Ultimate Mets Database: Game of September 14, 1996

HH
August 20, 2004
A true piece of Mets history: Todd Hundley's 41st HR of the season, putting him in the record books for most HRs in a season by a catcher. The previous record was held by Roy Campanella and the record would once again be broken by Javy Lopes in the 2000's.

Hundley should have been a franchise player with NY. Too bad the Piazza-at-first experiment wasn't tried then.

Mike D.
May 13, 2007
I have very fond memories of this game. I took my then 9 year old nephew to see his first baseball game. Todd Hundley had been stuck on 40 home runs for about a week and seemed to be getting frustrated. He came up in the 7th with 2 men on and the Mets down 5-2. Bam! Batting lefty, he drilled an opposite field shot over the wall in the left field corner (off of future Met Greg McMichael) to tie the game. I think they played a video on Diamond Vision right after he circled the bases, showing each of his 41 home runs.

The Mets eventually won in the 12th on a Lance Johnson single and we raced back to Staten Island to celebrate my sister's 30th birthday. All in all, a great day.

My nephew became a big New York baseball fan that season, though even the excitement at Shea on that sunny September afternoon couldn't save him from being pulled over to the "Dark Side." Oh well, I still love him.

Dave VW
August 28, 2023
One of the first "classics" from the Bobby Valentine era. The hapless Mets beat the World Series-bound Braves in 12 innings, with Hundley setting the home run record by a catcher. Like HH mentioned, it would by Javy Lopez -- who was Hundley's counterpart in this very game -- who would eventually break his record with 42 HRs in 2003. Todd's 41 homers also stood as the Mets record until Pete Alonso had 53 in 2019.

It looked like this was shaping up to be another disheartening loss, too, as the Mets trailed 5-0 entering the 7th inning, and had only mustered 3 hits to that point. Steve Avery, making his first start in 2 months and his last against the Mets as a member of the Braves, was very sharp ... but he had hit his pitch-count limit and had come out of the game. In the 7th, with 2 outs and the bases loaded, Bernard Gilkey hit a 2-run double when LF Jermaine Dye had the ball bounce off his glove when he tried to make a diving catch, and then Hundley followed with his clutch home run.

The Mets bullpen, featuring such household names as Mike Fyhrie (making his ML debut), Rick Trlicek and Derek Wallace, held the Braves scoreless over the last 8 innings of the game, helping pick up Mark Clark, who only lasted 3 innings -- his shortest outing of the season. After the Mets loaded the bases with nobody out but failed to score in the 11th, they finally broke through in the 12th. Matt Franco led off with a walk and moved to second on a groundout by Chris Jones. Tim Bogar was then hit by a pitch, and Johnson followed with his game-winning single, which would be his only walk-off hit as a member of the Mets.

I don't agree, though, with HH's statement about moving Piazza to first when Hundley was on the team. If you remember, Hundley had a career-threatening elbow injury in 1998 and was never the same player after that, so making him a franchise player may have been the nice thing to do, but it would not have been prudent at all. Not to mention, John Olerud was the 1B at the time... where are you moving him to put Piazza at 1B? And Mike D., I'm sorry to hear about your nephew. It took a very loyal and devoted Met fan not to be lured to join the Dark Side during this era.

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