The New York Mets and New York Yankees celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Subway Series, beginning with two games Monday and Tuesday in the Bronx, followed by a pair at Citi Field in Queens.
Since Dave Mlicki’s memorable first game the Mets and Yankees have played 108 regular season games. The Yankees have won 62 and the Mets have won 46 games (the Yankees also won the 2000 World Series, 4-1).
It was August 2001. The Seattle Mariners were flush with confidence. This was their year, finally.
After taking two of three at Yankee Stadium, and six of nine during the regular season, the Mariners packed up and assured the New York clubhouse attendants they would see them again – in October.
Dickie Thon described it this way: “It was like a boom … a dead sound. Like a thud.”
Today, the boxscore reads HBP (hit by pitch) but, for Thon, it was more than that. The Astros All-Star shortstop had been hit by a pitch major league pitches four times prior to April 8, 1984. No. 5 — a fastball by New York Mets pitcher Mike Torrez — fractured Thon’s orbital bone around his left eye, changing his life and career.
It’s the final weekend of July. Baseball season hits the “dog days” of summer and the highly-anticipated trade deadline on Monday at 4 p.m. (edt).
I started the week by writing about what I believe will happen to some of our favorite Mets players at the deadline.
It’s been a busy week. Let’s recap what you might have missed and get you caught up.
It’s just past 10 p.m. (edt) and I begin toggling through the channels looking for the New York Mets and Seattle Mariners game. I pass by the short schedule of West Coast games — the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Diego Padres, Minnesota Twins and Oakland Athletics — before I reach my destination.
Welcome to Safeco Park.
As I lean back on the sofa, I think to myself: How many baseball fans are interested in this game? I mean, really, outside the hardcore Mets and Mariners fan bases. Is this what former MLB commissioner Bud Selig had in mind when he convinced every major league team owner that interleague play was good for the game? Was he envisioning a late-July Mets/Mariners showdown to generate new fans and higher attendance?
I think not.
Howard William Cohen was labeled by peers, sports fans – even some allies – as arrogant, pompous, obnoxious, vain, cruel, verbose and a show-off.
Cohen, known better as Howard Cosell, agreed with every one of those infamous personal adjectives. In fact, Cosell embraced the name-calling and coveted the attention, for better or worse. The more emotional viewers would get, the more Cosell felt reassured he was doing his job.