I used to watch every single Mets game on WOR channel 9, unless the game was on when I was in school. I had nuns for teachers back then - you didn't cut class if you wanted to live - trust me. Those Sisters of Mercy could hit harder than Al Weis, that much I can tell you. The convent had some real clean-up hitters. Anyway...
The first time I ever went to Shea Stadium, I was taken there by my uncle, "Big Tom" Brennan, after whom I was named. He wasn't Uncle Tom, and he didn't own a cabin - no, he was Big Tom. I was the growing, but still shrimpy, Tom version.
Not on that day, but my uncle (who lived in nearby Jackson Heights) used to bring a 6 pack of beer when he went to Mets games back then. He was a huge Mets fan, and attended lots of games at Shea back when few people did. No one hassled him about sneaking in the 6 packs.
Two months earlier, on May 26, 1964, the Mets trounced the Chicago Cubs in the Windy City 19-1, with 23 hits, before a sparse gathering of 2,503 fans, so there was almost a run scored per fan.
I wondered if this game might be a franchise turning point, when the Mets would finally start to be good. Nope. Check back in 5 years, kid.
They did not score much in contests after that game, at least until the doubleheader my uncle and I went to. It was a Braves doubleheader, on July 26, 1964. It was a big crowd - nearly 32,000 fans.
The Mets actually scored a lot that day.
The Braves, though, scored a lot more.
The Mets lost both contests, 15-10 and 11-7. I had a blast - I enjoyed every one of those 43 runs - even though we lost as usual - we ended the day, through Mets game # 100, at a painful 30-70 - but boy, did we score a lot that day! 17 runs!
Trust me, I was one happy offense-starved 10 year old.
Met Killer Rico Carty did what he did best, of course - HIT!
He had 5 hits, 2 HRs, and 8 RBIs in the doubleheader. With that 5th hit, the righty slugger was hitting .342 on the season. He scared me when he went to the plate. .342 hitting opposing players can do that to a kid.
The second game was really exciting, as the Mets trailed 7-3 after 6, then scored 7 in the 7th to take a 10-7 lead, but allowed the Braves to score 4 runs in each of the 8th and 9th innings to bury the Amazins. The Mets' Larry Elliot smacked a pinch 3 run homer in that very rare 7-run rallying 7th inning, but even the 20 hits they had in game 2 weren't always enough for the Mets to win a game in those days.
Heck, Hall of Famer Warren Spahn threw the last 2 innings for a save, and had a hit too. Why did he relieve, you might ask? Simple.
The Mets chased him to an early shower in game 1, and unlike today, when that starter would then get an obligatory 4 days of rest, Spahn got 4 hours rest and relieved in game 2. Of course, he tried to steal a base, like any 40+ year old might, and got caught stealing, too, did that Mr. Warren Spahn, making the mistake of trying to run on the laser arm of catcher extraordinaire Jesse Gonder, who it must be noted hit over .300 in a part time role for the Mets that year.
Sure, the Braves had Hank Aaron, Joe Torre, and Eddie Matthews, three Hall of Famers who combined for 1,514 HRs and 4.935 RBIs (wow), and some other fine hitters, like Lee Maye, who cracked 44 doubles that season, and Denis Menke.
But they also had Rico Carty.
Rico, you see, was a Met Killer with the bat. How so?
300 career at bats, 114 hits. Do the math.
That's .380. THREE EIGHT ZERO.
Including 21 doubles, 15 HRs, 67 RBIs, 44 walks, just 39 Ks.
In his MLB career, he was .299/.369/.464.
He hit over .300 seven times, including one season where he led the NL, hitting an awesome .366 with a .454 OBP. All that got him was 10th in MVP voting. "No respect!", I could imagine myself hearing the great Rodney Dangerfield say. (Rodney loved the Mets - check this video out):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPYMvUsyOcQ.
No, Rico never got as much respect as he deserved, in my opinion. For instance, as a rookie in 1964, he hit a superb .330/.388/.554 - and only came in 2nd in rookie of the year voting! SMH. "Hey, he was only number TWO! That stinks - like number 2!", I could almost hear Rodney complaining.
He was one of the guys in the line-up when future Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan debuted as a Met at age 19. Ryan got Aaron out, Torre launched one off him, and Carty? Ryan's first career walk, as I recall. Eddie Matthews played, too, and the feared Felipe Alou also hit against Ryan in that game.
Imagine Ryan facing that incredible slugging Braves team as a 19 year old making his Mets debut. Wow. Imagine if you told those Braves that day that Nolan would still be pitching 27 years later in 1993 and own baseball's all time strikeout record. They would have thought you were nuts.
Anyway, I always feared the bat of one Rico Carty. He wasn't a Hall of Famer. He sadly didn't do enough in his 30s to pull that off.
He was a Met Killer, though. I saw it first-hand that day, on July 26, 1964.
P.S. I wrote in 2014 about that Ryan game - an excerpt follows:
4 comments:
I am sure it was only a coincidence that this came along a few years later:
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) of 1970 seeks to strengthen the legal tools in evidence gathering by establishing new penal prohibitions and providing enhanced sanctions and new remedies for dealing with the unlawful activities of those engaged in organized crime.
OK, OK, no more Rico Carty-as-villain articles. From now on, only Ed Kranepool articles.
Back when men were men and oh boy do I miss those days when I took the subway to games and probably spent 5 bucks for the day.
Gary, as the owners and players skirmish, two things are for sure - ticket and concession prices will remain sky high, and owners and multi-season players will be filthy rich.
They love the fans - as long as they pay up.
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