1986 Mets - Happy 20th!!

[burythehatchet]

What a great set of memories that came rushing back last night. The Mets had a reunion of the '86 championship team.


http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060819&content_id=1618842&vkey=news_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym



NEW YORK -- As much as any team of any town at any time, the Mets of 1986 were conspicuous by their presence. They certainly were that individually, with Keith and Kid, Doc and Darryl, Nails and Knight, et al. As a group too; a team from New York, winning two-thirds of its games. How could it be anything but conspicuous?

[Reverend_Smitty]

1. That was one hell of a ball club

unfortunately the lifestyles of the key players couldn't support playing at such a high level for long...if only Doc and Darryl could keep their noses clean, what could have been...

[rocktivity]

2. From a Village Voice article I have framed and on a wall

The last time (Boston) came into New York needing to win one of two games was...1949... when they led the Yankees by one with two games to go. That time they lost. This time the story was different.

Finally.

...(T)hat's the one word that sticks....(A)...Red Sox team finally won a World Championship for the first time in almost three quarters of a century...(and) the way they did it forever rid them of the "chokers" label that's hung around their necks since 1945, when Enos Slaughter...(scored) from first on a single to give the Cardinals a 7th game Series victory...

The bottom line was (manager's) John McNamara's strategy...(H)e said..."Normally, with Buckner on base, we pinch-run for him"...(S)o when Buckner failed to get on base in the top of the tenth, it was he, rather than defensive replacement Dave Stapleton...who limped out onto the field.

The second guessers...started to whine like police sirens...when the Mets put together a string of singles...(Relief pitcher) Bob Stanley...hadn't had a good October...or September or August...but Mac had faith in him...(Mookie) Wilson fouled off a couple of tough pitches...(and an) inside slider...(nearly became) a wild pitch that would have scored the tying run.

...At last, (Wilson) squibbed a grounder to Buckner, playing deep behind the bag. Buckner's weary legs may betray him, but his hands are sure...when he picked it cleanly and threw a strike to...Stanley, the years of waiting were over for the Red Sox (and their) fans...Finally.

I was fighting back tears and getting ready to change the channel when I saw the grounder go though Buckner (but the truth is, he didn't get his glove in front of it soon enough). I stood there paralyzed because I honestly thought I was having some kind of psychological hallucination!

:headbang:
rocknation

[Captain Hilts]

4. Stanley didn't break towards the bag. Buckner wasn't going to ...

beat Mook to first, not from the position he was in. Mook was one of the league's fastest to first, especially from the left side.

[Reverend_Smitty]

6. quite possibly the best "too much time on his hands" project ever!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UDoSc-fRpg

[NNadir]

10. The Mets had already tied it when the ball went through Buckner's legs.

n/t

[Captain Hilts]

3. That's my man Mook!!!!!! nt

[burythehatchet]

5. let me just say (in Bob Murphy's best , most excited voice)

they're not saying BOOOOO, they're saying MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKIEEEEEEEE

[PDittie]

7. Jeff Passan's column (not sure he's a Mets fan)

over at Yahoo Sports:

“Had Lo Duca played with us, it wouldn’t have even been a footnote,” says Bobby Ojeda, and by “us” he means the 1986 Mets, baseball’s boozers, users and, according to legend, feline abusers. ...

In those two decades, the headlines have trumpeted drugs, drink, steroids, rape, spousal abuse, suicidal thoughts, prison, bankruptcy, sexism, sexual harassment, DWI, battery, animal cruelty and, yes, gambling. The most famous stemmed from Dwight Gooden, unable to make the reunion because he is imprisoned in Florida, and Darryl Strawberry, who just Thursday sent his RSVP after the Mets prepared for a no-show because of a money dispute. ...

The Yankees were staid, their pinstripes like button-down collars. The Mets were arrogant. They recorded “Get Metsmerized,” a cheesy rap song boasting their greatness, in the season’s first month. They were boorish. Veterans Danny Heep, Jesse Orosco and Doug Sisk nicknamed themselves the Scum Bunch, and their job was to indoctrinate the young players with diets of booze. They were miscreants. Ojeda, Ron Darling, Tim Teufel and Rick Aguilera were arrested outside of a Houston club called Cooter’s for beefing with off-duty cops working as bouncers. ...

And who can forget Kevin Mitchell? He allegedly beat up his girlfriend in 1989, was arrested in 1991 on suspicion of rape (charges were dropped), was arrested in 1999 for punching his father because he didn’t pay rent, was kicked out of the Western Baseball League in 2000 for punching Solano Steelheads owner Bruce Portner and, according to Gooden’s autobiography, once beheaded his girlfriend’s cat.

Well, then.

[Captain Hilts]

8. EVERYONE says the cat stuff about Mitchell is NOT true.

And Gooden claimed he didn't write it.

Those were Reagan's macho 80s...

[burythehatchet]

9. My embarassing 1986 Mets story

I thought the series was over. The Mets would fall to the Sox in 6. I was sad and turned off the gam in the 7th inning. IIRC the next day was a Saturday or Sunday. I woke up very late an went to the Supermarket to get a few things for brunch. I was standing in the line at the checkout and glanced down to see the front page of the newspaper. There was a picture of the Mets celebrating. I thought to myself for a second..."no frickin way".

I picked up the paper and felt like a complete idiot for having turned the game off.