Skip to main content

To The Moon(man)

A year ago, on the 50th anniversary of NASA, I wrote about the Mets win on the day of the moon landing.

http://www.metswalkoffs.com/2008/07/moon-shots.html

So I need a new hook for today...

There seems to be entertainment in the story of Greg "Moon Man" Minton, so we'll venture in that direction. Turns out, according to his bio on baseball-reference, that Minton earned his nickname after getting sunburned while playing for a minor league team in Phoenix. His manager, Rocky Bridges, said Minton's body had more craters than the Moon.

Moon Man's baseball claim to fame is that he once went 269 innings between allowing home runs. Then, he allowed two within a one-week span while with the Giants. Both came against the Mets.

John Stearns hit the first, and it came with some controversy, in Game 1 of a doubleheader on May 2, 1982. Instead of being a three-run game-tying home run in the eighth, it was a two-run shot that left the Mets a run short (thanks to an ump's disputed call of a fair/foul situation that turned into a Giants DP). The Mets would end up losing by a run, with Minton getting the save by retiring Rusty Staub for the final out.

Minton wouldn't be as fortunate the next time around, on May 9. Again, the game came down to him against Staub, with the score tied and two outs in the home ninth.

The Mets pinch-hitter extraordinaire was not at the level that we became used to during the latter part of his career. He was in an 0-for-16 funk.

The newspapers described Minton's 1-0 pitch as a sinker that didn't sink, and Staub broke out of his slump by hitting one to the moon, for his first home run of the season.

It was Staub's first walk-off hit as a Met since 1974.

True Metmen know...Minton's other claim to fame is that he gave up the last walk-off home run hit by a pitcher. It was hit by Padres lefty Craig Lefferts on April 25, 1986.

Comments

Anonymous said…
You have some excellent writing skills. I own and operate http://www.thereedreview.com.
We are looking to expand into baseball and are looking for bloggers. If you are interested please respond for more info.
matt.reed@thereedreview.com
3:23 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The best Mets ejections I know

When you think of the Mets and famous ejections, I'm guessing you first think of the famous Bobby Valentine mustache game, when after Valentine got tossed, he returned to the dugout in disguise. You know it. You love it. I remember being amused when I asked Bobby V about it while we were working on Baseball Tonight, how he simply said "It worked. We won the game." (true) But the Bobby V mustache game of June 9, 1999 is one of many, many memorable Mets ejection stories. And now thanks to Retrosheet and the magic of Newspapers.com , we have a convenient means for being able to share them. Ever since Retrosheet's David Smith recently announced that the Retrosheet ejection database was posted online , I've been a kid in a candy store. I've organized the data and done some lookups of media coverage around the games that interested me post. Those newspaper accounts fill in a lot of blanks. Without further ado (and with more work to do), here are some of my findings ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The 'Duca of Earl (and walk-offs)

If I told you that the Mets had just obtained a guy who is a career .316 hitter with runners in scoring position? How about if I told you that the Mets just traded for a hitter who has consistently ranked among the toughest in baseball to strike out? Or if I mentioned that the Mets just dealt for a player who was selected to the NL All-Star team the last three seasons, with the last honor coming via a vote by his peers? So, although he's on the down side age wise, his throwing arm isn't as good as it used to be, and he doesn't provide much power, there are a lot of good things that Paul Lo Duca brings to the New York Mets. For example: He'll sacrifice his body for the good of the team The Dodgers and Braves squared off on August 23, 2002 and Lo Duca made an impact both on the start and finish of this game. Three pitches after being dusted by Greg Maddux, Lo Duca made him pay with a first-inning home run. The Braves rallied to tie the game, 3-3 in the ninth, but their bu...
8 comments
Read more

Been There, Won That

The Dodgers had 19 hits in their loss to the Mets on Thursday night in a game that, no offense (pardon the ironic pun), was excruciating to watch for many, many reasons, none of which I feel like getting into at this hour. Willie Randolph summed it up in his press conference afterwards, saying simply "It's not fun!" I wonder if Tom Hanks, Alyssa Milano, Ray Romano and Kareeem Abdul-Jabaar (all in attendance) stuck around for the finish? I do wish to note briefly, again with the aid of Baseball-Reference, that the last time the Dodgers had 19 hits and lost a game, it was to the Mets. The difference between that game and this one was that this contest, of May 24, 1973, lasted an interminable 19 innings., with the Mets winning, 7-3. Rusty Staub's fifth hit of the game drove in the go-ahead run. Ken Boswell added an RBI single and Ed Kranepool salted the game away with a two-run double. Some other noteworthy anecdotes from a quick box score gleaning: * Like Thursday's...
9 comments
Read more