On this date in New York Mets history, game six of the 1986 World Series took place. The ending was about as magical as any game could be.
Another off-season is here for the New York Mets. Time to get healthy and take another shot at things in 2019.
While we sit and prepare, we also take time to look back. As it also happens to be Thursday, we can look back today since they do call it “Throwback Thursday”.
With that, we continue our Mets Memories series. Last time, we started with Wilmer Flores and his walk-off home run that ignited the 2015 pennant race.
Today we are looking back at this date in 1986. The Mets and Red Sox were in the midst of the World Series, and it was the fateful game number six.
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Here is a quick history lesson for our young readers.
After hanging around the playoff race in 1985, the Mets dominated in 1986. Their record was 108-54, winning the National League East by 21.5 games.
It took a marathon game six of the NLCS against the Houston Astros to propel the Mets into the World Series.
The Red Sox were a mighty opponent for the Mets.
They beat the Mets in the first two games at Shea Stadium. The Mets won two out of three to send the series back to Shea, 3-2 in favor of the Red Sox.
The game started off slow for New York as they fell behind 2-0 and 3-2. The Mets rallied on both occasions and the game went to extra innings tied 3-3.
From there it looked very bleak. Dave Henderson hit a home run and Marty Barrett drove in another run and it was 5-3 heading into the bottom of the tenth.
The scoreboard even announced congratulations to the Red Sox prior to the end of the game.
However, the Mets had other ideas.
Wally Backman and Keith Hernandez both flew out, bring the Mets down to their last out. From there, the magic happened.
Gary Carter got it started with a single. Kevin Mitchell entered as a pinch hitter and also singled. Ray Knight singled, driving in Carter to make it 5-4.
Out comes Boston manager John McNamara to take out Calvin Schiraldi and replace him with Bob Stanley.
Instead of taking you through that memorable at bat, let’s just watch it:
What a moment it was. The Mets went on to win game seven and earn their second World Series title, but it would have never happened if not for this epic game six.
Personally it’s probably the greatest memory I have of the franchise. Hopefully it was meaningful to all of you as well.