Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

Answers to the Bob Gibson quiz posted on November 9, 2007. Questions here: http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2007/11/our-special-bonds-hoot-and-holler.html 1) 2 with a Mets connection with 5+ HR vs Gibson. Those who hit 5+ HR against Bob Gibson comprise some pretty noteworthy names (like Billy Williams and Willie Stargell). But you probably wouldn't have figured that Deron Johnson (1981 coach) and Richie Hebner (1 year of Mets misery) would make that list. 2) The 1969 Met who struck out 37 times in 74 AB against Gibson . Donn Clendenon couldn't hit Gibson at all, and fortunately never had to face him in 1969. 3) The future Met with the first walk-off HR against Gibson. It was hit by ex-Dodger (and one-year Met) Tommy Davis. 4) Mets relative whose error cost Gibson in a 1-0 loss . The miscue was made by Ruben Gotay's uncle Julio and I'm guessing if Ruben had ever faced Gibson, he'd probably get plunked just for that. 5) Who did Gibson hit the most? It shouldn'

Jose Reyes hit a walk-off two-run HR to give the MLB All-Stars a 5-3 win over their Japan counterparts, allowing MLB to sweep the series from Japan for the first time since 1935. As much as I'd like to, I can't count this in my Mets walk-off database, but if I had decided to include this sayonara (Japanese word for "walk-off") hit... * It would have been Jose Reyes' 2nd walk-off hit since coming to the major leagues, with the first coming in a 1-0 win over the Astros on April 13, 2005. * It would have been the first walk-off involving a Met that we know of to take place on Ed Kranepool's birthday (November 8) * It would have been the first walk-off HR by a Mets shortstop since Kurt Abbott hit one against the Orioles on June 8, 2000. * It would have been the 4th walk-off HR by a Mets player during the calendar year (excluding other exhibition games) * It would have been the first time that a Met hit a walk-off 2-run home run to win a game by the score of 5-3.

Those who have clicked on the "Table of Contents" link (right hand side) in the past have probably grown rather frustrated, because it hasn't been updated since last winter. That has changed. The Table of Contents is now updated for all posts. Check it out here http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2005/07/table-of-contents.html

Over the past couple weeks, I added a few things to my Mets memorabilia collection. I finally broke down and purchased a signed photo, nicely framed, of the last moment of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series , signed by Mookie Wilson and Bill Buckner. I had held off on doing so for a long time because I considered it a little tacky. But then I heard Bill Buckner say that he put his kids through college with the money he's made from memorabilia signings, and I wanted to encourage them to continue their education. I bought my 3rd and 4th McFarlane figurines , adding Mike Piazza and Carlos Delgado to the set that previously included David Wright and Tom Seaver. I got sucked in by a website banner ad and paid for the New York Times commemorative baseball magazine , titled Amazin', an 80-page special edition featuring replicas of old newspaper pages related to Mets history. Lastly, a colleague was kind enough to provide me with something unique- a card on which he took notes about the M