232 - It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over: The 1973 New York Mets w/ Len Ferman, The Sports Time TravelerTM

Len Ferman's new book, The 1973 Mets - You've Got to Believe, is a day to day saga about a Mets team that that rallied from last place with a 61-71 record on August 31 to win the National League East with an 82-79 record. The Eastern Division race that year saw five teams still in the hunt for the title in the season's final week. In the end, the Mets won the title outright on the season's final day with just 5 games separating the champs from the fifth place Chicago Cubs.

The Mets shocked the 99-win Cincinnati Reds in the five-game NL Championship series then stretched the Oakland A's, the defending World Series champs, to seven games before coming up short. The team featured the great Willie Mays in his final season and future Hall of Famer Tom Seaver, the 1973 NL Cy Young Award winner.

Len Ferman's The Sports Time TravelerTM website has links to his Substack, podcast, where to buy the book and other resources.
thesportstimetraveler.com

Errata: The Atlanta Braves finished the 1973 season against the Houston Astros for a two-game series in Atlanta. Henry Aaron hit home run No. 713 against Houston's Jerry Reuss in the series opener, but did not homer in the season's final game the next day against Houston's Dave Roberts and Don Wilson. Atlanta's manager in 1973 and for much of 1974 was Aaron's former Atlanta teammate and former Houston Astro, Eddie Matthews. The Pirates lost the final game of the 1973 season to the San Diego Padres 5-3

You can support Hooks & Runs by purchasing books, including books featured in this episode, through our store at Bookshop.org. Here's the link. https://bookshop.org/shop/hooksandruns

Hooks & Runs - www.hooksandruns.com
Email: hooksandruns@protonmail.com
Hooks & Runs on Twitter
Craig on Bluesky (@craigest.bsky.social)
Rex (Krazy Karl's Music Emporium) on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/people/Krazy-Karlz-Music-Emporium/100063801500293/
Hosts Emeriti:
Andrew Eckhoff on Tik Tok
Eric on Facebook
Music: "Warrior of Light" by ikolics (via Premium Beat)    
This podcast and this episode are copyright Craig Estlinbaum, 2024.   

Chapters

• 0:00 Craig, Rex and Len discuss time travel movies
• 2:30 Introducing Len Ferman, The Sports Time TravelerTM
• 6:47 The Mets & the crazy 1973 National League East Race
• 10:04 Willie Mays returns to New York
• 12:57 The Tommy Agee trade leaves a hole in center field
• 15:48 Rusty Staub was "willing to do whatever it took"
• 19:05 The NL East race was so tight MLB made plans in case of a 5-way tie
• 23:17 Reflecting on Hank Aaron's home run chase
• 26:58 The Mets win the East on the season's final day & face the Big Red Machine in the NLCS
• 30:19 The Mets take the defending champs to 7 games
• 38:29 Who would you have started on the mound in Game 6?
• 41:57 Manager Yogi Berra
• 45:11 Len Ferman's Jerry West story