Tom Seaver took his first spin around the new Mets museum shortly after it opened at Citi Field, and it was like riding shotgun on the best baseball carnival ride ever. Seaver wept as he saw footage of Gil Hodges. He beamed as he watched himself strike out Willie Stargell, urging his much younger self: “Smudge that knee, son.”
There was, of course, video of Seaver’s single most elegant game as a professional: July 9, 1969, 25 Cubs up and 25 Cubs down, before Jimmy Qualls blooped one to left, the one smudge on Seaver’s Imperfect Game.
I asked him, as the video showed the final out, Seaver being consoled over his one-hitter by Jerry Grote: “Does it bother you that the only no-hitter you ever pitched came in Cincinnati?”
And Seaver’s answer was a curious one.
“Sure. And I’ll never get over how close to perfect I was that night in ’69. But it’s funny: Every year, last game before the All-Star Game, Yogi [Berra, manager from 1972-75] would throw me, [Jerry] Koosman and [Jon] Matlack to make sure we all got work before the break. And I remember us talking a few times about what a kick it would be for the three of us to pitch three innings each, all of us with our best stuff, and team up for a no-hitter.”
He smiled, shrugged his shoulders.
“Baseball is the ultimate team game,” he said. “Why not no-hitters?”
It’s funny, too. The last year Seaver, Matlack and Koosman made it to the All-Star break as Mets together was 1976. On July 28 of that year, Blue Moon Odom (five innings pitched) and Francisco Barrios (four IP) of the White Sox had teamed up to walk 11 Oakland players, but not allow a hit in a 2-1 win. That was just the fourth time in baseball history a no-hitter had been thrown by more than one pitcher.
(The first one, rather famously, came on June 23, 1917. Babe Ruth of the Red Sox walked the Senators’ leadoff man, Ray Morgan, and got ejected for protesting balls and strikes. Ernie Shore came in, Morgan was caught stealing on his very first pitch, and Shore then retired 26 batters in a row in a 4-0 Boston win.)
So Seaver’s dream scenario was, in the moment, genuinely far-fetched. If pitchers threw more pitches in those decades, they also would sooner be voluntarily shot at sunrise than hand the ball over during a no-hitter.
Well, Friday the Mets threw the second no-hitter in team history, about a month shy of the 10th anniversary of Johan Santana throwing the first. Santana’s was a gritty battle, 134 pitches in which Terry Collins suffered over each of the final 35 or so. It almost certainly shortened Santana’s career. Friday the Mets used five pitchers — Tylor Megill, Drew Smith, Joely Rodriguez, Seth Lugo and Edwin Diaz.
And if it may seem a new, and maybe unwanted, phenomenon that pitchers now handily pass the baton in these kinds of games (Clayton Kershaw recently abandoning a seven-inning perfect game at 80 pitches was the most recent bit of testimony), well, the 32,416 who were at Citi Field Friday — 8,000 more than the night of Santana’s gem — didn’t mind a bit. It was still quite a scene.
“Put it this way,” said Mets radio voice Howie Rose, who has a way of putting Mets history in perfect perspective, “Santana was 1969. [Friday] night was 1973. Still lots of fun.” And if Rose leans toward old-school baseball sensibilities, he still captured the awe of the moment in his call.
“Santana’s was unique and dramatic for so many reasons,” he said. “I will admit, though, that even though [Friday] night’s game didn’t have all of that going for it, my stomach was really churning in the eighth and ninth. The crowd had a lot to do with that, too. The fans have been absolutely stoked. They are all in on this team and they have created a great atmosphere at the ballpark.”
Seaver never did see his dream of a SeaMatKoos no-hit threesome. And he couldn’t have known in 1976 that within 40 years that kind of thing would be almost a norm. Four times it happened through ’76; Friday was the 13th since then. And, surely, not the last.
Vac’s Whacks
It isn’t as easy a decision as some think it is, because whatever you think of Robinson Cano, teammates have always admired him, and that counts for something. Still, if by the end of business Sunday, the Mets choose to keep him and demote Dominic Smith, that would officially be the first genuine misstep of a fun new era in Flushing.
Joe DiMaggio (and Mickey Mantle) used to joke about what a “negotiation” with a Yankees owner would look like, and they both smiled, extended their hands and said, “Hiya, partner.” Funny stuff. What’s less funny is thinking about Kyrie Irving walking into Joe Tsai’s office and saying, “Hiya, partner.” Because that sounds very, very real.
I hope Sean Marks spends at least five minutes every day wondering how different his team might be if he’d only had the courage to keep Kenny Atkinson as his basketball coach.
“This Is Us” remains essential TV, and there aren’t many shows that can say that right up until their final curtain call. Bravo, Dan Fogelman.
Whack Back at Vac
Richard Siegelman: Great Mysteries of the Universe (No. 7): How can Nic Claxton miss 10 of 11 unguarded free throws while calmly standing 15 feet away from the basket, while Chris Paul can make 14 heavily guarded field goal attempts while running up and down the court ?
Vac: I’d dare say I’d put my money on CP3 if Claxton challenged him to H-O-R-S-E, around-the-world or simply a free-throw contest.
Alan Hirschberg: So in the end, the Knicks won the same number of playoff games as the Nets did.
Vac: Don’t think that irony’s been lost on the denizens of Penn Plaza.
@drschnipp: Did Curtis Sliwa throw out the first pitch for the first-ever Guardians-Angels series?
@MikeVacc: Given the way the Angels buried the Clevelanders in that four-game sweep, they might’ve kept him around to be the long man in the ’pen.
Stewart Summers: After a first-round playoff sweep, Brooklyn Nets fans are probably wishing the Boston Celtics had held onto Kyrie Irving, Evan Fournier and Kemba Walker.
Vac: Here’s the deal, Stew: You find me a Nets fan living in the boroughs, I’ll ask him or her that question.