National League Standings, September 30, 1962
METS FANS SHARE THEIR MEMORIES OF THE SEPTEMBER 30, 1962 GAME:
K. Butler
May 16, 2003
This was an unfortunate day for the Mets. In this, the worst season in modern-day baseball history, the Mets actually had a chance to win the season series against the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs did not have a great team by any stretch of the imagination that year, as witnessed by the fact that the Mets beat them 9 times, but there is no doubt that the Mets wasted a golden opportunity there. Well, that's my take on that game, which was won by the Cubs. Of course, if anyone has anything else to say, they are more than welcome, since I wasn't born until 1984. Oh well, Cubs All The Way!
Bob P
January 31, 2004
The final game of the first season...and how about this for typical: Joe Pignatano (who would later become a Mets coach under Gil Hodges) hit into a triple play in the 8th inning. It was the last major league at bat of Pignatano's career.
In an unrelated incident in Tampa, Florida, Dave Magadan was born on this day.
Ed K
August 27, 2005
Piggy's triple play was the first-ever hit into by a Met. It happened in his last MLB at bat in the 8th inning. He hit a Texas League fly to shallow right that Cubbie secondbaseman Ken Hubbs made a great catch of and threw to Ernie Banks at 1B who threw to Andree Rogers (the SS) covering 2B. Ashburn and Drake were the baserunners caught off 1B and 2B. Hubbs, of course, was Rookie Of the Year and a Gold Glover in 1962 but died tragically in a small plane crash in Utah at the age of 23 just before Spring Training started in 1964.
Ed K
May 22, 2008
One other item of note: It was the final game of Richie Ashburn's Hall-Of-Fame career and Casey started him at 2B. Ashburn had been solely an outfielder for fifteen years until Casey had let him play an inning or two at 2B late in a game earlier in the month. Ashburn retired and became a Phillies announcer for decades until dying of a heart attack while in NYC for a Mets- Phillies series.
Frank Nathan
August 1, 2020
The Mets' last game of their first season had quite a grand finale within itself. In the eighth inning, Sammy Drake and Richie Ashburn got consecutive singles before Joe Pignatano hit into a triple play in the final at bat of his career. It was also the end for both Drake and Ashburn, neither of whom ever appeared in the major leagues again. This is the only triple play in which each one of the three men out was playing his last career game.
Now it's your turn! Tell us what you remember of this game:
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The Mets suck! Smith made three errors in this game, and hit into a
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