A pair of totally great envelopes containing Mets cards came in the mail this week. Is there any better mail content on the planet, really?
This first one was a surprise, as fellow Mets fan Steve D. from NYC floated me a pair of awesome SSPC cards from 1976. Both of these guys were missing from my All-Time Mets registry, so I was quite excited to gain these cards!
Up top you've got Tom Hall, a southpaw hurler who appeared in 39 games overs parts of two seasons for the Mets. Mostly used as a reliever during his 10-year career, it's interesting that he's shown brandishing a bat in this photo. In case you were wondering, he wasn't exactly Doc Gooden or Madison Bumgarner at the plate, either. For his career, he was 31-for-192 with a pair of doubles and two RBIs.
Next up, Randy Tate, who went 5-13 with a 4.45 ERA for the Mets in 1975 -- his lone season in the big leagues. Nothing too exciting there, but check out this nugget I found on Tate's Wikipedia page:
While Tate is noted for never having achieved a Major League hit despite having 41 at bats, he is best known for nearly pitching a no-hitter on August 4, 1975 at Shea Stadium against the Montreal Expos. Despite not allowing a hit through seven and one third innings, Tate ended up losing the game -- which seems to have been the final straw for Mets management regarding the tenure of manager Yogi Berra, who was fired the next day.
If that isn't a totally Mets anecdote, I don't know what is!
Thanks for these two outstanding cards, Steve!
MK
The only way that story could have been more Mets is that Tate was traded the next day, and went on to become a HOFer and the player that the Mets received retired at the end of the season.
ReplyDeleteor at least go on to pitch that no-hitter for his new team!
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