They are throwing a parade on Tuesday for Pittsburgh's newest sports heroes, the Super Bowl champion football team that plays in that city, and they are a rightfully deserving group. But we're going to throw our own little parade here, paying tribute to another of Pittsburgh's finest for a walk-off of a rather impressive nature. I'm referring, of course, to the game between the Mets and Cardinals that took place on July 9, 1964, a couple of weeks in which Shea Stadium was witness to a feat that, while not quite as amazing as the 23-inning game that took place a little more than a month prior, or as impressive as Jim Bunning's perfecto a few weeks hence, was worthy of high acclaim. The Cardinals would eventually prove to be parade-worthy themselves, and on this day, they jumped on Mets starter Al Jackson for two first-inning runs and handed the ball to lefty twirler Curt Simmons, a pitcher whose reliability earned him two World Series starts that October. Simmons had
A blog devoted to cataloguing New York Mets walk-offs and other trivia. For those unaware of the definition of walk-off just replace the term with the words "game-ending" and you should have a much better understanding of the phrase.