Remembering Mets History: Jerry Koosman Steals Second Base & Gets To Third (1975)

July 22, 1975: A Tuesday night crowd of 32,000 came to watch Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine (63-33) roll into Shea Stadium.

Their star catcher Johnny Bench wasn’t behind the plate on this night, he was playing in left field. Backup catcher; Bill Plummer was behind the plate catching pitcher Jack Billingham.

For the Mets, manager Yogi Berra sent Jerry Koosman to the mound. Koos was struggling, and had been inconsistent all season. He had an 8-7 record, although his ERA was around a very respectable. 3.40.

The Mets (47-44) weren’t consistent either, before the All Star break they had taken three of four from the Chicago Cubs, but then got swept by the Philadelphia Phillies & Atlanta Braves. 

Next, they lost four straight games to the Reds. But on a positive note, since the All Star break, they had won three of five games.

Starting Lineups

Reds

1	Pete Rose	3B
2	Ken Griffey	RF
3	Joe Morgan	2B
4	Johnny Bench	LF
5	Tony Perez	1B
6	George Foster	CF
7	Dave Concepcion	SS
8	Bill Plummer	C
9	Jack Billingham	P

Mets

1	Wayne Garrett	3B
2	Felix Millan	2B
3	Ed Kranepool	1B
4	Rusty Staub	RF
5	Dave Kingman	LF
6	Del Unser	CF
7	Jerry Grote	C
8	Mike Phillips	SS
9	Jerry Koosman	P

In the bottom of the 1st inning, Wayne Garrett & Eddie Kranepool both singled. Rusty Staub’s sac fly brought home Garrett with the Mets first run.

In the 3rd inning, Jerry Koosman got a base hit & surprised everyone in Shea Stadium, (including his manager) by taking off for second base. With no one covering the bag, catcher Bill Plummer’s throw went into centerfield and Koos headed safely to third base.

Quotes: Koosman said “their shortstop &third baseman were laying back, so I figured it would be easy for me to do”.

He then scored on Wayne Garrett’s sac fly for the second Mets run.  

Koosman was fantastic on the mound too. He went into the 9th inning holding on to a three hit shutout, leading 3-0. He gave up three hits in the inning, but allowed just one run to finish the complete game.

Although Yogi Berra wasn’t to happy about his pitcher stealing a base, Tom Seaver had fun with it. The next night he presented Koosman with a base & a number two painted on it, in honor of his base running heroics.
  
Seaver called it the “Lou Brock Award”. That night Jon Matlack threw a five hitter as Ed Kranepool had three hits, driving in three runs in a 5-2 Met win.