Remembering Mets Opening Days (1975) Joe Torre Delivers the Walk Off Hit in His Mets Debut
In the off season the Mets had addressed some of their offensive problems acquiring HR slugger Dave Kingman, outfielder Del Unser, the speedy Gene Clines & veteran Joe Torre.
The Mets had been trying to land the native New Yorker, Joe Torre for years, but a deal could never get worked out for the former Cardinals 1971 MVP winner. Over the winter the Mets got the 34-year-old Torre in exchange for Ray Sadecki & Tommy Moore.
On this Opening Day Torre, would bat cleanup, play third base & have a spectacular debut. In the long run Torre was not the same player he once was & was at the end of his playing career.
The main reason the Met's traded Tug was that they had noticed a cyst in McGraw's arm & thought his career was over. It was another front office mistake as Tug went on to have a second legendary career in Philadelphia.
The Mets added Skip Lockwood, who would eventually become the Mets closer in the late 1970's, as well as Ken Sanders & Tom Hall to the bullpen mix.
Mets manager Yogi Berra started his fourth & final season as Mets manager, as he would get fired for a variety of reasons in August.
Jones was not with the club at the start of the season, due to a Spring Training incident with a naked young woman landed him in a Florida jail. His troubles were just beginning, the team embarrassed him & his family by having him publicly apologize in a press conference.
The starting pitchers would be two future Hall of Famers, the Mets Tom Seaver & "Lefty" the Phils Steve Carlton. The two pitchers were facing off for the third straight year on Opening Day & would do so once more in 1983.
In the top of the 1st, Dave Cash led off with a base hit & reached second base. He was quickly erased when Bud Harrelson turned an unassisted double play on a line drive off the bat of Larry Bowa. Willie Montanez then flew out for the third out.
In the top of the 3rd, Seaver walked catcher Bob Boone. Boone was moved out on Steve Carlton's bunt. Then with two outs, Dave Cash doubled scoring Boone with the first run.
The Tom Seaver, Steve Carlton pitcher's duel would go on for the rest of the game as the score remained tied into the 9th inning. In the top of the 9th, Phillies big slugger Greg Luzinski doubled with one out.
Tom Seaver Trivia: "Tom Terrific" got the win in his fourth Opening Day victory. Seaver would win the next two Opening Day starts as well, giving him three straight (1975-1977) for six total Opening Day victories.
Del Unser had come over in a trade that sent the popular Tug McGraw to Philadelphia along with
outfielders Don Hahn & Dave Schneck for Unser, young catcher John Stearns who would eventually replace Jerry Grote as the team's main catcher into the 1980s & pitcher Max Scarce.
outfielders Don Hahn & Dave Schneck for Unser, young catcher John Stearns who would eventually replace Jerry Grote as the team's main catcher into the 1980s & pitcher Max Scarce.
The Mets added Skip Lockwood, who would eventually become the Mets closer in the late 1970's, as well as Ken Sanders & Tom Hall to the bullpen mix.
Mets manager Yogi Berra started his fourth & final season as Mets manager, as he would get fired for a variety of reasons in August.
1975 was to be veteran Cleon Jones final season as well.
On the field he would become unhappy with his lack of playing time. Jones refused to enter a game & a highly publicized battle began with his manager Yogi Berra. Berra never known as a disciplinarian, wanted Jones suspended & demanded the organization back him up. The whole thing got ugly, Jones was released & Berra dismissed a few weeks later.
On this Opening Day, the Mets hosted Danny Ozark's Philadelphia Phillies in front of just 18,527 fans. In 1976 the Phillies would finish second, then go on to win three straight NL East titles.
As for the pitching match ups, it was what was expected, both hurlers going the distance. Seaver went nine, allowing one run, an RBI double to Dave Cash. The run coming in after one of his two walks on the day.
Seaver allowed six hits with nine strike outs. Steve Carlton was good too, allowing just four hits, with six strikeouts & two walks.
Seaver allowed six hits with nine strike outs. Steve Carlton was good too, allowing just four hits, with six strikeouts & two walks.
In the bottom of the 1st, new Mets outfielder Gene Clines drew a walk, he advanced to second when Steve Carlton balked & reached third on a ground ball out from Felix Millan. John Milner flew out to center but not deep enough to score Clines. In his first Mets at bat Joe Torre grounded out.
In the bottom of the 4th, Dave Kingman hit his first HR in a Mets uniform, tying up the game & delighting the Shea crowd with his power.
Kingman Trivia: It was the first of Kingman's 35 HRs on the year, as he would finish second to the Phillies Mike Schmidt for the NL HR title. In his career the man who would be known as "Kong" would hit 154 HRs in a Mets uniform.
But Seaver retired Mike Schmidt on a pop up to Harrelson at short & got pinch hitter Jay Johnstone to ground out to Felix Millan.
In the bottom of the 9th, Felix Millan led off with a base hit. Then John Milner drew a walk. In his Mets debut, the native New Yorker, Torre delivered the game winning walk off base hit to left field scoring Millan for the 2-1 win.
1975 was also to be his third & final Cy Young Award season. Seaver would lead the NL in wins (22) strike outs (243) & WAR (7.8) posting a 2.38 ERA.
Joe Torre Trivia: This was Torre's only Mets walk-off hit, back in 1967 he had two walk offs against the Mets as a Braves player. In 1975 he would bat just .247, playing in 114 games with 6 HRs & 35 RBIs. The next year he improved to hit .305 in just as many games played but 170 less at bats.