Baseball Guru
07-20-2001, 05:18 PM
By Kevin T. Czerwinski
mets.com
JULY 17
1977: Steve Henderson belts his first career grand slam of Pittsburgh's Kent Tekulve, giving the Mets a 9-3 victory in the second game of a twinbill, thus salvaging a split.
1979: Lee Mazzilli hits the game-tying homer in the bottom of the eighth inning for the National League All-Stars in their mid-season classic at the Kingdome. He drives in the winning run in the ninth with a bases-loaded walk off Ron Guidry of the Yankees as the NL emerges with a 7-6 victory. His homer is the first-ever by a Met in the All-Star game.
JULY 18
1966: The Mets sweep a doubleheader from the Astros, 4-1 and 6-3, at Shea Stadium, marking the second consecutive day New York has swept a twinbill. Jack Hamilton wins the opener while Bob Shaw earns his 100th career victory in the nightcap.
1972: The Mets drop a 2-1, 10-inning decision to the Dodgers. That's not the bad news, though. Slugger Rusty Staub is diagnosed with a broken hand, the result of being clocked with a George Stone pitch a month and a half earlier. The Mets were five games out of first at the time but with Staub out for the next two months, they faded from the pennant race.
JULY 19
1965: The Mets release pitcher/coach Warren Spahn before losing 6-0 at Milwaukee. The great southpaw isn't out of work long. He signs with the Giants three days later.
1976: Dave Kingman begins the season on a pace to become the greatest single-season home run hitter the National League has ever seen. He has 32 round-trippers in 92 games and is three games ahead of the pace Hack Wilson set in 1930 when he hit 56 homers with the Cubs. But while diving for a fly ball off the bat of Atlanta's Phil Niekro, Kingman tears a ligament in his thumb and misses almost all of the remainder of the season.
JULY 20
1971: Ed Kranepool, an original Met, becomes the team's all-time home run leader, belting No. 70 in a 4-2 loss at Chicago to pass Ron Swoboda.
1974: George "The Stork" Theodore, Rusty Staub and Cleon Jones hit back-to-back-to-back homers off San Diego's Lowell Palmer in a 10-2 Met victory. Jerry Koosman earns the win and becomes the second Mets' pitcher, next to Tom Seaver, to fan 1,000 batters.
JULY 21
1972: Willie Mays returns to San Francisco for the first time as a Met and delights the Bay-area crowd by smacking his 650th career homer, going deep off Jim Barr to pace his team to a 3-1 victory.
1975: Joe Torre ties a Major League record by grounding into four double plays as the Mets drop a 4-2 decision to the Astros.
JULY 22
1966: Bob Friend shuts out the Dodgers, 3-0, to extend a New York winning streak to seven games. It marks the longest such streak to date in team history.
1973: For all the Met fans that are lamenting the team's misfortunes, consider this date in '73. Tom Seaver earns the victory in a 3-2 decision over Houston in the last game before the All-Star break. The Mets hit the midway point of the year in last place in the Eastern Division, 7 1/2 games behind St. Louis.
JULY 23
1969: Cleon Jones collects two hits and scores twice for the National League in a 9-3 All-Star game victory at Washington. Jerry Koosman adds to the win by hurling 1 2/3 shutout innings.
1974: Yogi Berra skippers the National League All-Star team to a 7-2 victory in Pittsburgh
mets.com
JULY 17
1977: Steve Henderson belts his first career grand slam of Pittsburgh's Kent Tekulve, giving the Mets a 9-3 victory in the second game of a twinbill, thus salvaging a split.
1979: Lee Mazzilli hits the game-tying homer in the bottom of the eighth inning for the National League All-Stars in their mid-season classic at the Kingdome. He drives in the winning run in the ninth with a bases-loaded walk off Ron Guidry of the Yankees as the NL emerges with a 7-6 victory. His homer is the first-ever by a Met in the All-Star game.
JULY 18
1966: The Mets sweep a doubleheader from the Astros, 4-1 and 6-3, at Shea Stadium, marking the second consecutive day New York has swept a twinbill. Jack Hamilton wins the opener while Bob Shaw earns his 100th career victory in the nightcap.
1972: The Mets drop a 2-1, 10-inning decision to the Dodgers. That's not the bad news, though. Slugger Rusty Staub is diagnosed with a broken hand, the result of being clocked with a George Stone pitch a month and a half earlier. The Mets were five games out of first at the time but with Staub out for the next two months, they faded from the pennant race.
JULY 19
1965: The Mets release pitcher/coach Warren Spahn before losing 6-0 at Milwaukee. The great southpaw isn't out of work long. He signs with the Giants three days later.
1976: Dave Kingman begins the season on a pace to become the greatest single-season home run hitter the National League has ever seen. He has 32 round-trippers in 92 games and is three games ahead of the pace Hack Wilson set in 1930 when he hit 56 homers with the Cubs. But while diving for a fly ball off the bat of Atlanta's Phil Niekro, Kingman tears a ligament in his thumb and misses almost all of the remainder of the season.
JULY 20
1971: Ed Kranepool, an original Met, becomes the team's all-time home run leader, belting No. 70 in a 4-2 loss at Chicago to pass Ron Swoboda.
1974: George "The Stork" Theodore, Rusty Staub and Cleon Jones hit back-to-back-to-back homers off San Diego's Lowell Palmer in a 10-2 Met victory. Jerry Koosman earns the win and becomes the second Mets' pitcher, next to Tom Seaver, to fan 1,000 batters.
JULY 21
1972: Willie Mays returns to San Francisco for the first time as a Met and delights the Bay-area crowd by smacking his 650th career homer, going deep off Jim Barr to pace his team to a 3-1 victory.
1975: Joe Torre ties a Major League record by grounding into four double plays as the Mets drop a 4-2 decision to the Astros.
JULY 22
1966: Bob Friend shuts out the Dodgers, 3-0, to extend a New York winning streak to seven games. It marks the longest such streak to date in team history.
1973: For all the Met fans that are lamenting the team's misfortunes, consider this date in '73. Tom Seaver earns the victory in a 3-2 decision over Houston in the last game before the All-Star break. The Mets hit the midway point of the year in last place in the Eastern Division, 7 1/2 games behind St. Louis.
JULY 23
1969: Cleon Jones collects two hits and scores twice for the National League in a 9-3 All-Star game victory at Washington. Jerry Koosman adds to the win by hurling 1 2/3 shutout innings.
1974: Yogi Berra skippers the National League All-Star team to a 7-2 victory in Pittsburgh