Remembering Mets History (1971) Seaver Closes Out the Year with His Third Career One Hitter Followed By his 20th Win
That season the Mets brought up some exciting young players that would have great futures, pitcher Jon Matlack made his debut & Buzz Capra began to see regular action. Slugger John Milner debuted & Ken Singleton played his first full season. Also, fine players like Mike Jorgensen, Tim Foli & Leroy Stanton were up for good.
It was to be a busy off season at a time with no free agency as the Mets traded some of these talented young players to get some much-needed offense.
From August 6th to September 11th Seaver went 6-0 with a 0.67 ERA allowing four earned runs in 54 innings pitched with 50 strike outs. On Seaver entered this matchup having lost two straight decisions.
In the top of the 1st, Seaver began by striking out Dave Cash & Vic Davalillo then got Al Oliver to ground out.
In the top of the 7th inning, as Seaver walked to the mound he received a big ovation. But he then walked the leadoff man, Dave Cash ending the perfect game. The next batter, Vic Davalillo spoiled the no hit bid with a single to right field.
Seaver held the 3-1 lead retiring the last six batters to finish the game with a one run one hit complete game.
Thursday September 30th, 1971: Tonight's game was the last game of the 1971 regular season. The Mets gave their fans woolen winter hats on this Fan Appreciation Night.
In the top of the 1st, Seaver's fastball was blazing once again tonight, as he struck out Lou Brock to start the game. He then fanned Luis Melendez to end the inning.
In the home 6th, the Mets would score five runs, sending nine men to the plate, collecting four hits
& two walks all coming with two outs. Cleon Jones started things with his 24th double of the season. Ed Kranepool was walked intentionally, then Singleton delivered a three run HR to right field making it a 4-0 game.
Wayne Garrett walked & Jerry Grote singled, both runners advanced on Jerry Ruess' wild pitch. Tim Foli then singled driving in both runners for the 6-0 Mets lead.
Seaver would finish the complete game to earn his 20th win of the season. It was the second time in his career he was a twenty-game winner. He struck out 13 & walked just one.
In the last four games of the year the Met's pitching star, "The Franchise" Tom Seaver (18-10) would make his last two starts.
From August 6th to September 11th Seaver went 6-0 with a 0.67 ERA allowing four earned runs in 54 innings pitched with 50 strike outs. On Seaver entered this matchup having lost two straight decisions. On September 16th Seaver allowed one run in nine innings to the Cubs but veteran Juan Pizzaro pitched a six-hit shout out beating the Mets. In his next start Tom allowed three runs to the Cubs at Wrigley, but the Mets were shut out by Burt Hooton giving Tom two straight losses for just the second time on the season.
Tonight, the Mets hosted Danny Murtaugh's eventual World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates Seaver as Seaver went up against Steve Blass (15-7) in front of 30,519 at Shea Stadium.
In the bottom of the 1st, with one out youngster Ken Singleton singled & Cleon Jones followed
with another base hit.
with another base hit.
Cleon Trivia: Jones was batting .318 among the top five batting leaders in the NL. He would finish seventh in the NL hitting .319.
With two outs Donn Clendenon singled the center & brought in Singleton with the Mets first run. Clendenon was at the end of his career & only played in 88 games that year. He would finish his career in St. Louis the following tear.
Thru the first four innings, Seaver retired the first twelve batters.
In the top of the 5th inning, Seaver struck out the side, fanning Willie Stargell, Milt May & Bob Robertson reaching seven strike outs.
In the home 5th, Tom Seaver led off with a walk & advanced on a sacrifice bunt from Bud Harrelson. After a fielder's choice, Cleon Jones collected his second hit of the game, bringing in Seaver with a base hit. After Clendenon struck out, Tommie Agee delivered a two out RBI single up the middle scoring Cleon making it 3-0 Mets.
In the 6th, Seaver struck out Jose Pagan & Gene Alley to get to nine K's on the day. He then got Steve Blass to ground out to end the inning. Through the first six innings, Seaver had retired the first 18 batters he faced & was looking at a perfect game. This was a familiar scene when Tom Terrific took the mound in those days, the crowd began to stir & the tension was in the air.
In the top of the 7th inning, as Seaver walked to the mound he received a big ovation. But he then walked the leadoff man, Dave Cash ending the perfect game. The next batter, Vic Davalillo spoiled the no hit bid with a single to right field.Davalillo Trivia: Vic Davalillo had a long 16-year career playing for six teams. He was a lifetime .278 hitter. In 1971 he batted .285 sandwiched between two seasons where he hit .310 or better. Vic finished out his career playing for two Dodger pennant winners 91977 & 1978) as a reliable pinch hitter.
The Shea crowd gave Seaver a standing ovation as he acknowledged them & went back to work. Al Oliver followed with a sac fly to centerfield that scored Dave Cash with the Pirates lone run. Seaver then got the dangerous Met-killer Willie Stargell to ground into a double play to end the inning.
The Shea crowd gave Seaver a standing ovation as he acknowledged them & went back to work. Al Oliver followed with a sac fly to centerfield that scored Dave Cash with the Pirates lone run. Seaver then got the dangerous Met-killer Willie Stargell to ground into a double play to end the inning.
Seaver held the 3-1 lead retiring the last six batters to finish the game with a one run one hit complete game. One Hit Trivia: For Seaver, it was his third career one hit game. His last had come the previous season on May 15th in a 4-0 win over the Phillies. His first was the famous "imperfect game" in July of 1969. This was the eighth one hit game thrown by Mets pitchers in team, history.
On the day Seaver struck out ten, reaching double figures for the 12th time on the season. He walked just one, earning his 19th win of the year (19-10) with a league leading 1.78 ERA.
A good crowd of 42,344 came out to get their hats for the upcoming winter & watch Tom Seaver go for his 20th win of the season.
Tonight, Gil Hodges Mets (83-79) hosted Red Schoendienst's second place St. Louis Cards (90-72) in an 8:05 evening start.
Trivia: No one knew at the time, but this was to be the last game Gil Hodges would manage as he would pass away from a heart attack at the end of Spring Training the next season.
In the top of the 2nd inning, he gave up a single to Ted Kubiak but struck out the other all three Cardinal outs, to collect five Ks in the first two innings.
In the top of the 4th, he struck out Milt Ramirez & Luis Melendez to start the inning. After a base hit to Joe Hauge, he got Jorge Roque to ground out.
In the top of the 5th Seaver got Daryl Patterson to strike out looking to end inning to reach eight Ks.
In the bottom of the 5th, Ken Singleton led off with a HR to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.
At that point Seaver had at least one strike out in every inning. In the top of the 6th, it was the only inning he didn't collect a strike out.
& two walks all coming with two outs. Cleon Jones started things with his 24th double of the season. Ed Kranepool was walked intentionally, then Singleton delivered a three run HR to right field making it a 4-0 game.
It was Singleton's his first career multi-HR game & his 13th HR of the year. The four RBIs matched his season high as well.
As Daryl Patterson exited, Jerry Ruess came on to pitch.
Jerry Ruess Trivia: Ruess would win 14 games that year (14-14) in his career he would win 14 or more games nine times, with two 18-win seasons making two All Star teams. Jerry would pitch in St Louis (1969-1971) Houston (1972-1973) Pittsburgh (1974-19780 then have long career with the Dodgers (1979-1987) winning a Championship in 1981. He would pitch for five more teams in his last three seasons.
In the top of the 7th, Seaver struck out Joe Hague for his tenth K of the game. Seaver had now reached double digits 13 times on the year, doing it in his last two starts.
After fanning Jorge Roque for the second time reaching 11 Ks, then got Ted Kubiak to ground out to end the inning.
In the top of the 8th, Jose Cruz tripled, then Lou Brock doubled as Cruz scored the only St. Louis run. Seaver fanned veteran Julian Javier for his 12th K & closed out the inning striking out Luis Melendez for the third time on the night.
Tom Seaver Trivia: That year Tom led the NL with a career high 289 strike outs, the second straight year he led in that category & the fourth year in a row he surpassed 200 or more strike outs.
Seaver also lead the league in ERA (1.76) for the second straight season. He also led in WAR & WHIP which were not even a thought at that time. He came in second to Ferguson Jenkins that year who won 23 games in Chicago.
