"A Ground Ball Trickling...

...It's a fair ball. It gets by Buckner! Rounding third is Knight...The Mets will win the ballgame...They win! They win!"
~ The Late, Great Bob Murphy ~

Is it really 25 years? Yes it is. Twenty five years ago tonight was possibly the greatest comeback in World Series history. Two down, no one on, the Mets trailing by two, down three games to two.

Who out there (who was alive and potty trained) really knew or thought the Mets would pull the game out? I'll be honest, not me. I had never before said the Mets were gonna lose, and I can remember telling my dorm mates at SUNY Cortland, "I can't believe it, they've lost."

I should have quoted Bluto when he said, "What? Over? Did you say 'over'? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!" ***

As I wrote in this space one year ago, I was a 20 year old transfer student in October 1986, and I was known as Mr. Met in the few short months I had been there. Not to only those in DeGroat Hall, but to many "down the hill."

I remember, and I'll try not to write word-for-word what I scribed last year, that I was in a room with a few friends who lived down the hall from me: Dan O'Callahan, Rick Minckler, Craig Storch, and Guy Massi. We were doing what most college kids do on a Saturday night. We were studying drinking milk beer.

We all thought it was over. Then that magical 9th inning. Two outs, none on, two strikes on Carter. Then that Mets Magic not only came to life, but erupted. Carter single, Mitchell single, Knight Single (Carter scored). Knight at first, Mitchell at third. Wild pitch to Mookie, Mitchell ties the score. Then the dribbler up the line: "A Ground Ball Trickling...It's a fair ball. It gets by Buckner! Rounding third is Knight...The Mets will win the ballgame...They win! They win!"

Absolute bedlam not only on the campus, but in that very room in DeGroat Hall, Second West - (second floor/west side) that we were studying drinking milk beer in. The pandemonium. The funny thing was, people were patting me on the back as if I was a player on that Miraculous team. Probably because I was adorned in more Mets garb than anyone for every game during the '86 post season.

25 years ago? It can't be...can it? Sad to say I am no longer in touch with that group I spent that memorable evening commiserating celebrating the greatest post season comeback I have ever seen.

Every so often I get nostalgic about those days I spent at SUNY Cortland and the 1986 Mets. I do miss those days, but not to the point where I would want to go back. It was a great time to be a college student and Mets fan.

Was it really 25 years ago? Can't be, I'm still 20 (in mind if not in body).

Sources: Baseball Reference, Animal House IMDB,