Meet the Mets

John Franco at The Vet

New York Mets v Philadelphia Phillies, April 23, 1991


Veterans Stadium, Sec 342 Row 5

I can't imagine staying in my seats very long.  The 300 level at the Vet was wedged under a canopy.  You could only view the playing surface or the cold concrete underside of the 400 level above you.  It was like being in a rowhouse basement with a low drop ceiling.

Ron Darling v Jason Grimsley.  A Tuesday night game.  Only 20,000 in attendance.  Wonder why I was here.
It was a pitching duel until the bottom of the 5th.  The Mets scored an unearned run to put themselves in the lead 1-0.  They managed to manufacture another run in the 6th with walk, a steal and a wild pitch by Grimsley.

The Phils brought in Joe "The Saver" Boever in the relief in the 7th.  Charlie Hayes doubled in Von Hayes, who was on first after drawing a walk to pull the Phils with in one.  But closer John Franco was too much for the Phils and he held on to the 2-1 lead for a win.

Roughed Up Boddicker

Kansas City Royals v Boston Red Sox, April 22, 1989


Fenway Park, Sec 36 Row 7

Many of our Saturdays in the summer were spent either with Red Sox tickets or us taking the T to Fenway and scalping tickets.  This was a cold day so I would venture to guess we already had tickets in hand.  I couldn't imagine voluntarily going to a ballgame when the game time temperature was in the 40s.

Mike Boddicker took the mound for the home team as Mark Gubicza did the same for KC.
Boddicker got into control trouble in the 2nd and walked in the game's first run.  Boddicker got into trouble again in the 3rd but this time he had control.  It's just he gave up back to back doubles to start the inning.  KC's Jim Eisenreich was one who hit Boddicker.  In a few years I would move to Philadelphia and watch Eisenreich take on a much bigger role with the Phils then he had with KC.

The Sox were able to get on the board in the bottom of the 3rd off a Mike Greenwell RBI.
Boddicker struggled again in the 4th giving up 2 doubles, a single and a walk before getting the hook. Dennis Lamp didn't fair much better for the Sox as he surrendered another 3 runs before the inning ended.

Gubicza pitched a full 8 innings.  Ellis Burks went 3 for 4 in a losing effort.
KC wins 7-3.

You Never Forget......

Calgary Flames v Philadelphia Flyers, April 22, 1981


The Spectrum, Sec ?

You never forget your first time.  I jumped on the Flyers bandwagon when they won the 1974 Cup.  It may be my first recollection of a Flyers game.  The neighborhood kids went nuts.  We played street hockey everyday after school during hockey season for years.  We knew every player.  Every number.  Every stat.  But none of us have ever seen a Flyers game live.  We only knew they played in the same building as the 76ers and across the street from where the Phillies played.  They were the only 2 teams we could afford to see.  Plus, our fathers didn't grow up with hockey so there was no allegiance there.  Heck, we didn't even have cable (Flyers were only on Prism in those days) so we mostly listened to them on the radio.  

I went down South for school and was up for the Penn Relays.  My mom arranged for me to leave the team, be picked up for a Flyers game and to get me back to the team hotel.  She bought a relative's tickets who had seats behind the goal where the Flyers shot twice.  So here I am.  In the same building where the Broad Street Bullies once played.  The players changed but the uniforms were the same.

Hat Trick Propp

The season prior the Flyers were jipped out of a Cup by a blown Leon Stickle off sides which resulted in a Bob Nystrom Cup winning goal.  It was a dirty Cup for the Islanders to accept.  This season the team already dispatched the Quebec Nordiques 3-2 in the opening Best of Five series. 

This series was knotted at 2-2.  And who was in the building?  Linesman Leon Stickle.  Philadelphians don't forget quickly.  I remember someone yelling to Stickle after he made a correct off sides call; "Nice call......1 year too late!".

The FlamesWilli Plett couldn't even wait one whole minute of play to get himself in to the penalty box.  With Plett in the box, the Flyers Rick MacLeish scored with assists going to Bill Barber and Big Behn Wilson.
The next three goals were all scored by the Flyers.  All by Brian Propp for a Natural Hat Trick.  The Flames scored once in the 1st but Bill Barber countered with another to put the Flyers up 5-1 after a 13 shot 1st.

The 2nd period the Flyers added 2 more to the Flames 1 goal.  Glenn Cochrane and Tim Kerr both scored for the home team.  A better story were the penalties:

Penalties - CALG - Plett (Hi stick) 1:56 ; PHI - Glen Cochrane (Hi stick) 1:56 ; CALG - Murdoch (Charging) 3:53 ; PHI - Mel Bridgman (Board check) 7:59 ; CALG - Holt (Slashing) 13:17 ; CALG - Holt (Spearing) 13:17 ; PHI - Mike Busniuk (Slashing) 13:17 ; PHI - Mike Busniuk (Spearing (maj)) 13:17 ; PHI - Reid Bailey (Fighting (maj)) 13:55 ; PHI - Reid Bailey (Misconduct (10 min)) 13:55 ; PHI - Tom Gorence (Fighting (maj)) 13:55 ; PHI - Tom Gorence (Misconduct (10 min)) 13:55 ; CALG - Lever (Fighting (maj)) 13:55 ; CALG - Lever (Misconduct (10 min)) 13:55 ; CALG - Russell (Fighting (maj)) 13:55 ; CALG - Russell (Misconduct (10 min)) 13:55 ; CALG - Plett (Fighting (maj)) 13:55 ; CALG - Plett (Game misconduct) 13:55 ; CALG - Plett (Game misconduct) 13:55 ; CALG - Murdoch (Misconduct (10 min)) 13:55 ; CALG - Bench (served by Hindmarch) (Not leaving zone during fight - bench) 13:55 ; PHI - Glen Cochrane (Holding) 13:55 ; PHI - Glen Cochrane (Fighting (maj)) 13:55 ; PHI - Mel Bridgman (Misconduct (10 min)) 13:55 ; PHI - Bench (served by Flockhart) (Not leaving zone during fight - bench) 13:55 ; CALG - Peplinski (Fighting (maj)) 13:55 ; PHI - Behn Wilson (Holding) 14:33 ;

And that was just the 2nd period.

Each team scored 2 more in the 3rd with the Flyers prevailing 9-4.  Little remembered Rick St Croix got the win between the pipes for the Flyers.

Welcome to Philadelphia

Good Fish Sticks

New York Islanders v Philadelphia Flyers, April 20, 1995


The Spectrum, Sec 64 Row 3

One of the best things about seeing the Islanders play live in 1995 from the Crows Nest of the Spectrum is you are too far up to see those new god-awful Gorton's Fisherman logo.

I had an out of town friend in for a few days.  We started the day by golfing in Medford, NJ.  After a round we headed to the Spectrum for his first Flyers game.  He was a fan going back to the old AHL Richmond Robins so he was stoked to finally see the place up close and personal.  To add to the drama, brothers Eric and Brett Lindros were squaring off against each other.  Anytime both were on the ice it was expected they would start dukeing it out. 

The unfortunate thing for him was the Islanders got on the board first which tends to silence the crowd.  Kirk Muller scored an short handed goal at the 15:46 mark of the first.

New York's Scott Lachance went into the box in the first minute of the 2nd period.  Less than 20 seconds later, at the 0:50 mark, Eric Lindros scored with Eric Dejardins and Petr Svoda.  Nothing like a Lindros goal to energize the old Spectrum.  A fine christening to Philadelphia hockey for the out of town guest.

Somehow either while getting beers downstairs during the intermission or in the stands we made a bet who would score the game winning goal.  Not just the team, but the player.  I picked Mikael Renberg.  He picked John LeClair.

Welcome to Philadelphia

In the 3rd with a rare Ron Hextall assist and a pass from Rod Brind'Amour, Mikael Renberg scored the game winner at the 11:25 mark of regulation.  It was his 25 goals of the season.  The place was electric.  Not a better ending for someone who was seeing his first live Flyers game at home.

Phantoms First Playoff Game

Dave Issac

Baltimore Bandits v Philadelphia Phantoms, April 19, 1997


Core States Center, Sec 123 Row 15

The regular season excitement for the new Phantoms surely surpassed any expectation I had from bringing a minor league team to Philadelphia.  I only expected the playoff excitement to be that much greater.  They even moved the first game across the parking lot to the new Core States Center, where the Flyers now played.

And that was the furst mistake.  Any intimacy the Phantoms had at the Spectrum was lost in the cavernous Big House.  The atmosphere was too big and too cold for a minor league hockey game.

That said, the Phantoms did pull out a victory in the first ever playoff game with a 4-2 win over Baltimore.  They eventually won the series 3 games to 0.

They lost the 2nd round in a rough 7 game series against new rival Hershey.

Empty

Horrible Atmosphere

Montreal Expos v Philadelphia Phillies, April 19, 1990


Veterans Stadium, Sec 214 Row 7

With the consecutive Phillies sellouts today in 2010, many forget, or were not young enough to remember, games at the Vet when 8,417 would be on hand to see a ballgame in South Philadelphia. By my calculations that means there were either 53,965 empty seats or 53,965 people dressed up as empty seats who sat silently throughout this game. 

Not to complain, but I was a guest of a lawyer whose firm we did business with.  I'm a pretty humble kid who grew up in the 700 level.  I don't expect much.  But I did not expect my host to bring his own brown bagged peanut and butter and jelly sandwich and eat it in front of me without offer to buy me anything. 

It was fitting given the teams on the field and the cavernous empty stadium.

The only thing that could make this baseball experience worse would be the Phillies starting pitcher giving up hits to the first two men he faces then balking in a run in the top of the 1st.  So in the top of the 1st after the Expos Delino DeShields and Maquis Grissom each singled, the Phils starter Bruce Ruffin balked in DeShields, who was now on 3rd base. 

What next? An entire game when the home teams fails to score?  So after nine innings the home team failed to cross the plate once.

What next?  An entire game with no home runs.  So, after 9 innings of play not one ball left the yard.

To put things into perspective; I presently own 2 Veterans Stadiums seats (stadium demolished in 2004) which now sit empty in my sports bar.  The odds are favorable that these same two seats were empty on April 19, 1990.

The Expos had 11 hits to the Phils 2. Dennis Martinez was credited with the win.