We’re looking back at the 50th anniversary of the Mets’ 1973 National League pennant-winning team by reviewing the most inspirational figures of that remarkable run. We continue with a player who over a 23-year career compiled over 2,700 hits and many more fans—revered in Montreal and adored in New York. The passion exuded by redhead Daniel Joseph Staub was not outward. He was a...
We’re looking back at the 50th anniversary of the Mets’ 1973 National League pennant-winning team by examining the most inspirational figures of that remarkable run. We continue with the leader of this club, a Hall of Fame catcher known for his exceptional play and unique sayings to become a New York baseball legend and an American icon. By 1973, no baseball fan didn’t know...
Growing up in Bronx in the 1940s and ’50s, Ed Kranepool spent much of his time playing stickball in local parks. In fact, stickball brought refuge to a young Kranepool. As his stickball reputation grew, local gangs treated Kranepool well and insisted he not hang around with them after dark as they didn’t want him to get into trouble and not be able to play on their teams. Growing up...
They’ve shared more than just a city. While the Mets and Yankees rarely engage in trade talks, it’s not unusual for players to spend parts of their careers in Queens and in the Bronx. According to Baseball-Reference, the count has now surpassed 150, but here are some of the most notable plus verdicts on which team they fared better with. David Cone – Mets (1987-92; 03), Yankees...
On November 17th, 1964, the Mets signed Yogi Berra to a two-year contract as a player/coach. Berra had managed the Yankees to a World Series appearance in 1964, but was fired after the Bombers lost the series to the St.Louis Cardinals in seven games. Berra was much more of a coach than a player with the Mets, logging just nine at-bats (he had two hits) in 1965, before hanging up his spikes and...
The 1973 season was a gift of sorts for the Mets. The story has been well-chronicled. The Mets were in last place on August 30th (61-71), six and one-half games out of first place in a season in which there was no wildcard. The Mets seemed dead and buried. Remarkably, they began to rise from the ashes, and by September 21st, they were in first place. They took on the mighty Cincinnati Reds in...
It was deja vu all over again…again. The modified famous words of the former Mets manager and player Yogi Berra echoed during the team’s series with NL Central-leading St. Louis. The Cardinals walked off not once, not twice, but three times during a three-game set at Busch Stadium, which dispatched New York from its temporary stay in first place and back into a familiar setting...
The sights and sounds of baseball are back, though what usually happens in March is happening in July. The 2020 baseball season is set to begin on July 23rd, almost four months to the day after it was originally was planned to start. It’s not unprecedented for a baseball season to experience a late opening, though nothing of this magnitude has happened in history. Let’s take a look...
Now that SNY has aired the entirety of the 1969 World Series, we thought it might be fun to feature a portion of the Mets’ next Fall Classic appearance four years later — even if the end result wasn’t as satisfying. Game 2 versus the Oakland A’s was arguably the wildest World Series contest to date — in addition to being the longest. After four hours and 13 minutes...
It was May 5, 2004, a Wednesday night at Shea Stadium, when Mike Piazza connected off a 3-1 pitch from Jerome Williams and drove it out of the park to right-center – and in so doing, became the all-time major league home run leader for catchers with 352. The game was mid-week, and the temperature was a fairly chilly 57 degrees with a 10 mph wind blowing, so the announced crowd was rather...
There is no denying the fact that sports take a huge physical toll on those participating, but what many fail to see is how much of a mental strain it is as well. Yogi Berra once said that baseball is 90% mental and 10% physical, and he could not be more spot on. Between playing in front of thousands of people every night and the wolves of the internet breathing down their neck, many...
There are sports writers who did not cast votes for Babe Ruth. Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Mets great Tom Seaver were all first ballot Hall of Famers who voters found a reason not to vote for. Yogi Berra was not elected to the hall of Fame until the third ballot. While only Mariano Rivera has been a unanimous Hall of Fame electee in the 80 year history of the Hall of Fame, one of the more...
