The 1986 Mets Rewatch Newsletter is a newsletter for Mets fans who love a good foreshadowing.
There are two games available on YouTube from this week in which the Mets scored to win in their last at-bat.
But those are not the games I want to share with you in this edition of the newsletter.
I'm going to share the game from September 4, 1986, an exhibition played between the Mets and Red Sox in Fenway Park to raise money for the well-known Boston charity, The Jimmy Fund and The Amateur Baseball Foundation of New York. The game was intended to replace the annual Mayor's Trophy Game between the Mets and Yankees.
Forty years later, I can't believe this game was played. The idea that two division winners playing through the final month of the regular season would play a legitimate exhibition and put their regulars on the field for even an inning, is amazing. Heck, Darryl Strawberry had five at-bats in the game and a regular in the Mets' starting rotation, Rick Aguilera, pitched five innings!!
Almost all of the Mets regulars played. Jim Rice sat for the Red Sox but he had an excuse. He just had two root canals (we learned during the broadcast that Mets announcer Steve Zabriskie once had 13 … in one winter!) Three pitchers who pitched in the World Series pitched in the game- Aguilera, Doug Sisk, and Red Sox reliever Joe Sambito. I guess the teams had to reward what was a full house at Fenway Park. Paid attendance was 33,054 and Tim McCarver noted that the media contingent was comparable to a playoff game.
You can see from the box score near the top of the article that the Mets won the game and did it in 1986 Mets fashion, with a big comeback late in the game. We'll cover that within this rewatch, but there's a few other things I want to get to as well.
That the Mets even got to the ballpark on time was a whole to-do. Their bus broke down on the way to the ballpark and players hitchhiked to get to Fenway Park. As Mookie Wilson said to Leigh Montville of The Boston Globe "We put out the old thumb." An Emery Freight driver took Roger McDowell and Gary Carter to the ballpark and did them the favor of stopping at McDonald’s on the way in, per Dan Shaughnessy.
It was mentioned on the broadcast that the Mets equipment manager, Charlie Samuels, was able to commandeer a hotel van to get the team's equipment to the stadium.
By that point in the day Mets second baseman Wally Backman must have been saying "What the f—k?" Backman had been awakened at 4:30am by his car alarm. Someone tried unsuccessfully to break in.
Davey Johnson said there wasn't as much grumbling about this game as you would have expected. Gary Carter, who DH'd, told reporters "It might be inconvenient to some guys but it isn't to me. I'm just coming off the DL and I'm happy to play."
Carter won the pre-game home run hitting contest (video not available) with 5 home runs on 10 swings.
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Today's game is brought to you by … the two charities.
The Jimmy Fund is a longtime supporter of cancer treatment and research. It has one of the largest cancer clinical trial programs in the country, with more than 1,200 active clinical trials.
The Amateur Baseball Foundation of New York appears to have been a successor to The Brooklyn Amateur Baseball Foundation, as that keeps coming up when I google it.
The Mets were annually donating $40,000 to charities for youth and sandlot baseball. Ralph Kiner read a list of New York City baseball players who benefited from that in the past, which included Shawon Dunston, Lee Mazzilli, Ed Kranepool, Rico Petrocelli, Tommy Davis, Joe Foy, Ken Singleton, Terry Crowley and Danny Monzon.
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My favorite moment from this game came in the fourth inning with the Mets trailing 2-0. Mazzilli hit a ground ball to first base right through the legs of Red Sox first baseman Pat Dodson. It would have been really crazy if that had been Bill Buckner, but instead we'll gladly settle for a play that looked a lot like Buckner's famous World Series Game 6 error. It's still good foreshadowing.
Dodson, for those who don’t remember him, had 99 career major league at-bats spread out over three seasons and later became a school principal.
Little roller up along first …
The Mets scored in the inning to cut the lead to 2-1 but the Red Sox quickly answered with a run and led 3-1 going to the top of the eighth inning.
Joe Sambito came in to pitch for the Red Sox. Boston manager John McNamara played his regulars but didn't pitch either of his potential closers, Calvin Schiraldi or Bob Stanley. Broadcaster Ralph Kiner noted that Sambito had the nickname "One-third" in tribute to how much he typically pitched when he came into a game (the phrase "LOOGY" had not yet been invented).
Sambito, pressed to go a little longer in the game than his nickname deserved a better fate. The Mets scored six runs, five unearned in the top of the eighth inning. Perhaps it was karmic payback for Sambito wearing a t-shirt that made fun of the Mets’ altercation with Houston police the previous month.
Ray Knight doubled in the first run to cut the Red Sox lead to 3-2. With the bases loaded and two outs, Howard Johnson hit a hard grounder to third base that could have been the last out of the inning. But the ball hit the chest of third baseman Ed Romero (subbing for Wade Boggs). All hands were safe and the score was tied, 3-3. John Gibbons, who we lauded last week as the greatest 1986 Met of them all, then singled in the go-ahead run with a hard line drive to center field.
"It's beginning to look like a typical New York Mets game," said play-by-play announcer Zabriskie. It's been what they've been doing to the National League all season long."
The Mets final runs came on a wild pitch by Sambito and a two-run bloop single by Kevin Mitchell. The Mets won 7-3. The Red Sox got an early look at the Mets comeback machine that would haunt them a month later.
“I think it was important just to say we won a little bit of pride,” Aguilera told reporters afterwards. “And who’s to say? We might meet again.”
One thing in the aftermath of this one. Remember how Gary Carter said he needed whatever at-bats he could get since he'd just come off the injured list. In the Mets next game that counted, two days later, Carter hit a game-winning home run in the eighth inning.
You can contact me on Bluesky or via e-mail ([email protected]). You can find my other newsletter, which summarizes interviews I do with journalists, here.