Remembering Mets History (1962) Al Jackson Pitches the First One Hitter in Mets History

-
Al Jackson '62 Mets
Friday- June 22nd, 1962: This evening's matchup had two of the leagues expansion teams faced off in a memorable game at the Polo Grounds. It was the first game of a Friday night, twi-night doubleheader. This game was rescheduled from April 16th, due to cold inclement weather.

Manager Harry Craft's, Houston Colt 45's (30-35) were 14 games out of first place. But they were doing better than Casey Stengel's New York Mets (17-47) already 26 1/2 games out, behind the Los Angeles Dodgers. Back then there were no divisions, the National League consisted of 10 teams.

The Colt 45's were to become the Houston Astros in 1965.




Tonight, would be a historic evening for the young franchise & one the Mets fans would enjoy. Al Jackson (3-8 / 4.73 ERA) would pitch the first one hitter in Mets history. 

 In the top of the first, Al Jackson retired lead off man Bob Lillis & then surrendered a single to second baseman; Joe Amalfitano. It was to be the only hit Jackson allowed the rest of the game.

He struck out Roman Mejias for the second out, then Jackson walked Norm Larker putting two men on. He then struck out Carl Warwick to end the threat. 

Jackson would surrender just one more walk, the only other base runner Houston would have in the game. He would retire the next 22 batters he faced.

In the 9th inning, he walked pinch hitter Pidge Browne. He then retired Bob Lillis on a fly ball, then ended the game striking out Amalfitano & Roman Mejias.

Jackson struck out nine Houston Colt 45s on his way to his fourth win, a historic one hit shutout. 


In the home 1st, Mets leadoff hitter, Richie Ashburn, hit a solo HR off Houston pitcher, Turk Farrell. Ashburn would be the Mets first hitter to bat .300 in a season & would hit seven HRs on the year.



In the home 6th inning, Ashburn would lead off a walk. He would get moved over to second on a Charlie Neal sacrifice hit. Felix Mantilla then followed with a base hit, scoring Ashburn with the second & final Mets run in the 2-0 win.

The Mets would get romped in the second game of the double header, taking a 16-3 loss.

Trivia: This was the first of the 40 one hitters thrown in Mets history.

Comments

lanzarishi said…
Sometimes fate can be very cruel. After all he contributed to the original Mets and thru the 60s, it is a an absolute shame that Al was traded before the 'miracle' year finished. He should have been there and at least he was rostered in April of '69.
Thanks for your wonderful website!
December 26, 2013 at 8:34 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ON NOVEMBER 13th................. The Odd Couple Lives

-
Image
"On November 13, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence. That request came from his wife. Deep down, he knew she was right, but he also knew that someday, he would return to her. With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his childhood friend, Oscar Madison. Several years earlier, Madison's wife had thrown him out, requesting that he never return. Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?" This was the opening dialogue of centerfieldmaz's favorite TV show: "the Odd Couple". This dialogue was used for the first two seasons. It is also featured on the third season of the DVD releases as well. The narration was done by actor Bill Woodson. The famous Odd Couple theme was written by non other than Neil Hefti, originally for the 1968 Odd Couple movie. Niel Hefti also did the classic Batman 1960's TV series theme song & music for that, another centerfieldmaz favorite TV sh
Read more

Remembering Vixen Founder / Guitarist; Jan Kuehnemund (1961-2013)

-
Image
centerfieldmaz was shocked to learn of the sudden passing of Jan Kuehnemund, the founding member of the all female metal band Vixen. Jan was a fantastic guitarist, song writer & women pioneer in Heavy Metal. I am a huge fan of hard rock all girl bands & Vixen were one my long time favorites. Janice Lynn Kuehnemund was born November 18th, 1961 in St. Paul Minnesota. The female guitarist formed one of the first all female Metal bands in Minnesota with singer Janet Gardner while in high school in 1980. By 1985 they moved the band to Los Angles California, to be part of the Heavy Metal scene. In 1987 the classic Vixen line up of Jan Kuehnemund (lead guitar) Janet Gardner (vocals/ guitar) Share Pederson (bass) & Roxy Petrucci (drums) formed & released their debut album the following year. Vixen 1988 In a world of all male Heavy Metal bands during its heyday, Vixen were groundbreaking in being an all female metal band. The Runaways, with Joan Jett & Lita Ford
Read more

Remembering Bobby Ojeda's Tragic Boating Accident (1993)

-
Image
Steve Olin, Tim Crews & Bob Ojeda March 22 nd 1993: was an off day from Spring Training, for three Cleveland Indians pitchers; Former Mets 1986 World Champion pitcher; Bobby Ojeda, Tim Crews & Steve Olin. The three friends, took out an 18-foot open-air bass boat & went out fishing & gator hunting in the darkness of the evening on Lake Nellie in Clermont, Florida. Tragedy struck, when the boat rammed into a private dock that jutted out some 250 feet into the still waters. Two other Cleveland Indians personnel had arrived to meet the fishing party just as the horror took place. They heard Bob Ojeda saying they needed help. The two men jumped into the water and called out for someone to call 911. 27 year old pitcher; Steve Olin was killed instantly. 31 year old pitcher; Tim Crews was alive but was struggling to breathe suffering from massive head wounds. Bobby Ojeda was in & out of shock, he was suffering from head lacerations but was coherent. The
Read more

Remembering Mets History (1979) SNL's Chico Escuela Visits Mets Spring Training & Attempts a Career Comeback

-
Image
Bill Murray interviews (Garrett Morris) Chico Escuela In March 1979, original Saturday Night Live cast member; Garrett Morris joined the Mets at Miller Huggins Field for Spring Training. At the time the Mets were still holding Spring Training in St. Petersburg Florida.  Garrett Morris was posing as  the fictional Mets player, Chico Escuela who wore uniform #5 (cinque).  Escuela was doing his famous spoof of the Latin players of the time, posing as a popular infielder from the Dominican Republic that didn't speak much English. His legendary catch phrase was "baseball been berry- berry good to me". "baseball been berry-berry good... to me" The Chico Escuela character appeared nine times during on SNL's fourth & fifth seasons. He debuted on December 9th, 1978, in a Knight of Columbus sketch as a guest speaker. He then became the Weekend Update Sports reporter, where after being introduced by Jane Curtain, he would reply "tank you Hane". Chico woul
Read more

The History of Yogi Berra & the Yoo-Hoo Chocolate Drink

-
Image
Yogi Berra & Yoo-Hoo's  history go back to the 1950's. Yogi had met the Oliveri Family, the owners of the Yoo-Hoo company at a Country Club function near his home in New Jersey. Natale Olivieri started bottling the chocolate drink in 1928 in Garfield, w Jersey. By the late 1950's he Yoo-Hoo product wasn't selling all that well. Mr. Olivieri asked for Yogi's opinion at the new Jersey function. Berra said he actually liked the soft drink & started promoting it along with his teammates. Soon Yogi put Yoo-Hoo on the map, appearing in commercials, advertisements and supermarkets promotions.  Berra would show up at the factory in Carlstadt, New Jersey & became a hero to the factory workers. He soon became a Vice President of the company owning a large amount of Yoo-Hoo stock. In his auto biography Yogi wrote "One time I was in the office and the phone rang, I always answer a ringing phone, the woman on the other end asked if Yoo-Hoo was hyphenated. I
Read more