Posts

Remembering Mets History (1970) Nolan Ryan Tosses His First Career One Hit Shut Out

-
Image
Saturday April 18th, 1970: On this afternoon matinee at Shea Stadium, Gil Hodges' reigning World Champion New York Mets were still flying high, nine games into the 1970 season.  The previous night Tom Seaver had thrown an eight hit shut out victory over the Phillies in the series opener.  The Phil's were on a six game losing streak & playing so bad that manager Frank Lucchesi called a team meeting before this series began calling the team out to play better. The Mets were 5-4 at this point playing their first weekend home stand of the season. 23,500 fans came to Shea as young flame thrower Nolan Ryan made his first start of the season taking on Jim Bunning. Trivia: Back on Fathers Day 1964, Jim Bunning threw a perfect game over the Mets at Shea Stadium. The Young Nolan Ryan was one of the hardest throwers in the game but was still having control issues at this point of his career. This drove manager Gil Hodges crazy & with the abundance of young pitching tale...
Read more

Remembering Mets History (1971) Gary Gentry Throws His Second Career Complete Game One Hitter

-
Image
Sunday A pril 18th , 1971 :     On this windy Sunday afternoon at Shea  Stadium Gil Hodges New York Mets (5-2) hosted Danny Murtaugh's Pittsburgh Pirates (6-4) for a  doubleheader  .  Pirates Trivia: The Pirates had won the NL East the previous year losing to the Reds in the NLCS. This year the Bucs would go on to win the World Series beating the Baltimore Orioles in seven games.  Hall of Famers Roberto Clemente & Willie Stargell were among their top players. Trivia: Entering the game Willie Stargell had 13 RBIs more than the entire Mets team, who had only scored 12 runs thru their first seven games. In the first game of this twin-bill, the Mets sent 24-year-old Gary Gentry (0-2) to the mound to face the Pirates Luke Walker (1-0). Gentry Trivia: Gary Gentry was another fine young pitcher for the Mets, in the 1969 Championship season, Gentry was a rookie going 13-12 with a 3.43 ERA. He was the winning pitcher the night the Mets cl...
Read more

Remembering Mets History (1986) Mets Go On a Season Best Eleven Game Win Streak

-
Image
Friday, April 18th: After a 2-3 start to the season including a three game losing streak, the last game to their arch-rival reigning NL Champion Cardinals, the Mets were already getting some early bad press.  After a couple of rain outs, the Mets hosted the Philadelphia Phillies as veteran future Hall of Fame pitcher, Steve Carlton went up against Ron Darling. Steve Carlton Trivia: Carlton, known as "Lefty" had a career 30-36 record against the Mets dating back to 1966 including legendary matchups against Tom Seaver. In 1969, Carlton set a then MLB record striking out 19 Mets in a game, although he took the 4-3 loss to the eventual World Champs. In the top of the 1st, the Phils Milt Thompson & Mike Schmidt both hit HRs off Darling for a 2-0 lead. But the Carlton had a rough start as well, after Lenny Dykstra led off with a single, Lefty threw a wild pitch, a passed ball & walked the bases loaded. He then walked Darryl Strawberry bringing in the Mets first run. Later...
Read more