Culture Shock

New York Mets v Philadelphia Phillies
June 27, 1987

Veterans Stadium, Sec 720 Row 7

Brought a young lady home from college to meet the parents and decided to mix in a Phils games.
If you aren't from Philadelphia, it is quite a eye opener. The parents, the dirty rowhouses, the sirens, getting a cheese steak in an utterly scary neighborhood.
So I assured her we would pick up a 6 pack at the corner bar and no one would be inside at 11 AM.
Nothing to be afraid of.
She reluctantly went in with me. The other option was to sit alone on 3rd Street in a locked car.
As we opened the door, the crowd almost spilled onto the street in the blinding morning light. Not a stool empty. Not a mouth without a either a beer or cigarette in it. Not many teeth in those mouths. Welcome to my world honey.
We grab the 6 and head to The Vet. Scalped a pair of tickets and got ready to watch the defending World Series champion Mets.
The rivalry wasn't as intense then as it is now. For a Saturday afternoon game, only 40, 128 were on hand.
The Mets jumped out to an early lead with a Gary Carter double to left, scoring Lee Mazzilli.
Von Hayes responded with a home run in the bottom of the 1st for the Phils.
The Mets lead 5-2 going into the bottom of the 9th. Pinch Hitter Chris James came in for the Phils and lead off with a homer off Jesse Orosco. Future Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt doubled and was later knocked in by Glenn Wilson to close the gap to 5-4. But that is where it ended when Lance Parish grounded out to 2nd with Mets closer Roger McDowell on the mound.