Remembering Mets History (1975) Tom Seaver Wins His 20th Game & Sets Record With Eight Straight 200 K Seasons

Labor Day- Monday September 1, 1975: This was an exciting game for the '75 Mets. Interim Manager Roy McMillan's third place Mets (72-64) were just four games behind the first place Pittsburgh Pirates (75-59) & had big expectations of catching them in the NL East.

On August 6th, Roy McMillan had taken over the club  after let Yogi Berra go. Since then, the Mets went 16-9 while gaining four games in the standings.

On this Labor Day matinee, the Mets hosted Danny Murtaugh's Pirates at Shea Stadium in front of 45,991 fans. 

This was the team's first home game since August 17, a long two weeks prior. New York was coming off a long 14 game west coast road trip that included stops in Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco & San Diego. 

After starting out 3-4, they won five straight sweeping the Padres in San Diego then taking the first two games at Dodger Stadium. 

The Mets then dropped the final two games to the Dodgers & were back home trying to snap that losing streak.

The Pirates sent New York native, John Candeleria (7-4) to go up against Tom Seaver (19-7).  Seaver was going for his 20th victory of the season & going after an MLB feat that had never been done before. He was trying to become the first pitcher to collect 200 or more strike outs for an eighth straight season.

In the top of the 1st inning, Seaver got three ground ball outs all to second baseman Felix Millan. 

In the home 1st inning, the Mets gave Seaver some quick run support. Rookie, Mike Vail hit his first career HR, putting the Mets up 1-0. 

Mike Vail Trivia: Mike Vail was the 1975 International Player of the Year, playing at AAA Tidewater. On August 18th, he had been called up to the Mets big league squad. 

On August 25th Vail had started what was up to this point in time, an eight-game hit streak. That hitting streak would continue thru September 13th, tying a modern-day Rookie record at 23-games. 

In the top of the 2nd, Seaver struck out Dave Parker in between two more ground ball outs.

In the top of the 4th, Seaver started the inning fanning Ed Kirkpatrick. The Pirates then collected their first hit of the game with a base hit from Willie Stargell. But Seaver struck out Dave Parker for the second time to end the inning. Through the first four innings, Seaver had notched just four strike outs. 

In the top of the 6th inning after Ed Kirkpatrick collected the team's third hit, Seaver struck out Willie Stargell to finish off the inning.

In the bottom of the 6th, as Seaver was pitching a fine game but clinging to the one run lead, Felix Millan led off with a single to center field. 

Mike Vail attempted a bunt but Millan was thrown out a t second. Rusty Staub then hit his 25th double of the season, a shot to left scoring Vail to make it 2-0.

Rusty Trivia: It was Staub's 91st RBI that season as he was soon to become the first player in the teams'13-year history to drive in 100 runs in a season. It would be another ten years before Darryl Strawberry became the second Met to drive in 100 or more runs in a season.

Joe Torre then drove a base hit to center field bringing home Staub with the Mets third run. It was Torre's 32nd RBI of the year.

In the top of the 7th after a leadoff single from Dave Parker, Seaver got Richie Hebner to ground out to second base. The next batter was Manny Sanguilen.

MLB Record Breaker:   Tom Seaver struck out Sanguilen to become the first pitcher in MLB history to strike out 200 or more batters for eight straight seasons, passing Walter Johnson who previously held the record with seven straight seasons (1910-1916) of 200 of more K's.

Seaver ended the inning by striking out pinch hitter Bob Robertson. He would go on to retire the last nine batters of the game.

In the top of the 8th, Seaver struck out pinch hitter Bill Robinson & then Ed Kirkpatrick for the second time. In the top of the 9th, Seaver retired the side in order striking out Dave Parker for the third time to end the game.

Tom Seaver Trivia: On this day, Tom Seaver was spectacular, as he pitched the complete game four hit shutout. It was his second consecutive shutout & his fifth of the season. 

He gave up just one walk while striking out ten. It was also the second game in a row where he struck out ten batters. Seaver had three double digits strike out games that season.

This victory put Seaver at the twenty-win mark for the fourth time in his career. Seaver would win the Player of the Week Award that week, his second Player of the Week Award that season. Earlier in June he had also won the Pitcher of the Month Award.

In 1975, Seaver would end up leading the league in victories Strikeouts (243) the fourth time he topped the National League in strike outs (1970 /1971/1973 & 1975. Seaver would lead the league in K's again in 1976.

Seaver also posted the third best ERA in the league (2.38). He pitched 15 complete games (3rd in the NL) & tossed five shut outs (4th most in the NL). These numbers won Tom Terrific his Third Cy Young Award.