centerfield maz

Tuesday September 29th, 1981: In the crazy year of the 1981 MLB Strike, the New York Mets were a bit better in the second half  of the year (24-28) than the first half (17-34). That year the season was divided by the strike as the half way point. On this date, Joe Torre's Mets were in Philadelphia playing Dallas Green's Phillies in front of 20,110 at Veterans Stadium. The Mets Pete Falcone went up against Mark Davis. Since the strike Falcone, a local Brooklyn born, Italian American pitcher was 2-0 being used as a starter & reliever. Falcone had lowered his ERA at 3.03 & was pitching well. This was to be his best outing of the year & one of his best in his four years with the Mets. Starting Lineups New York Mets         Philadelphia Phillies 1 Mookie Wilson CF 1 Lonnie Smith CF 2 Lee Mazzilli LF 2 Pete Rose 1B 3 Hubie Brooks 3B 3 Gary Matthews LF 4 Dave Kingman 1B 4 Mike Schmidt 3B 5 Ellis Valentine RF 5 Keith Moreland C 6 John Stearns C 6

Sunday September 28th, 2008: I had to put aside the 2008 Mets  after they lost this final contest, the last game ever to be played at Shea Stadium. I did not want them to ruin the closing ceremonies for me.  For me this ceremony was one of my greatest moments at Shea Stadium. Many all time great Mets of the past assembled on the field for the last time.  It was extremely emotional when Mets Hall of Famer; Tom Seaver threw out the final pitch to Mike Piazza. Then the two Mets legends walked off into center field & closed the gates to the Beatles song "In My Life". Many players from the 1969 World Champion Amazing Mets, to the 1973 NL Pennant winners. The 1986 World Champion teams & players from the 2000 NL Pennant winners as well were all present.  There were earlier Mets players on hand as well from the teams first few years & players from other points in team history. Its was finally time we all put aside the hard feelings we had for George F

Saturday, September 13th 1969: A crowd of 10,440 came to Forbes Field on this Saturday afternoon as Gil Hodges first place Mets (88-57) took on Larry Sheppard's fourth place Pirates (76-67).  Mets ace Tom Seaver (21-7) took on Luke Walker (2-5). Starting Lineups Mets 1 Bud Harrelson SS 2 Amos Otis LF 3 Tommie Agee CF 4 Donn Clendenon 1B 5 Ron Swoboda RF 6 Ed Charles 3B 7 Jerry Grote C 8 Al Weis 2B 9 Tom Seaver P Pirates 1 Matty Alou CF 2 Gene Alley 2B 3 Willie Stargell LF 4 Roberto Clemente RF 5 Al Oliver 1B 6 Manny Sanguil

Thursday, September 12th 2019: After a big 9-0 win the night before, where Todd Frazier hit a pair of HRs & Steven Matz won his 10th game (four of his last five decisions), the Mets were going for a four game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks.  911: On the 18th Anniversary of the 911 tragedies, Pete Alonzo had patriotic 911  commemorative cleats made for everyone of his team mates. Quotes- Pete Alonso: "No one really knows how deep those emotional scars can be. Living here, just kind of interacting with everybody, I've tried to immerse myself in the New York living. I see traces of it every single day. Little bits and pieces of it. I just want to show recognition to all the people who are heroes. Ordinary people who felt a sense of urgency is an admirable quality. This is for all those people who lost their lives and all those people who did so much to help.” In an Amazing coincidence, the Mets scored nine runs on eleven hits on the September 11th, 911 game

Friday September 7, 1973:  Yogi Berra's Mets (67-73) were rolling along to a hot start in September, they came into tonight's game winning eight out of their last eleven games and found themselves just four games back of first place. Gene Mauch's Expos (68-71) were just ahead of the Mets in that NL East race. On a chilly evening at Montreal's Park Jarry, 24,167 fans came out to see the Mets lefty, Jon Matlack take the hill against former Met Steve Renko. It turned out to be a real pitching duel classic. Starting Lineups     Mets 1 Wayne Garrett 3B 2 Felix Millan 2B 3 Rusty Staub RF 4 John Milner LF 5 Ed Kranepool 1B 6 Jerry Grote C 7 Don Hahn CF 8 Bud Harrelson SS 9 Jon Matlack P Expos 1 Ron Hunt 2B 2 Tony Scott LF 3 Bob Bailey 3B 4 Hal Breeden 1B 5 Ken Singleton RF 6 Ron Woods CF 7 Tim Foli SS 8 Bob Stinson C 9 Steve Renko P Wayne Garret led off the game with a HR, his 12th of the year. Renko settled in after that & pi