Remembering Mets History (1975) Rusty Staub Becomes First Met to Drive in 100 Runs & Dave Kingman Sets New Mets HR Mark

Thursday September 18th, 1975: The fourth place Mets (78-75) were now being managed by interim skipper Roy McMillan. Yogi Berra was fired back in late August with the Mets at 63-59. 

They entered September four games out of first place but a six game losing streak & going 6-11 in the month up to this game had then fall off to nine games back of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Under McMillan they would go 26-27 & finish third, 10.5 games out of first.

Mets Records: The Mets came into the game with Rusty Staub leading the team with 98 RBIs a new team record & Dave Kingman having hit 34 HRs, second most in the NL, having tied Frank Thomas' team record.

On this night the Mets hosted Jim Marshall's Chicago Cubs (73-81) who were six games behind the Mets in the standings. A small crowd of 6,336 came out to Shea Stadium on this night to see Amityville, Long Island native, Hank Webb (7-6) take on rookie Donnie Moore (0-0).

Donnie Moore Trivia: This was Donnie Moore's third career start. Moore would have a long 13-year career going 43-40 with 61 saves & a 3.67 ERA in 416 career appearances. He pitched for the Cubs (1975-1979) Cardinals (1980) Brewers (1981) Braves (1982-1984) & Angels (1985-1988). 

Moore is remembered for giving up a game winning sac fly to Dave Henderson in the 1986 ALCS Game #5. The Angels still had a 3-2 series lead but lost the next two games at Fenway Park eliminating them. In 1989 Moore shot his wife who survived & then shot himself in a suicide.

In the top of the 1st, Hank Webb couldn't get out of the inning, issuing two lead off walks, then an RBI double to Jerry Morales on a play left fielder Mike Vail misjudged. 

Jose Cardenal collected an RBI single for a 3-0 lead. Randy Tate came on to relieve Webb. Tate blew a pick off attempt advancing Cardenal to third base. Manny Trillo's ground out brought in the fourth Cubs run.

In the home 3rd, Del Unser doubled & advanced to third on an error in the outfield. Felix Millan's infield grounder scored Unser with the Mets first run.  

In the bottom of the 5th, Felix Millan collected a one out single to center field. Felix Millan also tied a record that night with 698 at bats, matching his own record set in 1973. Next, Mets right fielder Rusty Staub stepped in & blasted his 18th HR of the year, a two run blast over the right field fence. It was his Rusty's 99th & 100th RBIs of the season.

Mets Single Season RBI Record: With that, Staub became the first Mets player in franchise history to drive in 100 runs. Staub would set a new Mets single season mark that year with 105 RBIs, fourth most in the NL. 

It would be another decade before another Mets player would drive in 100 runs in a season. In 1985, Gary Carter in his first season with New York drove in 100 runs & became the first Mets player to drive in 100 or more runs two seasons in a row.

Trivia: Rusty was known for wearing two black batting gloves at the plate, he was one of the few players of that era to wear batting gloves.

To end the 5th inning, Ed Kranepool was ejected from the game after arguing a foul ball with home plate umpire Ed Vargo. Bob Gallagher came in to replace Ed & struck out.

Randy Tate gave the Mets four scoreless innings, Rick Baldwin who led the team in appearances that year (54) pitched two scoreless & Bob Apodaca came on in the 7th.

In the top of the 8th with one out Andre Thorton & Manny Trillo collected back-to-back base hits. Steve Swisher's sac fly brought in Thorton with the Cubs fifth run. 

In the bottom of the 8th inning with Darold Knowles who had won three straight World Series with Oakland, was on the mound for Chicago. He had come over in a trade for Hall of Famer Billy Williams who was at the end of his career.

Dave Kingman doubled, then scored on Jesus Alou's pinch hit base hit. Bud Harrelson came on to pinch run & Joe Torre came up as a pinch hitter. Torre collected the Mets second straight pinch hit with the ball getting past Jerry Morales & rolling all the way to the wall. Bud Harrelson scored easily & Torre got a triple on the play tying the game up at five. 

A Manhattan Restaurant was offering a prize of a new car to the first Mets player that could hit an inside the park HR that year. The 35 year old Torre could have been the first if he had a bit more speed & was a bit younger.

Quotes- Joe Torre: "We were joking about that before the game. I had told Jerry Grote that the
next time I hit a triple, I was going to run right thru Yostie's stop sign & win a new car".

In the top of the 9th, the Mets Ken Sanders retired the side in order.

In the bottom of the 9th, with two outs Rusty Staub collected his third hit of the night with a base hit to right field. Dave Kingman then ended the game as he hit his 35th HR of the year for the walk off win.

For Kingman, who was in his first season in New York, he set a new Mets single season franchise HR record with 35 surpassing Frank Thomas's 35 (1962). Kingman would finish with 36 HRs second to the Phillies Mike Schmidt for the NL HR title.

Quotes- Dave Kingman: "That was a hard one to get. I don't know why but I haven't been swinging the bat too well since tying the club record. Now I can forget all about records & go back to the frame of mind I was in before I began thinking about HRs."

'75 Trivia: It was the sixth time the Mets had beaten the Cubs in the nine games the teams played at Shea that season. This was also the third Mets walk off win in the last five games, they only had five all season. A shaky bullpen led to a dozen opposing team walks that season.