The Mets have generally prioritized pitching as an organization. When the Mets have been good, it’s been a result of strong starting pitching.
In 1969, the rotation consisted of Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Gary Gentry, Jim McAndrew, and Don Cardwell. In their other championship season of 1986, the starters were Dwight Gooden, Ron Darling, Bob Ojeda, Sid Fernandez, and Rick Aguilera.
In their early years, the Mets were epically bad. The 1965 season saw them post a record of 50-112. However, on October 2, 1965, the Mets had a historically good pitching performance that many have never about, by a pitcher most have not heard of, in an otherwise awful season.
It was the last weekend of the 1965 season at Shea, and the Phillies, who finished 85-76, were the opponent. The Mets’ starting lineup that night was as follows:
Ron Hunt 2B
Jim Hickman 1B
Ron Swoboda LF
Cleon Jones CF
If you’ve never heard of Rob Gardner, you’re not alone. However, on that night, his pitching line was remarkable, 15 IP, 5H, 0R, 0ER, 2BB, 7K. That’s not a misprint, he pitched 15 innings of shutout baseball. That’s not the most remarkable part of the story.
The game was the nightcap of a twi-night doubleheader, necessitated by a rainout the previous day. And here’s the kicker-the game did not count in the standings, almost as if it never happened.
The Mets and Phillies would play 18 innings in total, and the game ended with the score of 0-0. Why did it end? There was a curfew in New York City in 1965, stipulating that the game had to end by 12:50 a.m. (which seems a bit random of a time). As noted earlier, this was game two of a doubleheader. So, the game ended, and by league rules in effect at the time, the game was considered a tie for statistical purposes, but played from the beginning in the makeup.
The game would be made up as part of yet another doubleheader on the season’s final day.
It’s almost as if perhaps the greatest individual pitching performance in Mets’ history did not happen, or as if it occurred in some alternate reality.
As Hannah Keyser of Yahoo Sports notes, Gardner takes his memorable (or is it “forgettable”?) night in stride as he reflects on it.
“Disappointed, yes,” he said. “Mad, no. That’s too far in the past to be mad about it. But I’m kind of sad, yeah. All for naught.”
Gardner did not have much of a career in baseball. In addition to the Mets, he pitched for the Cubs, Indians, Yankees, Athletics, and Brewers. He posted a 14-18 record over eight years in the major leagues.
For one night at Shea Stadium in an otherwise lost season, Gardner had his 15 innings in the spotlight, a spotlight that shined in front of just 10.371 paying customers.
Interestingly, as Keyser discusses in her article, Gardner became a paramedic in Binghamton after he retired, and assisted in New York City after the September 11th attacks. He says he does not watch baseball any longer.
Perhaps that’s because it’s unfathomable that a pitcher in the modern era could come close his feat of tossing 15 innings of shutout baseball, and on top of that, remain virtually anonymous.
