Sponsored by Shea Stadium Remembered
The 1973 Mets went from last to first in a month’s time to take an NL East division no one seemed interested in winning. Beating the Big Red Machine in the best-of-five NLCS was another matter. The rules of the day had home-field assigned on a rotating basis with the same team hosting Games Three, Four, and Five. The Mets took full advantage of this scheduling. Pete Rose may have won the fight, but the Mets won the war. The riot at Shea Stadium that followed the pennant clinching was a whole different matter.
I look at the significance of the game, the day, and the year against a tense political backdrop in Swinging ’73 and in a piece I wrote today for Rising Apple.