This was the first home opener I ever attended...and the last one that Tom Seaver would start during his Mets' career (not counting his return in 1983).

Tom Terrific did not disappoint in this "farewell" appearance. He not only shut out the Cardinals, but he also singled home two runs in the second inning, helping his own cause. The other runs came on solo homers by John Milner and John Stearns, both hit to right-center field.

As I was keeping score of the game, I got lucky. Milner flied out to center to start the third inning. However, I marked it in the St. Louis fourth for Bake McBride. Using a scorecard pencil, I couldn't erase it. It didn't matter. When McBride came up in the fourth, he, too, flied out to center. It was a day when things worked out perfectly!

I can never forget this game. I was with my father and childhood friend and it was a great day for a 13 year old. Skipping school and Tom Seaver pitched and won the game. Plus it was 90 degrees in April!

I was ten-years old and it was my first game. My mother passed away the Christmas before. I supposed my father thought it was about time for me to be a serious fan. Or maybe losing his best friend, he needed to start a new one. My father and I really don't communicate much, we never really recovered from my mother's death. But, when one of us blinks and decides its been too long since we last spoke, in good or bad times, "How bout those METS!" is as good as it gets...

Of all the games I went to as a kid on our family's Sunday ticket plan, this one sticks out. And the one play that sticks out is not Seaver's mastery over the hapless Jose Cardenal-era Cubs, but the single hit: a soft liner by Steve Ontiveros that Ed Kranepool tried to make a shoestring catch of, but ended up one-hopping. I'd never seen a no-hitter at the time (this would later be rectified thanks to Jim Abbott and Doc Gooden), and it burned me that Tom and I both missed our one chance because of our rightfielder's aged knees.

Flash forward six years. I am in high school, when a classmate comes running up to me with the news: "Guess who's here? Ed Kranepool!" He had dropped by to give an anti-drug talk or somesuch, and was now hanging out in the physics lab, just chatting with students.

I rushed up to him, this hero of my youth who'd been a Met since before I was born, and immediately blurted out: "Hi! I would've seen Tom Seaver pitch a no-hitter if not for you!" And related the tale of Ontiveros' lone single, and his failure to dive for the ball.

Without missing a beat, he replied: "Oh, yeah. I remember that play. Even Swoboda couldn't have made that play."

You gotta love Ed Kranepool.

Neil, at least you didn't have to bite your nails through the whole game! The single by Ontiveros came with one out in the in the fifth inning.

With the Mets up 3-0 after six and a half innings, here's how the bottom of the seventh started:

Roy Staiger reached on an error by Ontiveros. Bud Harrelson reached on an error by Larry Biittner. Tom Seaver struck out. Lee Mazzilli reached on another error by Biittner, scoring Staiger. Felix Millan reached on an error by Ivan DeJesus to load the bases.

Bruce Boisclair then singled to drive in two and give the Mets a 6-0 lead. But how about those gloves on the Cubs? The Mets had the equivalent of seven outs in that inning!

I was at this game also. 13 years old, with my Dad. Even though Kranepool couldn't come up with the hit by Ontiveros, I remember he did make a leaping catch at the fence to rob a homer from one of the Cubs. (Don't remember which one). Also remember Kingman hitting a home run that was tremendously high in the air, took forever to come down and just cleared the fence in left- center.

I remember watching this on TV. I can't remember the Cubs getting good wood on the ball the entire game! I remember the lone hit that Kranepool let drop in. I wouldn't even categorize it as a line drive! It was more like a looping fly ball that just fell in the grass in right field and died. Without a doubt, Tom Seaver deserved a no-hitter for that game!

Remember being at this game with a buddy (we were about 14 years old) and cringing before the start when a older guy - a grandpa with his family - started saying over and over before the game that "Seaver's pitching a no-hitter today. Today is the day. He's pitching a no-hitter today."

I was going to type what John S. already did.

I was also at this game with my dad (photo album day, wasn't it?), but, as a 10 year old kid, I rationalized it by saying without Kranepool's catch, the Cubs would have had a HR, so somehow the two plays canceled each other out.

I guess I'm outnumbered on this page, but I always remembered that Kranepool did dive, but still short-hopped Ontiveres's ball.

I feel like this one-hitter is never talked about in Mets lore, but as one-hitters go, this was as close as the Mets have come--maybe 3-4 inches?? The other one that comes to mind is Gooden versus the Cubs in '84 where Knight should have been given an error on Moreland nubber and then the Mets actually DO have their first no-no.

I remember this game very well; it was Mets Photo Album day,and my two favorite Mets of all time were playing. Being a Met fan, we all loved Tom Seaver. Tom pitched a masterful game, keeping the Cub hitters off balance all game. I remember Ed Kranepool leaping up over the right field fence and robbing a Cub player of a home run. Kranepool also slightly misjudged the low liner in right, causing Tom to lose his no-hitter. I also remember Dave Kingman hitting a towering home run over the left centerfield wall off of Bill Bonham. Kingman's homer was a moon shot that took forever to fall to earth. The standing ovation the Shea stadium fans gave Seaver after the last out was beautiful.

The Pirates pinned the loss on Ray Sadecki with a tie-breaking run in the ninth inning. It was the 563rd and final game for Sadecki in his 18-year major league career.

Wasn't this the game where John Stearns batted out of order and hit a home run? The Padres didn't realize in time and the home run counted.

It was Roy Staiger who did that in the Sunday game.

This doubleheader were the first Mets games I ever attended at age 7. I remember the pitcher hitting an inside-the-park home run in the rain-shortened second game, but it appears it was actually scored a triple and error!

The next year we returned to SF to see another double-header sweep by the Giants and Vida Blue. Wasn't until '79 that I got to see my first Mets victory.

Kingman's home run in this game went an estimated 515 feet. One of the last great memories of this horrible season.

My 3rd major league game! It was a beautiful spring Saturday for my Dad to take me to the big ballpark. Koosman was honored in a ceremony before the game for his pitching performance in 1976. I think it was for 20 wins. I remember HRs by Reggie Smith and Rick Monday. There was a picture in the NY Sunday Times the next day of Koosman getting the award and I could see my face and my Dad's sitting in the Loge.

My first MLB game (and first professional sporting event). I was a month shy of my 7th birthday. Gorgeous spring day. We sat in box seats between 3rd base and LF foul pole. I was a Yankees fan (my dad was Mets fan). No hope of going to see a Yankees game because my dad didn't want to take his wife and two little kids to the Bronx!!

Reggie Smith homered to RF in the 1st and the ball barely cleared the wall. I remember my dad griping that if Dave Kingman were playing RF (instead of Mike Vail), he would have robbed Smith of the homer (his rationale being that Kingman was much taller than Vail). Kingman started the game at 1st base.

I also recall that we were sitting near some teenage girls who loved Lee Mazzilli and each time he came to the plate, one of them would encourage him to shake his rear while waiting for the pitch.

I also recall buying a $1 Mets Yearbook with Jerry Koosman on the cover (he'd won 20 games the previous year). I still have the yearbook.

This was a "spur of the moment" game for me. I was coming back from college in West Virginia at 2:00 and the Met game was just beginning. At that moment I saw the exit for the Whitestone Bridge and I decided to go to the game. I got there in the second and saw a great pitcher's duel between Seaver and Andy Messersmidt (sp?). Unfortunately the mood around Shea in 1977 had gotten ugly and the fans were all over Seaver, the Mets, and Mets management. I got so disgusted I left in the 7th inning. The game went extra innings and I heard the game all the way home to New Haven and saw the end of the game on TV. The other memory I have of that game is watching Del Unser play a great centerfield.

It's not my intention to be the "fact police," but a couple of corrections to an earlier post on this game:

It was a great pitcher's duel, but Tom Seaver and Burt Hooton were the starters in the game. They combined for 17 innings pitched, 2 runs, 16 hits, and 13 strikeouts. Andy Messersmith was with the Braves in 1977.

Also, the Mets starting outfield that day was Bruce Boisclair, Lee Mazzilli, and Dave Kingman. Mike Vail entered the game in the 11th inning. Del Unser was with the Expos in 1977.

The Mets lost the game on a two-out infield single by John Hale off Bob Apodaca in the top of the 12th. In the bottom of the inning, the Mets had runners at second and third with nobody out but Jerry Grote (he played third base in this game), and pinch-hitters Ron Hodges and Felix Millan could not deliver.

Good catch Bob.Unser was traded the summer before along with Wayne Garrett to the Expos for Jim Dwyer and Pepe Mangual, a centerfielder with enough speed to get to any ball, and then drop it. Unser would go on to be one of the best pinch hitters or the late 70's and early 80's with several clutch hits for the 1980 champion Phillies.

Best memory of this game was seeing Jerry Koosman hit his home run over the left-field fence. It barely made it, but I saw it as I was coming back from concession stand. Not often you get to see your favorite pitcher homer!

I distinctly remember my disgust at the end of this game, as John Milner hit for Joe Torre with the tying run at second base and one out in the ninth inning, then after he grounded out PITCHER SKIP LOCKWOOD was left to try to drive in the tying run with two out in the ninth.

I don't believe they were out of players, which would have been unforgivable in its own right unless Torre was injured, but looking back at the boxscore it seems they used 13 position players, and in those days I'm sure it was a 10-man pitching staff, if not 9. Anyone have any insight as to why Joe Frazier let the game end this way? The Mets went on to win the next day, then lost the next six before Frazier was replaced by Torre as player/manager.

Crushing defeat - Richie Hebner's 2 run HR sends everyone home. They didn't call them walkoffs back then.

This was Game 2 of the Memorial Day Doubleheader. It was also Helmet Day. Mets got swept by the Expos. When I got home from the DH, I heard on the news that the Mets fired manager Joe Frazier, and hired Joe Torre as player-manager.

I believe this was Torre's first game. He should have quit after the win. I remember Marv Albert reporting on Joe Frazier's KO as Met manager while watching "the likes of Warren Cromartie, Andre Dawson and Gary Carter taking batting practice." I remember the snotty tone in his voice, like who are these guys, they are not worth my time even looking at. Funny, one is in the Hall of Fame, one will probably follow and the third (Cromartie) became a notable character on two continents. You never know...

Mook, this was indeed Torre's first game as manager. The Mets had been swept by the Expos the previous day to fall to 15-30. They responded well to Torre by winning their first three games under him. In fact they were 10-5 under Torre when the stuff hit the fan on June 15 and the team was decimated by the trades.

John Milner had two singles and drove in three runs for the Mets. A crowd of 6,505 can say they were there when Torre started the managerial career that not too many of us thought would wind up like this!

John Stearns hit his first career grand slam. I remember watching this game and I can distinctly remember Bob Murphy's play-by-play exact call, here it is: "And a long fly ball to deep left it's probably playable, Cromartie going back to the wall!, jumps!, and he cannot get it!, it is a grand slam home run! John Stearns connecting for a grand slam, the first of his major league career!!"

This is why this site is so amazing. I recalled going to this DH as an 11 year old, and the only thing I really remembered was that the Mets swept, despite Tim McCarver hitting a pinch-hit solo homer to tie the opener in the ninth inning.

I was at this DH as a 10-year-old, my first ever DH. The Mets had 2nd and 3rd in the bottom of the 10th of game 1 when Joe Torre came up to pinch-hit. Everyone booed when the Phils walked him to load the bases. Gene Garber then uncorked a wild pitch to let the winning run score. In between games they had some remote-controlled WWI planes with Snoopy and the Red Baron fighting it out over the stadium. You can see it in the '77 Mets highlight film. In Game 2 Kingman belted a 3-run HR in the first and that was it. I did not see another Mets' DH sweep until my last DH--in 2000 against Colorado! Nothing but splits or the visiting team sweeping for 23 years.

Torre had just been named manager. Sunday doubleheader was with the first place Phils. Even though the Mets won both games and the fans were hoping that this Met team could build on these wins, you could see and feel that my hero's from 1969 had grown old. Even at 17 years old, I knew that this team was heading in the wrong direction because baseball had changed. Free agency had been born in 1977 and Donald Grant was wrong. Seaver was gone 10 days later.

(Long live The little Blue and Orange Machine.)

I went to this game along with 17,000 other hardy souls. Seaver's last game as a Met at Shea before the disaster. He was brilliant. 10 strikeouts. Struck out Pete Rose 3 times, including to end the game. Only two Reds players got hits (though they managed to total 5 between them). The Mets beat up Cincy starter Pat Zachary for 4 runs, and reliever Mike Caldwell for 4 more. A few days later, Zachary was in pinstripes; Caldwell became a 22-game winner in Milwaukee. Seaver passed Sandy Koufax on the career K list that night; Buddy Harrelson was clapping in his glove out at shortstop when it was announced.

I attended this game. I had been to plenty of games prior to this one. The circumstances surrounding this game were unlike any other game I had ever attended. The rumor mill had been swirling about the impending trade of Tom Seaver. The company my brother worked for had a box on the railing to the right of the backstop screen. I occupied the the first seat unprotected by the screen. To this day, I have never sat in seats that are close to comparable. Seaver passed Koufax that night on the all time strikeout list and his fastball was popping. Sitting so close, you could feel it exploding into Stearns' mitt.

As an added side note, Lenny Randle who was rehabbing his reputation after punching out his manager in spring training (Frank Luchesi) was quite friendly and signed an autograph prior to the game.

Little did I know that Seaver was going to be packing for Cincinnati a week after this game. It was the night he passed Koufax in Ks, and it's still hard to believe the junk the Mutts got in return for him. The beginning of the dark ages at Shea.

What I remember about this game is George Foster hit a tremendous shot, I think that ball is still traveling.

I remember this game well. It marked the end of an era - the Tom Seaver era. Art Howe made the final out in the Astrodome and there was a sense of sadness surrounding the Mets as they knew Seaver had pitched his final game for New York. Just days later, M. Donald Grant sent Seaver packing to the Reds for players such as Doug Flynn, Pat Zachry and Steve Henderson.

I remember watching Art Howe's fly ball settle in Kingman's glove and thinking "They can't trade Seaver,they can't..." The could and they did; two days later, along with Kingman. Art Howe joined the growing line of notable last Met outs (Joe Torre, Davey Johnson) to come back and manage the Mets. What are Kevin Bass and Marty Barrett up to these days?

I just turned 10 years old and remember John Stearns running out to the mound after the last out hugging Seaver saying "Don't go"

People were watching this game less than listening to the radio at the trading deadline (June 15th back then) and afraid for the worst. After midnight, it was announced that Seaver was traded to the Reds for four players and Kingmen to the Padres for Bobby Valentine. The Mets sank into oblivion under Joe Torre for the rest of the 1970's and into the 1980's.

This was the Day that a sportswriter got Seaver traded. I was at a lost. And we got nothing for him. Mets sunk deep into Grants Tomb. Seaver was the face of the team. We grew up with him and he was ours. At 16 I finally learned that the Pen was stronger than the Man. Seaver jealous of Nolan Ryan???????THAT WOULD BE THE DAY.

This was the night of the infamous Midnight Massacre. I was so depressed and felt completely hopeless of anything good coming out of this trade for the Mets. I could not believe this was happening. I was hoping I would wake up the following morning and realize it was only a nightmare! If only it were. This trade marked the beginning of the dark ages which plummeted the Mets into their 7 year tribulation.

The Day After.....

This one I always remember, it was my first ever Met game at the ripe age of 7. Went with my parents and another couple. 2 things I remember most: The banner saying 'Grant has a fever since we traded Seaver' (the Seaver trade was the day before) and sitting on Willie Mays' lap in the Diamond Club. A Met fan was born on this day..

This game was weird. The Mets played bad, well, that's not unusual. But Manager Joe Torre played in his last game, after he already took over the helm. He pinch-hit late in the game. I was hoping that he would hit a home run, but no, he popped out to center. That would've been so cool if the manager won the game at bat. Apparently his managerial career with the Mets was a lazy fly ball to center as well.

Take a look at the box score of this game. It's very interesting. Three Mets managers all played in the game: Joe Torre, Bobby Valentine and Art Howe!

Mark, thanks for the trivia...and when I looked at the boxscore I also noticed that Lee Mazzilli, a current ML Manager, and Bob Watson, a former ML General Manager, also played in this game!

I had bought tickets for this game because Seaver was supposed to start for the Mets. Then The Midnight Massacre happened two days before. I went anyway but vowed not to return until the team was sold or Seaver was brought back. I did not return until 1981. All I recall about the game was sitting there fuming, totally annoyed at the Mets, Dick Young, the deRoulet family and that stodgy, out-of-touch M. Donald Grant for essentially ruining the team. I do remember Torre's last AB. At that point he was the player/manager but his managerial "genius" would not be displayed with this bunch. No manager could have gotten this team to win.

I was at this game with my dad and a friend-- Seaver was supposed to start, but we got Zachry instead. My friend and I decided to make a "banner"--though we could only find a piece of cardboard on short notice--on which we wrote "M. Donald Grant Sucks." As "cute" as it may have been for two 10 year olds holding up such a sign, I am guessing we didn't make it on to the WOR broadcast that night!

33 years later and my feelings have not changed one bit!

This was my first game, I was seven. Mets had an early lead against Astros' pitcher Mark Lemongello, brother of singer, Peter Lemongello. Astros came back to win 4-3. I believe Ed Kranepool and John Milner hit home runs.

This was the first game I ever went to. I remember Ed Kranepool hitting a home run and the Mets blew a 3-0 lead. I was 8. How about those cool rainbow jerseys?

My church youth group was the guest of Mets owner Linda DeRoulet at this game. She gave us box seats at field level right next to the Mets dugout (basically, right next to her) for a game that was practically sold out. It was all under one condition: that we not ask her why she traded Tom Seaver.

The game itself wasn't all that memorable. We wasted home runs from John Milner (off the scoreboard) and Ed Kranepool. Also, John Stearns got doubled off second base on a line drive to the pitcher to end the game. He had managed to reach second base because he tagged up on a pop up to the catcher by the backstop. A very heads up play only to be followed by an elementary mistake. Such was their way back then.

After the game, Ms. DeRoulet took us through the dugout to her private exit (must be nice to have money) and I can distinctly remember seeing Bud Harrelson from two feet away slumped on the bench as if all the life had been sucked out of him. Then again, all the Mets looked like they had the lives sucked out of them.

I knew then that it was the beginning of a very, very dark era. *sigh*

Leaving the stadium, I remember my dad saying "It'll be a long time before I darken this doorstep again." And for him, it was. Also, it was the last big crowd at Shea for a long long time as the post-Seaver era unfortunately began.

My dad and mom were Brooklyn Dodger fans and will forever keep Walter O'Malley in a dark place in thier hears for moving dem Bums to LA. DeRoulet holds that place in my heart.

I had my 13th birthday party with 7 or 8 friends and my mom at this game. We drove up from New Haven, Ct. I remember more about leaving the game and the fans (including me) surly about the loss of Seaver. It was still a fun party. Question: Was it Bat (or some other promotion) Day?

BTW-I don't know what the Mets record was at this point for games I attended, but I know they lost the first 13 I went to.

We sat right behind home plate for this game - I was 8 and 1977 was the first year I started following baseball. I don't remember much about the game other than the mammoth home run Milner hit off the scoreboard in right-center. I don't think I've ever heard a louder crack of the bat in the over 100 games I've been to.

Wow it amazes me that I was 8 and this was definitely my first game as well. Seems like it was for a few. I vividly remember the banner "Grant has a fever 'cause we traded Seaver" Don't honestly remember much about the game but we had good seats.

I was at this game at Wrigley Field, and remember it pretty well as a young Cubs fan. The big play in the bottom of the ninth was a collision in left-center field between Mazzilli and Henderson that allowed two runs to score to tie the game. It wasn't a hard collision - they just got tangled up with each other, both trying to make the catch.

I was at this game. I remember this was right after the mets traded tom seaver, I went with my father, my sister and our friends son and his friends.

This was the first game I ever attended. I was an 8 yr old Mets fanatic. I would get up extra early in the morning just to read the yearbook and look at the pics and imagine what it would be like to play for the Mets.

Anyway, because of transportation issues, my father and I arrived in around the 2nd or 3rd inning. We had tremendous seats - 1st row 3b, right behind Lenny Randle. AMAZIN'.

My most glaring receollections are as follows:

There was a drunk guy sitting next to us verbally abusing Greg Luzinski. Ever time THE BULL ran by, the guy would heckle him. Luzinski had to be restrained from coming into the seats.

2nd: Bob Boone hit a home run late in the game. It was a shot to center. Mazzilli had just come in the game. He was my favorite Met at the time. Anyway, Mazzilli leaped up to try to catch the ball, but somehow his glove came off and fell over the cf fence. I kept bugging my dad to please, let's go, I think I can reach his glove. It's probably in the parking lot.

As with most people, my first game was a day (evening) I'll never forget. The Mets were horrible those years. It didn't matter. I was at REAL game, I was with my dad and life couldn't be better.

I went to this game, but don't remember it. I know I went because going through some old books, I found the ticket stub to this game stuck in one as a place marker. Looking over the box score and play-by-play, it looks like just a typical game with nothing special. Maybe a little bit of excitement in the 9th inning: Mets losing 5-2 with two outs in the 9th, Doug Flynn gets a single and Bruce Boisclair hits a 2 run pinch hit HR to make it 5-4. Then two walks and John Stearns comes up with the game on the line and flies out to LF. But I don't remember any of it.

A couple of other things to note: this was just a couple of weeks after the Seaver trade, so Flynn and Steve Henderson were brand new to the team. Meanwhile, Bud Harrelson only gets into the game as a pinch runner. His Mets days were winding down. And Bobby Valentine playing shortstop?

For some reason, I actually sat through this entire game of two awful team. As the innings started mounting and the crowd started dwindling, I had much time to think about better days for the Mets, particularly 1969 and 1973.

My friends and I went to this game as part of a "Youth on Wheels" bus trip from our home town on Long Island. We were still too young to drive, so the chance to get to Shea on our own was pretty exciting. The game went in to extra innings, and we desperately wanted to stick around to see the outcome, but the chaperones, I guess, had the responsibility of getting us home by dinner time, and were conscious of the bus driver. So much to our dismay, they herded us out of there around the 14th inning. When we got home, we found out that Lenny Randle had won the game for the Mets with a three-run homer in the 17th inning. It was one of very few exciting moments for the Mets in 1977, and we missed it.

I can't forget this game. I made my mother sit for 17 innings. Lenny Rangle won the game with a 2-run homer in the 17th. Lenny was a bright spot in '77.

My parents took me and two friends to this game to celebrate my tenth birthday. Typically when my dad took me to games (about ten total) he'd usually start to get antsy to leave around the sixth inning. He always wanted to beat the traffic from 12,000 or so fans attending Shea. On this occasion (probably because the game was my birthday gift) he let us stay despite the fact he clearly wanted to leave and was becoming more and more agonized with each passing inning. He made it clear at the top of the 17th that this was the last inning we were going to stay for. Thank goodness the Mets won it, and we got to see the whole game (the longest game I ever attended). On the way home one of my friends got sick in the back seat of his VW Beetle. My other friend and I spent the rest of the car ride home standing on the back seat to avoid the mess.

After almost thirty years my memory has played some tricks on me. Before looking this game up, I recalled that Steve Henderson hit the game winning HR (wrong) and I thought the game was 18 innings (wrong).

As memory serves the game winning shot was to left center, but based on my faulty recollections I am not so sure now.

This was a very exciting Mets win over the Expos. After the team fell behind by a run in the top of the eleventh inning, Steve Henderson slugged a leadoff home run against Montreal's Joe Kerrigan in the bottom half to retie the game immediately. Six innings later, Lenny Randle connected for a two-run homer off Will McEnaney to end it. The victory snapped a nine-game losing streak for the Mets.

On Randle's homer, the runner on base who came home ahead of him was relief pitcher Paul Siebert. This was the only run that Siebert ever scored in his major league career. It was also the first of two wins he would record as a Met.

My late father took me and two buddies (one who was a Cubs fan) to this game as a birthday present since it was my 18th birthday! I had my first legal drink at Shea Stadium in the Diamond Club. (In those days the legal age in NY was 18.) We sat in the old RCA box seats that were several rows back from third base. I remember Karl the Sign Man sitting a few rows in front of us. I went up to him before the game and had him autograph my game program! It was almost better than getting a player's autograph! I do recall the Mets winning the game, but I always thought the score was 2-1. This website corrected that error! This is a cool website! I'll be sure to save as a favorite!

The only real memory I have is that this was the night of the 1977 Blackout. After the stadium lights went out, the emergency lights at the exit ramps lit up. Looking out beyond the stadium you could see that the rest of the area was also in darkness.

My father, brother and I waited for a little while to see if the power would be restored. When we were reasonably sure that power wouldn't come back right away, we decided to leave. Since we had taken the #7 train to the stadium that night, we had to find an alternate route home. I remember walking along Roosevelt Avenue to Main Street and then down to Northern Blvd. to catch the Q66 bus back to our neighborhood. The next day I had heard that some of the Mets drove their vehicles onto the field and used the headlights to illuminate the field somewhat so they could entertain the remaining fans with some mock play.

As I research now I see that the lights went out in the sixth inning and the game was resumed on September 16th.

My father, brother and I were seated in loge section 5 when the lights went out with (I believe) Lenny Randle at the plate. In the shadows of emergency lights, we remember Jane Jarvis playing Christmas music on the organ, some players miming a game in the shadows of light provided by cars brought onto the warning track in center field, and M. Donald Grant making an announcement urging calm (just one month after trading "the franchise," Tom Seaver). We waited about an hour and joined a the thousands peacefully easing their way out. I had not heard they finished the game later that September til recently.

Andrew was watching this on TV when the lights, TV, and air conditioning went out. Like a robot, he got up to try and adjust the reception on the TV, not realizing the big blackout had started.

I was in Times Square. Good place to see a blackout hit!

It was the blackout of 77. I was at Shea with my Dad and Brother. Jerry Koosman was striking out the world! He must have had 15 by the 6th inning. Lenny Randle was waiting for a pitch when the lights went out. He later said "I thought the good lord had called me." The announcer said power would be restored momentarily, yet you could see the whole city was out. As we waited, the emergency lights were bright enough for us to watch the Mets dance in the dark to the Christmas music that Jane Jarvis was playing on the organ! You could smell the reefer as people lit up in the dark. It was a peaceful, party atmosphere. What an amazing memory!

I was at the game with two of my friends, Candido and Bernard. I know it's going to sound weird, but I remember just a couple of innings earlier Candido said something to the effect of (and I swear this to my dying day) "I wonder what would happen if all of these lights went out." And, the rest is history. Weird, huh?

I remember it being one of my first games ever going to. I remember when the lights went out everything was calm. They had the cars on the warning track in center and some of the players where on the field horsing around. I can remember also Koosman was on fire.

I hate to say it out of all the memories I have of that game one that stands out is the idiot father of a friend I was with scaring the life out of my friend and I. As soon as the PA announcer said the blackout was city wide he grabbed us and just said a bunch off stuff about how crazy the city was going to be and we have to get out of there as soon as possible and back to Long Island. Why scare kids, I think.

Another memory I have of that game is how when the game was resumed it was part of a doubleheader. They played the last 3 innings I think and then a whole second game. Jerry Koosman pitched in the resumed game 2 innings and the STARTED the second game. Let's see someone do that today.

The best memory of that game I have is in the resumed game doubleheader the second game was delayed by rain. I was able to sneak down near the Mets dugout and Lenny Randle jumped up into the stands and sat there and signed autographs and chewed the fat for about 15 minutes with several fans including myself. As an 11 year old at the time that is something I'll remember forever and tell my grandkids about.

I remember this game like yesterday. I was in 10th grade and went to the game with a gang of my friends. We got Dairylea tickets for $1.00 a piece to sit in the rafters. The game wasn't sold out but we were sitting all the way up just to bust the peanut guy's chops. I saw the lights go out on the bridges first then the rest just went black except for the exit lights. The stadium erupted after figuring out after 10 minutes that the lights weren't coming on. The Mets came back on the field with cars and played a mock game of baseball to keep the fans calm and we were. But the best memory I have is when we left you can hear people rolling the kegs of beer down the ramps but that was it. It was a calm place for the most part.

Wow. This was, I think, the second game I ever went to. What a bizarre night for a 10-year-old kid from New Jersey who had hardly ever even been to New York City.

What fun it was though, with my dad, grandfather, and 7-year-old brother. Never even occurred to me that it could have been dangerous situation!!!

Ironically, I attended a MLB game this night, not at Shea but in Philly. I was 17 and in a summer program at Shippensburg (PA) State College, now Shippensburg University. The college ran a bus trip to the Vet for the Cardinals-Phillies game, and a couple of us NY kids got a bedsheet and made a banner reading, "YA GOTTA BELIEVE, NY STILL LOVES TUG MCGRAW!"

Of course Tug wound up saving a win for Steve Carlton. During the game, the news was flashed on the scoreboard that the Cubs-Mets game was stopped due to a power failure, and this being only a month after the midnight massacre, my immediate reaction was, "What's wrong with the Mets now?" We didn't hear anything about the blackout until the next day.

I was at the finish of this game; my memory was that it was crappy night and after they finished this one, they called the full game. So we went to Shea to see all of three innings of a game that they were already losing!

Ironically, it seems that both SPs were able to resume their role in Sept!

Where would I get a video of this game? Caught a foul ball that Nino Espinosa hit. I was 10 at the time.

This was the first baseball game I took my 8-year-old son to see. It was his birthday and he wanted to see the Mets play. If I remember the game right, there were some old timers who actually played for a little bit, I think Mickey Mantle and a few others. But, our BIG surprise at this event was that we were sitting in the same section as Roy Campanella. He was confined to a wheelchair at that time, but my son did get to go down the few bleachers and meet him. That was a great birthday memory.

This was the first Met game I ever attended. 8 years old and my Little League team coach took us all on a bus to the game. I remember that Kranepool and Henderson hit homers which is how I narrowed it down that this was the game. If memory serves one of the homers was to right the other to left center although I don't remember which player hit which.

I attended this game. My mother worked for the Fire Department at the time, and this was a special event, something like a Fire Department appreciation day, so we got free tickets. I don't remember much about the game(s) except that it was f---ing hot! Like 100 degrees. It was a couple of days after the blackout, and it was hot that whole week. As a matter of fact, it was hot that whole summer. We were sitting in a group seating area and were supposed to be sitting with a bunch of firemen and their families, but it was like we were the only ones who showed up! The rest must have said, "the hell with it. We're not going to sweat to see this crummy team play". I'm pretty sure we only stayed for the first game, then Dad said, "Let's get out of here." We had been to a game with the Expos about a week before and I guess Dad had had enough of the Mets and the weather, because he didn't take us to another game for the rest of the season, though me and my brother went to a few by ourselves on the charter bus they used to run from Staten Island to Shea. He was a Mets fan. I wasn't, but when I was a kid I'd go to any baseball game. I was about 15 years old.

This is one of my worst Met memories. Ed Ott sliding hard into second base and getting into a scuffle with Felix Millan. Ed picked Felix up and basically dropped him on his head. It was awful. Millan never played for the Mets again. What a great clutch hitter he was.

I was also at this game and it was NOT the Ed Ott game. That came later. I remember watching that one on TV and hating Ott forever thereafter!

This was Jon Matlack's 26th and last shutout with the Mets. With two outs in the ninth inning, Matlack struck out Gene Tenace to end it. The game-closing K was Jon's 1,000th strikeout of his major league career.

Isn't it interesting how things can work out so perfectly?

This game typified my wasted Mets childhood -- it was all downhill from '73 (other than Joe Frazier's first year as manager) until Darryl got drafted. Two outs, bottom of the ninth, a two- run lead and Davey Lopes lifts a flyball down the right field line into foul territory. Bruce Boisclair drops what would have been the third out. If memory serves, it was the next pitch that Lopes hit out for a game-winning three-run homer. It just wasn't suitable for viewing by an impressionable 13-year-old.

Sorry, but here is a memory from a 1970's Dodger fan :) This was my very first game I went to, and I'll never forget it!!

Half the fun of going to a ball game at Shea is watching what goes on in the seats/crowd. However, this Saturday was anything but. I was 11 yrs. old and my family and I were sitting in the boxes along third base. The downer was the vomiting fans next to us. I can still see the throw up slowly flowing down the tiers. They were drunk bothering their fellow Mets fans and the usher refused to do anything about it, even though these drunks were ****ing up a great ball game. A Mets loss, but good years were around the corner. Nice memory, huh?

My first Met game and they won it for me. At least that's what I thought at the time. I think it was Mazzilli drilling a single past Steve Garvey that finally won it. I'm lucky they won it in the 14th, because my parents weren't going to wait around at Shea for many more innings. What a thrill.

My sole memory of this game is that Pirates' pitcher Odell Jones provided not one, but two things that got shown on an episode of "This Week in Baseball" In the early innings, Jones stumbled off the mound in the middle of his windup and fell on his back. He later threw a pitch that was so far off the plate that it looked like it was going into the dugout. Jones recovered quickly from these embarrassments and tossed a complete game for a solid win over a crappy Mets team.

This game marked the sad end of Felix Millan's major league career. He hurt his shoulder in a fight with future Met Ed Ott and did not play the rest of the season. Before the 1978 season, the Mets sold his contract to a Japanese team.

Ed K: Ed Ott never played nor did he ever coach for the Mets

This was the game when Felix Millan was body slammed by Pirates catcher Ed Ott during a brawl. The injury ended Millan's career.

Millan would return to play in Japan, and was actually the first Western player to participate in the grueling winter training his Japanese team (among others) demanded of their native players.

Interesting about this game is that Millan didn't start, but had just been switched in.

The day the King died, Elvis Presley died :'( and I was devastated. So glad the Mets won today :)

Mike, this game was actually played one day before the death of Elvis Presley. The Mets built up a 7-0 lead over the first five innings on this night in St. Louis. John Milner led the scoring attack with a pair of two-run doubles. Craig Swan pitched scoreless ball over seven frames before the Cardinals got to him in the eighth. Bob Apodaca then struck out the side in the ninth to close it out.

I was around nine years old and I believe we were driving home from a family trip to Hershey PA. I recall my father trying to get the game in as we moved homeward towards NJ. I remember being somewhat interested as the Mets were playing well in it and they got something started in a inning when I believe it was either Station Identification or Bob Murphy mentioning the death of Elvis Presley. All I remember is my mother frantically changing the channel looking for news while sobbing. I had just started being a Met fan "what a time aye?" and wanted to hear the Mets rally. And protested in the back seat demanding my mother put the Mets back on. My mother with satan in her eyes looked back and me and told me to SHUT UP about the STUPID METS!!.

It was the only time I can ever remember her yelling at me like that which is why this sticks out so much. I mean who the hell was Elvis to me at the time? Certainly no Lee Mazzilli!!

I remember this game as being the first start Seaver had against the Mets ; (at least at Shea), since he was "given" away to the Reds. My dad and I had field box seats behind 3rd base. What a sad day for Met fans. It was so strange to see "The Franchise" pitching against the Mets. It just did not seem right. It was as if I had a nightmare, but unfortunately it was all too real.

Seaver vs. Koosman. They both pitched very well, but of course Seaver faced the weak Mets lineup while Koosman had to deal with the "Big Red Machine." The Mets pulled Jerry in the 8th to a standing ovation by the big crowd. He deserved it. He got even with Seaver in a rematch the next summer. They both pitched well in that game too.

How strange it was to actually root HARD for the other team that day. I remember that Koosman volunteered to start so the other pitchers would not have to deal with the pressure.

If I'm not mistaken, both Seaver and Koosman were on Kiner's Korner after the game, possibly the only time a player from both the winning and losing team were on the Korner. Seaver doubled off of Koosman and that was all he wanted to talk about.

After the game, their two respective families were to get together for a BBQ. I remember thinking how cool and gracious Koosman seemed.

I don't remember much about this game except that this was Tom Seaver's first game against the Mets at Shea. I had asked my dad to take me because Seaver was my favorite Met (still is) and I was very upset by the trade (I cried), I remember cheering him but of course once the game started rooting for the Mets of course!!

This was my big sister's wedding day, and I kept coming back to her dressing room to check on the score! I seem to remember that in one of the innings Seaver walked off the mound and accidentally headed towards the 1B side, instead of the visitors' dugout on the 3B side.

I don't remember much as I was 7, except that it was my first time to see a game and really remember my grandfather really hating Pete Rose. I only remember walking towards the stadium and trying to keep score with my mom. I still have the score book with what I had written, which is how I found the game. I remember they lost... I am now researching it and realize that it was Seaver's first game back in Shea. I know we had these tickets long before the game so this must have been quite an exciting coincidence for my grandfather and the other adults.

I remember how sad it was. Koosman went on short rest because he really wanted to go against his old friend. Seaver beat him at the plate with a hit, but Koos took Tom to the warning track with a long fly ball. I remember thinking how cool it would have been if it went out.

What I recall best is how it ended: a perfect pitch, fastball low and away to Ron Hodges for a called 3rd strike. Nowadays, only relievers, since renamed closers, are playing that role. It was actually a normal Seaver effort, but made a bit easier facing for the first time the anemic lineup he never had the pleasure of pitching against hitherto, instead having been one of its prime victims. Bitterness and revenge are not Seaver characteristics, but it was Justice Day at Shea.

This was my first baseball game, I was 5 1/2. Marc got sick and I went instead. I want with Mike and Michael Friedman and my dad. I don't remember much about the game but I was told all I did was look at the scoreboard and all game said "Mr. Peanut man, can I have some peanuts" and I was told that I might of played you show me yours and I'll show you mine. I was only 5. What memories

I went to this Sunday afternoon game with my friends. The day before, we went as well, and one of my friends caught a foul ball. I was jealous of how close I came. Then, on Sunday the 4th, as luck would have it, I catch a foul off the bat of Len Randle (pitched by Phil Neikro). I still have the ball to this day, and have never come close to catching another baseball at a game.

This doubleheader was a make up game from Friday night, Sept 16th. It poured. I think there was a black out in New York that night.

Only 3,372 people attended this Tuesday night game. They saw John the Candy Man Candelaria pitch a complete game in two hours and 15 minutes. The game started at 8:05 pm and ended about 12 hours after my birth, which also took place in Flushing. I became a Mets fan in 86 and didn’t realize I was born at the beginning of the dark ages for the Mets until I saw their 25th anniversary video when it came out.

I remember that Maz bailed out of the game after his first inning double, so he could finish the season with a .250 average! Were we starved in the 70's or what? Nevertheless, Maz was the man, and I used to emulate his "basket catch" as a teen. Of course he got it from Willie Mays who my Dad calls the greatest ever!