NY N 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 x - 3 2 0
BATTINGLos Angeles Dodgers AB R H RBI BB SO PO A
Parker 1b 3 0 1 0 1 0 6 0
Versalles ss 4 0 1 2 0 2 0 0
Davis cf 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 0
Fairly rf 4 0 1 0 0 1 2 0
Lefebvre 2b 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 2
Haller c 4 0 1 0 0 1 13 0
James pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Colavito lf 4 1 2 0 0 1 1 0
Alcaraz 3b 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Gabrielson ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Popovich 3b 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Singer p 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 2
Fairey ph 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Regan p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 34 2 9 2 1 8 24 5
BATTING -
2B: Lefebvre (3,off Seaver); Fairey (1,off Seaver); Colavito (1,off Seaver).
Team LOB: 6.
BASERUNNING -
CS: Davis (1,2nd base by Seaver/Grote).
New York Mets AB R H RBI BB SO PO A
Harrelson ss 4 1 1 0 0 1 3 1
Weis 2b 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
Jones lf 4 0 0 0 0 3 2 0
Shamsky 1b 1 1 0 0 2 0 6 1
Swoboda rf 2 1 1 3 1 0 4 1
Agee cf 3 0 0 0 0 3 2 0
Charles 3b 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 2
Grote c 2 0 0 0 1 1 9 1
Seaver p 3 0 0 0 0 3 1 0
Frisella p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 25 3 2 3 4 12 27 8
BATTING -
HR: Swoboda (3,6th inning off Singer 2 on 2 out).
SH: Weis (1,off Singer).
IBB: Grote (3,by Singer).
Team LOB: 3.
PITCHINGLos Angeles Dodgers IP H R ER BB SO HR BFP
Singer L(1-2) 7 2 3 3 4 12 1 27
Regan 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
Totals 8 2 3 3 4 12 1 30
IBB: Singer (3,Grote).
New York Mets IP H R ER BB SO HR BFP
Seaver W(1-0) 8.2 9 2 2 1 8 0 34
Frisella SV(2) 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Totals 9 9 2 2 1 8 0 35
Umpires: HP - Ed Sudol, 1B - Lee Weyer, 2B - Bill Williams, 3B - Tom Gorman
Time of Game: 2:22 Attendance: 19938
So, what's all this nonsense shown above? Lots of names and numbers that appear to resemble a baseball box score that really doesn't format well on this blog. Sorry for the disarray, but there is a method to this messiness. And a little meandering is also required.
The box score shown above is noteworthy in my life history as it was the very first Met game I attended on the Saturday plan tickets that I had in Shea Stadium until its closing last season. Ironically, it was a New York Met win over the....ta da....Los Angeles Dodgers and don't think that symmetry has not escaped yours truly. It was a crisp contest, played in less than two and a half hours with barely 20,000 fans in the seats. I've written ad nauseum here and in other published forums of my Saturday plan. But, there is another historic benchmark coming your way.
Saturday, May 30, 2009. The Mets are playing a home afternoon game at Shitty Field vs. the Florida Marlins. Because of the convoluted way that the Mets now construct partial plans, I don't have tickets for this game.
This would be the very first Saturday Met home game that I didn't have tickets to since 1967.
Another tree falls in the Len forest.
Ending of traditions, however symbolic, got me thinking to how some started. My mind first wanders back to the box score puzzle shown above. My companion for that very first Saturday Met game was my very best friend growing up. Leo who "lived up the block." Ironically, it was not the first time we had ever gone to a baseball game together. That would have been the previous season. A Saturday, July 1 Met 6-4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. The very first time I went to a baseball game without my father. What two kids our age were doing taking a 90 minute subway ride from Mount Vernon to Flushing is still beyond my level of education. But, there we were---straphanging like pros. Hal Reniff was the winning pitcher in relief and we sat next to some Puerto Rican drunk in the mezzanine. He kept yelling at Lou Brock. Fun times.
Since Leo was a Yankee fan, I was more magnanimous in those days. We did our own personal home-and-home series. Later that month, I went with him to Yankee Stadium. Saturday, July 29. Yankees vs....gasp, the Kansas City Athletics. A 6-2 loss for the Pinstripes. Fritz Peterson was the starting pitcher for the Yankees and he'd go home to a wife who he ultimately traded to another Yankee pitcher several years later. Leo and I sat in the first row of the field level behind first base. A great view, but we eventually found us covered with a swarm of gnats. More fun times.
There would be more games over the years. And last Friday night, 3000 miles away from where we grew up, there was one more.
After an odd day of rain in Los Angeles, the clouds around Chavez Ravine virtually kissed the hills surrounding the stadium. A truly beautiful sight. And a good time was had by all, as it's always phun to phuck the Phillies. A two out rally in the bottom of the ninth upended the World Champions and their now-beleaguered closer Brad Lidge. 
Dodgers Win! Randy Newman's anthem is played anew. Fireworks light the sky. And it is baseball as it ought to be. Two friends enjoying it the way they used to be.
Except now there are two welcome additions to the group. Leo's sons, Joseph and Vincent, here adorned with spanking new Dodger caps purchased with a discount from my Dodger Season Ticket membership card. Earlier in the evening, I had jokingly called them "Ricky and Fred." They had no idea who I was talking about. Time really doesn't stand still.
And life itself doesn't stand still either. When Leo asked me during the game who I rooted for when the Mets were recently in town to play the Dodgers, I didn't flinch with an answer. "The Dodgers." Games and team allegiences can come and go. Good friends stick around for life. Dinner last night: Super Dodger Dog and onion rings at the game.
2 comments:
Beautiful - the photos are gorgeous, the memories are priceless, thanks for sharing a slice!
It's amazing how you manage to remember all that detail to games played 40 years ago. Wouldn't surprise me it you still had the scorecard from the games. BTW, the boys love their caps.
15thavebud
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