I was at this game. I really don't remember any thing about the game itself. But I along with 3 other guys cut school to welcome Duke Snider back to New York. The funny thing was we all got caught because our picture was on the front cover of the New York Daily News.

I was at this game with Bruce from Bayside and other friends sitting in the upper left field stands. The first at bat Brock hit a slow roller to Charlie Neal at 3rd, who promptly threw it over the head of the 1st baseman. Brock went to 3rd, the Cardinals scored, and it was wait 'til next year.

I attended the game with some friends (including Bruce from Bayside). We sat in the upper left field stands. The first play Curt Flood hit a slow roller to third. Charlie Neal threw it over the first baseman's head and Flood wound up on 3rd. The Cardinals won and we all knew that '63 would be like '62, but that didn't keep us from rooting for the Mets.

Ed, it was actually Curt Flood who led off this game for the Cards, not Lou Brock. Brock was still with the Cubs. In fact, the man he was traded for--Ernie Broglio--pitched a 2-hit shutout for the Cards in this game!

Larry Burright had both Mets hits, a leadoff single in the bottom of the first, and a leadoff double in the top of the ninth. Broglio allowed just two other baserunners in the game, and from the second until the ninth he retired twenty Mets batters in a row.

This was also the first major league game for Al Moran, and for Don Rowe, a lefty who relieved Roger Craig in the fifth inning. While pitching to his first-ever major league batter--who just happened to be Stan Musial--Rowe committed a balk! Can you blame him?

Rowe wound up getting into 26 games and pitching 52 innings before disappearing off the major league radar in July of 1963.

Duke Snider homers off Warren Spahn. It's the only run Spahn allows as he picks up his 328th win. That moves Spahn ahead of Eddie Plank to become baseball's all-time winningest lefty.

Mets lost a heartbreaker on Easter Sunday for the second straight year.

Having seen Ron Hunt take part in the games remaining at Shea ceremony last night, the memory I have of this game will always be connected to Hunt. This was on a Friday afternoon at the Polo Grounds, school was out and I went with my friend Bernie Seaman, who was a Cardinal fan. The Metropolitans had not won, losing the first 8 games of the season. Hunt had 3 hits and drove in the winning runs in the bottom of the ninth and Mrs Payson sent his wife a bouquet of flowers. Problem was Hunt had allergies to all flowers and grass. He was truly my first Mets homegrown hero. Hunt was traded to LA in November 1966 for Tommy Davis.

It's amazing, I can't find my car keys, but I remember this game as it were yesterday even though I was 12 years old and the game was 49 years ago. I went to the game with some older friends. (Older probably was 14-15 and it's amazing how safe the subways were considered since we lived in Brooklyn.) I remember it was a Friday and it was the first win of the 63 season. We were sitting in the upper deck section 33 and before the game batting practice balls were coming to our section quite a bit. (I remember Cliff Cook was knocking them out.) I remember Hunt hit the game-winning double to left but what I really remember to this day is there was a Brave fan sitting near us yelling "Gabrielson move over!" He just shouted this out over and over. Sure enough, Hunt pulled the ball down left (right below us) and won the game. In those days any Met win was really celebrated as they were pretty rare.

I remember I was 11 and in Boonton Township New Jersey visiting my cousins. I was walking home from Denville Center and listening to my Japanese Transistor Radio. I remember this young first baseman named Ed Kranepool coming to bat. It was the first time I'd ever heard his name and as a first baseman in the local PAL league I was partial to those who played that position (especially lefty ones). I don't know if it was Kiner, Murphy, or Nelson who made the call but the ball left the park and it was the first but not the last time I listened to an Ed Kranepool homer. I was sure for years that Ed was 19 and it was his first at bat. My son corrected some of these and other facts I thought I remembered, but the home run by this young player did occur and when my son looked it up for me and showed me the box score on this website it brought a smile to my face. Nothing like baseball to bring you back.

This was my first major league game. My Dad took me on a muggy spring afternoon. I couldn't believe how green the diamond grass was. The Polo Grounds was a very intimate stadium. I remember sitting near stanchions supporting the upper deck.

Norm Sherry's home run in the top of the second was off Warren Spahn's first pitch. It was a line shot straight into the left field upper deck. All of this was unforgettable for a seven-year-old boy. Amazingly enough, the Mets won, which was all to rare in those early years.

I am so happy to find this box score online.

This was my first major league game. My Dad took me on a muggy spring afternoon. I couldn't believe how green the diamond grass was. The Polo Grounds was a very intimate stadium. I remember sitting near stanchions supporting the upper deck.

Norm Sherry's home run in the top of the second was the off Warren Spahn's first pitch. It was a line shot straight into the left field upper deck. All of this was unforgettable for a seven year old boy. Amazingly enough, the Mets won, which was all too rare in those early years.

I am so happy to find this box score online.

This was my second major league game. Since all you had in those days was black and white tv, the field looked magnificent! The greenest grass and the brownest dirt you ever saw. I remember Sherry's homer very well. A line shot right down the left field line into the upper deck. I remember Warren Spahn's ridiculously high leg kick and I could not believe that the Mets beat him.

Not old enough to remember this game when it was played, but just listened to a recording of the original broadcast, and it must have been Canada Day at the Polo Grounds. How many games in the 60's had three different Canadian pitchers on the mound during the game: Ken MacKenzie, Claude Raymond and Rain Piché? And two of them getting the decisions: MacKenzie (W) and Raymond (L). Neither Murphy, Kiner or Nelson made mention of this during the game or the wrap up. I kept waiting to see how the Mets would lose this one, but they didn't! I remember Claude Raymond later on when he pitched for the Expos.

Jim Hickman hit a grand slam in the eighth inning to win this one for the Mets. It was the opening game of doubleheader at the Polo Grounds. The Mets would be victorious in the second game as well to complete a four-game series sweep over the Braves.

As Flitgun Frankie points out, three Canadian pitchers took the mound in the game. Tim Harkness, also from Canada, was walked intentionally as a pinch-hitter for Ken MacKenzie (his countryman) just before Hickman's slam. Like Milwaukee relievers Ron Piche and Claude Raymond, Harkness was a native of Quebec.

The completion of a four game sweep of the Braves at the Polo Grounds after losing the first 8 games of the season! THe four wins equaled one tenth of their victories the entire previous season and was the first time the Mets had ever won four in a row.

New York went wild. One of the tabloids (I think the Mirror) had a great cartoon of the fans talking about the weekend while this huge giant ballplayer (labeled the champion Yankees) looks on and says "Remember me?"

This was the first shutout by a Met righthander ever - in 1962, lefty Al Jackson had all four Met shutouts. This was the first of four shutouts in 1963 by Willey. Grover Powell had the only other one by a Met all season.

This was also the first shutout by a Met pitcher that wasn't part of a doubleheader. All four of Al Jackson's shutouts in 1962 had been during the first games of doubleheaders - and the Mets lost the second game each time.

This was the Mets' FIRST EVER win of a regular season game on a Thursday, boosting their record to 1-19!

This game was significant for two reasons. First of all, Roger Craig became the first (and still only) Met pitcher to ever give up FIVE homers in a game on this date. (Shea has been kinder to mediocre Met pitchers than the Polo Grounds was in this regard.) Second, it was the game that started Roger's 18 game losing streak. He went into the game 2-2 and did not win for over three months until August 9th. During the streak he switched his number to 13 for a while.

The end of an era! Marv Throneberry's last game with the Mets. Have been listening to a lot of old game recordings and just heard this one, then a game a couple of days later vs. Cincinnati, when Bob Murphy made mention that Throneberry and Ted Schreiber were optioned to the minor leagues, so had to look up whether either of them ever came back. Schreiber did, at the end of the 63 season, but it was the end of the Major League road for Throneberry. The original radio broadcasts of both of Throneberry's first and last Met games have been preserved for posterity, because I heard the first one last week.

The Mets defeated the Giants in game two of this Sunday doubleheader at Shea. Cliff Cook---he of the lifetime .201 batting average--was hitting third in the lineup, but Casey must have known something: Cook hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the first off veteran lefty Billy Pierce.

Carlton Willey pitched a complete game, allowing just one earned run (a Willie Mays single drove in Jim Davenport) and seven hits against the defending NL champions.

A couple more interesting notes about this game: Don Larsen pitched in relief for the Giants, and Gil Hodges played in his last game. The final hit of Gil's caareer was an RBI single that scored Charlie Neal in the 4th inning to make it 3-0 Mets. Jim Duffalo retired Gil in his final at bat, as Gil popped to second in the bottom of the eighth.

Charlie Neal hit the third and final Mets inside- the-park homer in the Polo Grounds. Gil Hodges and Richie Ashburn had hit the other two in 1962.

The Mets come away with a split on this Sunday at the Polo Grounds with a 13-12 win.

The Mets took an early 5-0 lead, but Jay Hook couldn't hold it. The game is tied 6-6 in the fifth inning, then the Mets score five in the bottom of the fifth to go up 11-6. But the Reds come back with six in the sixth to take a 12-11 lead. The Mets score twice in the bottom of the eighth and hang on for the win.

Bob Bruce hurls 8 plus frames yielding three hits, fanning 11. Brooklyn born Don McMahon comes on for the save. The only Met runs a result of light hitting catcher Chris Canizzarro's 9th inning two run pinch hit single. Roger Craig goes the distance in the loss. Duke Snider, Tim Harkness are in the METS lineup that day.

And that's the way it was before 7200 fans in Texas!

Don Drysdale beats the Mets allowing just two hits---home runs by Tim Harkness and Duke Snider.

In the first game of a Memorial Day doubleheader at the Polo Grounds, the Cubs trounced the Mets 12-0, scoring ten runs in the top of the fourth.

Al Jackson and Larry Bearnarth allowed six hits and seven walks in the inning. Cubs 1B Stee Boros and C Dick Bertell each walked twice in the fourth inning.

Tim Harkness had three of the Mets' six hits.

Another great pitching effort by Hook. Falling behind in the 1st on a Ken Hubbs triple and a Ron Santo sac fly, Hook gave up only an 8th inning single by CF Landrum (I believe it was Ken) the rest of the way. The Duke was the Mets only offense this game accounting for both runs with a 4th inning homer and 2 out game winning rbi single in the 6th scoring Piersall who worked out a 1 out walk.

My second trip to the Polo Grounds, and my first with my dad and younger brother (his 6th birthday). Bob Friend no-hits the Mets into the sixth or seventh innning. The Mets get an infield hit, and even though they're down by a touchdown or more, thunderous cries of "Let's Go Mets" erupt. Banners, streamers, horns, pigeons ; circus-like atmosphere for a young man in from the Jersey suburbs. One of the greatest memories of my youth. The Pirates hit four or five homers, and looked like they belonged in another league. The next day the Mets beat them twice. As Chuck Berry once said, it goes to show you never can tell. I treasure the memories of that day and those times.

I went to this game with my father, my Uncle Sam, and my cousin Jeff. I was 7 1/2. We sat in the bleachers and it was a hot day.

What I remember is that the the clubhouse runways were adjacent to the bleachers so the players had to pass by the stands to get onto the field. We got a few autographs on my scorecard, which had a huge Mr. Met on it. I remember getting Ron Hunt and a coach, Ernie White. My cousin Jeff also got Chico Fernandez and Jimmy Piersall, who had JUST joined the Mets after being traded from the Senators for Gil Hodges, who became that team's manager.

My favorite player going to that game was Ed Kranepool. Look at the lineup, how many of the Mets were still on the team a few months later. Krane was still on the Mets when I got out of law school in 1979! Krane was still wearing his original uniform number, 21, which he wore until Warren Spahn joined the team for the 1965 season. Number 7 was a shortstop by the name of Amado Samuel.

Although the Mets got beaten badly, by Met killer, Bob Friend, I was rewarded when Kranepool hit a ball about ten feet and, believe it or not, beat out a hit.

It was day I will never forget!

The first of Willie Stargell's 60 homers against the Mets.

I went to this game as a ten year old. I recall the Mets winning in the tenth when two Pirate outfielders ran into each other trying to catch a fly ball. I also have a vivid memory of Smokey Burgess of the Pirates hitting a shot more than 400 feet in the gap to the wall in the Polo Grounds and barely lumbering in for a double.

I remember as a child going to the Polo Grounds for a double header. I thought that the Mets won both games with walk off Home Runs by Duke Snider. I would appreciate if I could get the box scores of both games played on June 2nd to see if I was correct

To follow up on the post of January 14, 2002, Mathew--you were close. In game one Duke had a leadoff homer in the fourth inning and the Mets won when Ron Hunt hit a ball to left field that Jerry Lynch couldn't handle and Rod Kanehl scored the winning run.

In game two, Jim Hickman hit a walk-off homer for the tenth inning win and the sweep.

I recall seeing a picture from this game in which Choo Choo Coleman looks out by a mile at home, with Smokey Burgess tagging him with his throwing arm (ball in hand) about 6 feet directly in front of home (and Jimmie Piersall behind home cheering Coleman on), but the caption says he was called safe. The play-by- play indicated Coleman scored from first on a triple by Neal. Since Burgess was replaced by Brand as catcher that inning, it does appear that Burgess argued the call and was thrown out of the game. Does anyone know why Neal was credited with a triple when Coleman was nearly (and why the call?) thrown out at home? The Daily News had this picture, if anyone still has a scrapbook.

Duke Snider rips a 3-run homer off Diomedes Olivo in the 9th inning for a walk off victory. I can still hear Lindsey Nelson's call; the game was televised.

Most people likely have seen the clip of Snider's game-winning home run from the "25th Anniversary" video. Not only was I thrilled to see it, but I also was encouraged that it SURVIVED! (BTW, the video also features video game clips of Carlton Willey's grand slam and Gil Hodges' 2000th hit.)

The Cardinals' starting pitcher in this game was future Met Ron Taylor. Ron allowed just two hits and a walk through eight innings and was nursing a 2-0 lead going to the bottom of the ninth. The Cardinal runs had scored on first inning back-to- back doubles by Curt Flood and Dick Groat, and a fourth inning homer by Ken Boyer.

After retirning Jim Hickman (batting for Jimmy Piersall) to lead off the ninth, Taylor gave up a pinch-single to Frank Thomas. Rod Kanehl came in to run for Thomas. Ron Hunt drew a walk, and Cardinal manager Johnny Keane went to the mound, waving in LHP Diomedes Olivo to face Duke Snider. With the Duke up, catcher Gene Oliver allowed a passed ball, moving the tying runs into scoring position. Duke then hit a three-run homer to win the game, 3-2.

Olivo would get into just two more games in his major league career.

This was the first baseball game I ever went to. After Snider's walk off home run, the place went crazy. I wondered if this happened every game. My father said, son, meet the Mets. That was enough for me...a true fan forever.

Duke Snider hit a three-run homer to win this game for the Mets. It came in the bottom of the ninth inning off 44-year-old Diomedes Olivo - a left-hander that Cardinals' manager Johnny Keane had just brought in to relieve starter Ron Taylor. The home run was the 399th for Duke in his career.

As mentioned by Joe Figliolo in his earlier entry, a television broadcast clip of Snider's homer was shown in the Mets' 25th Anniversary video from 1986. However, Joe was incorrect about the documentary also featuring Gil Hodges' 2,000th hit. Hodges had a career hit total of 1,921 and did not reach that mark. It was actually a clip (in color) of Duke's 2,000th that was seen during the video's closing credits.

This was the first game I ever went to. I was eight, and a baseball fanatic! And I loved my Mets! Unfortunately, they didn't "love me back" that day (LOL!!!), as Cardinal pitcher Ernie Broglio shut the Mets out. My Aunt Inez took me, and we had seats about midway between first and right field, maybe in the second deck (?). It was a Saturday afternoon game.

All these years I thought the final was 3-0 (it was 4-0). But all I truly remember was Ernie Broglio, Tim McCarver, Stan Musial and George Altman (then a Cardinal; later a Met), who replaced Hall of Famer Stan Musial in the 7th inning. I remember that because of my aunt making a "big deal" of "Stan the Man," who was a new name to these 8-year old ears in 1963. He may have even hit one out, I'm not sure. Sometime this weekend I'm going to try to pull up the box score to this game on microfilm at the library.

This was the first game I ever attended. I was eight. I remember Jimmy Piersall throwing his bat up in the air (WAY up in the air) when he struck out. (It may have been after a called strike that he did not agree with.) In those days you were allowed on parts of the field at the end of the game, and I and my dad walked on the track right in front of the Cardinals dugout. I saw Ken Boyer (future Met) and Tim McCarver sitting on the bench right in front of us. It was a thrill to see Stan Musial play in his last pro season. What a memory!

I was a senior in high school and traveled from NJ with a friend to see the game. This was my only visit to the Polo Grounds. My only memories were that Ernie Broglio won the game and that Dick Groat was the St Louis shortstop. It was a pretty Saturday afternoon in NY.

This was my first Mets game travelling with the Little League. If I remember correctly, Marv Throneberry hit a home run to win the first game of the doubleheader- also remember Curt Flood hitting one near us in the left field bleachers.

We only stayed for the first game of the double header, but I am always happy to tell people that I saw Stan the Man in person, even if he did only play 7 innings.

Tim McCarver had an inside-the-park grand slam in game two of this doubleheader at the Polo Grounds.

This doubleheader was my first trip to a major league game. I went with my Dad. My first impression was I couldn't believe how green the grass was. Then, I was so happy that the Mets won my first game for me. I also remember that when McCarver hit the inside-the-park grand slam, my father said "c'mon its been a long day" and we headed back to Jersey.

First Met game. Nine years old with my dad.

I was a ten year old attending this twin bill on a June Sunday. I felt the muggy heat seated in the Cards visiting dugout owners box, accompanied by my AB Inc. executive dad. I remember Curt Flood sweating profusely in the on-deck circle, barely ten feet away, early in the first game. I swear he and I exchanged the briefest passing glance as he left for the batter's box. The Cards lost that first game but came back to win the night cap highlighted by Time McCarver's inside-the-park grand slam home run abetted by Met's CFer, Jimmy Piersall, slipping as the ball sailed overhead on its way to the Polo Ground's cavernous center field wall.

Just landed a very nice copy of a signed and partially scored program from this game. Looks like the scorekeeper got disgusted after the 3rd-inning 5-run spanking and quit keeping score (or left!). Signed by Chico Fernandez, Larry Bearnarth, Tracy Stallard and Carl Willey.

Duke Snider hit his 400th career home run in this game. According to a Trivial Pursuit set of questions I once owned, Lindsey Nelson announced on the air that Duke became the first player ever to reach that mark on color television. I'd like to see a video clip - preferably in color - of this homer just to find out if Nelson actually made such a statement.

The Mets won this game at Crosley Field, then proceeded to lose their next TWENTY-TWO road games! Their next win away from the Polo Grounds was July 30th at Dodger Stadium. In between they lost 2 in Cincinnati, 3 in St. Louis, 3 in Pittsburgh, 4 in Chicago, 4 in Philly, 3 in San Francisco, and 3 in Houston.

They were shut out 4 times and were outscored 131- 42 in that stretch.

My very first game, age 8. I asked if we'd see Babe Ruth play, the adults laughed.Stared out at CF all day, looked like another galaxy away....Ate peanuts, shells and all....Don Demeter hit a HR....

Another famous day in early Mets history---Jimmy Piersall hits his 100th career home run off Dallas Green in the first game of this doubleheader, and Jimmy runs the bases backwards. This was the only homer Piersall hit in the National League.

A few weeks later the Mets release Piersall, who goes on to play sporadically with the Angels until 1967.

Piersall did run the bases counterclockwise. He just back pedaled as he did it. It did not endear him to Casey. He lasted less than two months as a Met.

MLB rules at that time required that a hitter MUST run straight and directly to first base after putting the ball in play, but rules were vague after touching first. Piersall knew that, which is why he ran backwards after touching first. I was at that game too, one of six I attended in 63 (had a 4-2 record too).

I actually recorded Willey's pitch count for that game and it was either 85 or 86 pitches. He was absolutely brilliant for the Mets that year.

I was a young kid 12 years old and don’t remember much about the games. I do remember the Mets played the Phillies and I was there. Years later I read Piersall had hit his 100 th home run off Dallas Green.

My father got tickets from the Wonder Bread salesman. He wasn't much of a sports fan but I was a die hard Mets fan so we went. Beautiful sunny day. I don't remember Piersal's trot. I didn't know the significance of it. But I remember the scores, 5-2 and 4-1 and I remember Ryne Duran. He had a reputation of throwing his first warm up pitch over the screen and I was dying to see him do it. He didn't disappoint me. I can still close my eyes and see it. I still have the Yearbook I bought that day.

I remember this game as one of a double header that the Mets took from the Phillies that day. This may have been a high point for the Mets that year, but it certainly was the low point of the season for the Phillies, who went on to play pretty terrific baseball for the rest of the season, finishing in fourth place.

I remember this game as one of a double header that the Mets took from the Phillies that day. This may have been a high point for the Mets that year, but it certainly was the low point of the season for the Phillies, who went on to play pretty terrific baseball for the rest of the season, finishing in fourth place, blowing a chance to finish as high as second when they lost a tough game in Houston, which was followed by manager Gene Mauch's infamous temper tantrum, in which he tipped over the post-game buffet, propelling barbecue sauce onto many players' street clothes. The momentum of the Phillies' strong finish in 1963 carried over into 1964, up to about September 21, when the Phillies, 6 1/2 games ahead with 12 to play, lost ten straight and finished in a tie for second behind the Cardinals, who went on to defeat the Yankees in a classic 7 game World Series, dominated by the pitching of Bob Gibson. From a Phillies fan.

I attended this game, and I was 10 years old. The Cubs scored 2 runs in the top of the inning to take a 6-4 lead, and Jim Hickman hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 14th (I thought it was the 10th)to win it. If you can confirm this, or e-mail me a boxscore of this game, I will greatly appreciate it. My local radio sport-talk station, brought this game up and they believe that the score was tied when Hickman hit the grand slam. Obviously, if the final score was 8-6, the score was not tied and I was right. It would give great pleasure if you can send me this boxscore so I can present it to WFAN (N.Y) and prove I was right. Thank you, you have not idea how long I was looking for this game on the Internet. Your site is great!

Elio is wrong on one key fact. The grand slam was hit by Tim Harkness. Hickman's memorable grand slam that season came several weeks later when it ended Roger Craig's losing streak. Those 2 games still rank among my top 10 Mets games ever!

I was at this game as part of a Cub Scout outing. I was 8 years old at the time. It was the second and last game I ever saw in the Polo Grounds. We left in the 11th inning, and later I heard that Harkness hit a grand slam to win it. Over the years, I have read many books about the Mets first few years, books that have described some individual games, good and bad (mostly bad, of course). But I have never seen this one mentioned. I kept thinking, if the Mets really won a game in 1963 on an extra-inning grand slam, wouldn't one of these books have mentioned such a dramatic event? So I began to believe that it really didn't happen. I figured that it was just another loss to the Cubs. This confirms that there really was such a game. If anyone can dig up a box score, I would be thrilled. Thanks a lot.

Thanks to retrosheet adding more boxscores recently we can finally re-create the events of this memorable game!

It was a Wednesday afternoon at the Polo Grounds, the final game of a six-game homestand which saw the Mets win three of the first five. Al Jackson was the Mets starter but he got in trouble right away, giving up runs in each of the first two innings. As the game went to the bottom of the sixth, Chicago's Bob Buhl had a 4-0 lead and he was working on a two-hit shutout. But the Mets pulled together a two-out rally thanks to a single by Ron Hunt, and RBI double by Duke Snider, and a two-run homer by Frank Thomas. In the eighth, Thomas singled in pinch-hitter Choo Choo Coleman to tie the game at 4-4.

As the game went to the 14th inning, the Met bullpen--Larry Bearnath, Tracy Stallard, Carlton Willey and Galen Cisco--had pitched five innings of hitless relief. The Cubs had not had a hit since the fifth inning. But Cisco walked Don Landrum with one out in the 14th and with two outs the Cubs got their first hit in nine innings: an inside-the-park homer by Billy Williams.

The Mets came up in the bottom of the inning and got a leadoff single by Jim Hickman. Ron Hunt followed with a single but Hickman was thrown out on the bases by RF Lou Brock. After a walk to Jimmy Piersall, Frank Thomas flied out for the seond out. Then LHP Jim Brewer came into the game to face lefty batter Sammy Taylor, who worked out a walk. Another lefty batter was next: Tim Harkenss. Tim had been 3-for-6 in the game so far (a popular misconception is that Tim was pinch- hitting here). Tim hit a walk-off grand slam to give the Mets one of their most memorable wins of the early days.

After the game, the crowd exited on to the field at the Polo Grounds. It seemed as if the entire stadium congregated at the clubhouse steps in centerfield. We were all screaming for Tim Harkness to come out and take a bow. It might have been the first 'curtain call' for a Met. He made an appearance at the doorway of the clubhouse and everyone went crazy.The 64 Met yearbook has a picture of Harkness from behind waving to the crowd.

I went to this game a part of an end of year school class trip. Being 13 years old at the time, me and a few friends thought that it would be fun to leave the main group of students (~60 or so) and find a better place to watch the game than the seats we had out deep left field. We departed the main group in about the 6th or 7th inning, and sneaked our way into some seats near third base. As the game went into extra innings, we never considered that the rest of the school would not stay until the end of the game (At that age, we were oblivious to the schedules of the bus driver, teachers, etc.). After the grand slam, we returned to where our classmates had been, only to find the area completely empty - except, that is, for one very angry school principal! Well, even though we all got into trouble (or as much trouble as you could get into at the end of the school year), we were all so excited by how Tim ended the game, that I'm sure we all would have made the same choice over again, given the opportunity. Of course, since the buses had left hours earlier with the rest of the kids, we had to ride back to Yonkers in the principal's car and listen to his tirade. It became clear as the ride progressed that much of this was an obligatory act, and in fact the principal, who was a "closet" Mets fan, had actually enjoyed having an excuse to see the whole game.

Having seen hundreds of games at Shea, Yankee Stadium, Oakland Coliseum, Candlestick Park, ATT Park, and a few other places, that afternoon in 1963 at the Polo Grounds is still my most memorable and favorite baseball recollection.

There was a magazine article regarding Met fans that showed pictures of Tim Harkness waving to the fans from the top of the clubhouse steps after this game. Anyone know which magazine and the date of the magazine?

My first Mets game and the start of my greatest summer ever, about to start high school, but not yet working, so literally being in the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium every week to Labor Day!

First, regarding the above query about a pix of Harkness on the steps. I don't know about the magazine, but there was a wire service photo that appeared in the NJ Star-Ledger the next day, and yes, this was one of the most memorable games I've ever seen.

Look at the Cubs line-up: Who knew? Future HOFers Banks, Brock and Williams.

The Frank Thomas HR was a blast over the LF roof, and the Harkness game-winner was a cannon shot into the deepest part of RF, where the stands curved out, no PG chippie.

I was at this game too when I was 13. The game was tied and went to the 14th inning. The Cubs scored twice in the top half and the Mets were down to their last out in the home half when they loaded the bases and Hickman’s count ran to 3 and 2. I remember standing in Center field outside the clubhouses before exiting the field through the center field doors. We stood and chanted "Hickman, Hickman" who came out and gave us a wave. Great guy who was always willing to sign autographs for kids. Baseball the way it should be. I have an original scorecard from that game.

After the game my friends and I followed Ron Santo all around the outside of the park trying to get his autograph. He wouldn't sign unless we knew who he was, and we didn't. After going through the whole Cubs lineup we finally got it and he signed autographs for us. Unfortunately, we weren't as lucky with Billy Williams who was "too busy", talking with his "girlfriend".

I was the lucky guy that hit that latest inning grand slam in National League history, 14th inning to help beat the Cubs 8 to 6. It was a very hot day and having faced Jim Brewer many times in the minor leagues I knew what to expect and got a hold of one his low fastballs and drove it deep to right center four hundred and forty feet away. The fans wouldn't leave until I came out from the clubhouse in the Polo Grounds. Thanks to everyone who remembers the moment. Regards, Tim Harkness.

Based on these comments, there sure were a lot of 13 year olds at that game. I was one of them. What I remember was the pandemonium after the game, in the corridors leading out of the Polo Grounds and down into the subway. Everyone was just chanting "Let's Go Mets" and the sound was bouncing off the walls. It was so much fun. One thing I miss about New York baseball (either team) is going to and coming back from the game on the subway, where the excitement of the fans is really magnified. I live in Dallas now and when you go to the game you are isolated in your car with the windows closed and the air conditioning blowing. You just don't get the same feeling as being part of the crowd. Of course it is 100 degrees out. Tim Harkness - thanks for the memory!

I will remember this game for Mr Harkness and his grand slam. I didn't watch or listen to much of this game, as I was a kid playing outside. My father who wasn't much of a baseball fan drove up and called me urgently to the car to listen to the game. The game was crazy and exciting enough even for my father to listen. I ran through some sprinklers to get to the car and heard maybe one pitch called and then Harkness got it! An amazing Met win and Grand Slam to boot.

I was at this game with my father when I was eleven. We would drive down from Connecticut once or twice a year to see a game. I was a Cubs fan. I remember eating popcorn and then using the popcorn holder as a mini megaphone. I was positive the Cubs pitcher struck out Tim Harkness on a two-two count with a fastball on the outside corner. The ump said ball three and the pitcher went nuts. Next pitch--boom--game over. I was devastated. I remember the home run as a 280-foot shot down the right field line. Obviously I am wrong on that. I also remember how you could walk across the field to get to the parking lot in center field. It was a long drive back to Connecticut.

This was one of my favorite memories, although for the past 46 years I thought it was Lou Brock, not Billy Williams, that had set the stage in the top of the 14th. Playing stickball or baseball we always imagined; last at bat, two outs, trailing by 3 with a full count. It was nearly perfect. I was out in right, standing in a position that would allow a dash to the IND. I was high the entire 2 hour train and bus trip home. I attended 'game 6' with my wife and kids but I always rate this 1963 Cub game as number 1 in my Met memory bank. Probably because it is only a memory.

This memorable game was a turning point for both franchises. Almost by itself, it reignited the great New York-Chicago rivalry that had once been so important to National League baseball and, even today, decades after this game was played in front of a few thousand fans on a mid-season afternoon in the decrepit Polo Grounds, its fallout helps define both clubs. The Harkness Slam of '63 not only foreshadowed the undeniable Luck of the Mets that helped carry New York teams to titles in 1969, 1973, and 2000, (not to mention Game 6 in the '86 Series.) It also locked-in the defeatism that has surrounded the Cubs for more than 60 years. Yes, to any Cubs fans who may read this, I say - forget the Goat, Bartman, the over-the-top salesmanship of Jack Brickhouse, the constant moaning of Ron Santo, or even the cussedness of P.K. Wrigley himself. If you really want to pinpoint the source of your troubles since '63, look no further than - Tim Harkness!

This game has always meant a lot to me because I saw it with my late father. I was sitting to the right of home plate and saw Frank Thomas hit the ball right down the left field line. My impression was that he hit it out of the park towards the apartment buildings behind the left field stands. I also remember that the Billy Williams inside the park home run was sliced down that ridiculously short left field line and caromed off the wall away from the left fielder, giving him time to circle the bases. I'll always remember the sights, sounds, and smell (yes, smell- a peculiar combination of cigar and pipe smoke mixed with spilled beer) that you just don't get at the park today. I remember everyone rising to their feet as the 3-2 pitch was thrown. Oddly, I don't remember the flight of the ball (someone may have blocked my vision). I always think that this was the game that condemned me to a lifetime of Met baseball addiction.

I listened to this game from a curious vantage point: in the family car parked next to an empty Yankee Stadium. We'd packed the car that morning to head to our summer home, but my younger brother Roy -- 14 that year (not 13, as were so many other witnesses writing above) -- went to the game at the Polo Grounds, and plans were made for him to take the subway the one stop to Yankee Stadium after the game and join our northward passage. We were there by the eighth, and my father -- not a big ball fan -- was unenchanted as the game progressed into extra innings. We waited and listened, listened and waited.

Bob P, above, points out that the Met bullpen pitched hitless relief; in fact, they did so for eight and two-thirds innings -- 27 outs, including the last out of the fifth -- until Williams hit a fly that somehow eluded Frank Thomas in left, landing on the track before bouncing against the wall. (How Thomas allowed a fly ball to hit the track behind him in the Polo Grounds' notoriously short left field corner still rankles.) And my father groaned when the Mets loaded the bases in the bottom half of the fourteenth, envisioning the game re-tied and going on and on. But as Roy said when he joined us, Harkness hit it into the darkness, and we had a victory that still lifts the spirits -- almost half a century later.

This has now come full circle. I was the one who started this thread on Jan. 19 2001. It was so much fun reading everyone's comments, including the man who created the memory - Tim Harkness. I want to thank Fletcher Rabbit for correcting me that it was Tim Harkness and not Jim Hickman who performed the heroics, but again, I was only 10.

This game was always special to me but now it's even more special with all the comments you provided.

Thanks, to all of you.

I remember listening to that game on my portable transistor radio. School was over for the day, and I was in the playground in front of my building in the projects. I was eight years old and just about to finish fourth grade.

When Harkness came up with two outs and the bases loaded, I recall thinking how great it would be if he hit a grand slam. But that was too much to hope for; the Mets were such a bad team in those early days.

When it really did happen, you can imagine how great it felt.

Harkness had a brief (1961-1964) career and hit only 14 HRs. I imagine that one was the most memorable. He's 72 now; I'm 55.

It was one of the great moments in Met history, if not THE greatest.

I believe the game was not televised. Week-day games at home were the only home games that were not. Williams' inside-the-parker in the top of the 14th was described by Lindsey, Ralph, or Bob as a ball that Thomas should have played it safely on. I pictured Frank racing in and trying for a shoestring and missing it; the ball going behind him.

It was devastating. And then the wonderful Harkness hit the home run!

Unforgettable and truly memorable!

I remember sitting on the first base line. The count was full. Everyone in the Polo Grounds stood and started yelling. Harkness swung and you could hear the ball whistle on a line towards the right field wall. It cleared. It sounded like 50,000 people were there.

I was there too. After nearly 50 yrs it still is one of my favorite games. My cousin and I from New Rochelle subwayed from Woodlawn in The Bronx. In the top of the 14th I looked at my scorecard and realized that Mets pitchers had gotten 27 outs without allowing a hit since 2 outs in the 5th ( I don't think we have done that since that game.) We were so ticked off when Hickman was thrown out over running 2nd base while we tried to rally in he 14th, but then Harkness came through. We were on he field going crazy after the game when he took the curtain call from the top of the clubhouse steps. I think Life or Look Magazine ran the photo.

COOL FOLLOW UP: During the last season in Shea, former Mets were invited to different games to count down the final games at the stadium. My son was working as a Mets intern and called me saying he was escorting Tim Harkness and Ron Hunt who were there before the game to represent the 63 team. I told him to ask Harkness about a 14th-inning walk off granny. My son later called me to say how happy Harkness was when he mentioned his major league highlight.

I was at the game with a Hebrew Scholl and I was 11 years old and it was my first baseball game. What a memory. Tim Harkness became my hero.

I was at the game with my brother. The day was extremely hot - well over 90 - but our seats were in the shade. I remember the top of the 14th and the attempt by Frank Thomas to catch the sinking liner that turned into an inside-the-park home run. The home run as I recall came with 2 outs and a 3-2 count. It has to be one of the most memorable games that I have ever seen.

I listened to most of this game on the radio at home. I was a few days shy of my 14th birthday. When Harkness worked the count to 3 and 2 I wasn't even thinking about a home run..I was just praying that he could walk and bring us that much closer to a tie. When the announcer (I think it was Bob Murphy but it could have been Lindsey or Ralph) called the homer I went crazy with joy. I still remember that moment as a new senior citizen 51 years later.

I was 8. My uncle took me. This was my first game I ever attended. When Harkness hit the grand slam the crowd went crazy and I was hooked for life.

Yes yes I was there with a few of my diehard friends on a blistering 96 degree day. Only a few hundred fans stayed for the end of a game that lasted over 4 hours for a team that lost 111 games that season. When Harkness hit that impossible shot it impacted my life in a very powerful and profound way. Anything was possible when things looked hopeless . Euphoria propelled us out to the clubhouse steps in center field as we chanted for Harkness who finally appeared shy and a humble hero. It felt big. The following week that moment appeared in Life Magazine and in the adoring crowd is my crazy happy grinning face.

Was 11 and at the game with my cousin. Keeping scorecard I noticed that Met pitchers had thrown 9 innings of no hit ball from end of 5th thru beginning of the 14th. Then the Cubs rally on inside the park homer. Down 2 we are still hopeful and excited when first 2 Mets get hits and then Hickman is caught off of second base. We were furious with him. But true die yards we kept hoping. When we loaded the bases with 2 outs and the count went full we were going crazy and then Harkness blasts the walk off grand slam. The stadium was rocking. We were slapping hands and hugging strangers. We stood in center field cheering for Harkness until he came out and took what is the first "curtain call" I remember. My son met Harkness at Shea during the last season there and told him that I had told him about this game from 1963 being one of my favorite Met memories. Harkness was humble but excited to discuss it with him. Still brings a smile thinking of this game.

I was at this game with the Cub Scouts. I was 9 years old. We were forced to leave after 9 innings to return to NJ. My grandfather was a chaperone and we listened to the rest of game on a transistor radio. After the Harkness HR, Pop told me that was why you don’t leave games early. Over the years I have attended hundreds of games and very rarely left a game early. My wife and I watched the Mets beat Cardinals in 18 innings at St. Louis in 2015 for my longest game.

That was the first game I was allowed to attend without being accompanied by an adult, at age 11. My cousin and I were dropped off by our moms, who were to pick us up right after. About the 10th inning, my cousin’s mom talked her way in and as the crowd had diminished by that point, found us in the upper unreserved grandstand right behind home plate. She tried to get us to leave, saying my mom was waiting outside in the car. I knew my mom, knowing what a rabid Mets fan I was, wouldn’t expect me to leave a tie game before it was over, and would follow its progress on the radio. So we adamantly refused to leave, even when the Mets fell behind in the top of the 14th. When Harkness hit the HR to win it, we were vindicated, and even my cousin’s mom admitted it had been worth remaining. After all, she got to see four innings for free, complete with one of the most dramatic endings imaginable.

What a wide variety of memories! After 60 years, not surprising. This was one of the first games I got to watch in person (as a 10-year-old. before Shea Stadium was built). I could swear that the home run bounced off the right-field overhang, just down the right field line. This is the type of ending everyone could wish for!

Me and my cousin were 14 years old and had that grand slam hit right to us. We had the ball stuck between the slots on back of the seat, almost no people around, his fingers wrapped around one side of ball and mine on the other. I had his dad's camera and it was my responsibility so I let go and I really don't know who ended up with it, but in my mind, I'm 73 and it was like yesterday. Thanks Tim Harkness for the grand slam.

This was my first Cubs game 53 years ago today, doubleheader. Cubs won both. Yesterday, Mets completed 4 game sweep of Cubs in NY.

This was the first game I ever saw in person, I was 10 at the time. The winning pitcher was later to pitch for the Mets-Don Cardwell. I also believe Roberto Clemente hit a home run and Duke Snider had a long ground rule double.

I remember Roberto Clemente's home run was a LINE DRIVE into the left field stands. It was still going up when it hit the stands.

Johnn Podres shuts out the Mets on four hits, with the only run coming on a sixth inning homer by John Roseboro off Carlton Willey.

In his last start July 5, Podres had shut out the Reds, 1-0, pitching a two-hitter and getting the only run he needed in the seventh on a Frank Howard home run.

The loss is the eleventh in a row for the Mets, on their way to 15 straight. Over these eleven games the Mets were outscored 54-17.

The game ended in an incredible manner. The Mets had a man on first and one out. Frank Thomas hit what looked like a home run. I was sitting in a box seat with my father. The entire crowd jumped up and started celebrating. Most of the Dodgers started walking to the centerfield clubhouse. All of a sudden, a player had a ball and threw to 1st. The first baseman tagged the bag and an umpire raised his right hand indicating the end of a double play. It turns out Tommie Davis had climbed the wall and made a great catch and the relays doubled up the runner. Some claim Davis never caught the ball. That play ended the game.

I believe this was my 1st game I saw. Did Jesse Gonder hit 2 HR's in this game? I also seem to remember Don Drysdale pitched this game. Can this be confirmed?

Frank, here we are a year and a half after your posting! I can indeed confirm that Drysdale faced Roger Craig in this game, but as for Jesse Gonder, I've been unable to find whether he did or didn't hit two homers. Jesse only hit 3 all season, so while it is unlikely, it is possible! Hope this helps!

Well, further to some earlier postings...it turns out that I was at this game and just as Frank Caputo remembered, Jesse Gonder did indeed hit two homers!! He had a 2-run homer in the third inning to give the Mets a 3-2 lead, the hit a solo homer leading off the sixth to pull the Mets to within one run.

Ron Fairly homered in the second for LA's first run,and Fairly drove in another run in the three- run fourth inning.

I remember the headline in the paper the next day: Jesse Tried!

Box score almost resembles a Dodger intrasquad game with ex and future Dodgers like Harkness, Hunt, The Duke, Burright, and Roger Craig on the Met side!

This game was the first Major League game I ever attended, with my father and my siblings. (Mom must have been happy to have the night off.) This is a wonderful website that brings back a lot of memories.

my second and last trip to the Polo Grounds...i believe it was family day. I remember Frank Howard hitting a ball completely out of the Polo Grounds to left field

LA catcher Doug Camilli had the only home run of this game as Sandy Koufax threw a three-hit shutout and struck out 13 Mets. Sandy retired the last fourteen batters he faced, striking out seven of them.

Camilli's homer came leading off the second inning.

I spent the whole summer with my family at a place we owned in Monroe, NY. I was a Dodgers fan and remember listening to it on WABC radio. You can now buy a copy of that game on CD. Amazing!

This is the game that I became a Met fan. I was 7 years old. It was my only trip to the Polo Grounds. I'm from Secaucus NJ. My Uncle Joe Olfern took a group of kids from the neighborhood to the game. Thanks Uncle Joe.

I remember Jim Hickman made two errors from third including a throw that missed first base by 45 feet (it seemed!)

This was my first met game attanded and I've been hooked on them ever since, good or bad. I was 10 years old and my older brother suprised me that Sunday morning by telling that he was taking me to the game. I vividly remember a lot this game. It was a scheduled doubleheader against the Colt 45's. Galen Cisco started and never got out of the first inning! The Colt 45's scored 7 runs in the first of the first game. The first Colts batter hit a ground ball to 2nd base and it went right through Larry Burright's legs! A rookie, Rusty Staub was batting 3rd for Colt 45's and was hit right in the head by Cisco and left the game I beleive. Anyway, in the bottom of the 8th, Frank Thomas hit a 2 run home run off the upper deck left field facade of the Polo Grounds to make it 8-3 and then the game was called due to rain and they never played the 2nd game. I also remember that this was the day I found out my older brother (17) was smoking! What a day!

This was my first Mets game too. I don't remember much but I do remember it was raining and that someone was hit in the head. The game seemed to be held up for quite a while. I didn't know it was Rusty Staub!

Just listened to a recording of this game, and Houston scored six runs before the Mets got their first out. This got me to wondering what was the record for most runs allowed by a team in the first inning of a game before the first out was made. Apparently the record is 10, scored by the Red Sox vs. Florida in a game vs. Florida before Florida got the first out on June 27, 2003, but couldn't find what the record was at the time this Mets game was played. I say "apparently" because this doesn't seem to be an official MLB record.

By the way, the home run hit by Jim Wynn was the first of many in his big league career.

Carl Willey is the first Mets pitcher to hit a grandslam home run. His blast was off of Colt's 45 starter Kenny Johnson. Only one other Met hurler would replicate this feat 4 years later. That would turn out to be Jack Hamilton.

I remember my brother got tickets for this game and we drove to the Polo Grounds from Brooklyn, which was daring for working class kids in 1963, and parked on a street along Coogan's Bluff and descended down into the Grounds which was interesting since I has never entered a ballpark in this fashion before. Although Hemingway said all good writing starts with geography, I digress. What I remember about the games was that the METS and .45s traded laughers and in the first game while intentionally walking Jim Hickman they tried to sneak pitch him with the catcher ducking back in but he smoked the pitch to deep left center and a run scored on the sac fly. We had seat behind the plate so it was startling to see this maneuver and had never seen it before and I can recall only seeing it once since. Loved Jim Hickman and he went on to have a solid career with he Cubs and Dodgers in better line-ups than in '63.

Carl Willey hit a grand slam to help his own cause in this doubleheader opener. It put the Mets ahead to stay for a win that snapped the team's fifteen-game losing streak. Willey's slam was the first of two ever to be hit by a Mets pitcher. Jack Hamilton homered with the bases loaded four years later. These were, of course, back in the good old days of when pitchers took their own turns at bat like they should!

Another key point about this game is Jay Hook's relief pitching. Hook got credit for a save by hurling one-hit scoreless ball from the sixth inning to the ninth. Four innings is the maximum a reliever can pitch in order to get a save (he'd be the winning pitcher by going any longer since starters must pitch at least five innings to qualify for the win.) Jay was the first Met ever to record a four-inning save.

This game has a special memory for me. It was the very first Mets game I attended. My brother and I watched as the Mets beat the Colt 45's 4-3! I have been a Mets fanatic ever since!

This was my first game too!!! The old Polo Grounds with my dad. I got in for free because I was only 6 years old. This was the first of about 250 Mets games I have seen through the years. And they won, too! But it means a lot to me for it was the first game I saw with my dad.

My first Mets game. My Dad took my twin sister and me to the game. I have been a loyal Mets fan ever since, through thick and thin. Have now been to all three stadiums. A fun team. Congrats Mets on 50 years.

My first Mets game and will never forget.

I cannot believe my Dad stayed for the entire game. It was a very exciting game culminating in a walk off homer in the bottom of the eleventh. Remember walking down the steps from the streets where we parked up on Coogans Bluff. I was just a few weeks shy of 10 years old. Will soon reach 63 years old. Still a huge Mets fan LGM!

Roger Craig takes a 1-0 lead to the bottom of the ninth, but with one out and a runner on, Roy Sievers hits the 300th home run of his career to give the Phillies a 2-1 win.

Ther loss is Craig's 13th consective loss, on the way to a 5-22 season.

Just picked up a really nice scorecard from this game. Signed by very tough autographers such as Choo Choo Coleman, Grover Powell, Carl Willey, Duke Snider (who had a triple and HR in the game) and also the first Met appearance by Dick Smith. This is quite possibly Dick Smith's FIRST MLB autograph as a New York Met as July 20, 1963 was his very first game.

Another tough loss for Roger Craig as Houston pitcher Bob Bruce shuts out the Mets, 1-0. Frank Thomas, playing first base, pulled off the hidden ball trick on Jimmy Wynn.

This loss is the Mets' TWENTY-SECOND consecutive road loss, matching a record set by the 1890 Pirates. The Mets will win the next night at Dodger Stadium for their first road win since June 15 in Cincinnati. In between they were swept in St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Houston.

My first Mets game. I was 8 years old. Jim Hickman hit for the cycle, Stan Musial pinch hit for the Cardinals and the Mets actually won! My one and only look at the Polo Grounds.

Oh, those were the days when the Mets were pitiful, the lovable, Amazin' Mets. I was 13, and went this day with a summer school group from Westchester. It was the last year in the Polo Grounds; we sat in the left field stands, in special seats set aside for groups. As usual, the stands were empty. Whenever I went myself I sat in the center field bleachers for 75 cents. That was the place to sit.

I remember almost nothing about the game, except the fact that Jim Hickman hit for the cycle. In those days, we remembered every Mets feat. So here was Hickman, a guy we loved, couldn't hit a lick, but we didn't care. And he hit for the cycle.

The bus ride home must have been great. And yes, the Mets even won the game. A Miracle!

Jim Hickman hit for a natural cycle in this game. He had a single, double, triple and home run in that order. Hickman four hits came between the first inning and the sixth. Only Bill Collins of the Boston Doves fifty-three years earlier had ever accomplished such a feat in the National League.

Sometimes a baseball game is, well, just a baseball game. It's a few hours of distraction from from that eternal run down play we call life. But sometimes that routine game takes on a meaning so much greater than anyone had a right to expect. Sometimes that game soars so far above the din of everday existence that it assumes mythic qualities. Such was the game between the Mets and the Cards played on August 8th, 1963.

By August that Mets had proven once again that the basement of the National League was theirs and no team was going to deprive them of that. Now it was the Card's turn to fatten their record. With them HOF Stan "the Man" Musial. This being his retirement year he was of course making one of his last appearances in New York.

I don't remember everyone who played that day. Frank Thomas started in left, Al Jackson was the starting pitcher and Duke Carmel played first. My friends and I sat in the left field bleechers. Musial was signing baseballs and tossing them into the seats near me.

The Mets won the game in dramatic fashion with a home run in the ninth.

The Amazing Mets of 69 were still some years off, but in that one moment this 12-year-old became aware that despite all odds you stay in the run down for as long as you can because sometimes they drop the ball and you're safe. Sometimes you win even though had had no right to. Keep the Faith...Ya gotta believe. Lets Go Mets!

I remember this game very well. In the top of the first inning, Julian Javier drove in the Cards' 2 runs. It stayed that way until the bottom of the ninth when my first baseball hero, Duke Snider, blasted a 3 run homer to the upper deck in right. The Polo Grounds went crazy as Duke hobbled around the bases with a bum leg.

To clear up some confusion on both earlier posts: the Cardinals' two runs came on a single by pitcher Ray Sadecki in the second inning, and a home run by Charlie James leading off the fourth. The Mets tied it in the bottom of the fourth on RBI Singles by Duke Carmel and Al Moran.

Duke Snider walked as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning and stayed in the game. But it was the OTHER Duke, Duke Carmel, who homered with two outs in the bottom of the eighth off Bobby Shantz to give the Mets the lead.

With two outs and a runner on in the top of the ninth, Stan Musial came up to pinch-hit for Shantz and he walked. It was Stan the Man's final plate appearance in New York. Jackson then got Curt Flood to ground out to end the game.

I was just nine; went with my parents and younger sister. I remember Stan the MAN making his last appearance; my Dad pointed it out!! I grew up as a left-handed batter and can still see Stan wiggle his bat high over his head. GREAT memories of my one and only game at the Polo Grounds. Ron Hunt was my favorite! Got his autograph next year at Shea. He Signed LEFT handed!! Go figure. Hunt, first Met All-star in 1964 at Shea. I never forgave the front office for that trade!!!

Jim Hickman hit a grand slam to end Craig's 18-game losing streak. Afterwards, a reporter asked Hickman if Craig thanked him, and Hickman replied, "I think he kissed me."

As mentioned by Joe in November 2001, Roger Craig finally got a win in this game, thanks to Jim Hickman's ninth inning grand slam off Lindy McDaniel.

The Mets were shut out nine times in 1963 with Craig on the mound.

Craig switched to uniform #13 to change his luck.

Billy Williams went back on the high fly which Hickman hit. Just as he pounded his glove the ball went into the first deck of the left field overhang in the Polo Grounds.

I was 13 and went to the game with my uncle. We sat on the first base side in foul territory looking across the outfield. After Hickman hit the homer it was as if they won the 7th game of the World Series; Met fans were going crazy and one guy behind us had a hand cranked siren that he turned for what seemed like a half hour. I still remember the homer as if it happened yesterday.

I remember watching this game on tv (WOR) and seeing Roger Craig run out of the dugout to greet Jim Hickman as he crossed the plate, and the Mets and me and my brother jumping up and down like they'd just won the World Series. Also I remember Lindsey Nelson and Bob Murphy saying that at this moment, the NY Mets were in 7th place, and I thought we had reached the stratosphere.

I was a young boy, loved baseball and was becoming a Mets fan. I recall listening to this night game on my AM radio (think it was WJRZ 970) and the announcer calling the play: "tie score, bottom of the 9th, bases loaded, 2 out, 3-2 count on Jim Hickman, here's the pitch and he hits it deep to left field...going....gone...home run...grand slam...Mets win!" (Maybe not the exact call, but this was the situation.) The electricity and adrenaline this baseball moment generated for me sort of initiated my absolute love of playing and now watching the game. There is no clock to run out of time, play hard every pitch of every inning of every game no matter the score, and that is the true greatness of the game of baseball.

I recorded the final play on tape recorder. It went something like this "this will be a pay off and real payoff. Ball hit to left. It is hanging up there. And it is a home run"

A scoreless tie through eight innings turned into a Cubs victory.

Galen Cisco had allowed just two hits through eight innings: a third inning double by Cubs pitcher Larry Jackson, and a seventh inning single by Ron Santo.

But in the ninth Lou Brock led off with a single to right and Ellis Burton followed with a homer to right. Hits by Ron Santo and Ken Hubbs around a Merritt Ranew walk added two more runs.

In the bottom of the ninth with two outs and nobody on, Al Moran and Choo Choo Coleman walked, but pinch hitter Tim Harkness grounded out to end the game.

My first Mets game. Age 9. It was Camera Day. Later I realized that a high number of the pictures had Jim Hickman (last night walk-off grand slam) with Roger Craig still at his side. Craig still wearing #13 from his (loss) record-stopping win the night before. The game itself was a typical early Mets loss. Close but not quite.

This is a game I have always bragged about. It was played when I was only 7 years old. It was important to me because:
i) It was the only game I ever saw in the Polo Grounds;
ii) it was my first Mets game;
iii) the Mets won;
iv) Al Jackson was the winning pitcher and he went on to have a long major league career.

I was at this game with my dad and saw Jim Hickman make one of the world's worst throws on a ground ball to third; he must have missed the first baseman by about 45 feet.

This was the 2nd Mets game I had ever attended! I got to witness Sandy Koufax at his best. I was only 11 years old and do not recall all of the details. I can remember Sandy sailing along until the 9th inning, when Ron Hunt hit a solo home run right down the left field line to break up the shutout. A few hits later and a Dodger error forced Koufax out of the game! With 2nd and 3rd and two outs, Casey sent "Duke" Snider to pinch hit against relief ace Ron Peronoski. He struck out by a pitch 3 feet in the dirt! LA 3 Mets 2.

I was 14 years old when I attended this game, which, as I will explain shortly, I still regard as one of the highlights of my life! I sat in the left field grandstands in the upper tier--for the princely sum of $1.25--a section or two on the fair side of the foul pole. It was a great thrill to see Sandy Koufax start against my Mets. And in the third inning, Frank Howard lofted a fly ball in my general direction, which miraculously wound up in my glove. A home run! I treasure the ball to this day. The game ended with the Mets down by one run, a runner on second base, and Duke Snider pinch-hitting for the Mets. OK, no magical ending, but I treasure the memories of this game.

I was 9 years old and already a Dodger fan when my dad took me and my brother to the Polo Grounds. I remember Drysdale dominating, the Dodgers sweeping, and my view from right field being obstructed by a beam.

This was the final game played by the Dodgers at the Polo Grounds. LA swept this doubleheader--and the four-game series--and as the sun set this Sunday evening the Dodgers had a 6-game lead on the Cardinals and Giants. The Mets fell to 35.5 games out.

The Dodgers' winning pitcher in their final appearance at the Polo Grounds was a 19-year-old righty named Dick Calmus. Calmus got into 21 games with the 1963 Dodgers and had a 3-1 record. After 1963 he made only one more appearance in a major league game, and that was in September of 1967 for the Cubs against the Mets.

Tommy Davis gave the Dodgers the lead in the fourth inning with a two-RBI single, and Calmus, in relief of Pete Richert, pitched five innings allowing just one hit and one walk.

The final Dodger at bat at the Polo Grounds was a groundout to second base by Wally Moon. John Roseboro had the final Dodger hit at the Polo Grounds, an eighth inning single to right.

Mets 22-year-old rookie Grover Powell beats the Phils with a 4–0 shutout in his first ML start. In his next start he'll be hit on the cheek by a line drive off the bat of Pittsburgh's Donn Clendenon and never win another game.

For his first major league start, Grover Powell blanked the Phillies with a four-hitter in the opener of a doubleheader at Connie Mack Stadium. Powell was in a mound duel with the Phils' Cal McLish, who had allowed just one hit and retired twenty straight batters over seven scoreless innings. The Mets then broke through with four runs in the eighth and ninth to give Powell his lone major league win. Powell's shutout was also the only complete game ever for a Mets pitcher who wore uniform #41 that wasn't named Tom Seaver.

Grover was at the age of 22 at the time of this game. He would live only 22 more years before his death from leukemia.

I was ten years old, and got my hopes way up that the Mets would actually win a doubleheader! When the game went into extra innings, I wanted the Mets to win so bad I actually started praying for victory. Alas, it was not to be.

Carl Willey, the Mets' "Maine Man" in 1963, pitched another gem, a six-hit shutout. This was victory number 41 for the '63 Mets, thereby ensuring a better record than the '62 legends. Willey even drove in the Mets' second run (Jim Hickman's leadoff HR scored the first). I don't know if it's a record, but Casey Stengel used three consecutive pinch-runners during the Mets 3-run ninth. The rally began with -- surprise! -- Ron Hunt getting hit by a pitch. Cal Koonce pitched well in defeat and six years later was rewarded by the Amazin's with a World Series ring.

The first major league game I ever saw; Grover Powell started for the Mets. Duke Carmel hit a 3 run homer in the first inning off Bob Sadowski. Tim Harkness hit one over the roof in right field in the 4th I believe. .Braves tied it on a home run by Roy McMillan off Roger Craig in the 6th or so. .and on and on they played. Larry Bearnarth threw 7 shutout innings in relief. Hank Aaron, in consecutive times at bat in extra innings. .hit doubles down the left field line. .and was tagged out when he overslid 2nd. .Bob Tiefanauer pitched in relief. .and Tim Harkness beat him with his 2nd hr of the day. .a 2 run shot into the upper deck in right. I can still see that ball dropping into the seats. Bearnarth the winner, and I went home happy.

First game of a doubleheader, and the Mets come away with a 5-3 win. Jim Hickman led off the bottm of the first with a home run off Bob Purkey. The Reds tied it in the third on an RBI single by Pete Rose.

Ron Hunt's sac fly gave the Mets a 2-1 lead in the third, and in the fourth Joe Hicks drove in Duke Carmel who had doubled. The Mets added two more in the fifth off Joe Jay to take a 5-1 lead on a walk by Tim Harkness, a single by Ron Hunt, and a two-run triple by Duke Carmel.

Al Jackson gave up an RBI single to Gene Freese in the sixth and a pinch homer to Eddie Kasko in the top of the ninth and finished with a complete game win.

The Mets won the first game and it was too much to expect that they'd win a doubleheader. So after Pete Rose hit the first pitch of the second game for a home run, my friends and I moseyed down the left field line to stand above the Reds bullpen. The bullpen was, I believe, in the outfield, in fair territory, in the Polo Grounds. We leaned over the rail and begged for one of the Reds to throw us a baseball. They were in a bad mood and Joey Jay who had pitched that first game came out from under the overhang and started cursing us out. We began to tell him how badly he had pitched and before long it got kind of ugly. He had a pretty foul mouth and we 13 year olds weren't too nice either. Before long, one of the Reds came out from under the overhang to grab Joey and pull him back under. We persisted for a while but after a while we realized we weren't getting a free baseball or a reaction from Joey so we left and went back to watch the Mets split the doubleheader.

My parents took me to this game, part of a Labor Day doubleheader at the Polo Grounds. We were seated in the right-field stands which were only 257 feet away from home plate. Pete Rose hit a home run into the second deck right over our heads for the only run of the game. Jay Hook pitched a great game but fell 1 run short.

As usual I went to the game with my Dad and I believe we sat in the bleachers. It was a great pitchers battle: Jim Maloney vs Hook. Maloney gave up only 2 hits both to Tim Harkness - a 1st inning single and a 6th inning double while Hook gave up only 4 but alas one was the Rose leadoff homer which if I remember correctly was hit on Hook's 1st pitch of the game. As usual for the suffering Mets fans no one knew it would be the game winner for another 2 hrs.

To confirm Joe R.'s memory from April 2003, Pete Rose hit Jay Hook's first pitch of the game for a home run as the Reds won, 1-0. Jim Maloney struck out 13 and pitched the shutout.

I'm so glad that others remember this game. I've been watching baseball for a long time, but I never remember another game that was settled with the first pitch and then ended 1-0. Pete Rose hit that first pitch for a home run and that was it. This was the second game of a doubleheader and my friends and I snuck down to seats right behind homeplate. We saw Jim Maloney warm up-- these were the days when pitchers warmed up right behind home plate. We had never seen anyone throw the ball harder than Jim Maloney. I can still remember the sound of the catcher's glove popping. With the September twilight and that fastball of his, it's no wonder that he only needed one run. It's too bad because Jay Hook, obviously, pitched great too. This game is another reason for Mets fans to hate Pete Rose!

I just discovered this website! Better late than never. It was the end of summer and I was about to start high school. The Pete Rose HR that won, 1-0, came right at me in the upper RF deck, where the stands first curved out, but I had just stood up to buy a coke--the first pitch of the game---and the ball struck the metal backing and caromed back onto the field. Pete's 4th career HR! What a souvenir! What I could have done with it on e-Bay. I kept all my ticket stubs and scorecards.

This was the last game I attended at the Polo Grounds. It was the day after Labor Day, a week before school opened. There was a small crowd and we were able to purchase box seat tickets not more ten rows behind the Reds dugout. My friend, a Red fanatic, actually was given a bat used in batting practice by Vada Pinson.

My only recollections of the game, besides the final score, was: 1) Joe Nuxall started for the Reds and was thrown out trying to steal second (probably the only highlight of the game for the Mets) and 2) no matter what the score was, the crowd loudly cheering on Casey's Amazin's with "Let's Go Mets."

On a play at second base, Ron Hunt steps on Frank Robinson's left arm, and Robinson winds up with thirty stitches.

Tim Harkness became the first Mets player ever to steal three bases in a game at this game.

This is the game when the three Alou brothers, Matty, Felipe and Jesus, played in the same game for the first time. They all batted consecutively in the eighth inning.

Felipe had been with the Giants for several years and Matty and Jesus would be for several additional years, but San Francisco broke up the family soon after this game, dealing Felipe to Milwaukee. All told, the Alou's combined 5,194 hits, 269 home runs, 294 stolen bases, 2,223 runs and 1,656 RBIs.

Carl Willey goes the distance for the CG win, his 9th of the season in 21 decisions.

This game was played on the day I was born. Glad to see the Mets won. This was a better day for the Mets and N.Y. for what was to come exactly 38 years later.

This was the final win for the New York Mets at the Polo Grounds and the final loss for the Giants' franchise at Coogan's Bluff.

The Mets had seven more home games in 1963 after this game but lost them all. Then they finished the season with a nine game road trip.

The Mets jumped on Jack Sanford and scored two in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Duke Snider and an infield out by Pumpsie Green. They added two more in the second on a bases-loaded single by Tim Harkness.

Al Jackson pitched a complete game for the Mets, allowing an unearned run in the sixth and an Orlando Cepeda home run in the eighth.

If I am not mistaken this game on September 12, 1963 was the last game the Giants played at their former home ballpark the Polo Grounds. A great trick question is when did the Giants play their last game at the Polo Grounds? If you answer September 29, 1957 you would be wrong.

I am fairly certain that this was DUKE SNIDER NIGHT. It was delayed a bit because of the rain and there was a full array of former Dodger heroes in attendance, including Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella

I am fairly certain because Marichal pitched and hit a homer and it was one-sided. A couple of years ago I asked Juan Marichal if he remembered hitting a home run in the Polo Grounds, he smiled and knew that it was off "Stallard, I hit it pretty good, too."

My father took us to this game and it was a real treat - he bought us among other things Mr. Met loose leaf notebooks.

Turk Farrell once again is a Met killer. The leadoff hitter and RF for the Mets is Eddie Kranepool. Choo Choo Coleman homers in the loss!

This was the first game of a doubleheader that hosted the Mets' first-ever "Banner Day," with the parade of banners taking place on the field between games.

It was my one and only trip to the Polo Grounds, and a disappointingly quiet day at the plate for the home team. (Imagine Ed Kranepool as a leadoff hitter!) I did, however, get to see Choo Choo Coleman hit a homer in person--and how many fans can actually claim to have had that experience?

Living 100 miles north of NYC, I would eventually attend thirteen Mets losses before finally seeing them win a game in person. Years later, I was one of the lucky ones who attended (and brought sod home from) Game 5 on October 16, 1969--which more than made up for the frustration of all those earlier losses.

I'll never know what inspired my dad to take me to a Mets game in 1963, but I'll always be grateful for the opportunity to have seen a couple games at the Polo Grounds and to have had him there to share the experience with me.

Colts surrender just seven hits in sweeping a twinbill from the Mets, 5-4 and 5-0. Turk Farrell goes the distance on four hits in the opener while fanning eleven. Chris Zachary and Hal Woodeshick combine for a three-hit shutout in the nightcap. Teenager Rusty Staub and Johnny Weekly go deep in the second game.

This was the second game of a doubleheader that hosted the Mets' first-ever "Banner Day," with the parade of banners taking place on the field between games.

It was my one and only trip to the Polo Grounds, and a disappointingly quiet day at the plate for the home team. (Imagine Ed Kranepool as a leadoff hitter!) I did, however, get to see Choo Choo Coleman hit a homer in person--and how many fans can actually claim to have had that experience?

Living 100 miles north of NYC, I would eventually attend thirteen Mets losses before finally seeing them win a game in person. Years later, I was one of the lucky ones who attended (and brought sod home from) Game 5 on October 16, 1969--which more than made up for the frustration of all those earlier losses.

I'll never know what inspired my dad to take me to a Mets game in 1963, but I'll always be grateful for the opportunity to have seen a couple games at the Polo Grounds and to have had him there to share the experience with me.

The last Baseball game ever played in the Polo Grounds!

I recall after the game instead of putting the full tarp over the infield, they just put a small circular tarp covering the pitcher's mound. The television announcers said that an amateur game was still to be played at the Polo Grounds before it got torn down.

Only 1,752 fans showed up for the final game. Mets drew just over 1 million at home that year. Dodgers and Giants were the big draws, not the Phils.

My dad loved the NY GIANTS, hated the NY METS. Took me to a game in this vast ballfield earlier in the year, it was my first game!

On this sad day, the last ML game at the Polo Grounds draws 1,752 fans to see Philadelphia beat New York 5–1. Jim Hickman hits the final New York home run in the historic park, and Chris Short beats Craig Anderson.

As others have said, this was the final game in the history of the Polo Grounds. Here are some "final finals" from the great old ballpark:

Last pitch: by Chris Short. Last at bat: Ted Schreiber (pinch-GIDP to end the game). Last hit: Chico Fernandez (single to left). Last home run: Jim Hickman. Last run scored: Wes Covington. Last RBI: Clay Dalrymple. Last Mets run scored and RBI: Jim Hickman. Last error: Ron Hunt.

Rest in peace Polo Grounds.

May the Mets honor their first home in some fashion, maybe not the all out fashion they will for their home of 44 years, but sadly since this day the Echoing Greens of Polo Grounds has existed in books and faded memories.

Note also that this game was the 7th straight loss for the Mets at the Polo Grounds. Not so fine memories to close the place out!

To CGD this was NOT the last baseball game at the Polo Grounds. A recent N.Y. Daily News article uncovered a Latin All-Star game played in October 1963 (A week after the Dodgers won the World Series over the Stankees). FYI, the last sporting event played at the PG was an American Football Game between the Jets and the Buffalo Bills which was won by the Bills 19-10 in front of a small gathering of over 6,000. The date was Saturday December 14, 1963, 3 weeks after the death of President Kennedy!

In the seventh inning, the Giants have an outfield of Matty Alou in LF, Felipe Alou in CF, and Jesus Alou in RF. It's the first time the three brothers are in the outfield at the same time.

Willie McCovey hit three homers for the Giants in this 13-4 romp.

I believe it was 8th inning where the Alou brothers were retired 1-2-3.

The Alou Brothers batted in the bottom of the 7th. Jesus got a single. This was his 10th MLB game.

In his final tuneup before the World Series, Sandy Koufax pitched five scoreless innings and Bob Miller and Ron Perranoski combined for four more as the Dodgers shut out the Mets, 1-0.

Roger Craig was the hard-luck loser in the game, his fifth 1-0 loss of the 1963 season. Craig could partly blame himself for this one: in the first inning he retired the first two batters, then gave up singles to Wally Moon and Tommy Davis. Craig tried to pick Davis off first and threw the ball away. Moon came around to score what would be the only run of the game.

The Colt .45s start nine rookies, including 20- year-old Jerry Grote, 19-year-old Rusty Staub, 20- year-old Joe Morgan, and 21-year-old Jim Wynn.

Houston's starting pitcher is 17-year-old Jay Dahl, who makes what will turn out to be his only major league appearance. Dahl is killed in a car accident in June 1965 without ever making it back to the majors.

Check out this link for more details on the game.

In the closing series of their sophomore season, the fledgling Houston Colt .45s faced flagging attendance.

In an effort to bolster gate receipts, the front office decided to try something new: field a team composed entirely of rookies. No major league team had tried it before, and none has done so since. It was a unique occurrence in the history of Major League Baseball.

Two days before the end of the regular season, on September 27, 1963, at Colt Stadium in a game against the New York Mets, the Colt .45s put an all-rookie team on the field. Their average age was 19. It was MLB's youngest-ever starting lineup.

Jackson S, ss Morgan J, 2b Wynn J, cf Staub R, 1b Pointer A, rf Davis B, Vaughan G, 3b Grote J, c Dahl J

Aaron Pointer went back to the minors and has since become an NFL head linesman. His four sisters (Ruth, Anita, Bonnie, and June) are known today as the Pointer Sisters.

Jay Dahl went back to the minors, but was killed in a 1965 car accident in North Carolina at the age of 19.

Note that Jerry Grote got his first major league hit in this game - a single off Al Jackson.

It was Jackson's last start of the 1963 season and the win gave him a 13-17 record which is pretty amazing on a team that finished 51- 111.

This was the night the Houston Colt .45s had nine rookies in their starting lineup. Three of them (Morgan, Staub and Grote) would play in the National League Championship Series between the Mets and Reds ten years later. The game also featured the major league debut of Houston reliever Joe Hoerner, who would pitch for seven different teams over fourteen seasons.

There's irony in the fact that Dick Drott was the .45s' pitcher on the mound for the ninth inning. While the four previous Houston hurlers in the game were rookies, Drott was at the opposite end of things. He appeared in the 176th and final game of his seven-year major league career.

For the Mets, the win was their 51st and last of the season.

This marked the last game of the 1963 season as well as rookie John Paciorek's big league debut. The older brother of Tom Paciorek, John went 3- for-3 but never returned to the majors, retiring with a 1.000 batting average. He has the most hits of any player who never made an out.

The last game ever for Grover Powell. Too bad!

A few interesting things came about on the Houston side of this season closer. In his first and only major league game, John Paciorek collected three singles and drew two walks in five plate appearances. This gave him marks of 1.000 for batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage for his one-day career. Paciorek also had four runs scored.

Another noteworthy fact is that the Colt .45s' winning pitcher was Jim Umbricht in his last career game. Umbricht was suffering from cancer at the time and passed away just before the next season began.

For the Mets, Larry Bearnarth was more productive at bat than on the mound. He gave up seven runs on six hits in 3+ innings for the loss, but also had a two-run single and hit the only triple of his career.