Remembering Mets History (1968): The Glider Has Two Big Days Against the Chicago Cubs

-
Saturday May 4th, 1968: A She Stadium crowd of 14,214 came out for a matinee as Gil Hodges Mets (9-10) hosted Leo Durocher's Chicago Cubs (9-12).

The Mets Dick Selma would go up against the Cubs Ken Holtzman. It would be the biggest day for Ed Charles in his Mets career as he drove in five runs, with a HR helping the Mets to a 7-3 victory.

The popular Ed Charles played three seasons with the Mets after coming over from the Kansas City A's. He was already 34 years old. He would hit .249 with 21 HRs 32 doubles 4 triples & 102 RBIs in 279 games with the Mets. In 1969 he platooned at third base & brought a great veteran presence to the Young Amazing's as they went on to win the World Series. He went out on top retiring after the season.

In the Mets 2nd, Tommie Agee walked but was caught stealing, next Phil Linz drew a walk. Cleon Jones doubled to center giving New York a 1-0 lead.

The Cubs went ahead with Randy Hundley's two run HR off Dick Selma in the 2nd inning. In the home 3rd, Kenny Holtzman got wild, he walked Phil Linz, Greg Goossen & then hit hitting Jerry Grote with a pitch. 

Holtzman was removed from the game & Jack Lamabe came into pitch. He walked Ed Charles with the bases loaded bringing in Linz to tie up the game.

In the 5th inning, with one out Ron Swoboda reached on an error. Greg Goossen walked & Jerry Grote singled. 

"The Glider" Ed Charles came to bat with the bases loaded once again. This time he drove a single up the middle, scoring Ron Swoboda & Greg Goossen putting the Mets up 4-2.

In the 7th, Charles connected for a two run HR, with Jerry Grote on base, making it 6-2 Mets. 

It was his third HR in the young season. Charles had homered the day before as well, a two-run shot helping Nolan Ryan (seven innings) & Ron Taylor (two innings) to a 3-0 shut out over the Phillies.

Ed Charles finished the day with a HR, two hits, a walk, five RBIs & a run scored. 

_____________________________

Thursday June 6th, 1968: Gil Hodges Mets (23-27) were playing good base ball showing early signs of what was to come in 1969. On this day they were at Wrigley Field in Chicago in front of 5,858 fans to take on the Chicago Cubs (25-26). Once again on the mound it was Dick Selma for the Mets & Ken Holtzman for the Cubs. And once again it was another big Ed Charles day.

Dick Selma was born in Fresno, California. He would grow up friends & little league rival to Tom Seaver. Selma was signed by the Mets in 1963, debuting in September 1965. He & Seaver would be teammates for two seasons in New York 1967 & 1968. He was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 1968 expansion draft.



In the top of the 3rd, Jerry Grote got on with a two out single. Ed Charles then lifted a two run HR over the Wrigley Field Ivy putting the Mets up 2-0. It was his ninth HR of the season. Ron Swoboda singled & Greg Goossen added an RBI double making it 3-0 Mets.

The Cubs got a run-on slugger Ron Santo's 9th HR of the year.

In the 5th inning, "The Glider" led off with another HR, off Holtzman. It was his tenth of the year & his third off Holtzman. Mets were up 4-1.

With one out Greg Goosen walked, then Tommie Agee tripled, with the Mets fifth run. Jack Lamabe relieved Holtzman. 

The Cubs came close to a comeback, with pinch hitter Dick
Nen hitting an RBI single & Glen Beckert an RBI double. Ron Taylor held on for the save as Selma got the win.

Ed Charles would lead the 1968 Mets in HRs with 15. He was third on the clubs in RBIs (53) batting average (.276) & second in slugging (.434%). He would have just one other game (May 20th 1968) in his three year Mets career, where he would hit multiple HRs in a game. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 1970's Oakland A's Ball Girls- (MLB's First)

-
Image
In the days of the early seventies the Oakland A's won three straight Championships & changed the face of baseball forever.  The team's controversial owner was known to be cheap in paying his star players & known to meddle in the teams on field affairs. He drove managers crazy & even had Dick Williams resign after winning his second straight World Series. But Finley also revolutionized baseball in many other ways. He was instrumental in getting the designated hitter in the American League & have the World Series played at night, so fans could attend after work. He gave his players fancy names like Catfish, Blue Moon & True Blue.  When his star Reggie Jackson refused to shave his beard, he encouraged the whole team to grow facial hair by paying them $200 each.  The A's team even grew their hair long, a sign of the times. But before that baseball players had not had facial or long hair since the 1800's.  He introduced bright colored yello
Read more

Remembering Vixen Founder / Guitarist; Jan Kuehnemund (1961-2013)

-
Image
centerfieldmaz was shocked to learn of the sudden passing of Jan Kuehnemund, the founding member of the all female metal band Vixen. Jan was a fantastic guitarist, song writer & women pioneer in Heavy Metal. I am a huge fan of hard rock all girl bands & Vixen were one my long time favorites. Janice Lynn Kuehnemund was born November 18th, 1961 in St. Paul Minnesota. The female guitarist formed one of the first all female Metal bands in Minnesota with singer Janet Gardner while in high school in 1980. By 1985 they moved the band to Los Angles California, to be part of the Heavy Metal scene. In 1987 the classic Vixen line up of Jan Kuehnemund (lead guitar) Janet Gardner (vocals/ guitar) Share Pederson (bass) & Roxy Petrucci (drums) formed & released their debut album the following year. Vixen 1988 In a world of all male Heavy Metal bands during its heyday, Vixen were groundbreaking in being an all female metal band. The Runaways, with Joan Jett & Lita Ford
Read more

Remembering Bobby Ojeda's Tragic Boating Accident (1993)

-
Image
Steve Olin, Tim Crews & Bob Ojeda March 22 nd 1993: was an off day from Spring Training, for three Cleveland Indians pitchers; Former Mets 1986 World Champion pitcher; Bobby Ojeda, Tim Crews & Steve Olin. The three friends, took out an 18-foot open-air bass boat & went out fishing & gator hunting in the darkness of the evening on Lake Nellie in Clermont, Florida. Tragedy struck, when the boat rammed into a private dock that jutted out some 250 feet into the still waters. Two other Cleveland Indians personnel had arrived to meet the fishing party just as the horror took place. They heard Bob Ojeda saying they needed help. The two men jumped into the water and called out for someone to call 911. 27 year old pitcher; Steve Olin was killed instantly. 31 year old pitcher; Tim Crews was alive but was struggling to breathe suffering from massive head wounds. Bobby Ojeda was in & out of shock, he was suffering from head lacerations but was coherent. The
Read more

The Story of the New York Mets Logo

-
Image
On November 16, 1961 cartoonist Ray Gotto (1916-2003) unveiled the circular New York Mets logo, a symbol which has virtually gone unchanged since its birth 55 years ago. Gatto was the illustrator of the "Ozark Ike" & "Cotton Woods" comic strips as well as having drawn many classic sports cartoons for the Sporting News. He won a contest that the club sponsored in order to start up a fan base beating out over 500 other entries for his design. The prize was not only to have his logo used but also $1000.  Artist Ray Gotto The original New York Mets team colors are blue and orange, the colors represent the two former National League teams who left New York for the West Coast. The orange represents the former New York Giants & the blue represents the Brooklyn Dodgers. Blue & orange are also the official colors of New York State. T he logo design is a round baseball with orange stitching and the Mets orange script lettering outlined in white ac
Read more

Steve Dillon: Former Bronx Native Who Pitched in The First Night Game at Shea Stadium Then 58 Years Later at Old Timers Day at Citi Field (1963-1964)

-
Image
Stephen Edward Dillon was born on May 20th, 1943, in Yonkers, New York. He was raised in the Bronx & attended Cardinal Hayes High School.  T he five-foot ten left-handed pitcher was originally signed by the A.L. New York club in 1962. That year he was 14-7 in the Florida State League at Fort Lauderdale. In November of 1962 he was drafted away by the new National League team, the New York Mets in the first-year draft.  He pitched at AAA Buffalo going 4-6 with a 4.94 ERA in 31 games, making 22 starts.  Mets Debut: He got a September call up making his MLB debut on September 5th, 1963, in St. Louis. Dillon came in relief of Roger Craig the 6th inning with two men on & one out. He got Dick Groat & Bill White to both ground out.  In the 7th, he gave up three hits including a two-run triple to Tim McCarver, in the Mets 9-0 loss to the Cardinals. In 1964 he found himself on the Mets staff at the start of the year. He pitched one inning of relief at Pittsburgh on April 24th,
Read more