On July 13th, 1977, New York City experienced a blackout while the Mets were playing the Chicago Cubs. On a steamy July night, everything went black at Shea Stadium in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The 1977 season was tumultuous for the Mets.The blackout made for quite a metaphor, as the Mets were entering a dark period in franchise history that would last until the 1984 season.
For starters, the team had traded their most iconic star, Tom Seaver, on June 15th. That signaled the start of the multi-year rebuild.
Many thought the lights figuratively went out on the franchise that day.
On July 13th, they literally did.
The night began as a typical one for the post-Seaver era Mets..
They put this lineup on the Shea Stadium field to begin their tilt with the Cubs, in front of just over 14,000 fans.
- Lenny Randle 3B
- Bobby Valentine SS
- Steve Henderson LF
- Bruce Boisclair 1B
- John Stearns C
- Mike Vail RF
- Lee Mazzilli CF
- Doug Flynn 2B
- Jerry Koosman P
Randle stepped in the box against the Cubs’ Ray Burris in the bottom of the sixth, when all of the sudden, Shea Stadium went dark.
You can hear Ralph Kiner and Lindsey Nelson describe the situation in the audio clip below.
The giant scoreboard in right field went dark, yet the PA system and organ remained functional.
The auxiliary lights came on underneath the stands, as fans sat patiently, thinking the lights would come on and play would resume.
During the wait, a few Mets players drove their cars onto the outfield grass, then played catch and hit fungos to entertain the fans.
The lights did not come back on that night. New York City was plunged into darkness that would last 25 hours. Looting became an issue in the city that night. People also saw their anxiety rise over the “Son of Sam” shootings that had been taking place throughout the city, not knowing what could happen in the eerie darkness.
Years after the blackout, Randle said he initially thought the blackout was the end of times. Fortunately, that was not the case. The blackout was caused by the combination of lightning strikes in Westchester County along with high stress on the city’s electrical system from the hot weather.
The Cubs, who were staying at the Grand Hyatt in Manhattan, had to walk up flights of stairs to get to their non-air conditioned rooms to spend a sweltering night.
The 1977 Mets finished 64-98. They would ultimately lose the July 13th game by the score of 5-2 when the game was resumed on September 16.
John Stearns, Steve Henderson, and John Milner shared the 1977 team lead in home runs with 12.
Nino Espinosa led the starters with 10 wins. Jerry Koosman lost 20 games.
You get the point, 1977 was a rough year for the Mets.
And to make matters worse, the lights went out on July 13th.
