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Trip(le) Through Time

In their illustrious history, the Mets have had one 'Triple Crown Winner,' so to speak and I'm not talking about the typical meaning of the term.

I've gotten some queries recently as to whether a walk-off triple is even possible and I'm here to tell you that it is. There has been one, and only one, in Mets history, though I don't have the full explanation of circumstances that I would like. It took place against the Phillies on September 10, 1970.

This was a marathon game that would have fit in perfectly with those having taken place so far this season and allowed the Mets to maintain a temporary hold on first place in an NL East race oft forgotten in team history.

It went 14 innings, with a tinge of controversy in a negated Ken Boswell home run, a thrilling play by Bud Harrelson, who stole home in the third inning, and some stellar relief pitching, in the form of five scoreless innings from Danny Frisella, aided by Tim McCarver getting thrown out in a rundown between third and home in the visiting 14th.

The score was even, 2-2 (respectable efforts from starters Jerry Koosman and Jim Bunning) in the home 14th when Tommie Agee snapped an 0-for-13 skid with a base hit. Wayne Garrett struck out, bringing Cleon Jones to the plate.

Sadly, I don't have much description to explain what happened next, other than that Jones, already sporting an 18-game hit streak, hit a Joe Hoerner pitch into the right center gap and Agee, known for speed, came all the way around to score. Jones was credited with a triple, so he must have been right on Agee's tail.

The logical explanation would be that Agee held up to see if the ball was caught, than had Jones right behind him as he raced around the bases. That makes the most sense because had Agee known the ball wasn't going to be caught, there's no way that Jones would have made it all the way to third base by the time the winning run scored. The newspaper reports I read don't describe this fully, so unless one of our readers would like to help, it shall remain a mystery for now.

True Metples know...The Mets have never won on a walk-off catchers interference, walk-off passed ball, walk-off error by either the second baseman, catcher, or right fielder. They've won once on a walk-off hit by pitch and once on a 3-RBI double. They've also won 25 times on a walk-off double and once on a walk-off double/E8 combination.

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