was watching sports highlights on TV when I saw a reply of Youngblood's first hit with the Expos in their night game against the Phillies at Veterans Stadium.

The Joel Youngblood, two-team two-hit day is what everybody remembers about that day. For me, one other thing as well... My daughter was born that day!! Around my house that trumps Youngblood!

This was the Chicago half of Joel Youngblood’s experience of getting hits in two different cities in one day. In the third inning, Youngblood delivered a two-run single with the bases loaded that put the Mets ahead to stay. Scoring the first run on the play was Craig Swan, who launched the only homer of his career in the top of the fourth. Joel was then traded to the Expos, with whom he singled in a game at Philadelphia that night.

I am the only one in the world that remembers this game. Terry Leach could not throw a strike for the life of him. The worst game probably of his career. His 10 inning 1-hitter later in the year redeemed him.

I can't say I do remember the game, but thanks to retrosheet, I see that the Mets scored 4 in the 6th to take a 5-3 lead then the wheels fell off.

Here is the top of the seventh:

Scott pitching. Sandberg singled, Bowa popped to short, Buckner walked, Orosco replaced Scott. Durham singled to drive in a run, runners moved up on error by Foster. Morales intentionally walked. Leach replaced Orosco. Davis walked to force in a run. Steve Henderson (yes, that Steve Henderson)singled to drive in two more, Kennedy flied out to right. Wills walked, Sandberg singled to drive in two more, Bowa walked. Falcone replaced Leach, Buckner singled to drive in two and then was caught stealing or the Cubs might still be batting now.

So Leach faced 6 batters: walk, single, out, walk, single, walk.

After the game the Mets had a one game lead over the Cubs in the battle for fifth place.

I was at this doubleheader and it was Banner Day! It was the first time that I was ever on the field at Shea as me and my cousin Nancy Ann paraded around the field with our banner: THE METS ARE GROWING A PENNANT ON THE FARM! (Btw, we didn't win anything). I can't remember what I had for lunch last Friday but I can remember the day we made that banner, how do I remember this? It was the day that both Oscar winner Henry Fonda and boxing champ Salvador Sanchez both died. (Thursday August 12th)

Looking at the boxscore is always quite tantalizing, Bump Wills played 2B for the Cubs and he's the reason that Lenny Randle became a Met because Randle threw a few haymakers at Rangers manager Frank Luchessi because Randle had lost his job to Maury's son in 1977. Also of note, 2 players for the Cubs who let ground balls go through their legs in post-season play were in the lineup that day: Bill Buckner (NATCH) and Leon Durham.

Leading off the top of the eighth inning, Leon Durham hit an inside-the-park home run to give the Cubs the win and a doubleheader split. It marked the beginning of a fifteen-game losing streak for the Mets that wouldn't be stopped until September.

I must have pestered my dad to go to this game, and bless him, we drove from Rockland County to see the Mets lose - but at least I got to see my first triple play in person! Keith Moreland liner to Brian Giles, who stepped on second and threw to Staub. I'm not sure if he had a chance at an unassisted TP.

I was attending college in Chicago and went to this game to see Seaver pitch for the Mets after his tenure in Cincinnati. Tom Terrific threw well for 5 innings, giving up just one run in the first before tiring and being relieved by Neil Allen. The Mets were able to tie it in the 7th, but as was often the case for the Mets at Wrigley, the Cubs came back in the bottom of the 7th to take the lead and beat the Amazin's. The following day, the Chicago Tribune noted that Tom pitched well, but that "The Seaver of old is also an old Seaver". Still, it was great to see Tom Terrific back in a Mets uniform.

This was the night I knew the Mets were going to become something special in the very near future. And it had nothing to do with the game itself.

Before the game the message board flashed the news that the Mets had traded Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey to St. Louis for Keith Hernandez.

This was the type of elite position player other teams seemed to have, but never the Mets.

One of my top-10 favorite games ever at Shea. And of course it wasn't because of what happened on the field. This was the night a franchise was transformed.

It happened before the game. My dad and I were there, at a three-quarter empty Shea, when a regular we knew, sitting near us told us about a wild rumor he heard - that the Mets were about to land Keith Hernandez from the Cardinals. No way, we both thought. Why would the Cardinals do that?

My dad gave me some change and told me to run out to the pay phone and call Sportsphone (900) 976- 1313 (Remember the jingle on the TV commercials? And current SportsCenter anchor Steve Levy doing those updates?) Anyway, I made the call, found out the news and by the time I was running up the ramp to our loge box seats, I could hear the cheering. Then I saw the message on Diamond Vision: "The Mets have just acquired star 1B Keith Hernandez from the Cardinals for pitchers Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey." And then hearing Bob Murphy on the radio that night after the game: "The Mets lost a game tonight, but have gained a superstar."

I remember this game at Chicago-- Walt Terrell, that's right, Walt Terrell hitting 2 homers against the Cubs. I think he hit one the other way.

Right you are, Brian. I was there, too, with my dad. It was the NBC game of the week and Terrell launched two homers to left-center field. But more than that, the Mets swept this three-game series and it was also Jesse Orosco's coming out party as one of the game's best closers. In this series and for the rest of the year, he pitched like a man possessed - a little foreshadowing of 1986.

I remember watching this game on TV. The story, of course, was Terrell's 2 homers. The thing that surprises me, in looking st the boxscore, is that Hernandez and Strawberry played in the game. I realize that they both came to the Mets in '83, but this game seemed to be before their era, in my mind.

I went to this game with a friend of mine. We saw Tom Seaver and Jesse Orosco shut down the Cubs. Darryl Strawberry drove in two runs with an 8th inning triple.

The thing that I remember most from this game, though, is seeing something that I had never seen in a ball game, either before or since. In the bottom of the first inning, Keith Hernandez was on third base with two outs. From my seat in the left field corner, I saw the home plate umpire yelling something to Bobby Valentine, who was the third base coach at the time. About a minute later, the umpire again said something to Bobby. the next thing I saw was the Cubs' players running off the field. The inning was suddenly over!

What happened was that Bobby had violated a rule stating that the third base coach cannot leave the coach's box while the pitcher is on the rubber. If he does, a runner at third can be called out. When Keith was called out, Bobby was livid. He argued loudly and got ejected. The crowd was confused, not knowing what really happened -- until an explanation of this rule was put on the DiamondVision a few innings later. I always knew this rule existed, but I have never seen it enforced except in this game.

Does anybody else remember this bizarre occurence?

I would have been in summer camp when it occurred, and probbaly wouldn't have been listening (and definitely not watching) the game.

According to retrosheet, Hernandez was ruled out on coach's interference, because the umpires ruled that Bobby V was moving around trying to force Cubs pitcher Rich Bordi to balk.

A game mostly memorable for Ed Lynch's fistfight with Keith Moreland as the Mets and Cubs were duking it out for the NL East flag that summer.

My last Day as a Met Bat Boy. Left the next day for boot camp for the Navy. Threw out the first pitch, ending the best 4 years of my life. Lots of great memories. Let's Go Mets.

I remember going to this game and sitting down in the Field Level seats (moved down during the game) and being impressed with how well Ron Darling was keeping the ball down and disappointed his effort and performance didn't earn him a win.

Better things, as it turned out, lay ahead.

My first game in person...team picture day....8 years old...got Strawberry's autograph...had fieldbox seats on the 1B side. One of my favorite childhood memories despite the Mets loss, and seeing many great games in person at Shea since... You never forget your first game.

Seaver's last win as a Met and Torrez almost blew a 7-1 lead in the 9th inning.

A cold, raw, wet day at Wrigley. I still managed to get two friends to come with me to see this game. We treated ourselves to upper deck reserve seats to stay out of the rain. Cubs strike for 6 runs in the second. Rusty Staub came in to pinch hit in the 3rd inning. We left in the 7th inning. Who would guess these two teams would fight for the Eastern Division title the next season?

To R. Solomon: you and your friends were among the "crowd" of 6,200 plus that attended the Mets-Cubs tilt at Wrigley. Before 1984, the Cubbies would draw flies if they were out of the pennant race by September (before Harry Carey's 7th inning stretch, WGN America, the lights being installed in 1988 and the yuppie Cub fans riding the coattails of the '84 season). Btw, the attendance figures are courtesy of retrosheet.org which is a great source to look up old baseball boxscores etc...

i was at this game. Dwight had his hook working...must have nailed 4 cubbies looking with a 2 strike curve. you could see the knees lock and the bat stop...then the ump would ring them up...

Rusty Staub had an rbi single to center in the 7 run sixth. there was a play at the plate...and Rusty to everyone's amazement broke for second... and made it! he left for a pinch runner to a standing o.

this was the first time i'd seen Gooden live and Shea was buzzing...the early signs of things to come.

I was a young trainee and the head of my department offered me tickets to see the Mets -- an orphan team that wasn't expected to do anything in 1984, and with a rookie pitching. Gooden was still sore about the way the Cubs mocked him two weeks earlier and he mowed them down this night. It was a very exciting night to be a Mets fan in my 20s, with no curfew!

On this night, there was a sign that Dwight Gooden had an immediate impact. This game was nearly left untelevised in the New York area. The fact that Dwight was pitching kept it on local TV.

The SportsChannel cable station was supposed to air the game. It couldn't because the Islanders had a hockey playoff game at home that it had to cover. Meanwhile, WOR-TV (which would have aired the Mets instead) had a New Jersey Nets basketball playoff game to show. The Mets' game, with Gooden starting, had no TV station to cover it!

A one-night agreement between SportsChannel and the Madison Square Garden cable station saved the game's televising. It was shown on MSG with SportsChannel's coverage. If Dr. K hadn't been on the mound, this compromise with the two stations probably would not have occurred and the game would not have been on metro-area TV.

This was an exciting win. The game was tied when Danny Heep, pinch-hitting for the pitcher, led off the ninth inning. Danny hit a high, shallow fly ball down the left field line. Henry Cotto made a diving attempt for the ball, but it got by him...and rolled all the way to the corner! With Cotto lying on the ground and the ball way behind him, I thought Heep was going to have a game-winning, inside-the-park home run. He wound up stopping at third base.

The leadoff triple turned out to be good enough. After two intentional walks to load the bases, Keith Hernandez hit a sacrifice fly to score Danny with the winning run. The Mets had a walk- off victory over the team that would become their chief rival that season.

When I look back at this game, I think of it as a great win during the Mets' return to contender status. Still, I can't help but think of how much more thrilling it would have been had Danny Heep been able to circle the bases on that ball he hit.

Hank M, thanks for sharing your experience of watching Danny Heep's leadoff triple in the ninth inning. But you're off on one fact. I saw a video broadcast of this game at it was Gary Matthews, not Henry Cotto, who was in left field chasing the ball hit by Danny. Matthews was replaced by Cotto as the left fielder after the two intentional walks that followed to load the bases. Cotto then caught Keith Hernandez's sacrifice fly that scored Heep to win it. The victory gave the Mets a two-game lead over the Cubs, Phillies, and Expos in the National League East.

The Mets stood 4 and 1/2 games in front of the cubs in the n.l. east after this win but would lose 13 of their next 16 games, including 7 losses to Chicago, a stretch which probably decided the division title. Another odd Mets giveaway night too, USA cap night, after all it was an Olympic year.

I listened to this game on WHN, and it was probably the first "big" game the franchise played in 11 years. Doc was brilliant for a rookie in a high-pressure start. I remember Mookie throwing out a Cubbie trying to score, and Murph had one of his best calls of his life. After he yelled the runner was out, he said nothing for about 5 seconds while Shea went nuts. Then he said "this place just exploded".

I was 18 and during batting practice my dad and I almost got beaned with a Leon Durham foul ball while we had a lapful of food.

Great game pitched by Doc and the entire crowd left the game yelling, We're # 1-"hoot".

Unfortunately, things went awry the next day with the Sisk fiasco and our lead vanished when we went to Chicago. That night there was definitely a fever in the air and it felt good for the first time in a long time as a Met fan with good things to come at the time.

After this game, I, along with many other Mets fans, thought the Mets were playoff bound. We're a silly breed, us Met fans!

The biggest Mets game since the mid 70's. I believe it was a nationally televised game (NBC?). I remember the excitement of a jam packed Shea and Gooden being sensational.

I was at this game with a group from my summer job and my college roommate. We sat in the left field nosebleed upper deck. It was the first time in maybe 11 years I left a Mets game being proud to be one of their fans. People were leaving the stadium yelling "We are number 1!!" However the Mets fell apart even after getting Ray Knight a month later. Regardless, it was great to be a fan on that night!!

After growing up a Buddy Harrelson fan from the age 5, but then as a Mets fan being like a bear in hibernation for years from the late 70s to early 80s, this was the biggest and most important ballgame I'd been to, ever... and probably my favorite ballgame of all time, to this day.

From Upstate NY, just west of Syracuse, at age 16, I researched and purchased the tickets for this Friday night, as well as the Saturday and Sunday double header.

For Friday night, it was to be Doc Gooden.... plus, during the era of Reagan and the Olympics, it was USA Cap Night, promoted for weeks by Kiner, and Murph (he seemed to be so looking forward to it, the ultimate patriot)..... so the Friday night tickets were tough to get by the time I convinced my parents to go to this critical Mets/Cubs series.... we were well under the overhang in the Mezzanine, maybe 4 rows from the back with a somewhat obstructed view of pop flies and that unusual wind tunnel swirling to our backs.... but at least we were directly behind home plate, DIRECTLY behind home plate, to see the Doctor's magic..

Unfortunately, the forecast, 2 days before the event, looked dismal. Heavy rain, unseasonably cold, chances of game occurring were minimal, but my dad said not to worry, all would work out. Indeed, though it rained all day and the temp felt like a November Jets game, Shea Stadium was packed, the rain ceased, the fans were intensely loud and rowdy, the K-Korner was ready, and Doc did not disappoint.

That game was the most loud and intense I have ever been to, ever. It was not just that Doc won, it was the rebirth of the Mets. 52,000 of us agreed, it was the rebirth of the magic. I still remember winding down the ramps after the ballgame, packed with Met fans, screaming as loud as they can "Let's Go Mets" to the point where the ramps felt like they were moving, bouncing.... amazing.... absolutely one of the best nights of my life.... plain and simple.

To John L.---The game was on SportsChannel and my part of New Jersey didn't have cable yet so I had to listen to it on the late great 1050 WHN. Plus it was a unusually cool, dreary July evening as I tend to recall but they got the game in anyway!

A critical Saturday afternoon game vs the Cubs. The Mets claw back to tie the game 3-3 vs Rick Sutcliffe thanks to Cub Centerfielder Bob Dernier misplaying a fly ball. Doug Sisk enters the game and promptly can't throw strikes (as was so often his problem). The Cubs score 8 runs and break the game open.

The next day the Cubs sweep a doubleheader, taking command of the NL East race which they would eventually win.

After so many down years, 1984 was one of my favorite Met seasons because of the rebirth of real excitement at Shea with Gooden, Strawberry and Hernandez leading the way.

The inning that cost the Mets the division, that horrible 8th with the dark lord, Doug Sisk pitching. Sisk was NEVER the same after that inning and neither were the Mets. In about a week, we went from a few games up to a few games out after the Cubs mauled us the next day in a doubleheader at Shea and then in Wrigley.

I was at this game, watching from the field level seats just past third base. I recall that someone a few rows in front of me was covered in a bedsheet that donned the words "Spirit of '69."

The ghost of the miracle year was not apparent on this day, though. Things didn't go very well for the Mets. Davey Johnson got ejected in the first inning and then the Cubs built a lead. The Mets came back to tie it up, but then came the Cubs' 8-run eighth. During that inning, I got so disgusted that I just got up and walked right out of the stadium.

I went back home and watched the Opening Ceremonies of the Summer Olympic Games. The Mets, when this day started, had a 4 1/2 game lead over the Cubs. When the Games' Closing Ceremonies took place on August 12, they were 4 1/2 games BEHIND Chicago! I often refer to this 16-day period as the "Olympic Fallout."

This was the only time I ever sat in the top row of the upper reserved seats at Shea - so high you could almost read the airline labels on the planes as they flew over! It also was the first game in which I remember Sisk being really bad. It earned him a sadly clever nickname coined (I think) by somebody sitting near me - Doug Risk!

It was my wife's "rookie" year (see comments under 5/25/84). By this time of year, we were starting to believe that maybe they could actually win the division. Certainly, there were parallels to '69. So, we decided to spend our vacation seeing some road games and followed the team to Pittsburgh and Chicago.

By the time we got to Wrigley, we were real close. The ghost of Al Weis cropped up everywhere. Cub fans, too, were stoked and the place was partially rocking. I say partially because half the people there were true Cubs fans, wearing Mets-Busters T-shirts and other anti-Mets apparel. The other half were yuppies playing hookey from work and were more interested in getting the beer vendors' attention that what was going on in the field.

In any event, Gooden started and got his clock cleaned. The Mets got swept in 4 and it more or less showed that the team was not ready for prime time yet. By the time we got to the fourth game, we had had enough of Wrigley and have never had the chance to go back.

A friend and I called in sick to stay home and watch this doubleheader, and the Cubs whacked the Mets around in both games. Tough day.

I was living in Detroit the year this game was played. Being only 3 hours from Chicago I was going to this DH, but decided againast it. If I remember correctly there was a fight in the second game involving the Cubs' Keith Moreland. Being a die hard Mets fan, I am glad I decided not to go, having gotten swept in the DH.

Walt Terrell was pitching pretty well, until he hit Bob Dernier and got ejected from the game. The Mets led 5-3 at the time. Wes Gardner came into the game, and promptly blew the game. The Cubs got 4 runs, and swept the series.

Unless I'm mistaken... this was the Dwight Gooden no hitter that wasn't. He spun a one-hit shut out where the only Cub to get a hit was Keith Moreland who hit a slow roller to third base that Ray Knight bobbled, then threw late. Moreland had no speed (didn't even run well for a catcher, Tim). If Knight fields this ball cleanly, he gets Moreland, and Doc has his first no-hitter. But, alas, it wasn't meant to be.

I was at this game, and I feel this should have been the Mets first and probably only no hitter, if I can remember correctly (Keith)Moreland hit a slow groundball to Knight at 3rd who bobbled it. I feel that Knight should have been charged with an error, and the Mets would have there first ever no hitter. Can we lobby somebody to overturn the official scorers scoring. Otherwise at this rate the Mets will never get a no hitter. Its amazing there in there 40th season and have never had a no-no!

I agree that this was the closest a Mets hurler has come to a no-hitter. I was at the game and if my memory is correct, Knight did not even make the throw. Everyone in the stands groaned because we all thought he could have got the runner even though he had trouble getting the ball out of his glove. Could have been scored E-5, but doubt this can be changed so many years after the fact (I think 100 out of 100 official scorers today would call a play like that a hit).

First game I ever went to, and the reason I became a Mets fan, a pitching fan, and especially a Doc fan. I did remember the Moreland hit being in the infield, but for some reason I thought it was the pitcher that hit it. Maybe it was the cheap nature of it that made me think that.

Anyway, forget about those games with the HR hitting contests. Give me Doc in the 80's mowing down the opposition.

This was a Friday night after the first week back to school. I remember that everybody was talking about the Mets and Doc. The Mets were actually in contention, just a few games back, which for those of us in High School had never happened before!!!

On the whole it was a great game. Lots of offense, dominant pitching from Doc. Just for the record, Moreland's "swinging bunt" was a fluke, but it was a hit - Knight was playing deep.

I was at this game.

It may be the best Mets game I ever saw. It obviously wasn't competitive, but after watching that 1977 - 1983 club with great frustration, having a studly team that hit HRs and dominated was a dream.

I agree with the poster above about Moreland's single. It was an error, particularly b/c Moreland was a lardass catcher. If some speed demon hit it, maybe it's a different scoring decision, but Knight had time.

Looked like an easy play to us in the upper deck with beers in our hands, anyway. Was probably a bit tougher on the field.

This is one of those "all-time greatest" memory games. I went with my Dad (who I lost in 95), and yes it was the no-hitter that should have been. It eas E-5 all the way. It would have been interesting if it had happened later in the game to see if it would have been scored a hit or errror. When the play happened, a no-no was not in anyone's mind. I remember Backman was all over the field, and my section was singing to the tune of "Batman", "da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na Back-Man!"

As a side note, does anyone remember that someone fell off the escalator of the upperdeck and died? I think that happened this night.

I saw this game on NBC, since I was living out of NY at the time. I remember Vin Scully and Joe Garagiola discussing the only hit that wasn't a hit.

I remember this game vividly. The only Cub hit was a little dribbler down the 3rd Base line by Kieth Moreland, a slow runner, that Ray Knight, who was playing back, fielded while on the run, came up clean with it in his glove, but never got a good grip on the ball and failed to make a throw. He did state during a post game interview that he didn't know it was going to be the only hit of the game for the Cubs, and if he knew it was, he would have at least attempted to make a throw. Knight also said that Gooden would have plenty of opportunities and will throw plenty of no hitters. Too bad not for the Mets.

I was at this game sitting in the top of section 16. I remember this play as vividely as any I have ever seen before. Keith Moreland, probably the slowest member of the Cubs that night, hit a dribbler down the third base line. Ray Knight at first bobbled the ball then could not get it out of his glove. Knight never attemted to make a throw. Red Foley wherever you are, called it a hit. Now that I am 43, I say poppycock. I know for a fact that was an error if I had ever seen one. That ladies and gentleman was the only no-hitter the Mets have ever had.

Yes, this was the no-hitter that wasn't. I too was at this game at that game and I think this was quite possibly the best game Gooden ever pitched. From my POV, it was E-5. I was very surprised he was not given a error.

The irony is he did pitch a no-hitter for the Yankees. Problem is, is also walked 6 or 7 batters that game. Some no-hitter.

Doc's first shutout at Shea. He had two on the West Coast before this game.

I saw this game when I was 6. First Mets game I ever went to.

Does someone - ANYONE- have a clip of the Moreland hit?

email me at drltoo@aol.com Would be willing to pay for the clip or the game (if you happen to have it on tape or DVD)

Thanks! dan

I was at this game. Definitely more of a no-no than Santana's...now that he threw one I felt compelled to post this here because Dr K was a homegrown Met, not a trade and sign. Does anyone else remember 84 and 85 Met homestands? Seemed like a sellout every 5th night and the stadium would shake whenever Gooden had 2 strikes on a hitter. Never saw him waste a pitch either. Strike one. Strike two. Strike three. Take a seat. Don't think we'll ever see that again. Such a shame what happened to him. Was also at the first game of the home/away day/night Yankee doubleheader in July 2000, his first game as an opposing pitcher if memory serves (Piazza got beaned by Clemens in the nightcap in the Bronx). Was surprised he didn't get more of an ovation when he took the hill. The game, and its fans...sure have changed.

Like many on this list, I too was fortunate enough to be at this game. With the Cubs in first and in town and the Mets in a pennant race for the first time in my memory, atmosphere at Shea was electric, like I'd never experienced before. Of course the Moreland "hit" stands out -- at the time, the way Gooden was throwing, I was sure that would be the only hit on the night, especially since every Met game I attended I always thought "tonight will be the night" for a no-hitter. But no way that could have been scored an error. Knight had trouble getting it out of his glove, and I joked after that he should have had the decency to make a bad throw to first to try to draw an error, but was clearly a hit, even if a very cheap one.

I was fortunate enough to be at this game and thought it was an ERROR by Knight.....should've been a no-no :-(

My first game.

I remember sitting in the mezzanine on the first base side and booing Mookie Wilson because I didn't realize that everyone else was "Mooo"ing.

A cold, sunny, windy day at Wrigley. I came up from Indiana University in Bloomington alone for the sold out game. It was scarf day, and fans needed it.

It got even colder when the Mets lost for the second day in a row to the Cubs -- which pretty much sealed what was a great comeback season.

A Monday night Game of the Week on ABC, the Mets opened a huge (at the time) 4 game series against the Cubs with a win. It was one of those rare series where two good teams were both coming into a big series in huge slumps, as the Cubs were hurting badly. The Mets ended up sweeping the Cubs away in all 4 games, easily the highlight of the month as for most of June, the team was playing bad baseball.

The game was a sell out or close to it and I bought tickets game day that were in the last row in the mezzanine and had a limtited view of the action..Ed Lynch went the distance that day.

A pleasant Wednesday night. 53,334, back when attendance meant something to a Mets fan. Biggest Wednesday night crowd in seven years they said. I sat right near the left field pole in the mez with my father and I don't think I've ever yelled as much or as loud at a baseball game as I did that night. Gooden was almost untouchable and given that the Cubs were banged up at the time, a win seemed like a foregone conclusion. But it was a struggle. 1-0 Mets in the ninth, Cubs got two on and Thad Bosley fouled off pitch after pitch. When Gooden struck him out swinging, Shea erupted. Win No. 3 in a very memorable four-game sweep over the hated Cubs.

I was at this game with my dad, and remember thinking the Mets were really getting payback on the Cubs for 1984, when the Cubs beat the Mets 8 out of 9 at Wrigley. This game completed a weekend sweep, as we beat up on ex-Yankee lefty stiff Ray Fontenot.

We took care of the Cubs, but oh those damned Cardinals!

This was my first game ever! I was 5 years old, and still remember it. I went with my parents to the game, and sat in the Mezzanine on the 3rd base side of the field.

I remember George Foster's Grand Slam followed up by John Christenson's solo shot. That's the first time I ever saw "The Apple" and it was awesome!

I was working as a photographer at a newspaper in Franklin, Ind., and got a press pass for the game. What a great feeling to stand on the grass at Wrigley on a warm sunny summer day!

Shot lots of wonderful photos of Mets players (still think I need to get the best of Rusty Staub and Gary Carter autographed).

Sat in the photographer's box along the first base line -- which in Chicago is next to the visitor's dugout. Unfortunately, the Mets were stifled by Rick Sutcliffe as they so often were in 1984 and 85.

Just another random game that I happen to remember well. Mets led 3-2 into the bottom of the 8th behind Darling. The Cubs came back and took the lead 4-3.

The Mets came into the 9th against Lee Smith who was as close to unhittable as there was at that time. The Pennant race was heating up and the Mets needed the game. As I remember it was a Saturday Afternoon Game of the Week on NBC.

Hernandez got the key hit in the 9th a run-scoring double down the right-field line to score Backman and tie the game. Then in the 10th after coming in on the double-switch, HoJo blasted one out to rightfield. Mets win!

Let me be the first to comment on this game and on this day. I was over my cousin's house watching Gooden and the Mets beat those rotten Cubbies on Ch. 9 but (don't get mad Mets fans) we were switching back and forth to Ch. 11 watching White Sox-Yankees to see if George Thomas Seaver would earn his 300th win. (A milestone like his no-hitter in 1978 for the Reds should've happened in a Mets uniform if it wasn't for Frank Cashen's brain freeze in January of 1984.) When the Mets game ended, we watched The Franchise get his 300th win.

Dwight Gooden got his 11th straight winning decision in this game. It surpassed the record set by Tom Seaver for most consecutive wins recorded by a Mets pitcher within one season. Coincidentally, it came on the same day that Seaver won the 300th game of his own career.

I'll start off admitting that my team is the Cubs, but this was the first baseball game I had ever been to at age 12, so it holds a very special place in my heart. My Grandpa Don took me to Wrigley Field, bought some peanuts and drinks, and kept score all game. He even recorded my "potty breaks", which loading up on soda were probably every two innings.

Easy to remember this game, because Daryl Strawberry homered three times, and if memory serves, they were his first three at bats. The stadium, regardless of Mets or Cubs affiliation, was rooting him on for number four that next at bat. I cannot recall if a hit or the intentional walk came in that fourth at bat. Anyway, Mets won, and all the fans got a treat that day, thanks to "Straw".

Ben, you are right...Strawberry hit three homers in this game, but the intentional walk came after his second homer and then he hit the third one in his fourth plate appearance.

Straw hit a three-run homer with two outs in the first, then hit a solo homer with two outs in the third. Both of those came off starter Derek Botelho. In the fifth he came up with a runner at second and two outs with the Mets up 4-0 and Botelho walked him intentionally...but that didn't help the Cubs as Danny Heep folowed with a double driving in two runs.

In his next at bat, this time against LHP Ron Meridith, he again hit a solo homer. This one came with two outs in the seventh inning. Darryl's final at bat was in the ninth inning, again with two outs, and he singled off RHP Warren Brusstar.

Darryl finished the game 4-for-4 with four runs scored, five RBIs, three homers, and an intentional walk. Straw and Danny Heep combined to go 7-for-9 and drove in all seven Mets runs.

The only negative about Strawberry's most productive day as a Met is that this game was on Sportschannel. As so many New Yorkers didn't quite have cable just yet, this game wasn't seen by as many fans as it could have been. This was also the last game before the now forgotten strike in 1985. It only lasted 2 days and the games were made up over the last 2 months.

I think this was the first game I ever saw in person. I've narrowed it down, and it seems the most logical.

The only memories I have are that it was a day game, that Gooden pitched, and that it was against the Cubs. I realize now that it was probably during the summer, had to be on a weekend, and was more than likely in 1985.

Thanks for the help finding this game!

This is the first big league game I attended. All I could recall was that Dwight Gooden pitched and George Foster hit a home run. I think it's truly ironic that the day I decide to look it up happens to be the 20th anniversary of the game itself!

Thanks for preserving Mets history.

I'll never forget this game, it was my first Mets game! I sat in the Upper Deck in Left Field. It was an afternoon game, a hot August day. Foster's home run was a bomb over the centerfield wall if my memory serves me right. Gooden was awesome!

Even with the Mets red hot since early July, Gary Carter was one of the very few Mets who weren't playing well during that stretch. That changed in this game as his 2 homers helped the Mets win 7 in a row.

El Sid was completely in command the entire night in this one. The only hit he gave up was a homer to Gary Matthews. Foster, Carter and Straw all homered as the Mets continued the most exciting pennant race in team history. A true shame that the Cards were just a tiny bit better in the end. The 85 Mets were easily a top 5 team in franchise history.

Wrigley Field was practically empty on this day, with the Cubs out of the race and it being an overcast and chilly day. Gooden did not have his best stuff but gutted out a complete game shutout, in a game that the Mets absolutely had to win (at the time).

This game is on YouTube, and curiously it's the WGN broadcast with Harry Caray and Steve Stone on the call, but they are using the WOR feed.

Still, it's a wonderful sight to see a 1986 Mets home game, especially one that I remember watching at home when I was 8. There is one play that is burned into my brain, with the call by Ralph Kiner.

In the top of the first, Ryne Sandberg hit a looping fly ball to center, and Mookie ran in and just barely made the catch, whereupon Ralph said, "Mookie Wilson, with a snowcone catch!" I always remembered that "snowcone catch", so when this game popped up on YouTube I was excited to see it again.

By the way, of course Harry Caray's reaction was "Holy Cow!", and he called it a 'shoestring catch'.

It's funny how that's the only play from this game that I remember, and how it's stuck with me all these years.

I was nine and a die hard Met fan. This was my first game...my old man took me...we had box seats third base side. I remember Dykstra and Foster hitting one out and Darling actually getting a decision and winning on top of it. It was a magical season to be that age and a fan of that team.

Was this game televised? My son is a huge Mets fan and was born on this day. His wedding is next week and in giving the toast I would love to know if this is the game I was watching while in labor? His bride is from Chicago. Is this a coincidence? I don’t think so!! Please help me with my wedding toast. Any additional info would be great. Thank you DONISE CLEMMER

Donise,

I just checked my 1986 Mets Yearbook, and this game was televised on WWOR Channel 9 with a 1:35 pm start time. Every Sunday game was on Channel 9, so I must have seen this game on TV, but I didn't remember any details without looking at baseball reference.com.

It was also a promotional date: Kahn's Meats Kid Jersey Day (14 & Under).

For good measure, Ron Darling pitched a complete game and Gary Carter got his first and only stolen base of the season in this game.

To answer Donise Clemmer's question, yes the game was definitely televised. It was an afternoon game, played around the hours of about 1:30PM to 4:30PM, give or take.

No lights at Wrigley. Sunshine and Beer. My only time there.

Standing room. Wandered around. Shot a roll of color and a roll of black and white.

The place was packed with Cub fans. Everyone there knew the Mets were the best team in baseball and that Gooden was the best pitcher in baseball.

The late innings are a bit of a fog but I've got some great photos including one of Gooden releasing a fastball, one of Hernandez on deck and one of Strawberry crossing the plate following a Strawblast. Man, were his home runs the most beautiful things to behold!

This was the first baseball game I ever went to, but I was already a huge fan of the Mets. I remember Mitchell and Strawberry hit home runs and after that they were my favorite Mets, along with Gary Carter. This was a magical time to be 9 years old and a huge Mets fan.

I attended this game with a group of students from school. We took a bus from New Jersey, encountering a rainstorm on Route 80 along the way. The rain, thankfully, stopped by the time we arrived at Shea.

We all sat in the loge level down the left field line. We saw a good game. In typical '86 fashion, the Mets won. Home runs by Mitchell and Strawberry helped Bob Ojeda get a well-earned win.

The most memorable moment, however, occurred during on of Lenny Dykstra's at-bats. There was a girl in the field level seats wearing a wedding gown. She was holding a sign above her head that had "MARRY ME LENNY" written on it. She seemed to get more cheers that night than did the players!

I lived in the Midwest in 1986 and was at this game. I remember Mookie Wilson won it late with a broken-bat single to right field that drove in the winning run. Doc Gooden was sailing along and appeared to have the game wrapped, but he gave up a late homer to Cubs right fielder Keith Moreland. I was sitting in the left field stands as the ball went onto Waveland Avenue and hit some buses.

The start of this doubleheader was delayed almost an hour by rain. Doc and the Mets fell behind early, 3-1, but then they scored three in the fifth to take the lead. They added another run and Doc was breezing along after the rough start.

But in the ninth inning with one out, Thad Bosley singled and then Jody Davis (not Keith Moreland as stated in an earlier post) homered to tie the game.

Mookie Wilson drove in two with a single in the twelfth to give the Mets the lead again, but Roger McDowell almost gave it back. With one out in the bottom of the twelfth he gave up a double and an RBI single but then retired Ryne Sandberg and Manny Trillo for the win.

The Mets had 15 hits in the game, including four by Len Dykstra.

I lived in the Midwest in 1986 and was at this game. It was the second game of a double dip. I remember Gary Carter homered and the game was called because of darkness. It was in the days before Wrigley Field had lights.

The Murph's call:

"ground ball to second base...Backman to Hernandez..it's over!...Keith Hernandez took the throw...and ohhh, my goodness, the fans are storming the field!!"

WE CLINCH!!!.....I was in the Loge behind home plate....Gooden vs. Eckersley.....I had tickets for this game a month and a half in advance...Before they played the Cubs all they had to do was win one game in Philly to clinch, but they got swept leaving the clincher for this night.......Yes I was one of the crazies on the field, but everyone on the field was far from crazy....Perfect strangers were hugging each other inside and outside of Shea....It was the most fun I've ever had at a game...

It was pretty incredible how the grounds grew got the field back in shape for the game the next afternoon after the fans stormed the field when the Mets won the NL East. The effort that the Mets showed in this game was pretty good too. It seemed like the Cubs were mounting a little threat in the 9th and trying their hardest to delay the Mets celebration. But the Mets were able to retire the Cubs and the Mets won the division for the first time since 1973. I was not one of those fans that stormed the field because I was not at this game and even if I was at this game I wouldn't have bothered to go on the field. I am not being mean of course to you folks that did do going on the field, but I am just saying that was a little bit of a wild scene to watch on tv.

I remember being disappointed that Keith Hernandez wasn't starting, but Dave Magadan was great in his first major league start. I even got him to autograph my homework before the game (I was only allowed to go if I promised to finish my homework during pre-game.)

Top of the ninth, fans were hanging off of the outfield wall, waiting for the final out. I was one of those who went on the field from my seats down the right field line. And, yeah, I still have a small piece of turf from the celebration.

Without a doubt, my most memorable game.

I was 22 and not much of a baseball fan, but had the opportunity to go to this game which seemed to sound like a great one to attend. I remember incredible excitement and being awestruck at the fans rushing the field and tearing up chunks of turf. I also remember being driven home to LI and watching people tossing pieces of turf out along the LIE. An unusual day but one to remember. I still have my ticket stub from that day. Mets vs Cubs, loge seat, Wed. Sept 17, 1986 7:35PM.

Last Night (Thursday 3/23) on SNY (SportsNet NewYork) after the Mets-Marlins contest was rained out, they went to Mets Classics and they showed this game which aired on Ch. 9 (Thank God! My area didn't get cable until 1987). Gooden, showing some signs of the troubles ahead, goes the distance and Dave Magadan, filling in for a sick Keith, gets a couple of hits. Keith, however, went on the field for the last 2 innings; he wanted to be on the field for the final out. Dennis Eckersley was the losing pitcher for the Cubs and Rafael Palermo (pre-roids) hit a 2 run homer. I remember Rusty Staub saying "hoping that Shea Stadium survives" and the image of a fan hugging Gary Carter after the last out and the craziness and when Gary got into the dugout he looked like he wanted to bite someone's head off. Pete Flynn's comments of "They don't deserve a winner" rang somewhat true. It would be the last ransacking of a field after a clinching ever, considering we're living in perilous times these days.

I was at this game. I remember the anticipation of the clinching; I had been a Mets fan since '73 and was too young to put that championship into its perspective. I too was one of the "crazies" storming the field. It was such a surreal atmosphere and as one of the previous posters mentioned complete strangers were hugging each other. In particular I recall hugging some attractive young women (which for a guy that had just turned 18 was worth the price of admission alone). The scene must have looked like a mini V-J day. People were popping champagne in the parking lot and on the platform of the subway station.

The previous weekend, I had driven down to Philadelphia with some equally crazy friends to watch the Mets clinch there. Of course, they lost on Friday night and again on Saturday. My friends decided to stay for the Sunday game, but I had zero confidence in Sid Fernandez against the Phillies. So I drove home and watched the Mets lose on Sunday, too. That painful lost weekend made it all the sweeter to be in the stands and watch the Mets clinch against the Cubs. My most vivid memories of the game were the line drives that young Dave Magadan hit, filling in for Keith Hernandez. That was an auspicious debut for Magadan and a great night for Mets fans.

I was 22 and not much of a baseball fan, but had the opportunity to go to this game, which seemed to sound like a great one to attend. I remember incredible excitement and being awestruck at the fans rushing the field and tearing up chunks of turf. I also remember being driven home to LI and watching people tossing pieces of turf out along the LIE. An unusual day but one to remember. I still have my ticket stub. Mets vs Cubs, from that day: loge seat Wed. Sept 17,1986 7:35PM.

As I said I was at this game sitting in field level by first base. It was a night to celebrate. As the game moved into the 8th inning I saw throngs of fans making their way to the front row. I started to realize that many fans were going to rush the field. So I decided to follow suit and make my way to the front. I was right next to the photographers box. When Wally Backman threw the grounder to Hernandez me and everyone else stormed the field and it was a great experience. I almost got toppled and was getting bumped but having a great time. High fived everyone that passed me and chanting we're # 1 and we want Houston. Everyone was enjoying it all running all around and eventually all fans exited through the center field fence. (Same spot where Seaver and Piazza went through to close Shea 22 years later) Celebration continued on the 7 train all the way to Manhattan with all the cheering chants.

The only good thing about this time period in my life was the 1986 Mets. Was working a lousy job at a roadside restaurant (including weekends) and besides that I had to put up with 2 bosses from heck: one guy was a short, gruff-gruff jerk who probably had relatives in the Third Reich and the other was this "fugly" big boned "woman" who was a Yankees fan (In the words of Austin Powers: SHE'S A MAN, BABY). Anyway, I had one co-worker who was a supporter of the orange and blue and he quoted the Eagles (the rock group, not the NFL team) by saying "Mirrors on the ceiling, the champagne is on ice, the Mets will win tonight." I went, home watched the game on Ch. 9 (no cable then), the Mets won and the next morning, me and the co-worker celebrated with a little soda pop and high fives!

The hangover game. Two memories:

a) Cubs' Rafael Palmiero getting injured playing LF, trying to catch fly ball; the ball hit his bare hand and split webbing between fingers. Ouch!

b) Kevin Mitchell lying across dugout bench trying to recover from pennant clinching party the night before. Weren't we all?

An afternoon game after a night of partying for everyone. The Shea field was completely destroyed. There were dozens and dozens of makeshift patches everywhere due to the fans celebration just 15 hours earlier. I still can't really believe that Pete Flynn and his grounds crew got this field in any kind of playable shape for this game. They deserved all the credit in the world for it.

Rick Anderson got his last of 2 Mets wins, Hojo homered and the Mets had a hangover win with the backups in the lineup.

1. It was sunny.
2. I think it was my oldest son’s first MLB.
3. In researching, I found an error in Baseball Reference - they had this game listed as a night game, which confused me. Thankfully this site confirmed it was a day game.

The Mets 100th win of the season, as they score 3 in the 9th to win. Ray Knight gets the game winning hit. Also the last homer Kevin Mitchell hits as a Met before he's traded in the coming offseason.

I was visiting a friend in Chicago this week in 1987 and got tickets for this game. What a great game to be a visiting Mets fan in another stadium. They clobbered the Cubs! We had great seats behind 3rd. And Wrigley Field is awesome. I remember we were right below Harry Caray singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".

Keith Hernandez, coming into this day in a bit of a slump....decided to shave off his trademark mustache before this game (which was a big story in the pre-game interview with him). The results were a 2-homer day for Keith. And he wouldn't grow back his mustache until about a week or 2 later.

Ron Darling pitched pretty well, but was victimized by a 2-run double off the bat of Paul Noce, followed by a 2-run homer off the bat of Mike Brumley.

Considering that Noce had a lifetime batting average of .228 with 14 RBI, and that Brumley hit .203 with only three home runs, it can safely be said that never before or since have the Mets been done in by two players who did so little in their careers.

This was the game in which Keith Hernandez caught Cubs player Leon Durham leaving 3rd base early on a sac fly. But Mets pitcher John Mitchell wasn't sure what to do, so Keith had to explain to him that he needed to get on the mound and then step off and throw to 3rd for the out.

Keith has told this story many times over the years on Mets broadcasts, as he found the thick southern drawl of Mitchell's accent and asking of the question to him quite hilarious.

This was a very pivotal time in the 1987 season. It looked like the Mets were finally playing like champions, with a 7-game winning streak and a potent lineup that was now hot.

This game would change all of that. Early in the game, Darryl Strawberry was hit in the head by a pitch. After that, there were so many blown scoring opportunities and a sense that they were back to their habits of failing in clutch situations. Darryl Strawberry would miss several games because of this. As was often the case, he went down, and so did the Mets. They went 4-9 in their next 13 games.

This was really disappointing. I thought the Mets were finally playing like the team they were the year before. It didn't matter that they had so many injuries. If only they could have hit in the clutch, they could have won it all again.

Doc got rocked by the Cubs, breaking his personal 10-game winning streak against the Cubbies. After this loss, Gooden won his next twelve decisions against Chicago. The Cubs didn't beat him again until June 29, 1992. In 34 career starts against the Cubs, Doc was 24-4 with ten complete games and three shutouts.

This game was tied, 2-2, going to the seventh, but four singles, a walk, and an error gave the Cubs a four-run inning.

The Mets got a run back in the bottom of the ninth and had Kevin McReynolds at the plate as the tying run, but Lee Smith came in and nailed down his 28th save of the season. St. Louis also lost, so the Mets stayed 4.5 games behind the first place Cardinals.

A rare off day for Terry Leach as he suffered his first loss of the season after winning his first 10 games.

In this game the Mets set a team record for most runs scored, and they did a lot of the damage against Greg Maddux, who would not become a superstar until the following year.

A pretty good day for the Mets bats as they closed to within four and a half games of the Cardinals.

The Mets scored 3 in the first with only one hit. They also had 4 walks and a sac fly off Greg Maddux, who finished the season with a 6-14 record and has not had a losing season since. The Mets added 1 more in the third and 3 more in the fourth on a 3-run HR by Strawberry that got Maddux out of the game. The Cubs scored 5 in the bottom of the fourth thanks mainly to a Jody Davis grand slam, but the Mets came back with 3 in the fifth and 7 more in the sixth, all 10 of those runs off rookie LHP Drew Hall. Dykstra and HoJo homered later in the game.

Had tickets for this game but did not make it. Was my 1st day of school and had a lot of work to do. Also it was the opening Monday Night Football game of the 1987 NFL season. The game was seen as Super Bowl XXI-1/2 between the last 2 Super Bowl Champs-Giants vs Bears, called "battle of the midway".

Mets win 6-5 and got back on track after a dreadful weekend to keep pace until the last week.

Keith Hernandez had three hits including the 2,000th of his career as the Mets roughed up 21- year-old Greg Maddux. Maddux gave up six runs, nine hits, and four walks in 5.2 innings and his record fell to 6-12.

Also on this day, the Mets acquired John Candelaria for the stretch drive in exchange for two minor leaguers, one of whom (RHP Jeff Richardson) faced two batters in the major leagues. The other, Shane Young, never made it to The Show. Candy filled the starter's slot held by Ron Darling, who had been injured in the disastrous loss to the Cardinals four nights earlier.

A small footnote after all these years, but in the 8th inning, HoJo hit a grand slam homer to put the Mets ahead in a game that they simply had to win. At the time, it was one of the biggest hits of the year, and would certainly be remembered much more if the Mets had won the division.

What a ballgame! A pitching duel for the ages, Schiraldi nine scoreless (who would have believed it?), Cone ten with one run allowed. I sat in the field level for this one, several rows behind diehard Cubbie fan Bill Murray. He signed my scorebook "Bill Murray - Cubs Power" and when I asked him what movie he was working on, he said it was a Christmas movie called "Scrooged". And Mr. Bill stayed for the duration, past midnight, straight through HoJo's game winning home run to centerfield. Afterwards, we waited for him to leave his seat and walk down the aisle so we could razz him as he passed by.

This was a very exciting game in which Kevin McReynolds hit the game winning home run. I was excited that Jeff Innis got his first major league win this day!

I remember being at this game on Beach Towel day, which came in handy when there was a fairly lengthy rain delay early on. It was a 3:20 start on a nationally televised Saturday afternoon game. The Mets led 3-0 and Darling had a 1-hitter going into the 8th. But he fell apart, and the Cubs eventually took a 4-3 lead off of Myers in the 9th. But the Mets tied it on a Goose Gossage wild pitch in the last of the 9th.

My mother got fed up and, despite my protests, took me home after the 10th inning. Which is when the game started to get really interesting. Carter ended up playing 3B, the Cubs took a lead in the top of the 11th, only to see the Mets tie it, and then McReynolds hit the winning HR in the 13th.

I remember being on the subway and hearing a number of fans listening on the radio and cheering when the ball went out. Wish my mother would have stuck it out. She was never much for those long, cold afternoons at Shea.

One of two games in which Gary Carter played at 3B for the Mets and they won both in extra innings. The other game was the infamous 1986 game against the Reds when the Mets had to have Jesse Orosco and Roger McDowell play the outfield. Carter also played at 3B once for the Expos.

We were in the left field bleachers. Those towels came in handy, it was cold out there!

One of the real memorable games from the 1988 season. The Mets won it on a homer by Kevin McReynolds in the 13th on the NBC game of the week.

A note, this meant that the last 3 Mets victories had come on game-ending homers....as both Elster and HoJo had done it earlier in the week. Most likely the only time in team history that has occurred.

This is a game I will always remember. I had box seats and had the pleasure to dream for just a little while. Gooden hit a home run and then brought a no hitter into the 8th when he gave up a hit. I remember being sad that he didn't get the no hitter, but even more so that the game turned into another bland post 1985 Dwight Gooden start. 5 hits, 3 runs, and only 4 K's.

I think the HR ruined; he seemed so pumped when he hit it, I think he lost focus. I was sure the Mets had their first no no that day!

An NBC Saturday game of the week. Bob Ojeda plunked Andre Dawson and Dawson tried to charge the mound but has held back by Gary Carter who had him in a bear hug. I remember this was such a big deal to me because I was young and hadn't really seen many altercations like this even though it wasn't even a brawl. A guess its that WWF mentality that was installed in me from watching wrestling those days. Mets ended up losing.

I went to this game as part of the annual Long Beach Rec baseball camp trip. As I recall, we sat either mezzanine or upper - directly behind home plate. I can distinctly recall three 20-something meathead drunks sitting behind my brother and me who (at least in my 8-year-old mind) all looked like Brian Bosworth. I recall one of them talking about how great Kevin McReynolds was and then gloating after he hit a home run which I can still remember watching leap from the bat the stands -- in my memory it had a very low "launch angle" and was hit to center field, but maybe the internet can confirm? My two other clearest memories are of being surprised that Lee Mazzilli was starting at first base, and I recall Tim Teufel coming in to replace Wally Backman and seeing a kid mark that in his scorebook (I was just learning how to keep score at the time, and I thought writing in substitutions was really cool -- I remember loving to score all-star games because every position in the lineup would be subbed out).

This was the first complete, official "night game" at Wrigley Field.

I came up the afternoon before from Indianapolis to see a friend in Chicago and the Mets, who were coming to town the next night. I tried to get tickets for the Cubs first night game that day, Aug. 8. That game, obviously, was sold out. I got two "standing room only" tickets for the Aug. 9 game with the Mets, and box seats for the Aug. 10 afternoon game.

As luck would have it, it absolutely poured the night of Aug. 8, raining out the Cubs game.

The next night, my friend and I, sitting on the ramp rails between the upper and lower decks along the third base side, watched this game become the first official "night game" at Wrigley.

August 1988 was a crazy time in the world! Millions of Catholics screaming bloody mad over "The Last Temptation of Christ" and the country of Canada crying tons of tears when Wayne Gretzky got traded to the LA Kings. But when the Cubs finally got lights after so many years, that took the cake. Actually, the Phillies vs Cubs were supposed to be the 1st but due to the rainout, the Mets got the honor. At the time, my cable company in Northern New Jersey had the FOX Philadelphia station and they got to broadcast the game before the rains came and so forth. NBC had the priviledge of showing Mets-Cubs on this night. Btw, Wrigley Field was supposed to get lights for the 1942 season but then Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and Mr. Wrigley donated the lights to the war effort and they waited 45+ years until MLB (and Network TV) put the Cubs in a headlock and they reluctantly got lights for night baseball.

Suprised no one else has said anything about this game. I believe this is when Carter hit his 300th homer after a 2 month drought, and Mets scored 5 in top of 9th. McReynolds hits grand slam off of Gossage.

I mentioned this game in my comments under the Kevin Mac section.

Kevin hit a grand slam off of Gossage, who had made disparaging comments re Kevin's desire, hunger, etc. Quiet Kevin hit a bomb off him to win the game.

This was a day game at Wrigley. I heard it driving home on I-78 in New Jersey...roasting hot, bumper-to-bumper. KMac hit the granny and I started blowing the horn on my Chevy S-10. People were staring.

I was at this day game I think a couple of days before the first night game at Wrigley ever. Living in Chicago that particular summer of '88 .Great fun, quite a few NY Mets fans in Chicago at the game. McReynolds with a Grannie I think in the 8th or 9th off Gossage to win it essentially and Gary Carter with his 300th earlier in the game over the left field wire fence -- Nice Shot!! Gooden started this one. The beer sure was flowing that afternoon.

Cubs fan here, but I love baseball. I caught Gary Carter's 300th home run that night. I have been to hundreds of Cubs games and this is the only homer that I caught or even came close to catching.

I was standing against the left field bleacher fence with my brother when the ball came towards me. The ball went over everybody's heads and hit the top of the fence. It then bounced on the ground and I jumped on it. I must've had 10 guys pile on me. I was drenched in beer and I broke my new sunglasses. I finally emerged from the pile and stood on top of the last bleacher seat waving the ball in the air. I kind of taunted the crowd for a little while because I had about 30,000 people chanting "throw it back".

I have never before or since experienced so much attention. Being a die hard Cubs fan, I never thought twice about keeping the ball. I whipped it as hard as I could and made it on to the infield.

I must've shook hundreds of hands that night. I did not pay for a drink the rest of the night after the game.

I met Gary when he came back to Wrigley and he signed a ball and a newspaper clipping.

Since that day I have followed Gary's career and I am so saddened about his brain cancer. I always thought I would be able to meet him again and talk about that night. If any of you Mets fans have any memorabilia from that home run or events leading up to it, please contact me at mike@wulf.com. The Mets have become my second favorite team since that day.

A forgotten game but one of the more exciting losses the Mets have had, as Keith and Strawberry go back to back in the 9th inning, tying the game at the time. Even Cubs fans were cheering as Darryl's solo homer tied the score.

Unfortunately, the Cubs would walk it off in the bottom of the inning, but a memorable moment regardless.

The Mets hit 4 homers at Wrigley on this day and beat up on Greg Maddux, something they did a few times in the late 80's.

HoJo had the only 5-hit game of his career on the afternoon.

I loved this game. I conceived my first child during this game.

I attended this game with my mother, as I did many times as a child. This game was horrendous. Yes, the Mets won, and they beat Greg Maddux, who fell to 0-3 with the loss. But the overwhelming memory of this game was the fact that it was 40 degrees out, windy, and simply a miserable day. This was compounded by the fact that Sid Fernandez was working at a snail's pace all afternoon. It didn't matter that the bases were empty. He took no less than a minute between pitches.

To this day, my mother will groan and talk about this game whenever she hears the name Sid Fernandez.

I, too, was at this game. And I agree with Mets2Moon... it was FRIGID. After about four innings, my parents had to leave Shea Stadium because of the windy, chilly conditions. I, on the other hand, froze my you-know-what off and stayed. It's a wonder that my parents didn't drive off and leave me to catch the train home! (They wound up listening to the game on the radio in a toasty warm car.)

The highlight of the contest was Hernandez's home run. In the bitter cold and the wind against the hitter, he blasted an opposite-field shot over the wall in left. Keith must have had TNT in those guns of his to hit a ball that hard and long under those circumstances.

Yes, it was cold out. But that win began a hot year for me, as I witnessed 11 wins at Shea Stadium in 13 appearances.

An early season day game against the eventual NL East champs, although absolutely no one knew how good the Cubs were going to be at this point in the season.

Sid dominated the Cubs lineup on this day and Keith Hernandez hit what would be his last Shea homer, an opposite field shot over the left field wall.

Kevin McReynolds, as he so often did during this time, hit the game tying homer in the 8th and then Carter went deep off Mitch Williams to get the Mets to an impressive 3 of 4 series win against the Cubs. It ended up being one of Gary's last truly big moments with the club and also unfortunately not a sign of things to come against the Cubbies for the rest of the 1989 season.

Vern Law lined into a 3-6-3 triple play in the 5th inning, Dave Magadan and Kevin Elster fielding for the Mets who lost anyway.

I thought they would win this game, and bounce back from the 15-3 blowout the night before. The Mets had been very good at doing that.

Looking at the Retrosheet site, I see that the Mets had a 15-game winning streak up to this time in games following a loss of 6 runs or more. This dated back to September 1986, and it unfortunately ended here.

One of the last ABC games of the week ended up being an exciting game between 2 teams who'd battle all summer for the division. Kevin McReynolds, as he so often did, hit a big homer to tie the game in the 9th to try and help salvage a split in the 4 games series. But the Mets couldn't get push another run across before the CUbs won it in the 10th, ending with another 1 run loss on the road for the 1989 Mets. An issue that would happen all season long.

Nails had his last hit as a Met in this game - a homer that provided one of the two runs in the shortened win for the Mets.

The talk on the pregame before this NBC game of the week was about a potential trade for Frank Viola. Talks were clearly close at the time of this broadcast, and it would be completed in a few days. As for the game, it was clear that the debut of Wally Whitehurst would not go well, as he was hit around badly and the Mets lost another key game in the east race in a weekend that would end in a sweep

Mark Grace hit a walk-off 2-run homer off Randy Myers with two outs in the ninth as the Cubs swept a weekend series at Wrigley.

Bob Ojeda and the Mets fell behind early, 3-0, but got back in the game when they scored two runs in the fifth on an infield out and a sac fly.

After falling behind, 4-2, the Mets tied it in the seventh with a two-out rally. Gary Carter singled, Kevin Elster doubled, and pinch-hitter Keith Hernandez singled them both home to make it 4-4. Aside from that flurry, the Mets managed just two other hits the whole game.

Mark Grace did hit a walk off 2 run homer off Randy Myers to complete the weekend sweep. I remember before this series no one was sure how good the Cubs were and how long they would hang around in NL East contention. I knew after this series that the Cubs were for real and they never fell out of 1st place the rest of the way.

Juan Samuel got the game winning hit in the 9th inning in a game that the Mets absolutely had to win (at the time, at least). It's not going out on a limb to say that this was the last noteworthy highlight of Samuel's Mets career. He would be gone after the season as the Mets quickly admitted defeat on the trade.

When I look back at the career and life of Darryl Strawberry, the first thing that comes to my mind is dissapointment. The Mets are in my blood. I recall so many games and players it scares people. I fondly look back at the days of Straw, Carter, Keith, Doc, etc. However that fondness doesn't come without its fizzling feel of underachievement. I feel Straw epitomized the Mets underacheivement in the 1980's. On this day in 1989 during a season where the Mets dynasty and Darryl's life and potentially tremendous career were both unravelling, Darryl is called back from the clubhouse (he had gotten undressed after the Mets had falled behind 10-4, assuming a loss) after a Mets rally puts them within 4 runs with the bases loaded with two out. What I felt was the true beginning of the end of the greatest Mets era ever, Straw strikes out on 3 pitches, putting the Mets out of the race. When Straw went public not long ago and broke down in tears over his troubled life I too could not help but shed tears also. In a way I feel NY was awfully hard on him, too hard in fact. I also feel that he denied his raw talent which may never been seen in a Mets uniform again, by his inability to exorcise his personal demons. I'll always remember Straw for the great player he was, not the great person we wish he could have been.

I think this was the game that Davey Johnson and Darryl Strawberry went at it chest-to-chest in the Mets clubhouse.

Even though the NL East race was all but over and the game didn't mean a whole lot, still a memorable game. Gary Carter hit his last homer as a Met. Keith Miller hit his 1st homer of the 89 season and ran around the bases quicker than any player I've ever seen. It seemed like he was back in the dugout before the announcers finished their home run call.

Also, the first and only save of Gooden's Mets career came in this game, as he was giving the team some relief appearances to assure full health for the next spring training.

One of the 6 games that were made up due to the early season players strike. The Mets beat the Cubs on a very overcast and cold day as Viola continued his hot start

The main story of this game was the return to form of Dwight Gooden. Doc battled a shoulder injury in 1989, which limited him to 17 starts, his last on July 1 (though he pitched twice out of the bullpen in September). He then struggled in his fist two starts of 1990, allowing 10 runs over 7.2 combined innings vs. Pittsburgh and Montreal, leading to questions of whether Doc's arm may be done. He quieted those rumors here, going 7 strong without giving up an extra-base hit and striking out 7 during a 117-pitch outing to get his first win of the year. He continued to pitch well the rest of the year en route to 19 wins and a fourth-place finish in the Cy Young vote. 1990 can be considered the last of Doc's vintage seasons.

There really wasn't much offense to speak of for either team, as the Cubs struck out 11 times and the Mets 10 while they combined for just 7 hits. It was a chilly, breezy day, and the game started at 3pm eastern, so those infamous late afternoon Shea Stadium shadows made life miserable on hitters during the later innings, which all likely contributed to the lack of offense.

I did not get to see this game as it was a busy day for me and the family. This day was my high school graduation. My family and all my friends did a dinner and a party at the house to celebrate the graduation. I saw the highlights of the game later that night.

I do remember quite a few people at the party were Mets fans and we were talking about how the team was playing better under Bud Harrelson and showing more life and emotion than they were in the beginning of the season under Davey Johnson.

This was the game where Dave Magadan had a bid day and took over the starting 1B job from Mike Marshall. Greg Maddux started for the Cubs and the next edition of Sports Illustrated had a Gatorade ad with Maddux sitting in the Cubs dugout drinking Gatorade and the caption read "If only the Mets went down so easy." I still have the ad.

One of the many Met games over the years that were slugfests in Wrigley including some the Mets won and some they lost. This one is not remembered as much as the 19-1 game in 1964 or the 23-10 game in 1987 but it certainly had its moments. The Mets scored in seven of the nine innings, something I believe they have only done one or two other times (e.g. the 23-10 game).

I remember working as an intern at CNBC in Fort Lee New Jersey when this game was played. They had a set of televisions above the studio where I was a stage manager/camera operator, and I can recall that every time I looked up to track the Mets' progress it seemed Dave Magadan was on base. And I looked up so often it really got the director ticked off so he pulled me from the floor. I do not work in TV today.

That's a funny story, Steve. And correcting Michael, Greg Maddux started the previous game. It was Mike Bielecki who started this game for Chicago, and he lasted only an inning and a third and gave up 8 runs, tied for the most he allowed in a game his entire career. With the wind blowing out at 25mph, it was evident from the start this was going to be a wild day. Sure enough, Hojo hit a popup to 3B to lead off the game, but the wind blew it all the way over to SS, and Cubs infielders Curt Wilkerson and Domingo Ramos collided and let the ball drop, giving Johnson second base. Magadan smacked a laser beam of a home run next, and the hits just kept on coming from there. McReynolds also blasted a pair of homers, the second of which was a bomb that landed amongst some trees beyond Waveland Avenue.

For Magadan, it was a career day. He collected career-best totals of 6 RBI and 9 total bases, and also tied the Mets record for times on base in a game with 6. Tom O'Malley, who didn't enter the game until the third inning spelling the injured Mike Marshall, also tied a team record with 3 doubles. As a team, the Mets had 12 extra-base hits, which set the franchise record at the time. The record now stands at 15, set in 2015. The 19 runs scored is still tied for fourth-most in team history.

As Michael alluded to, this was the beginning of the end for Marshall. His back injury allowed Magadan to solidify his hold on the 1B job, and Marshall only received one more start at 1B for the remainder of his time with the Mets before getting traded to Boston in July. Addition by subtraction, if you ask me.

Meanwhile, the Cubs pitching was just dreadful. In fact, Kevin Blankenship was so bad he never appeared in another Major League game again. Their best "pitcher" was outfielder Doug Dascenzo, who tossed a scoreless ninth inning. Funny, he actually made 4 appearances as a pitcher during his career and never gave up a run in any of them.

A game played in and out of rainstorms all night, including a lenghty rain delay. Ron Darling put the Mets in an early hole that they could never dig out from.

Strawberry's last homer as a Met, hit off Greg Maddux, was in this game. A solo shot. The Mets got a much needed win to attempt to keep pace with the Pirates. But Pittsburgh was just playing too well at this point in the season.

Strawberry would only appear in a few more games for the rest of the year, as a back issue kept him from playing (though, at the time, he was questioned if it was more his pending free agency that was keeping him out). A weird ending to a fantastic Mets career. It's disappointing that Straw never got a proper send off, as his season just ended so abruptly.

Just watched this one recently, truly one of the most frustrating losses of that entire era. A day that the Mets truly needed to win, with Pittsburgh not letting up at all, and they could only muster 3 runs (all on solo homers), with the wind blowing out. The Mets left so many baserunners on base over the last 3 innings, they could have started a football team. It ended with Strawberry flying out softly to left field with runners on in the 9th, ending a devastating day for their division hopes.

As he did earlier in this week, Cubs lefty Paul Assenmacher essentially put an end to the Mets season on this day. He ended up going the last 4 innings, closing out the win for the Cubs and handing the Mets a lose that put the nail in the coffin. With this loss, the Mets no longer controlled their own destiny, as now they needed the Pirates to lose the next day to have any shot at all of going into the last series of the year in Pittsburgh with a chance. And with the way the Pirates were playing at the time, it just wasn't going to happen.

Although the race with the Pirates was all but over anyway, still a terrible ending to the Mets home season as Franco blew a late lead. Sadly as solid as John was during most of his first year as a Met, he left the fans with a horrible taste in their mouths with blowing some very winnable games down the stretch. He wouldn't really get to redeem himself in a pennant race until the late 90's.

This game marked the second time in 1991 the Mets were facing a team that was playing their first game after firing a manager. First on April 23 when Jim Fregosi took over for Nick Leyva for the Phillies. Now Joe Altobelli took over for Don Zimmer, albeit for one game, as he was replaced by Jim Essian the next day. Altobelli may also be the only manager in history to be ejected the one game he managed for a team, as he was thrown out of this game for arguing when warnings were given in the fifth inning after Chuck McElroy nearly hit Gooden with a pitch. It may or may not have been retaliation for when Gooden nailed Doug Dascenzo in the back the previous inning.

Speaking of Gooden, this game started a streak of four games in a row in which he gave up at least 5 runs. His ERA went from 2.39 to 2.97 after this game, and it would soar to as high as 4.39 by the end of June. However, this still marked his 9th straight start against the Cubs in which he picked up a win. Doc actually ended his career with a 28-4 record vs. the Cubs.

This was another game the Mets scored early and then went to sleep at the plate. After collecting all 8 runs over the first 3 innings, they managed just one hit over the remaining five innings. Cubs pitching retired the final 13 in a row. McReynolds got some rare boos during his first at-bat as reaction toward his recent comments in the papers, when he said New York fans "like to kick players when they're down." But those boos quickly evaporated after he hit RBI doubles in his first two plate appearances. He also made a diving catch during the 9th that probably saved the game, as Franco needed some good defense behind him to lock down the save.

I also meant to add that Ralph Kiner had an epic battle with Jose Vizcaino's name all night. At first he called him "Val-keeno," which made me laugh hysterically. He must have said his name 20 times, differently every time.

On an afternoon when the sun didn't even pretend to peak out behind the clouds on a gloomy day, David Cone was outstanding and went the distance. The offense singled the Cubs to death for an easy win.

Bobby Bonilla lost his mind after getting hit with a pitch in the 4th inning of this game. After hitting a long foul ball the previous pitch, Bonilla then took one in the back from Cubs pitcher Shawn Boskie. Thinking it was intentional, and probably letting months of pent up frustration get the better of him, Bobby Bo became a raving lunatic, throwing the umpire to the ground in an attempt to get his hands on Boskie. Bonilla was the only player tossed in the fracas, but his actions helped ignite a fire under the Mets as they won pretty easily, 8-2.

After the game, Bonilla was quoted saying, "I don't want to say anything. I don't want to get too vicious." Meanwhile, Boskie said, "I didn't throw at him and I don't know what his problem is." As Met fans, we know full well what Bobby's problem was.

I was at this game - it was the last day of my sophomore year in high school. Greg Maddux no-hit the Mets for 6 2/3 innings, the Cubs scored seven runs in the first inning and there was a bench-clearing brawl (I don't remember why). Probably one of the wildest games I've ever seen, but since we sat in Row T of the upper deck and I spent most of the day trying to talk to a chick that I liked, I missed more of it than I should've!

Wasn't this the game where the Cubs scored seven times in the first and Bonilla called the press box to complain that the E for error had been left up on the scoreboard for too long?

I was there, too. Greg Maddux started the game and threw at Coleman. Too bad he missed. That is how the near brawl started.

Paul Gibson got the only win of his Mets career on this one, although I can't imagine more than a handful of Mets or Cubs fans saw this one. It was Memorial Day and this game was on at the same time as the huge Knicks-Bulls game in the NBA.

Nevertheless, the Mets have a rare road win in the 93 season.

I remember going to this game with my brother and my cousin. My uncle had tickets in the first row behind the camera guys on the first base side. This was probably one of the last dominant games Doc Gooden pitched for the Mets. Since I was a kid then, all I remember was standing up for the last strike of the game and Gooden struck him out looking to end the game.

On a side note we saw Bill Murray at the game and he signed my Mets cap.

Good for you, Eric! Murray was shown on the Cubs telecast looking incognito, so kudos for finding him in the crowd. Indeed, Gooden was nearing the end of his Mets brilliance, but he still had a few more gems left in the tank before it was all over. This game marked his final time starting against the Cubs at Shea. In those 17 starts, Doc went 15-1.

Just five days prior, he and Frank Castillo had faced off in Chicago with very similar results. In that game, Castillo allowed 7 runs in 3.2 innings as the Mets won, 11-3. Here he only lasted an inning and a third, throwing just 28 pitches before getting the hook. New York began the 2nd inning with six straight singles, and after a Gooden sac bunt, Coleman also singled to knock Castillo out. All told, the Mets tallied 12 hits in the game, all singles!

It looked ugly in the early going, however, as Kent committed errors on back-to-back plays (a la Gregg Jefferies) in the first, and then Gooden plunked Steve Buechele on an 0-2 pitch. Thankfully, catcher Rick Wilkins grounded out weakly to end the threat. Kent's defensive woes were becoming quite problematic at this time and I'm kinda surprised the Mets kept him at 2B for so long. Quilvio Veras had been tearing up the minor leagues for years at this point and could have easily been the new Mets second baseman by 1994. And with Eddie Murray being a free agent at season's end, Kent could have moved over to 1B. That would have been my plan of action, anyway.

Meantime, watching this broadcast was the first time I've ever heard of Tony Fernandez's kidney stone problems, which definitely explains why he performed so poorly in early 1993. He was batting .360 since the beginning of June through this game, so it looked like his woes were behind him... but unfortunately by this point the Mets were so far behind in the pennant race that Fernandez, who was a free agent at the end of the season, was more valuable as trade bait, and he'd be dealt to Toronto in just 4 days time. He'd hit .306 the rest of the year for the Jays, helping them win a second straight World Series. It was the second year in a row the Mets handed the Blue Jays a player that helped them win a championship, after David Cone in 1992.

They also talked about the Foreman vs. Morrison fight on the WGN telecast, which was to take place that night. The 24-year-old Morrison, who starred in Rocky V four years earlier, beat the 44-year-old Foreman in a unanimous decision to win the vacant WBO heavyweight championship. He lost it later in the year to Michael Bentt, and lost his life to AIDS in 2013. He was 44.

Todd Hundley's first major-league grand-slam brightened up this game in a largely dreadful season for the Mets.

To add on to Ed's comment, it was Hundley's first of 7 career grand slams, 4 of which he hit with the Mets (the other 3 with the Dodgers). He also set a career high with 5 RBI, which he'd break with 7 in a game a few years later. During the telecast, Cub announcers Harry Caray and Steve Stone lamented about how well Todd, whose dad played for the Cubs, hit against Chicago. In 1993, Todd batted .391 (18-for-46) with 4 of his 11 home runs against the Cubs.

Bonilla also continued his power surge, connecting for his 32nd dinger of the year with a bomb to left-center. For the Cubs, Slammin' Sammy Sosa hit #30 of the season (the first Josias Manzanillo gave up as a member of the Mets) and was on his way to becoming the first player in Cubs history to have a 30/30 year. Yet, for some reason, he hit 7th in the batting order.

After a mediocre major league debut at Philadelphia and two clunkers against the Rockies, it was good to see Bobby Jones put together his first strong start in a Mets uniform. He went on to hold a 2.40 ERA in 6 starts in September to solidify his place in the rotation for 1994. Meanwhile, former Met Randy Myers, who hadn't seen action in 8 days, gave up a triple to Orsulak and an RBI single to Hundley the first two pitches he threw. Still, hard to believe the Mets wouldn't have done anything to take back the Franco-for-Myers trade four years prior at this point in time.

The Cubs did have one feel-good story in this game. Shawon Dunston, who had undergone back surgery and hadn't appeared in a game since May 4 of the previous season, pinch hit in the 6th inning. He grounded out but would reclaim the Cubs starting SS position in 1994 and would eventually find his way onto the Mets in 1999.

The Mets may have been terrible back then, but they played like champions today. This was my first major league baseball game back when I was eight years old, but I was hooked soon after. I remember most of it, and I remember Jeromy Burnitz (the rookie) catching the fly ball that ended it. Day one of my rabid following of the Metropolitans.

This was the first Mets home win on a Sunday ALL season, and it came in basically the last 2-3 weeks of the season. Sounds about right for the 93 Mets.

Karl "Tuffy" Rhodes, the immortal, hit 3 HRs off Doc in this game. He would then hit 5 the rest of the season. Now, it seems he is on the verge of breaking the Japanese league's single season HR record. Go figure.

Second baseman Jeff Kent and shortstop Jose Vizcaino both homered in this game, marking the first time since 1948 that a double-play combination both hit homers on Opening Day.

What a way to start the season. With a 22 MPH wind blowing out at Wrigley, the Mets and Cubs combine for 20 runs and 30 hits, with the Mets improving to 5-0 vs. Chicago in Opening Day games. Tuffy Rhodes made all the headlines, becoming the first in major league history to start a season belting home runs in each of his first 3 at-bats (all of them virtually to the same exact spot in the left-center field bleachers), and as of this post stands as only 1 of 4 all-time with 3 homers on Opening Day, along with George Bell, Dmitri Young and Matt Davidson. However, this performance was more the exception than the rule for Tuffy, who by 1995 was already gone from the Cubs. By 1996 he was in Japan and, as Mets2Moon mentioned, went on to become one of the best power hitters in Japanese League history. In 2001, he tied their single-season record with 55 homers, although that record has since been topped.

The emphatic victory has to feel good for a Mets team and fanbase coming off such a dreadful 1993 campaign. The offense was the story, with Jeff Kent leading the way by going 4-for-5 and missed hitting for the cycle by a triple. Jose Vizcaino also homered in his Mets debut, just a week after coming over from the Cubs in a late Spring Training trade. Todd Hundley went back-to-back with him in the 3rd, blasting his to almost the same spot in the RF stands as Vizcaino. Even Gooden got in on the act, collecting his last pair of RBI in a Mets uniform. The 12 runs are still the most the Mets have ever scored in an Opening Day game.

Speaking of Gooden, he made his last of 8 Opening Day starts for the Mets, which is second in team history among pitchers to Tom Seaver's 11. The Mets would go 7-1 in his 8 starts. It was also his last start against the Cubs as a Met and, despite allowing 7 runs (5 earned), he picked up his 27th career win vs. Chicago. Gooden is actually one of only 5 pitchers in Mets history to give up 7 runs and still win, and the only one to do it twice. Jon Niese was the last to do it in 2015. It's funny because Cubs announcer Steve Stone commented on how successful the Mets were against Chicago when Gooden was on the mound, saying early on in the game that "he'll beat them 10-8 if he has to." Turns out he wasn't far off!

Stone also made a remark I agreed with wholeheartedly later in the game. Talking about how baseball was losing popularity to other sports like football and basketball, he said that's only happening because those sports have made all kinds of changes (like 2-point conversions in football and the 3-pointer in basketball), while baseball has stayed pure and traditional and shouldn't have to change in order to maintain popularity. But looking at how much baseball has changed in recent years (especially this year with the introduction of a ridiculous pitch clock, among other things), it seems like purists like myself and Steve are a dying breed.

The game was still in question in the bottom of the 6th when the Mets were holding a 10-7 lead. Gooden allowed the first 2 batters to reach on singles but battled back to get Shawon Dunston to fly out and pinch-hitter Glenallen Hill to strikeout after an 8-pitch battle that saw Hill get brushed back twice. But, with Tuffy up next, Dallas Green decided he wouldn't get a chance to hit his 4th homer of the Doc and brought in Eric Hillman instead to get the lefty/lefty matchup. Upset by the decision, Gooden kicked the bat rack on his way to the clubhouse, which broke a toe and served as the catalyst for the demise of his career. Hillman, however, walked Rhodes on 4 pitches, loading the bases for Ryne Sandberg. In a gutsy move, Green stuck with Hillman despite having the righty Dave Telgheder ready in the bullpen, and Hillman rewarded him by getting Sandberg to line out to left for the final out. The Cubs never really threatened after that, albeit they did score one last meaningless run off John Franco in the 9th. The Mets would go on to sweep the Cubs in 3 to open the year. And hat tip to Bob P for the interesting note regarding Kent and Vizcaino.

Sorry for the length of this post but this really was a fun and eventful game to watch, as I could probably go on for another 3 paragraphs. The outcome here at least gave us hope that 1994 would be much different than the doldrums of 1993.

In this game, Jonathan Hurst and John Cangelosi made their Mets' debuts. Both entered in the eighth inning. Hurst pitched two shutout innings to seal the win and Cangelosi went 0-for-1.

The appearances of Hurst and Cangelosi created a unique situation. They became the 500th and 501st major leaguers to play for the Mets. Noticed by Mets Inside Pitch, the magazine decided to declare which of these two players was officially the 500th Met. Hurst was given the 500 spot since, being the pitcher, he touched the ball before Cangelosi did. John had to settle for No. 501.

Not exactly the most important of issues, but Inside Pitch decided to solve it anyway.

One of the coldest games that the Mets ever played. During the game broadcast, they said the wind chill was in the 20's!! Yikes. Snow was actually expected during this 3 game series but never actually happened,but even without it, I can't imagine how the players felt. At one point, Bonilla caught a rocket off the bat at 3rd base and had to jump around for what felt like, 30 seconds, as the combo of the freezing temp and catching a ball hit that hard in those conditions, made it a necessity.

I was at this game. Cyndi Lauper sang the national anthem and some of the '69 Mets threw out the first pitch. Willie Banks from Jersey City pitched for the Cubs; He was a phenom at St. Anthony's High School as a pitcher and he was also a good hoops player off the bench for Bob Hurley's legendary teams. I remember Jeromy Burnitz messing up in the outfield and the fans got on him. I was sitting in the Loge in rightfield that day. Randy Myers came in the 9th to stop a Mets rally and I think he struck out Burnitz. Btw, the game wasn't sold out; there were 10,000 empty seats, a reminder of the horrible '93 season.

At least you got good weather for the game, Joe. Unfortunately, there wasn't much else to celebrate in the 1994 home opener. Indeed, Burnitz did commit an error during the Cubs' 6-run 3rd inning, though his blunder didn't really do any damage as all the runners that moved up a base on the play would have scored on Steve Buechele's home run later in the inning anyway. Burnitz was actually double-switched out of the game by the top of the 4th when the Mets brought in Jonathan Hurst, showing just how much confidence Dallas Green had in the outfielder. David Segui was the one who struck out with the bases loaded to end the game, spoiling an otherwise nice afternoon for the first baseman which saw him go 3-for-5.

It was a weird outing for Bobby Jones, who looked in control by retiring the first 5 he faced before walking Rick Wilkins. That's when the wheels completely fell off, and I wondered if he might have been hurt (in hindsight, he wasn't -- he just had an off day for whatever reason). After the walk, 6 of the next 8 batters reached base, including Sammy Sosa on an RBI single in the 3rd that finally did Jones in. At 2.1 innings, this marked Bobby's shortest outing of the 1994 season. Unfortunately, Dave Telgheder wasn't any better, as he walked his first batter and then allowed a mammoth 3-run homer to Buechele. That put the Mets down 8-1, a deficit that proved too great to overcome.

Aside from the poor pitching, the defense wasn't much better. Along with Burnitz, Telgheder and Vina also committed errors -- Vina twice, although his miscues can be somewhat forgiven as he was playing in only his second game at third base as a pro. Both of his errors were on poor throws to first, though none of the 4 the Mets had on the day led to any unearned runs. Vina was playing 3B because Bonilla had separated his shoulder for the second time in 8 months the previous day in Houston. Thankfully, Bobby only missed a week of action but it does help explain why he struggled so much at the dish in April.

Local hero Willie Banks picked up his first win as a Cub in the game, as well as his first career hit with a double in the 6th. Meanwhile, I found it odd that fellow local boy John Franco came into this game in the 8th inning with the Mets trailing by 4. He wound up pitching two innings, despite the fact he had just pitched the previous day. Was Dallas already using Franco in a mop-up role? I mean, with the way Franco pitched in 1993 -- and judging by how much he struggled to navigate his two innings here -- I can't say I'd disagree with the treatment.

Jason Isringhausen's MLB debut. He pitched a gem that night, and it looked like at least one facet of Generation K (for whiff, which is what the Mets did in choosing Izzy, Pulsipher, and Wilson) would pan out.

Unfortunately, this game was largely overshadowed by the awful TWA 800 crash off the shores of JFK that same night.

Correction, Jared K. The TWA Flight 800 crash happened exactly one year later and on July 17, 1996, the Mets played an afternoon tilt vs the Phillies (I was there because me and my friend bought field level seats off a scalper) and several hours after the game is when the tragedy took place.

Along with Izzy's debut, I remember it was extremely weird to see HoJo in a Cubs uniform during this game. Just didn't look right on him.

Due to the season starting later because of the strike, 1995 had some scheduling quirks. This game was one of those quirks,as the Mets made their 2nd trip to Wrigley in a week,for a regularly scheduled game in a "one game series". The same would also apply for the next two days, as the Mets went to St Louis twice in a week's span for 2 completely separate series.

In this game, on a gorgeous summer night on the ABC "Baseball Night in America" broadcast, Pulsipher got the start and while he wasn't terrible, it was also a reminder of how much things have changed since. He ended up going 8 full innings, walked 5, gave up 5 runs and with this being his first few weeks in the big leagues, that is just something that would never happen today.

This was a crushing loss. Wilson one of the supposed "phenom" pitchers had like a 1 hitter going into the 9th at Wrigley. Sammy Sosa hit a three run homer in the bottom of the 9th to win it for the Cubs. The Mets never recovered that season.

This is Dallas Green as his finest. Wilson pitches the game of his life striking out 14. Instead of taking him out to face Sosa and bringing in the junk baller (Franco), Green keeps him in. Wilson was never the same after this game and this is when I lost all credibility for Dallas Green.

Dallas Green certainly deserved his fair share of criticisms for the many disappointments of the 1996 season, but I'm not sure this game is an example of one. Wilson entered the 9th inning having thrown just 92 pitches and hadn't allowed a hit since the 1st inning, so I don't see the problem in letting him chase his first career complete game. Despite a leadoff bunt single, Wilson struck out the next two batters, Brian McRae and Ryan Sandberg. Green then had a choice with the runner on 2nd after a stolen base and the lefty Mark Grace up -- bring in Franco to face Grace lefty vs. lefty, or intentionally walk Grace and let Wilson face Sosa, who Wilson had struck out twice already in the game and hadn't had a hit in 5 games. When the decision was made to walk Grace, you're not then going to bring in Franco to face the righty Sosa. That makes no sense. Unfortunately, Wilson left a hanging slider over the plate that Sosa ripped onto Waveland Avenue for a walkoff homer, but you can't disagree with the strategy that was used.

Not only that, but Wilson struck out 10, not 14. With the power of hindsight it's real easy to say Green should have taken Wilson out in that spot, but in real time I don't think there was anything wrong with his decision whatsoever. But I do concur that this was a real tough loss and one that sent the Mets into quite the tailspin.

Bobby Jones continues his comeback from a poor start to the season, tossing 8 shutout innings to help the Mets snap, what is at that point, a season-long 4 game losing streak. He definitely had some good defense behind him, as Jeff Kent made several diving plays at 3B, and Bernard Gilkey tallied his 7th of what would be a league-leading 18 OF assists when he gunned down Mark Grace trying to tag up and score on a line drive to left in the 7th inning.

That preserved a 1-0 lead (thanks to a Butch Huskey homer in the 3rd), which would grow to 2-0 in the 8th. After Jones successfully navigated the top half of the inning despite a couple of walks, Huskey hit a 1-out single in the bottom half of the inning. Rey Ordonez then appeared to have an infield hit beat out, but, as he would frustratingly do his entire career, dove head-first into first instead of running through the base, slowing him down and prompting the 1B umpire to call him out. Now with a runner on 2nd and 2 down, the Mets pinch hit for Jones with Carl Everett, who earlier in the day had a closed-door meeting with Dallas Green, most likely in regards to his lack of playing time. The Cubs countered by bringing in left-hander Bob Patterson, realizing Everett hit only .210 vs. lefties in 1995. But Everett came through nonetheless, drilling an opposite-field double up the gap to plate an insurance run, and potentially helping to earn himself a boost in playing time in the future. John Franco took it from there, nailing down his 301st career save in a 1-2-3 9th inning.

The telecast also posed the following trivia question during the game: What Hall of Famer and native of Puerto Rico is (as of the date of the broadcast) the only player in Major League history to hit .350 and strikeout more than 100 times in a season?

The answer: Roberto Clemente in 1967. What's really crazy about that year is that, despite winning a batting title and leading the majors in hits, Clemente only placed 3rd for NL MVP, ranking behind a couple of Cardinals. Orlando Cepeda won it, and none other than Tim McCarver, who was calling the game for the Mets on this evening in 1996, ranked second. Shockingly, despite his massive ego, he didn't bring this anecdote up during the broadcast. It was the only time during his 21-year career McCarver received any votes for MVP. Since 1996, there have been three more players who have hit .350 and struck out 100 times in a season: Alex Rodriguez (oddly enough in 1996), Manny Ramirez (2000) and Larry Walker (2001).

This was the infamous Pete Harnisch/Scott Servais/Kevin Foster brawl, where Foster threw a pitch over Hundley's head in the 1st, Harnisch hit Foster with a pitch in the 2nd, then Terry Adams threw a pitch behind Harnisch in the 5th. Harnisch then began jawing with Cubs Catcher Scott Servais, then closed-fisted him in the face, setting off a brawl that spilled into the Cubs dugout. I believe Harnisch, Adams, Servais and Hundley all got tossed.

Then, of course, after the Mets led 6-2, Henry came in and blew the lead.

Rico Brogna, in his last great moment (and there weren't that many) as a Met, hit the game winner, his 2nd of the game, in the 9th.

As mentioned by Mets2Moon, there were NINE ejections in this game, including Servais and Harnisch, who was also fined and suspended for eight games for throwing the punch. Mets bullpen coach Steve Swisher was also thrown out and suspended for two games, and John Franco was thrown out too, and today was John Franco Day at Shea!

Rico Brogna had a triple and a single to go along with his two homers.

To my knowledge.....this game is where a Mets player came the closets to hitting 3 homers in a game at Shea (it never happened).

Brogna hit 2 homers and then hit a triple that hit the VERY top of the wall.

A wild game to say the least. To clear up the ejections: it was Harnisch, Hundley, Franco, Blas Minor and Steve Swisher for the Mets, and Servais, Leo Gomez, Turk Wendell and Scott Bullett for the Cubs. I guess they let Terry Adams stay in the game because he didn't actually hit Harnisch and didn't do anything egregious during the brawl.

The fight is still well-documented to this day. I found a blog post written by a fan who claimed to have been punched (accidentally?) during the fracas by Mark Grace, found here: http://studiousMetsimus.blogspot.com/2021/05/25-years-ago-when-mark-grace-punched-me.html

There's also an interesting article from 2016 written in the Seattle Times about how Harnisch and Servais were actually good friends at the time -- as they were teammates for several seasons with the Astros prior to 1996 -- and the two mended fences and worked together as coaches with the Angels and Mariners, found here: https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/buddies-at-brawl/

Thanks goes to Michael, as I did not know there never was a Mets player who hit 3 home runs while Shea Stadium existed. There's actually been 4 players who've already done it at Citi Field, which I guess proves Citi is a better hitter's ballpark than Shea was. They are (in chronological order) Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Lucas Duda, Robinson Cano, and Francisco Lindor.

It really was a great day for Rico. He had a 2-out, 2-run single to tie the game in the 1st, then homered, tripled, and hit his first of two career walkoff homers (but only one he'd hit with the Mets) that was likely assisted by a gusty wind that grew stronger as the game wore on. This win would perhaps be the apex of good feeling the Mets would achieve in 1996.

There was so much else going on in this game besides the brawl and Brogna's homer. Jeff Kent was just barely thrown out at home with the bases loaded in the 3rd. In the 6th, with two runners on base, Lance Johnson made a spectacular running catch slamming into the wall to end the inning. Then, the 9th inning saw some interesting strategy employed by the Cubs, as they opted not to bunt with Mark Grace with 2 on and no one out, risking a double play. But then, after Grace flew out, the runners pulled off a gutsy double steal with Sammy Sosa at the plate. Sosa struck out after a controversial strike 3 (as the scoreboard had the count wrong and manager Jim Riggleman came out to argue), and then the Mets intentionally walked Luis Gonzalez to have Henry face the right-handed Jose Hernandez with the sacks full. Down to his last strike, Hernandez poked a single to center that tied the score, eventually leading to Brogna's heroics.

Oh, and there was also an epic visit by Jerry Seinfeld in the broadcast booth that lasted an inning and a half, as he was grilled about his love life (he was dating the stunning 20-year-old Shoshanna Lonstein at the time, who was also at the game), instinctively took over the play-by-play call at times, and was then told by Ralph Kiner not to quit his day job as he was leaving. Absolutely hilarious.

This was 70s night at Wrigley Field. On WGN, they brought back the Cubs broadcast team from the decade to call an inning, which was certainly better than listening to Harry Carey make drunken comments while people watching in the stands.

The Mets played a lot like it was still the late 1970s, too. Paul Wilson was all over the place, walking two, throwing a pair of wild pitches, hitting a batter, and giving up back to back homers to Mark Grace and Sammy Sosa in the 3rd inning. The offense looked meek against slowpoke Steve Trachsel, outside of Alvaro Espinoza's first homer as a Met and Todd Hundley's 34th homer of the season. This was actually the 21st consecutive game in which the Mets hit a home run, which still stands as the team record. On top of it all, Butch Huskey pulled his hamstring beating out an error during garbage time in the 9th inning, and he'd be out until rosters expanded in September. A total crappy game from start to finish.

There was also a play in the 2nd inning I couldn't believe. Cubs catcher Scott Servais led off hitting an infield grounder that appeared to be an easy out, but the throw was a little high to Huskey at 1B. Huskey caught it and Servais was out by a mile, but as he ran through the base, he elbowed the ball out of Huskey's glove, and 1B umpire Brian Gorman ruled Servais safe. How is that not illegal? I remember when Arod tried to slap the ball out of a defender's grasp vs. Boston one time and that was ruled illegal, so why was this play different? As soon as the ball was secure in Huskey's glove, that play should have been over and the ball dead; otherwise, what's to prevent every runner going down the first base line trying to wrestle the ball away from the 1B in an effort to be called safe? It was just an awful call and further evidence why I'm so glad instant replay is now a thing.

Took my 11 year-old nephew to his first ballgame this night. Tried to get him into baseball, into the Mets. Then we sat through this rain-soaked monstrosity. My nephew's now a skateboard punk- rocker who could care less about baseball.

The game was long and boring.The only exciting thing I saw was Andy Tomberlin hitting a home run in left field.

This was a simply amazin' game. Andy Tomberlin going opposite field...oh baby!!! That shot was worth the price of admission! Izzy getting the Mets first hit in the latter innings. Izzy gave us everything he could that night, but the Cubbies were just too tough as Ryan Sandberg put on display his home run power.

The Mets get 1-hit through 7 innings by bum rookie starter Amaury Telemaco, then try to stage a 9th-inning comeback but fall a run short and lose in another uninspiring performance.

The only things really worth mentioning about this game: Dave Magadan hit his only career home run against the Mets on this night, and Derek Wallace made his major league debut, pitching a scoreless top of the 9th. He had just been called up from AAA Norfolk, where I believe the WGN telecast said he set a team record with 26 saves. Pretty sure it no longer holds up.

In the first game of this doubleheader, the Mets gave the Cubs their 14th loss in a row to start the season, a National League record. Carl Everett hit 2 homers and Olerud added another in his first season as a Met.

The Cubs would finally break the streak in the nightcap.

The comeback kids do it again, rallying back after the Cubs struck for 2 runs in the 1st inning off Mark Clark to win it, with Butch Huskey playing the hero. He capped a 4-for-5 day with a walk-off RBI single in the 10th inning, helping the Mets snap a 3-game losing skid.

The Mets went with something of a B-team lineup for this 12 o'clock contest, benching most of their stronger lefties (Todd Hundley, John Olerud, Carlos Baerga, Lance Johnson) to get an all-right-hand-hitting cast vs. Terry Mulholland. They started slow but finally got things going in the 6th, when Bernard Gilkey might have hit his longest HR as a Met over the LF bleachers to leadoff the inning. Huskey followed by banging one high off the left-centerfield wall for a double, and Todd Pratt, who was hitting a cool .435 at the time, singled him home to tie the score at 3-3.

The Cubs managed just 1 hit over the last 4 innings, thanks to some superb relief work by Greg McMichael and John Franco. Meanwhile, the Mets had a golden chance to walk it off in the 9th, but instead of sacrificing Pratt to 2nd with 1 out to bring up Hundley for a chance to win it with a single, they chose to have Baerga hit for Luis Lopez in the 8-spot, and he grounded into a force out. They then summoned Hundley to pinch hit, and he got a single, but with Baerga only on first he couldn't score. Rey Ordonez, in his first at-bat after spelling the injured Manny Alexander (who got hurt making a sparkling defensive play in the 8th inning, but would only miss 2 games), popped out to the catcher to force extra innings. With a little different strategy, the Mets could have won it right then and there. But not to worry, as Huskey drove in Edgardo Alfonzo to win it in the 10th, marking the Mets 4th straight win in a game that advanced to extras.

This game was interesting for 2 other reasons: First, Josh Lewin, who was a part of the Mets radio team from 2012-18, called the game for the Cubs on WGN. It was his only season with Chicago. Second, only a few weeks later the Mets and Cubs got together for a 6-player trade, and all but 1 of the 6 (Mel Rojas) were featured in this game. It would be the first trade made by Steve Phillips, who replaced Joe McIlvaine as Mets GM the day before this game.

A poorley played game by the Mets, with multiple defensive miscues on a very cold and overcast day at Wrigley, not uncommon for April.

Al Leiter got his first win as a Met, he pitched better than his final line indicted as well.

Hey there. I remember I attended this game with my dad. I was in ninth grade and on spring break. My great grandma (who was also a big Met's fan) had just died and we had just finished the whole funeral thing. Anyway, it was a cold night. It was Al Leiter's third start as a Met. I remember "Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen was playing as he was warming up in the first inning. That is a cool song. I downloaded it. That song always reminds me of him as does any song by Bruce Springsteen. He pitched an awesome seven innings this game and the Mets went on to win 7- 0. It was Al Leiter's first win as a Met at Shea. I did not expect him to pitch as well as he has (especially in 1998) when they first got him.

This was the 2nd game of the infamous day-night doubleheader where the Bronx Evils played the Angels in the 1st game at Shea due to the building troubles in the old Bronx Ballyard. For the record: The Evils-Angels game drew 40,000 where the Mets-Cubs drew only 16,000 tops!!!!!

Not gonna lie, Franks' "Bronx Evils" reference made me chuckle. I do take umbrage with the mention of the attendance juxtaposition, however. Remember, Yankees Stadium had been closed for 3 days prior to this date, and the team was honoring tickets to all 3 games that were cancelled. Not only that, but having them play a "home" game at Shea Stadium was quite the novelty that I'm sure attracted more fans than just your average Tuesday afternoon game would. So I don't see it as any major accomplishment the Yankees drew so many people, while the Mets drew less than half that for a mid-week game in chilly temperatures. I strongly believe if the circumstances were reversed and the Mets were going to play a home game in the Bronx while honoring 3 games worth of tickets, they easily would have drawn 40k+ as well.

In regard to the actual game, Rick Reed pretty much did it all, shutting out the Cubs over 7 innings and accounting for all the runs on offense by hitting the second (and last) home run of his career in the 2nd inning off future Mets punching bag Steve Trachsel. It was the only HR hit by a pitcher for the Mets in all of 1998. The rest of the Mets mustered only 4 other hits all game -- all singles -- but what do you expect from a lineup with a washed up Carlos Baerga, Tim Spehr catching, and Rey Ordonez leading off? That's right, Bobby V gave Rey his first ever start as the leadoff hitter for this contest, an experiment tried only one more time the remainder of Ordonez's career. Rey actually extended a hitting streak to 11 games with a 1st-inning single, but it would be snapped the next game.

Reed's outing was a significant improvement over his previous, which was in Chicago and saw him give up 7 runs over 3.2 innings in an 8-7 loss. They mentioned during the FSNY broadcast (the first to feature Keith Hernandez, btw) that Reed actually hadn't allowed a wild pitch since debuting in the bigs back in 1988. As luck would have it, Reed would commit his first wild pitch later in 1998 vs. the Giants in August.

Speaking of the broadcast, during the latter portion of the game Matt Loughlin interviewed a guy in the crowd who had a small child, and the kid was wearing a Yankee cap. Loughlin asked him what's up with the cap, and he said the Mets don't sell any caps that fit his son, so he has to wear the Yankee one. Smelling BS, Loughlin returned a short time later with a Mets kids cap for the son, and asked the guy if he'll switch caps now. But the guy was like, "Well, we'll see who makes the playoffs this year." I was like, you incredible ingrate! You're at a Mets game, the team is gifting you a cap for your kid, you're on live TV, and you won't even put it on? I was so angry ... but a short time later the camera panned to him again and the kid was wearing the Mets cap, so the story has a happy ending.

My son's first Met game. Carlos Baerga fouled one off and we got it. Henry Rodriguez hit a 3 run homer off of Wendell to seal the game.

Well, both Game 1 and 2 were probably close to the most memorable regular season games I've attended--I was sitting 6 rows back between 3rd base and shallow left, my first trip to Wrigley with my travel contingent (brother, brother's brother-in-law (Doc), and Stu (heretofore refered to as Spammy)...A noon doubleheader, beautiful sunshine, AND A MET SWEEP-- Good natured ribbing of Todd Hundley as he mascaraded as a major league leftfielder...significant beer consumption, great conversation in the stands with "Darned nice Mid-westerners"..a kid grabbed a foul ball next to us in his first baseball game..Doc needed one as he got some sunburn-- Poisonous Sunburn, and thus was moving kind of slow due to it..but the best part was post game festivities...A trip across the street to the famed "Pink House"...The 4 of us bought out Juan the icecream cart vendor for $50, and was our ticket to a keg party upstairs...Grooving to the sound of "Smack my bitch up" by Prodigy, watching my bro holding court with recent college grads on a lounge chair with perfect view of homeplate...watching the groundscrew manicure the magic of Wrigley as the sun set...the walk over to Slugger's for more cocktails ..A Perfect Baseball Day...Unfortunately the hangover lasted 2 days with both Met losses Sat./Sun....good matchup on the Sunday though...Kerry Wood vs. Rick Reed! Wrigley is the best ballpark, BAR NONE!

The Mets came into this FOX Game of the Week with a 6 game winning streak, and should have made it 7. But in the bottom of the 8th, John Franco nemisis, Glenallen Hill, hit a go ahead bomb off of him to give the Cubs the win. A tough loss, made even tougher a few months from this date when the Cubs finished a single game in front of the Mets.

The Mets' first time facing Kerry Wood, and they fared about as well as everyone else did during his Rookie of the Year campaign in 1998. Brian McRae accounted for all the scoring with a solo home run in the 3rd, which Rick Reed protected until he allowed Sammy Sosa to blast his 38th dinger in the 6th, a 2-run shot that gave the Cubs a lead they'd never relinquish.

With Wood removed in the 8th, the Mets did attempt a rally. After Bernard Gilkey struck out to lead off, John Olerud and Mike Piazza followed with back-to-back walks. Edgardo Alfonzo moved the runners along by grounding out to second to bring up Carlos Baerga, a notorious bum vs. left-hand pitching. With lefty Tony Fossas ready in the bullpen, the Cubs instead stuck with righty Terry Adams, spurning the statistics and going on gut instinct. And gut instinct prevailed, as Baerga disappointingly grounded out to end the threat.

After the Cubs tacked on another run in the bottom of the 8th, the Mets were at it again against closer Rod Beck, getting back-to-back 1-out singles from Luis Lopez and Matt Franco. But the red hot McRae, who hit safely in all 7 games of the road trip, grounded out to 1B, and Gilkey whiffed again to end the game. Gilkey was an absolute lost cause at this point. He started just once during the road trip and has 1 hit over his last 15 ABs. His end is nigh.

Still, the Mets salvaged the season by going 5-2 on the trip, pulling to 3 1/2 games behind the Cubs for the NL wildcard spot. And they're headed back to NY for another long homestand against the West Coast teams. If they can win 7 or more out of the next 10, things are going to get interesting -- especially if they pull the trigger on some trade deadline deals.

I went to this game, we had nice mezzanine seats in the right field corner. My uncle said going into the game, it would be a great day if Sosa got a home run and the Mets win; he even called the 2-1 score. I couldn't believe, what a great game.

This was a a classic. Being a relocated Mets fan here in Chicago with my parents in town visiting, we had to take the opportunity to see the Amazin's. My dad was reliving his childhood as his first visit to Wrigley reminded him of Ebbets Field growing up a Brooklyn Dodger fan. It was about 100 degrees that day and we were stuck in the upperdeck in Left Field. Sosa hit a shot that nearly nailed the CF scoredboard and I swore it was the furthest HR I've ever seen. Until the next inning when Piazza hit a power alley blast that cleared Waveland and landed on the steps of that famous apartment building sporting the Budweiser advertisement on the roof. How they did not measure that shot at 500+ feet I'll never understand. Nailbiter at the end as Benitez kick saved a shot up the middle and recorded the final out with the tying and winning runs on base.

I guess the wind was blowing out. An oddity: both starting pitchers in this game (Octavio Dotel and Jon Lieber) gave up nine runs.

Great story. I was in the bleachers with my girlfriend rooting for the Mets and really getting a verbal beating from the ignorant Cubs fans. There is a tradition at Wrigley where some clown in the bleachers yells out to Sammy Sosa, "Hey Sammy, how many outs are there?" Sammy would turn around and answer by pounding on his chest and putting his hands to his lips denoting the number of outs. Cool thing to see once, but annoying when it happens every inning as in this case. Late in this extra inning affair the Cubs had the winning run on with 2 outs and Sammy at the plate. With the crowd on their feet going crazy and chanting "Sammy, Sammy, Sammy", he whiffs to end the rally. As the bleacher bums surrounding me all begin to sit down in disgust, brilliant me happily ascends from my seat and shouts out "Hey Sammy, how many outs are there?!!!" Nearly got my ass kicked. Lieter notched over 10 K's in a no decision and Mahomes got the win, ironically driving in the winning run in the 13th with a shot to left. This and the Friday game earlier were a treat to witness. Oh yeah, my girlfirend and I broke up soon afterwards largely due to my so called "attitude" displayed at this game.

One of the truly memorable games from the 99 season. Pat Mahomes gets the game winning hit in the 13th inning after the Mets blew leads in the 9th and 10th. Al Leiter also had his career high in strikeouts, with 15 in 7 innings.

My brother and I visited Wrigley on that day on a road trip from New York (Saw a game at Tiger Stadium the next day). We sat in the left field bleachers decked out in Mets gear. We got to our seats about two hours early and by the time the game ended 6 hours later in the 13th, we had crazy sunburns on our legs (probably should not have worn shorts).

Despite all our Mets gear, the "friendly confines" were mostly friendly to us, except when Henry Rodriguez tied that game with a home run that landed about 5 feet from us. Immediately after that homer we were mercilessly ribbed, given a few shoves from drunk fans, and had "we're going to kick your ass!" shouted at us by at least one person. That said, we never really felt threatened, and had the last laugh when Mahomes got the game-winning hit in the 13th. I also remember that Leiter had filthy stuff that day (at least it seemed so from hundreds of feet away). He wound up striking out 15 in 7 innings.

What a way to cap a crazy series at Wrigley. After the teams combined for 46 runs over the first 2 games, Leiter and Kyle Farnsworth absolutely shut down the offense at the start of this game, with the Cubs finally striking first with 2 runs in the 5th. But Farnsworth, who had just pitched in the first game of the series, was removed after 5 shutout innings, and the Mets went right to work against the bullpen, taking the lead with 3 runs in the top of the 6th.

It remained 3-2 when Benitez came in for the save in the 9th, but he allowed an opposite-field homer to the first batter he faced, Rodriguez, which marked the third straight troublesome outing for Armando. The Mets got the run back in the top of the 10th as Rickey Henderson led off with a walk, stole second, and went to third on the catcher's throwing error, then scored on an Edgardo Alfonzo sac fly. But Benitez walked the first 2 he faced in the bottom of the 10th, and the Mets then brought in Billy Taylor, who actually joined the team during the game after being acquired from Oakland the previous day. Taylor got Sosa to ground out on a nice play by John Olerud, then intentionally walked Glenallen Hill so the Mets could bring in Dennis Cook to face the lefty Rodriguez with a force at every base. Cook indeed got the groundball he was looking for, but this time Olerud booted it, allowing the tying run to score. Cook then got pinch-hitter Jose Nieves to ground into a double play to force the 11th inning.

The Mets threatened in the 11th but Mike Piazza and Alfonzo came up empty with the go-ahead run in scoring position. Chuck McElroy then made his Mets debut, tossing 1.2 innings of scoreless relief. In the 13th, Roger Cedeno led off with a double, but neither Todd Pratt nor Rey Ordonez could bring him in or move him over. The Cubs intentionally walked Benny Agbayani to bring up the pitching spot occupied by Mahomes, who relieved McElroy to get Sosa for the final out of the 12th. It was a wise move by Chicago as Luis Lopez was the only position player left available for the Mets and was being saved in case he'd be needed in an emergency role if Pratt got hurt behind the plate. But the plan backfired on the Cubs, as Mahomes dunked a single just in front of a diving Rodriguez in LF to score Cedeno. Thing of it is, Mahomes was actually no slouch at the plate, as he was hitting .400 (4-for-10) at the time! Agbayani was tagged out trying to advance to third, and with the Mets out of relief pitchers, Mahomes went back out there in the bottom of the inning to close it out.

He got the first two outs and the Cubs, also out of position players, were forced to bat reliever Scott Sanders as their last hope. Running the count to 3-2, Sanders nearly channeled his inner-Rick Camp and hit one off the wall in LF for a double. If the wind isn't blowing in at Wrigley, that's probably a home run. However, Mahomes gets Jeff Reed to strike out to finally end the game, giving the Mets one of the more memorable wins of the season.

Darryl Hamilton also made his Mets debut in the game, starting in CF and uncharacteristically batting 5th -- his first time batting 5th since 1992. He went 2-for-5 with a walk and RBI, but also got caught stealing and grounded into a double play.

For Leiter, the 15 strikeouts were the most he ever had in a game for his career. It was the most by a Mets pitcher since David Cone tied Tom Seaver's franchise record with 19 Ks in the 1991 season finale, and it was the most by a Mets left-hander since Sid Fernandez had 16 in a game in 1989. For the game, the Cubs struck out 20 times, which set a franchise record. They tied that record in 2002, and broke it with 23 strikeouts during a 16-inning game vs. Houston in 2003.

It was Mike Hampton's first start for the Mets, in Tokyo against the Cubs. We figured he'd just blow the Cubs away, but he ended up walking 9 guys. The game wasn't as close as the score makes it seem. It was a bad start for the Mets new ace, but he got better as the season went on.

After last season, the Mets promised to be great this year and I was so excited for the first game of the season that I woke up at 5 in the morning to watch it and Mike Hampton was pitching and I was excited to see him because he had gotten 22 wins with the Astros the year before. However, the game was disappointing as Hampton sucked and the Mets lost to the Cubs in Tokyo and we later found out that Hampton was too good to be true because he couldn't pitch in cold weather.

I coudn't sleep the night of this game; asked a couple of friends over for bagels and baseball. It was unreal watching that game but it was enjoyable watching Bobby V take Don Baylor to manager's instructional school. After all, he did invent baseball. (Just ask him!)