Category Archives: Baseball

Baseball, Tuneage

Lost Classics of the Stadium Riot Genre

The tweeting of JohnU alerted me to a blog post over at Mandatory Mustache which details a lost Mets-related punk rock classic from 1985 by a band called The Nightmares. I’m sorry it took me almost a month to discover it (the post debuted on April 14), but I’m glad I did, because it is awesome.

I’ll let the post speak for itself, but the gist is this: The Nightmares, a New York garage-y band, wrote a tune called “Baseball Altamont”, which detailed a riot that occurred in the Shea Stadium stands in 1984. They even had a record release party for the single in the Shea luxury suites, which is pretty friggin rad.

The song namechecks Keith Hernandez and Dr. K, and talks about “sitting up in the sky” in the cheap seats. I found that image particularly evocative, since I spent so much time in those cheap seats, which really did make you feel like you were 10,000 feet in the air. Especially if you sat in the very last section on either the left or right field side, hanging out over nothing. It was both exhilirating and terrifying. Oh, and you couldn’t see the game for nothin’.

I don’t have much info on The Nightmares, other than they were on Coyote, the same outfit that put out Yo La Tengo’s early stuff (fitting that they would share a label with another Met-inspired band). As you might imagine, a Google search yields a million other bands called The Nightmares who are clearly not this one. But the record sleeve shows them posing next to the historical marker in Hoboken where the first organized baseball game was (probably) played. Which is, again, pretty rad.

I also tried to look up some info on the riot in question. Not much luck, except for this remiscence about Opening Day at Shea by Eric Silverstadt, which appeared in The New York Times in 2004:

Twenty years to the day after the first pitch was thrown at Shea, I
returned for the home opener in 1984. Ron Darling was the starter, and again it was a beautiful, sunny afternoon. I slipped away from my job as an NBC page on ”Late Night With David Letterman,” expecting the Doc and Darryl Mets to bring life back to the ballpark. Although the 1984 team won 90 games, what happened that April afternoon could only happen in New York, and perhaps, only at Shea.

The Mets were losing, 10-0, to Pete Rose and the Expos in the seventh inning. Most fans had already bolted. This must have included some members of the New York Police Department because during the seventh-inning stretch, a riot broke out in the left-field bleachers. Tire irons, broken beer bottles, fists flying, bodies tumbling. The culprits? Passive Met and Expo fans? No. Ranger and Islander fanatics, still fighting a week after a brutal playoff series ended with an Islander overtime goal in the fifth and deciding game of the Patrick Division semifinals.

Not sure if this is the event which inspired the tune. Although if it is, ‘hockey Altamont’ doesn’t have quite the same ring.

In any case, give it a whirl and enjoy.

1999 Project

1999 Project: Games 20-22

Click here for an intro/manifesto on The 1999 Project.

April 27, 1999: Padres 6, Mets 2

With the Mets back at Shea after a six-game road trip, Masato Yoshii turned in yet another poor outing, giving up four runs and five walks in only 4 2/3 innings. Bobby Valentine said Yoshii’s rotation spot was not in jeopardy, and blamed himself for the pitcher’s woes. The skipper suggested Yoshii move from the third base side of the rubber to the first base side, and thought this suggestion was responsible for the pitcher’s troubles.

Yoshii wasn’t the only goat of the day. Recently activated Mike Piazza left seven men on base all by himself against Andy Ashby, San Diego’s less-than-intimidating starter.

April 28, 1999: Mets 4, Padres 3

This was Al Leiter’s best outing to date, as the lefty went seven innings, struck out six, and gave up only one run. The Mets took a 2-1 lead into the eighth and handed the ball to Armando Benitez, who had been nigh-perfect up to that point in the season. The righty proceeded to cough up the lead on a walk and back-to-back doubles by Tony Gwynn and Phil Nevin.

At that point, things looked pretty grim. The Mets had left a small army of men on base–as they’d been doing all season–and it seemed this would failure haunt them once more. Especially since the Padres had won the last 181 games they’d led in the eighth inning or later, thanks mostly to the work of future all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman.

99_piazza_padres.pngBut Hoffman failed to retire a batter this evening. After John Olerud led off the bottom of the ninth with an infield single, Piazza crushed the first pitch he saw into the right field bullpen, thus earning the Mets their first walk-off win of the year.

After the game, Benitez tipped his cap to Gwynn. That’s either a gracious bit of sportsmanship, or a way of deflecting blame for crappy pitch locaiton, depending on one’s point of view.

April 29, 1999: Mets 8, Padres 5

On a cold, blustery day, Bobby Jones couldn’t get a feel for his curveball. That translated into a rough outing, and a 5-2 deficit after five innings. But the Mets’ bullpen held the Padres at bay over the last four frames; Dennis Cook, Turk Wendell, Benitez, and John Franco limited San Diego to two hits and one walk, allowing New York to rally for an 8-5 victory.

They were assisted, in large part, by the Padres’ wildness. San Diego pitching allowed nine free passes, and five of those men scored. After the game, Valentine said, “It’s a long season. You have to be able to win a lot of ways.”

1999 Project

1999 Project: Games 17-19

Click here for an intro/manifesto on The 1999 Project.

Thumbnail image for wrigley.jpgApril 23, 1999: Mets 6, Cubs 5

The Mets endured a rough plane ride into Chicago, then some predictably unpredictable sun and wind conditions at Wrigley Field.

Robin Ventura, who played nine years with the White Sox, called the 44-degree temperature and 36-mph wind gusts “mild.” Cubs starter Steve Trachsel’s cap blew off his head in the top of the second.

Former Cub Brian McRae said, “This is a nice day.”

Jermaine Allensworth “almost got three teeth knocked out” when he lost a ball in the sun, which allowed two runs to score. Bobby Bonilla lost his own fly ball that led to another unearned run. Reliever Josias Manzanillo collided with John Olerud while trying to field a pop-up in the seventh and had to leave the game. Roger Cedeno was overcome with mysterious “dizziness” after singling in the ninth inning, and left soon thereafter.

But somehow, the Mets came out on top, thanks to a two-RBI single from Todd Pratt that tied the game in the eighth and a pinch-hit sac fly from Rey Ordonez to drive in the go-ahead run in the ninth. Ordonez was far from a happy camper, however; he had sat out two games in a row and feared Bobby Valentine had something against him.

“Maybe he doesn’t like me because I’m the only one he does it to,”
Ordonez said. “He’s the boss. He’s the one who gives the orders. I’m the only one he does it to. Maybe it’s because I don’t talk to him or say hi.”

At the time, Ordonez was hitting .170. Asked if Ordonez would start in game two of the series, Valentine just said, “Stay tuned.”

John Franco pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his seventh save in as many chances.

April 24, 1999: Cubs 2, Mets 0

The Mets left twelve men on base in their first blanking of the year. Bobby Bonilla grounded into two double plays. Starting pitcher Allen Watson–who had the reputation of a ‘hitting’ pitcher–stranded six men all by himself. He also had to leave the game after only 71 pitches with back spasms. The Cubs collected only five hits, but scratched out two runs for all the offense they needed.

The team almost looked like its head was in the following day’s game, when Mike Piazza would make his long-awaited return to the lineup. They didn’t lack for offense in the receiver position in his absence; Todd Pratt started every game and hit .319, with three homers and 11 RBIs.

April 25, 1999: Cubs 8, Mets 4

Mike Piazza’s debut was overshadowed by Sammy the Bear Beanie Baby Night (seriously) and Sammy’s namesake, who hit a bases-clearing double in the fifth inning that put the Cubs ahead for good.

The Mets carried a 3-0 lead into the fifth, thanks to solo homers from Edgardo Alfonzo, Robin Ventura, and Rickey Henderson. But wildness from starter Orel Hershiser (including a highly questionable hit batsman), a poorly fielded bunt by Robin Ventura, and another missed play by Olerud set the stage for Sosa’s heroics.

Piazza blooped an RBI single in the ninth, but it was too little, too late. The Mets fell to 3-3 in games featuring their star slugger.

Meanwhile, Bonilla returned to New York to get his swollen knee checked out, and Ordonez reportedly rejected a two-year, $5.6 million contract extension. Allen Watson pronounced himself okay despite his back spasms from the previous day, but Rick Reed (torn calf) felt no better after an eight-minute bullpen session. Valentine said there was no timetable for his return just yet.