Remembering Mets History (1975) Rusty Staub Becomes First Met to Drive in 100 Runs

Thursday September 18th, 1975: The fourth place Mets (78-75) were now being managed by interim skipper Roy McMillan. Yogi Berra was fired back in August with the Mets at 63-59 four games out of first place. Under McMillan they would go 26-27 & finish third 10.5 games out of first.

 nine & half games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

On this night the Mets hosted the Chicago Cubs (73-81) who were six games behind the Mets in the standings. A small crowd of 6,336 came out to Shea Stadium on this night to see Hank Webb (7-6) take on rookie Donnie Moore (0-0).

Trivia: This was Donnie Moore's third career start. He would have a long 13-year career going 43-40 with 61 saves & a 3.67 ERA in 416 career games. He pitched for the Cubs (1975-1979) Cardinals (1980) Brewers (1981) Braves (1982-1984) & Angels (1985-1988). 

He would be known for giving up a sac fly to Dave Henderson in the 1986 ALCS Game #5. The Angels still had a 3-2 series lead but lost both games at Fenway Park. In 1989 Moore shot his wife who survived & then shot himself committing suicide.

Hank Webb didn't get out of the 1st inning, giving up two lead off walks & then a double to Jerry Morales & a single to Jose Cardenal. Randy Tate relieved him & Manny Trillo brought in the fourth Cub run.

In the home 3rd, Del Unser doubled & was brought in by Felix Millan. It was in the home 5th; the Mets had a new record.

With Felix Millan on first after a base hit, Rusty Staub stepped in & blasted a HR over the Shea fence. It was his 18th HR of the year, but more importantly his 99th & 100th RBIs. 

This made Staub the first Mets player in team history to drive in 100 runs. He would drive in 105 runs on the year total, fourth most in the NL. 

Trivia: It was another decade before another Mets player would drivee in 100 runs in a season. 

In 1985 Gary Carter drove in 100 runs. He became the first Mets player to drive in 100 or more runs two seasons in a row.

The Cubs would get another run in the 8th but in the bottom of the inning, Dave Kingman doubled & was brought in by Jesus Alou. Joe Torre then tripled to tie the game up at five.

In the bottom of the 9th, with two outs Rusty Staub collected his third hit of the night. Then in dramatic walk off fashion, Dave Kingman hit his 35th HR of the year. 

He would come in second to Mike Schmidt in the NL with 36 HRs on the year. That was also a Mets team record at the time.

Trivia: Rusty was known for wearing two black batting gloves at the plate, he was one of the few players in those days to wear batting gloves.