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Old Timers Day 1973 |
A full cast of original 1962 Mets were on hand; Richie Ashburn, Ken MacKenzie, Jim Marshall, Rod Kanehl, Frank Thomas & Roger Craig. Other Mets on board included 1969 Amazing Mets Reliever Ron Taylor & pitcher Larry Bearnarth.
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The Old Professor; former Mets Manager; Casey Stengel was on hand along with AL New York players Joe DiMaggio, Whitey Ford & current 1973 Mets manager; Yogi Berra.
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The Dodgers were still attracting big crowds when they came to New York, just 15 years removed from Brooklyn.
The Mets were beat up with injuries at the time, Bud Harrelson, Jerry Grote & Cleon Jones were all on the DL.
The line up that day consisted of Ted Martinez 3B/ Felix Millan 2B / Willie Mays CF / Rusty Staub RF/ Jim Fregosi SS / John Milner 1B/ George Theodore LF & Duffy Dyer behind the plate.
Today a struggling Mets Jon Matlack (2-8) took on Dodger hurler; Al Downing (5-2).
Trivia: In 1974 Downing would give up Hank Aaron's historic #715th HR.
In the bottom of the 1st, with the Mets down 1-0, third baseman Teddy Martinez singled to lead off for the inning. After Felix Millan grounded out, veteran Wille Mays, getting a start in center singled to put two aboard. Rusty Staub stepped in & doubled to left field bringing in both runs, making it 2-0 Mets.
In the bottom of the third, the score was tied at 2-2 after Bill Buckner had driven in a run with a sac fly.
The 42 year old Mays, who was older than some of the old timers in the first game, put on a show himself. First he made a classic Willie Mays circus catch during the game, saving a run .
Then in the bottom of the 3rd, Mays hit his first HR of the year, #655 of his Hall of Fame career. At this point in time, he was third on the all time HR list. It was a real thrill for the large Shea crowd & they gave "the Say hey Kid" a standing ovation.
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Jon Matlack |
Matlack & Downing pitched to the tie game until the bottom of the 7th inning, when Doug Rau came on for the Dodgers.
In the bottom of the 8th, with Doug Rau now pitching for the Dodgers, Felix Millan plunked a one out single to right field. After Mays went down looking, Staub came up & capped off his big day with another RBI double, putting New York up for good 4-2.
Matlack went the distance, allowing just one earned run on seven hit, striking out four batters. The win had the struggling Mets at 23-27 now 7.5 games behind the first place Chicago Cubs.
Trivia: The 1973 Mets went on to win the NL Pennant & fall one game short of a World's Championship. Rusty Staub was one of the main reasons the Mets went so far that season. He led the team in batting (.279) RBIs (79) doubles (36) walks (74) & on base % (.361).
In the post season he hit a combined .341 with 4 HRs 11 RBIs & 5 walks posting a .413 on base.
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