Remembering the 1973 N.L. Champion Mets As The Season Began
2013 marks the 40th anniversary of the 1973 Mets N.L. Championship season. All season long, centerfieldmaz will be honoring the '73 Champs, with stories, game recaps & all kinds of trivia. This was the year the "Ya Gotta Believe" battle cry was born. Tom Seaver won his second Cy Young Award, Willie Mays retired & the Mets came within one game of a Worlds Championship..................... The Mets ended the 1972 season at 83-73, thirteen games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates in third place. They also finished two and a half games behind the second place Chicago Cubs. The year was a tough one, as they never really bounced back from the shock of Gil Hodges death. During Spring Training just before the start of the '72 season (which was also delayed by a players strike) Hodges suffered a fatal heart attack. The players loved & respected their manager who led them from being a losing bunch of kids to the 1969 World Series Champions. Hodges successo