On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Captain C
The third set of photos from the Hall of Fame’s Plaque Gallery
Tom Terrific was my first favorite Met. I was lucky enough to see him pitch in his original stint with the Mets at my first-ever Mets game (I was 5 years old, it was 1976). What I’ve remembered all these years is, he pitched, they beat the Pirates 6-2, Dave Kingman and Ed Kranepool hit home runs, and ’69 Met Duffy Dyer caught for the Pirates. In other words, about as Mets a first game as I could get. Of course I was a broken-hearted 6 year old the next year when that awful, penny-pinching M. Donald Grant traded him the next year. He remained one of my favorite players until his retirement.
Fireballer Randy “The Big Unit” Johnson, one of the greatest (and tallest, at 6’10”) left-handed pitchers every to play the game and current sports photographer. Also seen: Dame N’s hands paying tribute to the bird he exploded with a fastball, which he may be better known for than his 5 Cy Young Awards (should have gotten a 6th in 2004), his World Series ring, and his 100 mph heat. He has a sense of humor about this, as the insignia for his photography company (his current gig) is a dead bird.
CliosFanboy
As a lifelong Cincinnati fan,, that 1977 trade was one of the few highlights of a dismal 1977 season, along with George Foster hitting 52 homers.
J.
@Captain C, I think my first Mets game was right after the Mets traded Seaver. We (my father and I) were guests of M. Donald Grant, and I remember there being a sign that read “We’re all buried in Grant’s tomb.” (My father was a stockbroker, and I’m pretty sure Grant was a client/friend/golf buddy.) I think the Mets lost that game, but I received a ball and became a Mets fan for life.
randy khan
Ah, Tom Terrific. What a pitcher. And also in some ways the first bit of good luck the Mets ever had – they acquired the right to sign him in a special lottery after the Commissioner of Baseball ruled that the Braves (ha!) had violated the rules by signing him after his college team had played two exhibition games.
I remember watching the 19-strikeout game on TV. He also set a record for consecutive strikeouts in that game, getting the last 10 batters in a row to reach 19.
FelonyGovt
My first Mets game at Shea Stadium was a Tom Terrific gem which the Mets won 1-0. Great ohotos, I went to the Hall of Fame once but it was before his induction.
Captain C
@CliosFanboy: Compared to the Mets season that year, the Reds’ was positively fantastic. Of course, y’all were used to winning the division every year at that time.
Captain C
@FelonyGovt: Thanks! With Tom Terrific, you always knew you were in for a gem of a game.
SFAW
Seaver was my (and my brother’s) favorite Met ever. [Although I had some minor faves before him.] My daughter — who has never lived in NY, but is a big Mets fan — was crushed when he died.
Shit, I’m starting to get misty, just thinking about him. And fuck Donald Grant and fuck Dick Young.
Captain C
@SFAW: I wish I’d gotten to meet him in person, shake his hand, and tell him he was my first favorite Met.
Also,
Thoroughly seconded.