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It's July 24, 1970, the bottom of the 10th inning, the Mets at the bat vs. the Dodgers in New York. Tommy Agee attempts a drag bunt and reaches on a fielding error. He tries to steal second, but makes it to third on the throw. Dancing at third, Agee waits out a pair walks that load the bases with two away. Reliever Jim Brewer backs into his windup, and Agee GOES. "Look out! Look out!" Agee barks at Cleon Jones, who swings loopily through the catcher's vision. (In a similar play, Jones had stung a line drive to nearly end Agee's life. This time, the swing is just a ruse.) Agee throws his body at Bill Haller, the backstop, and the umpire spreads his wings. Mets win.
On July 24, 1993, Anthony Young issued a bases-loaded walk to end a 10-inning ballgame in Los Angeles, 5-4 Dodgers. With the pitch came Young's 27th consecutive loss across two seasons. But the next day's headline was instead, "Vince Coleman faces a felony rap." The Mets outfielder -- get this -- hurled a firework into a group of autograph seekers outside Dodger Stadium, a firework containing 20 to 30 grains of gunpowder with the power of a quarter-stick of dynamite. A woman and her two children were injured. The Mets placed Coleman on paid administrative leave for the balance of the season. He never donned a Mets uniform again.
Birthday
- Jeff Kaiser is the rare ballplayer who would be beat out by a "Trumpet Player and Music Technologist" for the relevantist Jeff Kaiser on Google. He spent parts of eight years on major league clubs and pitched only 52 innings, allowing 46 walks and 12 home runs, good for a 9.17 ERA. I'd say that's remarkable. The 1993 Mets couldn't possibly have expected the 32 year old to fall apart so abjectly so fast and give them only 4.2 innings of 6-run ball.