It was 50 years ago today.

[batmagadanleadoff]

The first Earth Day and Tom Seaver fans 19 Padres, including the last 10 batters he faced.



https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/april-22-1970-mets-tom-seaver-strikes-out-19-padres-battershttps://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/april-22-1970-mets-tom-seaver-strikes-out-19-padres-batters

[G-Fafif]

WFAN is rebroadcasting the game tonight. Howie with the pregame at 6:30 ET.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

That's not much of a SABR recap if I must say so.



http://www.beta.mbtn.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/23-Apr-1970-66-Daily-News-at-Newspapers-com.png>

[Benjamin Grimm]

Maybe if baseball never returns we could do a 1970 Tabloid Cover Derby.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Headline is only okay but bonus points for WifeY WaTcH.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Here's an interesting factoid. Seaver's 19 Ks broke the all-time club record of 15 set by Nolan Ryan... set[CROSSOUT] 3[/CROSSOUT] 4 days earlier.



http://www.mbtn.net/?p=3281http://www.mbtn.net/?p=3281

[Frayed Knot]

I like how the sub-headline for the Yanqui game (at the bottom of the page where it belongs) refers to them losing to the 'Nats' in 18 innings.

This was, of course, the team most of us know as the Senators, the second version of that team after the first one moved to Minneapolis nine years earlier.



When I discovered that my grandfather had grown up in Washington DC (1899 thru early 1910's) I asked him, because I saw everything through the lens of baseball, if he followed the

(original) Senators. He told me he did but that he and his friends never referred to them as the Senators, only as the Nationals. This confused my young self as it never occurred to

me that team nicknames were anything other than cast in stone. But that really only became true when it started to occur to these teams to start marketing themselves and selling

merchandise. Prior to that nicknames were much less official (much in the way EPL soccer still operates) and the name you used for the locals often depended on variables such as

what neighborhood you lived in or which newspapers you read. And even the team itself altered their own semi-official name from year to year such as the Brooklyn 'Robins' when

Wilbert Robinson was their manager or Cincinnati distancing themselves from 'Reds' during anti-communism 1950s (Redlegs from 1954 thru '58)



What does surprise me here is that the NYDN was still using that name, even for brevity purposes, as late as 1970. I don't remember ever hearing/reading that as a kid and, until that

conversation with my grandfather, I always just assumed that team nicknames were things that came down from the mount on a stone tablet.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I think it's kind of like the Orioles being referred to as the Birds, or the Marlins as the Fish, which still happens.

[Frayed Knot]

Yeah, but there's an obvious connection between say Cardinals & RedBirds or Pirates & Buccos, while Senators and Nationals gives the impression that two different teams are being referenced.

Certainly if I had read that headline at the time my reaction would have been: 'Wait a minute, the Yanx were playing the Senators last night ... who the fuck are the 'Nats'?!?'

I might not have phrased the question to my father in quite that way, but you get the idea.

[batmagadanleadoff]

https://nypost.com/2020/04/21/mets-analyst-howie-rose-on-attending-tom-seaver-19-strikeout-gem/https://nypost.com/2020/04/21/mets-analyst-howie-rose-on-attending-tom-seaver-19-strikeout-gem/



High schooler Howie Rose cuts classes and plays hooky to catch Seaver and the Mets 50 years ago today. I don't know how Howie could've gotten his high school degree because it sounds like he cut classes every single day to catch the Mets at Shea.

[Benjamin Grimm]

He was 40 when he graduated.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: http://www.beta.mbtn.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/23-Apr-1970-66-Daily-News-at-Newspapers-com.png>

Bud Harrelson got cropped out of that wifey watch shot. He was standing to the right of Nancy and like two or three seconds after she was done kissing her husband, Nancy turned around and planted one on Bud. Because roomies share.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: http://www.beta.mbtn.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/23-Apr-1970-66-Daily-News-at-Newspapers-com.png> Bud Harrelson got cropped out of that wifey watch shot. He was standing to the right of Nancy and like two or three seconds after she was done kissing her husband, Nancy turned around and planted one on Bud. Because roomies share.

[FIMG=777]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/34/08/81/340881a2471342abb532a09cc9988ae3.jpg[/FIMG]



[FIMG=777]https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/new-york-mets-bud-harrelson-and-tom-seaver-along-with-seavers-wife-picture-id97325663?s=612x612[/FIMG]

[batmagadanleadoff]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: http://www.beta.mbtn.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/23-Apr-1970-66-Daily-News-at-Newspapers-com.png> Bud Harrelson got cropped out of that wifey watch shot. He was standing to the right of Nancy and like two or three seconds after she was done kissing her husband, Nancy turned around and planted one on Bud. Because roomies share. [FIMG=777]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/34/08/81/340881a2471342abb532a09cc9988ae3.jpg[/FIMG] [FIMG=777]https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/new-york-mets-bud-harrelson-and-tom-seaver-along-with-seavers-wife-picture-id97325663?s=612x612[/FIMG]

You can catch the broadcast here if the WFAN time slot is less convenient.





[YOUTUBE]si_GfOGmkMQ[/YOUTUBE]

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

31:12 Ferarra HR



55:09 Harrelson standup RBI triple off the wall. Ralph thought it was going out



1:35: Murph discusses a stopwatch used by umps "several years ago" to enhance pace of play.



2:12: Seaver ties the Met record.



2:25: last at-bat.

[G-Fafif]

Al Ferrara was on with Howie. Eighty and sounds great. Called Seaver cocky.

[Edgy MD]

Nancy and Bud. I'm SHOCKED.