October 8th 1973 NLSC Game #3: With no off day the Mets & Reds went at it in front of a wild sellout crowd of over 54,000 in what would be a wild memorable day at Shea Stadium. During batting practice Joe Morgan approached Bud Harrelson commenting on the remarks Harrelson made after Game #2, on how the Reds looked like him at the plate. He grabbed Buddy, saying “If you ever say that about me again, I’ll punch you”. Rusty Staub intervened and Joe cooled off, apologizing, saying Pete Rose is still going to use it to fire up the team.
On the hill today Sparky Anderson & the Reds sent 13 game winner Ross Grimsley, up against the Mets 14 game winner Jerry Koosman. The Mets jumped all over Grimsley right away, Rusty Staub hit his 2nd HR of the Series in the first inning. In the 2nd Jerry Grote walked, Don Hahn & Jerry Koosman both singled. Wayne Garrett hit a sac fly to center making it 2-0 & Felix Millan singled to make it 3-0..jpg)
Then it was Rusty Staub again, delivering the big blow with his second HR of the day, a three run blast sending the Shea faithful into frenzy as New York took a 6-0 lead. The Reds bats came a little to life in the 3rd as they scored two runs. The Mets came right back Koosman himself singled with his second hit of the day, scoring Jerry Grote, 7-2 Mets. In the 4th Millan walked and Cleon Jones doubled him home, John Milner the singled Jones home and the Mets had a 9-2 rout going. The Reds were getting very frustrated as Koosman coasted along. 
From the dugout, Tom Seaver was keeping a close watch on Rose. "You knew somehow, somewhere Pete was going to do something." Seaver recalled. "Now Koosman hits Pete with a pitch and I thought to myself he's going to go to the mound after Jerry. He started on the grass, and then he came back to the baseline and went directly to first base.'"The next batter was Joe Morgan who hit into a 3-6-3 double play. But at second base Pete Rose came in hard with a cheap shot to Harrelson, they exchanged words. Harrelson called him a cheap shot cock sucker, and the next moment a fight broke out. Rose grabbed Bud by the collar and threw him to the ground, jumping on top of him. From third base Wayne Garrett came over jumping on top of Rose to pull him off Harrelson as all hell broke loose. Both benches emp
tied and a lot of shoving & milling around followed. Then, Reds reliever Pedro Borbon landed a sucker punch to the right temple of Buzz Capra. Capra attacked Borbon, backup catcher Duffy Dyer, got in some retaliatory punches of his own before being pulled out of the melee by Willie Mays. As Borbon left the field, he put a cap on his head he picked up off the ground. To the crowds delight it was a Mets cap, by the time Borbon figured it out he pulled it off his head and took a bite out of it, then threw it down. It was Capras hat, he still has it to this day.
When order was restored, Rose returned to his position in left field. The Shea fans let him know how they felt. A variety of objects showered down from the upper deck, papers, beer cups, batteries, and finally a whiskey bottle that landed just feet away from Rose. Reds Manager Sparky Anderson pulled his team from the field. Sparky said “Pete Rose gave too much to baseball to die in left field at Shea Stadium”. The umpires met with NL President Chub Feeney and came to a decision that the game may have to be forfeited unless order was restored.At risk of losing the game, the Mets sent a delegation of Harrelson, Seaver, Mays, Staub, Jones and Yogi Berra out to left field to calm the rowdy fans down. The New York faithful cheered as they walked out
to left field and complied as order was restored. Pete Rose was booed mercifully, and would be forever at Shea Stadium.
to left field and complied as order was restored. Pete Rose was booed mercifully, and would be forever at Shea Stadium. Koosman rolled along finishing the game with a 9-2 win, besting his post season record to 3-0. He struck out nine Reds along the way, allowing eight hits and walking nobody. The Mets took a 2-1 Series lead and Bud Harrelson became Americas favorite underdog, little guy hero. He was presented with a superman t-shirt before the next game which he proudly wore under his uniform.
3 comments:
Great article. I remember this game like it was yesterday........
I was a kid (18) and a beer vendor at Shea. I worked the game and found a group of fireman in right field seated in the overhang that was there. It was so busy that I was handing out beer cans in the cups versus pouring the beer into the paper cups the way you were suppose to; a big no no… When the Reds came out to the field after the tussle between Rose and Buddy my fireman all stood up and started throwing the full beer cans out onto the field. They stopped the game and needless to say I was in trouble.
Jim Kelly
I was a kid (18) and a beer vendor at Shea. I worked the game and found a group of fireman in right field seated in the overhang that was there. It was so busy that I was handing out beer cans in the cups versus pouring the beer into the paper cups the way you were suppose to; a big no no… When the Reds came out to the field after the tussle between Rose and Buddy my fireman all stood up and started throwing the full beer cans out onto the field. They stopped the game and needless to say I was in trouble.
Jim Kelly
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