centerfield maz

Labor Day- Monday September 1, 1975: It was a big game  for  the '75 Mets. Interim Manager Roy McMillan's third place Mets (72-64) were just four games behind the first place Pittsburgh Pirates (75-59) with hopes of catching them in the NL East. Roy McMillan had taken over the club on August 6th after Yogi Berra had been fired. Since then, the Mets were 16-9 & had gained four games in the standings. On this Labor Day matinee,  the  Mets hosted Danny Murtaugh's Pirates at Shea Stadium in front of 45,991 fans.  The Mets were trying to stop a two-game  losing streak, after having won five straight on a long 14 game west coast road trip that included a three-game  stop in Houston.  Roy McMillan This  was the first home game since August 17, two weeks ago. The Pirates sent New York native, John Candeleria (7-4) to go up against the 1975 Years Cy Young Award winner; Tom Seaver (19-7).   Seaver was going for his 20th victory o...

Saturday September 2nd, 1972: Yogi Berra's Mets (64-59) were in third place, fourteen games out & time was running out on them with thirty games left to play. Tonight, they were in Houston, playing a good Astros team (73-55). The Astros were in second place in the NL West, seven games behind the Cincinatti Reds.  The Astros started the year with Harry Walker as manager, he was fired in late August as the Astros fell to nine games back. Former Met Salty Parker managed for one game, then the legendary Leo Durocher took over. He got the Astros on a six-game win streak, entering tonight's game. But unfortunately, the Astros would lose four straight then go 11-14 the rest of the year, to finish third. Durocher would take Houston to an 82-80 season in 1973 before ending his 26-year managerial career (2008-1709). The Mets would finish third (83-73) in 1972. Today's starting pitchers would be rookie Brent Strom (0-2) making his fourth career start & Houston's Don Wilso...

  August 30th 1965: Casey Stengel was to turn 75 years old on July 30th, 1965. The Mets were having a ceremony for him between games of a double header on July 25th. The previous night, Stengel was getting out of a friend’s car after a party; he fell & broke his hip. Two days later he needed surgery & had a metal ball inserted in the hip to reduce the fracture. Due to his health issues & his age the long baseball career of Casey Stengel on the field, came to an end on July 30th, 1965. In a press conference at Shea Stadium, Stengel announced his retirement, stepping down as Mets manager.  He was to be named vice president of Mets West Coast operations. More a title than anything else, so he could be near his home in Glendale, California. The Mets new manager was to be Wes Westrum. Westrum who had been a Mets coach, had taken over when Stengel broke his hip. He would now assume the role of full-time manager, the second skipper in team history. On Septe...

1973 Mets N.L. Pennant Season:   Tug started out the season with another Opening Day save, after relieving Tom Seaver to finish off ta shut out of the Philadelphia Phillies.  At the end of April, he had four straight saves and was posting a 1.59 ERA, just like the Tug McGraw of old.  But in May he began to struggle, on May 4th he entered a tie game against the Astros, with the bases loaded in the 8th inning. He walked three runs in & had to be removed, the Mets lost it in extra innings.  On May 6th, he came  into  the game in the 6th inning, with two on & the Mets up on the Astros 7-3. He gave up a double to Cesar Cedeno & a three run HR to Bob Watson tying up the game. In the 7th, he gave up two hits & then walked two batters blowing the  four-run  lead having to be removed again. The Mets blew the game losing 14-8. Tug did get a bit on track saving three games until May 19th, when he served up HRs to the Pirates Bob Rob...

After the Pennant- 1974: After their pennant season, the Mets struggled the next season. McGraw was no exception. On Opening Day, he gave up a walk off HR to Mike Schmidt in Philadelphia. He did earn his first save the next day. On April 14th, he took an extra inning loss at Shea, this one to the Phillies as well. On May 5th the Padres tagged him for two runs, to come from behind in a 5-4 win, earning him another loss. By May 15th, his ERA was an enormous 9.00. In a June 30th double header he gave up HRs in both ends, taking the loss in the night cap, when Bake McBride hit a 10th inning HR.  It wasn't until July 28th, when he earned his first win. In August he did win four games but also blew two games where he took the loss.  Player of the Week: On August 27th he was given a start at Shea against the Astros. He gave up just one run in six innings to earn the 4-2 win. On September 1st, he threw his only career shut out. It came against the Atlanta Braves in a 3-0 win, wher...