|
="seawolf17":1oif1v8k]The Brad Clontz game is my favorite personal Shea memory.[/quote:1oif1v8k]
Ditto! (With [url=http://faithandfear.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/12/31/4040984.html:1oif1v8k]the list[/url:1oif1v8k] to back that up.) Though I like to think of it as the Melvin Mora Game.
|
Ashie62
Aug 16 2009 06:10 PM
|
|
="Gwreck":k1jjhcyz]Melvin Mora's the only player from that team who's still an active MLB player. (I guess Glendon Rusch -- 1 appearance for the Mets in '99) also counts.[/quote:k1jjhcyz]
Octavio Dotel is with the White Sox
My favorite Mets season is 1999. Was at Grandslam single game where Dotel & Kenny Rogers were key.
The Pratt walkoff was the only pro game where I saw confetti thrown..The good old days for sure
|
Edgy DC
Aug 16 2009 07:02 PM
|
|
I'm sure Vance Wilson, batterin Texas League pitching, considers himself active.
|
Fman99
Aug 18 2009 06:16 AM
|
|
My wife (girlfriend at the time) moved in with me Memorial Day weekend, 1999. I think that summer and fall, following that team, was what turned her from a Yankees fan to a Mets fan.
Man, they were a fun bunch to watch.
|
Edgy DC
Aug 18 2009 06:19 AM
|
|
If the Mets won't organize a celebraton, I think a private faction should.
|
Fman99
Aug 18 2009 06:22 AM
|
|
="Edgy DC":nhafyj5n]If the Mets won't organize a celebraton, I think a private faction should.[/quote:nhafyj5n]
Of course there will be a Mets-sponsored celebration -- of the 60th anniversary of the 1949 NL champion Brooklyn Dodgers!
They're going to bring back Campy, Hodges, Jackie Robinson, Reese, Snyder, Furillo, Newcombe, Roe, all your favorites!
Oh, wait, they've all been dead since the 1970's and no one here cares. My bad.
|
Benjamin Grimm
Aug 18 2009 06:28 AM
|
|
Duke Snider is alive at the present time.
|
SteveJRogers
Aug 18 2009 07:02 AM
|
|
So is Don Newcombe. And Preacher Roe died this past year.
And not to sound even more like an annoying twat, but only Gil and Jackie passed in the decade of the 1970s of the group you mentioned!
|
metirish
Aug 18 2009 07:19 AM
Re: 1999 - Tenth Anniversary
|
|
="Valadius":deknkwgk]I don't know if anyone has remarked on this yet, but we are also celebrating the 10th anniversary of the 1999 Mets this year - the first Mets team I followed that went to the post-season, and in my judgment a far superior team to the 2000 Mets. The greatest defensive infield in Mets history, Piazza at the height of his powers, Al Leiter, Rickey being Rickey, Roger Cedeno, Benny Agbayani, Orel Hershiser, Armando Benitez - this was an Amazin' team to watch, and in my view deserves a lot more credit.[/quote:deknkwgk]
Great thread Val.....this team was definitely the team that turned me towards unconditional love for the Mets.....
What a bunch they were
|
Benjamin Grimm
Aug 18 2009 07:23 AM
|
|
I was already an ancient fan by then, but the 90's was a miserable decade for the Mets, and 1999 brought back the fun for the first time in a long time.
Their playoff run, even though it ended poorly, made me feel like a kid again. The Todd Pratt homer has been my most enduring memory of that season.
|
Ashie62
Aug 18 2009 03:41 PM
|
|
It took the crowd at Shea a few seconds to realize Finley didn't catch it. Then pandemonium, Gary Glitter part 2 and confettei
To note..It was cold..in the 3rd inning I heard the crowd cheering loudly and it was Keith walking in field level, dressed to the nines with a knockout on his arm, waving to the crowd before sitting down..Got goosebumps.
|
Frayed Knot
Aug 18 2009 04:17 PM
|
|
="Ashie62":1vw05w83]It took the crowd at Shea a few seconds to realize Finley didn't catch it.[/quote:1vw05w83]
Not me.
I was high up in one of the last sections in RF. I don't want to say were were high but we looked down on birds flying and down on the top of the RF foulpole. The infield was practically a rumor from up there but it gave those in that section a perfect top-down and on-line view of the RCF fence, an angle that was lined up so well that visually it was as if there was no wall at all. So when Finley jumped and missed, our section could see the ball bouncing around in that waste area beneath the scoreboard with workers scurrying after it.
We knew before the rest of the stadium that it was a HR.
We knew before Gary Cohen did that it was a HR (he paused for several seconds before calling it).
We knew before Pratt did that it was a HR (I had time to celebrate w/JCL and still turn back and see TP still stationary between 1st & 2nd)
Hell, we knew before Finley did.
|
Farmer Ted
Aug 18 2009 04:21 PM
|
|
Was in the mezz halfway down the rightfield line. I thought Finley had it. It was the peeps in the LF upper deck that started going crazy when I knew.
|
G-Fafif
Aug 18 2009 05:25 PM
|
|
I'm occasionally haunted by the notion that Finley could have gotten a glove on it, deflected it, picked it up and, because he stopped to watch, thrown Pratt out at second.
What a moment.
|
Frayed Knot
Aug 18 2009 05:41 PM
|
|
Pratt was just getting a jump on the Mets practicing their non-running for the following post-season.
|
Ashie62
Aug 18 2009 06:39 PM
|
|
I was in the loge behind home and the way Finley came down I half expected him to pull the ball out of his glove
Not bloody likely!
|
Frayed Knot
Aug 18 2009 06:47 PM
|
|
Face it, Finley comes down with that ball at least 8 times out of 10.
Just not THAT day.
|
John Cougar Lunchbucket
Aug 18 2009 06:51 PM
|
|
I was more shocked that Finley didn't catch it than Pratt hit it... and Pratt hitting it was pretty shocking too. I can recall being out of breath, trying to shout... "it went off his glove! It went off his glove!!" but like no noise coming out.
Of course the real whizz-bang of that afternoon was Mora, in for Rickey, throwing out Bell at home in the 8th.
|
Frayed Knot
Aug 18 2009 07:04 PM
|
|
Yeah, we were somewhat lucky even to be in a position to win that game.
I also remember a questionable double-switch by Bucky Showalter that came back to bite him when it cost the Snakes a Matt Williams AB at a crucial time later on.
|
|
|
|
|
|
