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Gary, Zvon, and the '73 Playoffs (split from 5/21/2013 IGT)

Zvon May 21 2013 05:12 PM

Zvon May 21 2013 06:22 PM Re: IGT:Niese VS. The Pinko Commies: Reds @ Mets 5/21/13

73 playoffs: Gary was there, and he did run out on to the field! It was wilder in '73 because there were more fans who wanted to have their own '69 like experience of celebrating on the field. And yes, it did get out of hand.

Zvon May 21 2013 06:26 PM Re: IGT:Niese VS. The Pinko Commies: Reds @ Mets 5/21/13

And that's what I did too. Slept over at the Shea ticket booths. There were long lines. I was second or third in the line I was in and the best seats I could get were mezz-box. I wonder if Gary snuck onto the field that night, like many of us did. We played football in center until the cops came and everyone scattered. From what Gary's saying, I doubt he did. He was a good boy.

Zvon May 21 2013 06:47 PM Re: IGT:Niese VS. The Pinko Commies: Reds @ Mets 5/21/13 Edited 1 time(s), most recently on May 21 2013 06:51 PM

He was 11 years old. I can relate with him about his mom. When I was going to games in 70 my friends and I would go to day games. We went to ALOT and felt like we had the run of the stadium. There was this box (4 seats) out in right that was always empty, and we'd sneak down to that box. We'd stay there for a bit, and then go on adventures in seating. So eventually we wanted to go to night games and my mom was like "I dunno about night games.." I said "mom its totally safe!" and she said "We'll see about that. You can go to that night game coming up but I'm going with you and your friends." I wasn't bummed that she wanted to go. I knew if I wanted to go to night games on a regular basis that I would have to go through what some might consider embarrassing. Jeeze, this is running to long (Buck almost Kaboomed--Tuefel holds Duds?), long story a lil shorter: So she comes to the game with us, we go up to nose bleed seats, and around 2 innings in I say "Okay, nows the time to sneak down to our special box seats (we could see they were empty). And my moms like : "I dunno about this sneaking business. You won't get in trouble, will you?" Me:"No way mom, we do it every game! That box is always empty and they never check tickets out there." So we go on down to the seats, I tell my mom to do like we always do, and thats look like you belong. Walk confident. Not sneaky. And we did and we got to the box. Sat there for maybe a half an inning when an usher came up and asked to see our tickets. Of course we didnt have any, and he busted us good and sent us back upstairs, and my mom was so embarrassed. We laughed about it later though, and from that day on I was allowed to go to Met night games w/o adult supervision. I was 12.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr May 22 2013 09:39 AM Re: IGT:Niese VS. The Pinko Commies: Reds @ Mets 5/21/13

He looked kindasorta vintage yesterday. (Right down to the early-career-flashback big first inning.)

Zvon May 22 2013 03:06 PM Re: IGT:Niese VS. The Pinko Commies: Reds @ Mets 5/21/13

I want to talk more about the '73 playoffs. I thought I started a thread once but I can't find it so I'll continue on here. This should only be a few (probly big) posts. So its the 40th anniversary of the Mets appearance in the NLCS in 1973. They showed some clips from the games during this broadcast. I'm always looking for clips from the series. They are rare and it seems like only the same ones we see them show all the time exist. No recordings of the individual games exist as far as I can see, and I have looked real hard. Relistening to Garys talk about the series: He was the same age as me at the time (which I suppose makes him the same age as me now :), 15. And he not only was there for the '73 clincher, he attended the '69 clincher vs. Atlanta and got some turf then, at age 11. Wow, I did not know that. I envy Gary. We are so fortunate to have a play by play guy who really lived the Mets. This is the last out of the series. Seeing the clip reminds me of how scary a scene that really was. I mean, have you EVER seen a pitcher under more pressure on a play when he had to cover first base? I think not. Dan Driessen at the plate as Tug throws the last pitch. The ball is hit to first baseman John Milner. Now Milner may have an inkling as to whats going on behind him, but the play is in front of him and McGraw is all he is looking at. Tug, however, can very well see that the last out has yet to be made, and theres a flood of fans already on the field. But Tug is one cool customer, and he is not distracted from completing the out. Tugger makes the play and runs smack dab into a sea of unauthorized people. Look at the funny usher hat, ha! Tug goes from baseball mode to football mode. Tug knows whats going on, he knows the deal. McGraw literally fights his way through the crowd. He looks like Superman! Okay, maybe an insane Superman... I really don't think I ever saw a play with a pitcher covering first that was any more pressure packed than this one.

Zvon May 22 2013 03:38 PM Re: IGT:Niese VS. The Pinko Commies: Reds @ Mets 5/21/13

Zvon: Cut and paste that stuff into a new thread if you want to discuss the '73 NLCS. This thread is soon to be filed away into the archives anyway so you're just going to lose it again. Plus, last time I checked, we're no where near our quota of threads for the month so it's OK to start a new one. I dunno if its worth a whole thread. I just wanted to go over that last out, and say that there is no doubt that Im somewhere in this frame> If there's enough interest to continue this can be branched off.

Edgy MD May 23 2013 08:05 AM Re: Gary, Zvon, and the '73 Playoffs (split from 5/21/2013 I

Great stuff here. Please sign me up for newsletter.

John Cougar Lunchbucket May 23 2013 08:15 AM Re: Gary, Zvon, and the '73 Playoffs (split from 5/21/2013 I

That is a cool thing on Tugger. As I've said here before I have determined to have some memories of watching the Mets before 1973, but that season -- including the Theodore-Hahn Collision game, which I was at, and the Rose-Harrelson Fight Game, which I watched on TV -- were the Big Bangs as far as my baseball fandom went.

Vic Sage May 23 2013 11:36 AM Re: Gary, Zvon, and the '73 Playoffs (split from 5/21/2013 I

that last photo of Tug looks like a LeRoy Neiman painting. But in a good way.

Swan Swan H May 23 2013 12:18 PM Re: Gary, Zvon, and the '73 Playoffs (split from 5/21/2013 I

Gary was taking about the difference between the mellow feeling on the field in 1969 and the more urgent feeling, if you will, in 1973. I was in the park for games three and five, and from the Harrelson-Rose fight on it was as loud and passionate a crowd as I have ever seen. By game five Mets fans wanted nothing less than the head of Pete Rose, and the feeling when the Mets upset the haughty, clean-shaven, superstar-laden Reds was damned near orgasmic. I wasn't scared, exactly, on the field, but it was not a peaceful scene.

Frayed Knot May 23 2013 12:30 PM Re: Gary, Zvon, and the '73 Playoffs (split from 5/21/2013 I

I also think the '69 rushing of the field was a more spontaneous and joyful act while the '73 rush was more planned, by some simply so they could say they did it. Plus by that point it wasn't even the second time it was being done, it was more like the 4th. In '69 all three clinchings [NL East, NL Pennant, WS] were at home. The '73-ers missed out on a chance for the division so some were no doubt laying in wait for that one.

Ashie62 May 23 2013 03:18 PM Re: Gary, Zvon, and the '73 Playoffs (split from 5/21/2013 I

I was at my orthodontist getting tweaked watching the Buddy fight in the background..

metirish May 23 2013 03:32 PM Re: Gary, Zvon, and the '73 Playoffs (split from 5/21/2013 I

Great thread, thanks for sharing the memories.

Zvon May 23 2013 04:05 PM Re: Gary, Zvon, and the '73 Playoffs (split from 5/21/2013 I

I took frame by frame screenies of the crowd scene looking for me, but I'll spare you guys that. I can't find me for sure. But my path from the stands puts me in that area. There are a few candidates but nothings clear enough to see for sure. Even the pic I posted a while back that I thought could be me, probably isnt. Alls I remember about my appearance in those days is that I was skinny and had long hair, and that I ran from the stands towards third, then towards home, then to the mound. After that everything seemed like a dream. I've said it before, the most surreal scene was mounted police officers auctioning off large ripped down sections of the outfield wall. I didn't bid.

Frayed Knot May 23 2013 06:46 PM Re: Gary, Zvon, and the '73 Playoffs (split from 5/21/2013 I

On this date in 1973 Mets history ... the Mets weren't doing anything because they had the day off. But on May 24th they were in LA and beat the Dodgers 7-3 in 19 innings!!* -- a win that would put jump them to 3 games above 500 at 20-17. That also turned out to be the last time they were as high as 3 games over again until the final week of the season. In fact, in that whole season they topped out at just 4 games above, hitting that mark twice: at 4-0 after winning their first four games of the season, and then again on April 29th when they got to 12-8 before going into a five-game losing streak. * Seaver started but went only 6 and trailed 3-1 when he left. Harrelson’s 7th inning double knocked in one, and then George Theodore’s 8th inning single tied the game. Phil Hennigan, Tug McGraw (5 innings!), George Stone (6 innings and the win) tossed zeros for innings 7 through 18 before Jim McAndrew (of Lost Nation, Iowa) pitched a scoreless 19th for the save. http://www.ultimatemets.com/gamedetail. ... 23&tabno=D