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This article was originally published in SABR’s The National Pastime, Winter 1985 (Vol. 4, No. 2).   Back in the days when I could claim my local race track as a dependent, I always played longshots. Understand, a longshot wasn’t a horse that just might finish ahead of the field—a good longshot was a splendid […]

In early 1970, when I was a freshman at St.John’s University, I went to Shea Stadium to purchase tickets for Opening Day. As I walked toward the ticket office, I noticed a lot of refuse strewn around the parking lot, including one large piece of green plywood sheeting lying face down on the ground. It […]

The platoon system that became legend for the 1969 Mets was not in place when the team broke camp. The team’s offense was porous enough—and personnel and needs shifted often enough—that manager Gil Hodges essentially used a different lineup combination every other day. Rule 5 pick Wayne Garrett was the 25th man on the roster […]

In the Spring of 1908 a young songwriter and vaudeville performer named Jack Norworth was riding on a New York City subway (or, in some tellings, an elevated train) when he saw an advertisement for a Giants game at the Polo Grounds.1 Inspired by the image, he pulled paper and pencil from his pocket and […]

In this centennial year of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” here is a close look at the melody of what for many fans represents the musical embodiment of the national pastime. Composed in 1908 by Albert Von Tilzer, with words by Jack Norworth, this song famously captures the essence of baseball as experienced […]

In seven seasons of futility, the New York Mets had never won more than 73 games in a season or finished higher than ninth place in the National League. With the 1969 expansion, plus divisional play, the team was guaranteed to finish no lower than sixth place. Led by manager Gil Hodges, in his second […]

Keith Hernandez of the New York Mets had three five-hit games from August 8 to October 3, 1985.1 The third game in this stretch occurred in the finale of a three-game set with the St. Louis Cardinals, whom the Mets were battling for first place in the National League East. After winning the first game […]

Two high-striving National League clubs – the NL East-runaway New York Mets and NL West-contender Houston Astros – clashed to open the league’s second half in 1986. A weekend of stellar starting pitching, dueling rallies, and even a headline-seizing barroom brawl culminated in a 15-inning struggle at the Astrodome on July 20. The Astros’ controversial […]