Remembering Mets History: (1996) Todd Hundley Sets MLB Season Mark For Catchers With 41 HRs
Saturday September 14th 1996: Bobby Valentine's New York Mets (67-81) hosted Bobby Cox's first place Atlanta Braves (86-61) in front of 22,857 fans at Shea Stadium. Tonight the Mets fans witnessed Todd Hundley set a season for most HRs by a catcher, as well as setting an all time Mets single season HR record.
It was to be a long four hour, 12 inning affair that saw Bobby Valentine & Bobby Cox each use 23 players on the extended September rosters. Overall 14 different pitchers were used by both clubs in total.
Starting Lineups
| Atlanta Braves | New York Mets | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marquis Grissom | CF | 1 | Lance Johnson | CF | |
| 2 | Terry Pendleton | 3B | 2 | Edgardo Alfonzo | 2B | |
| 3 | Chipper Jones | SS | 3 | Bernard Gilkey | LF | |
| 4 | Fred McGriff | 1B | 4 | Todd Hundley | C | |
| 5 | Ryan Klesko | LF | 5 | Butch Huskey | 1B | |
| 6 | Javy Lopez | C | 6 | Alex Ochoa | RF | |
| 7 | Andruw Jones | RF | 7 | Alvaro Espinoza | 3B | |
| 8 | Mike Mordecai | 2B | 8 | Rey Ordonez | SS | |
| 9 | Steve Avery | P | 9 | Mark Clark | P |
The Braves jumped out first with two unearned runs in the 1st inning & two runs in the 3rd, on hits from Terry Pendleton, Chipper Jones, & Ryan Klesco. Fred McGriff added an RBI hit in the 5th making it 5-0 Braves.In the home 7th inning, pinch hit base hits by Matt Franco & Carl Everett started up a Mets rally. Lance Johnson then singled to load the bases. Bernard Gilkey made it a 5-2 with a double to left field off Atlanta reliever; Greg McMichael.
Next up was Todd Hundley. Hundley then hit his record setting HR, a three run blast over the left field fence, tying up the game at 5-5.
In the home 12th inning, Matt Franco led off with a walk from Joe Borowski. He advanced on Chris Jones weak ground out. Lance Johnson ended the game with a walk off single up the middle.For Hundley, the 41st HR passed Hall of Famer; Roy Campanella's previous mark of 40 HRs set back in 1953 with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Javy Lopez has since broken the record with 43 HRs in 2003.