Ultimate Mets Database - Memories of Pete Falcone

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Mets
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Pete Falcone
vs. the Mets

Pete Falcone
vs. Other Teams

Memories of
Pete Falcone

Pete Falcone
Ultimate Mets Database popularity ranking: 162 of 1233 players

Peter Falcone
Born: October 1, 1953 at Brooklyn, N.Y.
Throws: Left Bats: Left
Height: 6.02 Weight: 185

Pete Falcone was the most popular Ultimate Mets Database daily lookup on December 4, 2005, December 11, 2019, December 12, 2019, and July 4, 2021.

First Mets game: April 11, 1979
Last Mets game: September 29, 1982

Cousin of Joe Pignatano

Share your memories of Pete Falcone

HERE IS WHAT OTHER METS FANS HAVE TO SAY:

Steve
What always worried me about Pete was his tendency to give up big home runs to non-power hitters. I remember calling one of them. The Mets were leading in a game against the Reds at Cincinnati, and the mighty Hector Cruz came up to bat with two men on. I said to my brother, "This guy's going to hit a home run." On the next pitch, Falcone grooved one, Cruz hit it out and the Mets lost the game. I believe it was Cruz's only home run of the season.

MetWop
December 19, 2000
I remember him as a mediocre pitcher, but I'll tell you something...with pitching in the state that it's in today, this guy would be a 5-million dollar man in the present-day market. Look at his combined 1981-1982 records: 13-13 W-L record, 266 innings, 157 strikeouts, ERA in the low 3.00's. That's Cy Young material in 2000!

Ron
June 29, 2001
Aside from being a mediocre pitcher on the late 70,s/early 80,s Mets (come to think of it, werent all their pitchers pretty mediocre during that time?), I seem to remember Falcone becoming a born-again Christian. Nothing wrong with that, except that it's a little bit disconcerting to hear one of the members of your team's rotation saying things like "If God wanted me to throw strikes, He would let me". Yes, he actually said that when he was pitching.

Joe Figliola
September 14, 2001
The first time I saw Pete Falcone was on a Saturday Game of the Week on NBC in 1975 (those were the days) and he was MOWING down hitters. He had something like six strikeouts in the first three innings and looked very, very good.
As a Met, however, he seemed more of a thrower than a pitcher. I think he relied too damn much on striking guys out. A good example of this was the Mets-Phillies game in 1980, when I think he struck out the first six or seven batters in the game, and he still lost because the equally mighty Luis Aguayo hit a home run off him.
He seemed more at home as a spot starter/reliever. In 1981, he had his best year.
Throughout his time with the Mets, Pete was a pretty good hitter. I scored a couple of games of his in 1979 and he finished with a lifetime 1.000 mark (2-2). But he just couldn't seem to turn the corner as a consistent starter.

Mr. Sparkle
October 5, 2001
Pete played in the dark days of Metdom. These were the days when you had to defend your status as a Mets fan. The bandwagon jumpers had long left Shea and only the true believers remained. I just remember anytime Pete pitched I was expecting another loss. I had zero confidence in him and he did nothing to prove me wrong. I could never understand why he was a pretty good pitcher before becoming a Met and a real loser with them. When ever you talk about lousy players over the years, Pete's name always comes up.

Mike Michela
November 19, 2001
My grandfather owned a driving school in Bay Ridge Brooklyn. One of Pete's close family member maybe his wife were getting lessons. Pete found out that I was a Met fan and sent me an autographed picture saying "Jesus loves you and so do I." I still have this picture somewhere. It was possibly around 1982 when Pete had a beard.

bosslarry40
April 28, 2002
I remember thinking "why are we trading for the only pitcher in the league that we can beat?" The Mets owned him when he pitched against them. They took him out of circulation and offered him up to all their opponents so that they could get fat on his pitches.

Larry Burns
June 3, 2002
Pete was a major reason the days were so dark at Shea. I remember one story where Pete was a born again Christian and he basically took bad outings in a "Whatever the Lord wants to happen will" attitude. According to the story, the Mets pitching coach (not sure who it was) told Pete he had to throw more strikes. Pete replied, "It is up to the Lord." The coach got so pissed he screamed at Falcone, "Ask the Lord if it is ok to throw strikes!" I guess it is a little blasphemous, but pretty funny.

Jonathan Stern
November 10, 2002
It was Jim Frey who had that exchange with Falcone.
The Mets were numbingly bad in the late 70's and early 80's. But with so many weak players on the team, I remember Falcone standing out in particular. The game was over even before he threw his first pitch. He never was able to simply get three outs. It was always an adventure just to get through an inning. Plus, on a team full of bad pitchers, he, more than anyone else, looked the part. Falcone starts today? Game over. In a way, I have a certain fondness for the guy. Like certain other Mets, he made bad pitching almost artistic. I can't believe he would have been any better today. Those steroids-swallowing giants would have rocked him off the mound before the end of the first inning.

Astarita
December 24, 2002
Pete Falcone had a great arm, and a great knuckle curve. An injured arm in the late 70's along with poor pitching coaches, and a low team morale and esteem limited the maturity of a great ball player.

JONNYMAC
October 28, 2003
I was sitting behind home plate the day that Pete Falcone struck out like 8 of the first 9 batters. I remember he had a great knuckle-curve.

Adam
February 10, 2004
I seem to remember that Falcone would always pitch great in September... just when his contract was up! He would go like 3 or 4-0 in September

Feat Fan
February 17, 2004
Ok, my 15 minutes of fame. I grew up in Brooklyn and played a small amount of ball at Tilden HS. I wasn't very good! We had a pitcher named William Pierce, a catcher named Joe Feeney and a ss named Willie "Mickey" Randolph. We played against Mazzilli, Falcone, Lincoln, Lafayette HS.
We are trailing Falcone 13-1 in the 6th inning. I get up and bloop a double to left, my one and only hit in my HS career in 11 at bats. (.091)
Falcone went to Kingsborough Community College for a while and vowed no knowledge of this. He refused to admit that the Great Goldman get the best of him!

Bob P
February 17, 2004
Adam, you are probably remembering 1981 more than anything else...in '81 Falcone was 3-0 in September. Unfortunately in his other three seasons with the Mets he was a combined 4-7 from September 1 through the end of the season.
But you are definitely right: his win/loss stats show that he was much more effective with the Mets after August. In four seasons he was 7-7 from September 1 on, but he was only 19-30 prior to September 1.
But I guess when you finish your career with a record of 70-90, a stretch of 7-7 would be considered a major success!!

Kiwiwriter
June 28, 2004
The headline on his story in the 1979 scorebook was "Mets hopeful home cooking will fatten Falcone's record." He nearly starved.
I took a girl on whom I had an unrelieved crush (she looked like Carly Simon) to a mid-week day game Falcone pitched. Her first ballgame. Lee Mazzilli led off with a home run. Falcone had a no-hitter going through five innings, then lost it. I don't remember how the game came out, but I struck out with the girl, too.
Another mound disaster for the Mets.

Bob P
August 10, 2004
I just located the game that Joe Figliola nad JohnnyMac were referring to in earlier posts.
It was May 1, 1980 when Falcone tied the modern major league record by striking out the first six batters of the game. Some pretty good hitters, too: Lonnie Smith, Pete Rose, Garry Maddox, Mike Schmidt, Greg Luzinski, and Bob Boone. He retired the first nine he faced but gave up a two-out, two-run homer to Luis Aguayo in the fifth inning, and that was all the soon-to-be-world- champs needed with Steve Carlton on the mound. The Mets got one back on a bases-loaded walk by Elliott Maddox in the seventh, but Tug McGraw came in to retire Lee Mazzilli as well as the next six batters and the Phils won the game, 2-1.

Bob Cervelli
September 1, 2004
My memory of Pete Falcone: We both delivered papers for Mr. Idanza in Hewlett, New York. Pete and I attended Franklin Elementary School in Hewlett, New York.
Him and I would stuff our bicycle bags full of newspapers and head out on our paper routes. Pete could "toss" a paper better then anyone I had ever seen.
I also remember the painted rectangular box on the side of the elementary school where he would spends hours pitching balls into that box. Then one day he up and moved into the city. I found out he was pitching professionally.

Tommy Falcone
May 11, 2005
I have never seen Pete pitch, but my dad has. I am Pete's cousin. My dad has always told me that he used to watch him all the time. He even stayed with Keith Hernandez (or so he says) but I believe my dad because baseball has been in my family for a long time. I wish I could have seen my cousin pitch.

Bobby Guli
July 10, 2005
Thanks for the memories! Always admired Pete while playing on opposing teams at both the Parade Grounds and Canarsie High School. Being a pitcher also he had an amazing knuckle curve. Pete, you made us proud ! You truly blessed me watching you pitch!

Feat Fan
July 12, 2005
Tilden HS here, home of Willie Randolph and we went up against Pete without much luck.
He could throw hard and the girls loved him!

chopper
September 24, 2005
I remember being young and in high school. One of our outside coaches, Paddy Amedure took me to Kingsboorough Community College to watch and I ended up having Pete throw me some pitches in full gear. I ended up going to Kingsborough a few years later and played with Pete's cousin, Neil Falcone.

John Simone
April 19, 2006
I played ball against Pete in college and met him while with the Mets. I do remember TRYING to hit him in college (which is one of the reasons I started to study harder and seek a more stable career) I'm not a Met fan but I do remember what a dismal bunch of years those were for them. Give the guy a break; their all-star selection was John Stearns who had NO hr's while falcone had 1 one season.

Gary from Chesapeake
February 25, 2007
What I can say about Pete Falcone is that his son is serving in the U.S. Navy and he is a fine young man. His parents can be very proud of him. He says that his dad now owns a catering business in Louisiana.

Mike M
April 20, 2009
I played at KCC a few years after Pete. Pete would come workout before going off to big league camp, and I would catch and run sprints with him. Pete had a gifted arm, but he under-achieved as a player. One thing I can say is Pete was an all star as a person, never forgot his friends and teammates. I remember being a freshman in HS when Falcone was a senior at Lafayette HS. All anyone talked about was Falcone, and never a bad word. It was all about the smoke he threw! I was crapping my pants when we had to play against him. We lost to him 6-5, and Lafayette went on to win the City Championship while we sat home. Later when I met him at Kingsborough I told him the story. We have been friends ever since. An All Star in my book!

Jimmy Dresch
February 18, 2011
I have a lot of fond memories of Petey. I, too, played at Kingsborough CC, I was a freshman in 1976, and he'd just finished his first year in the major leagues. He decided to work out with our team over the winter. As Chopper noted earlier, KCC's assistant coach, Paddy Amedure, ran those winter workouts--like it was Marine Corps boot camp. LOL Petey tried to stay with us, but after a week or two, he finally took a break, and said "Even the World Champion Reds don't work this hard." He was right. He was a great guy, and truly UNHITTABLE in High School and College.

Golden Bear 92
June 13, 2011
Loved the guy's heart!
In his first year with the Giants, didn't he have a no-hitter going, maybe into the 7th? Some kind of fight broke out, delayed the game, then he went back in a gave up a hit?
I can't find a reference to this anywhere.

Mr. Roboto
July 12, 2011
Golden Bear, here's some information I found on the baseballreference.com website. On May 6, 1975, Pete held the Braves hitless for the first six innings before giving up a single to Dusty Baker leading off the seventh. He completed eight innings and got the win in a game won by the Giants, 7-1. Former Mets Buzz Capra and Gary Gentry pitched in the game for the Braves (Capra was the losing pitcher.) However, I did not see anything about a fight breaking out at any time.

Golden Bear 92
August 18, 2011
Loved the guy's heart!
In his first year with the Giants, didn't he have a no hitter going, maybe into the 7th? Some kind of fight broke out, delayed the game, then he went back in a gave up a hit?
I can't find a reference to this anywhere.

Golden Bear 92
September 18, 2012
Loved the guy's heart!
In his first year with the Giants, didn't he have a no hitter going, maybe into the 7th? Some kind of fight broke out, delayed the game, then he went back in a gave up a hit?
I can't find a reference to this anywhere.

Bob P
December 27, 2012
Golden Bear, you have a terrific memory!! The game you are referring to took place on Sunday, June 22, 1975 in Atlanta. Falcone, who was 21 years old, had allowed two walks and no hits through 7 2/3 innings and the Giants led, 5-0. here is what Retrosheet says happened next:
Correll walked; 1B Montanez taps baserunner Correll on butt which led to fight (main event Lum vs. Montanez); B.Williams ejected Montanez; ONTIVEROS REPLACED MONTANEZ(PLAYING 1B); GILBREATH BATTED FOR SADECKI; Gilbreath singled to center [Correll to second]; Garr singled to pitcher [Correll to third, Gilbreath to second]; Perez grounded out (first unassisted).
Falcone then allowed two runs in the bottom of the ninth and Gary Lavelle came on to get the final out as the Giants won 5-2. The losing pitcher in that game for the Braves was Blue Moon Odom!

Bill Crandall
October 12, 2013
To all Mets fans ...
I remember Peter when he lived in Hewlett, LI, NY. He was 13 and I was 17. Was dating his sister Rosemarie at the time, who immediately dumped me when her "real" boyfriend, Louis, came back from Vietnam. Never even attempted to get to first base with Ro, out of respect for Lou, but she and I had fun hanging out together at the local bowling alley and such until he came home. I was no "Jody".
But along the way, every day, I would see Peter pitching balls in the street (Hamilton Avenue, I think) and telling me that someday he would be pitching in the major leagues. Made me laugh at the the time, but not now given his 10-year MLB success (a long run for a pitcher.)
So, Congrats Peter. You did what you said you were going to do, and that's a lot more than I can say for most people I know today. Best, Bill Crandall

Chez
November 8, 2021
My brother Rob has said that he was Pete's catcher for a time when Pete lived in Hewlett and we lived in North Woodmere. Rob graduated from Hewlett High in 1973. Was Pete playing for the high school team in 1973 before moving on to Lafayette? I am thinking it's more likely they were a battery at Woodmere Junior High North, but maybe at Hewlett High, too?

Bruce
September 2, 2022
I remember him as a guy who was great for the first four innings and would then get shelled when he went through the other sides lineup for the second time.