Sponsored by Shea Stadium Remembered
Exactly one year after Tom Seaver’s first major league victory, Seaver wins the first game of his sophomore season. In Gil Hodges’s first homestand as Mets manager, Seaver and Dodger Bill Singer lock up in pitcher’s duel in front of just under 20,000 on a Saturday afternoon at Shea Stadium. The “Singer Throwing Machine” is on his game, but the big right-hander misses a stich when Ron Swoboda clubs a home run with two on and two outs in the sixth. Former AL MVP Zoilo Versalles collects a two-out, two-run single for the Dodgers to make it a 3-2 game in the eighth. The Dodgers mount a rally against Seaver with two outs in the ninth, but Rocky Swoboda, who had thrown out a runner at the plate in the fourth inning, quickly gets to Rocky Colavito’s double and pinch runner Cleo James holds at third base. Danny Frisella, “The Bear,” comes in and gets Paul Popovich to ground out for his major league save.
In the Year of the Pitcher this is a big offensive day for the Mets. As Seaver would later say of pitching for the offensively-challenged Mets: “If they score one run for you, you might win; if they score two runs for you, you should win; and if they score three runs for you, you’d better win.” In 1968 Seaver would match his team record 16 wins set as a rookie in ’67.