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Remembering Mets History (1977) Shea Stadium During The 1977 Black Out

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July 13th, 1977: The night began as 14,626 fans came out to Shea Stadium to see Joe Torre's last place Mets (34-53) take on a hot first place Chicago Cubs team (55-32) led by Herman Franks.  '77 Cubs: On May 28th , the Cubs had jumped into first place & remained there over two months staying atop the NL East until August 6th. But from there on they went 18-37 finishing fourth at 81-81. In New York, times were bad at Shea Stadium. It had been 26 days since Mets traded away the fans beloved Tom Seaver & to a lesser extent, Dave Kingman, the teams only true slugger. It was the start of some very dark years for Mets fans. It's fitting the lights went out almost to confirm these dark times were here. Tonight featured a good pitching matchup, as Jerry Koosman (6-10) went up against the Cubs Ray Burris (9-8). The previous year Kooz won twenty games & was runner up in the Cy  Young voting. He had lost four of his last five starts. Ray Burris had lost his last two d...
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Robin Ventura: 2000 N.L. Champion Mets Third Baseman (1999 - 2001)

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Robin Mark Ventura was born July 14, 1967, in Santa Maria, California. His parents were John an Italian American & his mother Darlene was of Portuguese descent. Robin has two older brothers & one younger brother. The six foot one left hand hitting Ventura, was a star ballplayer at his high School in Santa Maria known as one of the best high school players in California. Robin attended Oklahoma State University where he led the division twice in RBIs & had a 58-game hitting streak. Ventura also led his team to a National Championship game, although they lost to Stanford University. 1988 Olympics: In 1988 he was the U.S Olympics team’s third baseman, in Seoul Korea batting .409 while winning a Silver Medal.  He starred in the 1988 World Cup as well, winning the Golden Spikes Award & getting named the best amateur player in the country. Later in 1988 he was the Chicago White Sox first round draft pick (the tenth pick overall). He spent just one season in ...
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