Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

When you think of the most memorable postseason moments in Mets history, doubles don't immediately come to mind. There have been no "grand-slam doubles" or walk-off doubles that would rank among the best-of-the best, and there have been a few postseasons bereft of any really important doubles. But we're here to recognize the underappreciated, and with that, as a companion to what we previously wrote , we present our notes on those that were most Metmorable. 1969 Go figure that the first really, really significant double in Mets postseason history was hit by a pitcher, and one who finished his career with an .095 batting average. But in another of the many signs that 1969 was just meant to be, Gary Gentry, who was 6-for-74 with 52 strikeouts in the regular season, helped his own cause with a two-run double in the second inning of the eventual 5-0 win over the Orioles in Game 3. It's an oft-forgotten hit, lost in the heroics from Mets centerfielder Tommie Agee that

The magazine Mental Floss does a feature in which they find the inaugural references to phrases within the New York Times. That seemed like a cool thing to do, so I did it for "walk-off." The problem is that entering that phrase didn't guarantee the results I wanted, but it provided some interesting findings, which I'll share here... Indians Calmly Walk Off February 19, 1887 edition The Jicarilla Apaches left their reservation in southern New Mexico for one in southwest Colorado. "Trouble between the Indians and the settlers is anticipated," the newspaper reported. Headline: Gen Walkoff Resigns As Sofia War Minister January 3, 1929 edition Apparently the Bulgarian Minister of War, General Walkoff (first name not given, unless it's 'General') and the premier of Bulgaria had a disagreement regarding Walkoffs feelings about a group of Macedonian revolutionaries (Walkoff liked them, the premier didn't). In return, Walkoff was named Minister to R

The Mets have hit nearly twice as many doubles as they've hit home runs. They've launched, blooped, popped and lined 11,179 in regular season play over their 48-year history. We didn't want to get rankled by another set of rankings, so we're going to go rating-free on this list- the most Metmorable regular season doubles in team history. We'll follow up with a look at the best ones from postseason play in the near-future. Enjoy. The First (April 11, 1962) The first Mets double was hit by the first Mets shortstop, Felix Mantilla, in the Mets first game on April 11, 1962. It came against Cardinals pitcher Larry Jackson with one out in the seventh inning and the Mets trailing, 10-4. Mantilla was also the first Met to draw a walk, which he did in the third inning of that same game, and the first Met to be the last out of a game, a grounder to third base two innings later. True Metophiles know...The 1,000th double in Mets history was hit by Jerry Grote in Game 2 of a dou