Anatomy of a Franchise: New York Mets, Part V: Grant's Tomb

The above picture is Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia circa 1974.

1974 was a big transition year for me. For the first time in my 29 years I was venturing out of the safety net of the New York City, Connecticut, and New York state area and venturing into new, uncharted Philadelphia Phillies territory down the New Jersey Turnpike to Exit Four, better known to most as Cherry Hill.

We actually didn’t live there but close enough so that when people asked me where I lived, that was the most recognizable. Later, after just a few months there, it became simply known as South Jersey which in reality is a state all of its own.

Unlike North Jersey that has a healthy selection of New York Mets fans, in 1974 there was only one New York Met fan in South Jersey: Me. And here I was starting a new job, in a new area still only 90 miles away, that seemed like another continent.

South Jersey starts just below Trenton, goes east to the Jersey Shore to Seaside Heights, and south to Cape May. It is completely, 100 percent Philadelphia fans in every sport out there and maybe some time, somewhere in the future during football season, I will tell a similar story about the Eagles, but for this series the Phillies ultimately play a pivotal role in my life.

The Mets were coming off a pretty surprising season ending to 1973. The won the National League Pennant beating the Big Red Machine and went to Game Seven of the World Series before losing out to the Oakland Athletics.

Hopes and aspirations were high for the Mets and I was as excited. In those days being a fan was just that. I believed everything I read and I saw nothing but positives in the world around me. (Are you listening  both Nicks and Mike Kent?)

The Mets were good the year before so why think they would be anything less.

Here’s their 1974 opening day lineup.

1.   Wayne Garrett    3B

2.   Felix Millan        2B

3.   Rusty Staub        RF

4.   Cleon Jones        LF

5.   John Milner        1B

6.   Jerry Grote          C

7.   Don Hahn           CF

8    Bud Harrelson    SS

9.   Tom Seaver         P

Not a bad lineup. Nothing scary like a Big Red Machine, but pretty solid offensively with a sound defense, and the pitching staff of Seaver, Koosman, and Matlock—that wasn’t too shabby.

Should have made a pretty decent year, yes? NO! The Mets finished with a 71-91 record and a fifth place finish.

The “Big Three” were terrible. Seaver went 11-11, Koosman went 15-11, and Matlack was 13-15. Tug McGraw went 6-11 in relief with three saves.

Cleon Jones had the highest batting average for the starters at .282 and John Milner lead the team with 20 home runs and 70 runs scored. Rusty led the team with 78 RBI’s. The team just plain stunk.

I had the misfortune not to travel back to the NYC and see Mets' home games at Shea and that began a 20-year period where I only made five trips to see the Mets at Shea Stadium. 

However, I had the opportunity to go to over 100 games against the Phillies and others at Veterans Stadium which I’ll say at this point in time was one of, if not, the worst baseball parks to watch a game that I have ever attended.

As bad as it was, it was still a chance to watch my team for better, and mostly worse, at this time as a visitor in a foreign land.

The Mets got off to a terrible start that year and never recovered. By June 1 they were eight games below .500 and by the All-Star Break they were 13 games below and done for the year. I went to two games that year with Ellen and I wondered if her streak would now continue on the road as well.

The first game was on June 22, and even then some faithful Met fans would travel down from the city but nothing like it would be in the mid-'80s when the Mets got back on top.

The Phillies took a 5-0 lead into the fifth inning and the game was over. Mike Schmidt had a hit, Larry Bowa had three, and Dave Cash had two.

I could tell then that they had the makings of a special team but that would really come into play during the next five years. The final score was 5-2. We didn’t talk on the way home.

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