How a rare defensive lapse cost the NY Mets a World Series

The 1973 New York Mets had it in the bag. Up 3-2 over the Oakland Athletics, the controversial decision to start Tom Seaver on 3 days of rest became the dynamite decision to ignite the Mets’ World Series chances. Considering the Mets only scored 1 run on 6 hits, it’s hard to blame the franchise’s ace for the loss when he only allowed 2 runs in 7 innings.

Before the controversial series shift in Game 6 came a Game 3 where Seaver also started. A no-decision in this 8-inning performance, an 11th inning passed ball ended up as the event which led to the winning run.

With two outs, Harry Parker was on the mound with Jerry Grote behind the plate. Johnny Bench is famously quoted as saying, “If Jerry Grote and I were on the same team, I would be playing third base.” A gifted defender who never won a Gold Glove because of Bench had only 3 passed balls in the entire regular season. The one in the World Series couldn’t have come at a worse time.

A rare defensive mistake by Jerry Grote cost the Mets a crucial game in the World Series

Bert Campaneris’ two-out single which he tried to stretch into a double would have maybe ended up as an attempted rally rather than a nail in the coffin. There’s no telling how Parker would have pitched to him differently or if the Athletics would have taken a lead regardless. For all we knew, a three-run home run was waiting.

Defense was unusually bad for the Mets in this game. Felix Millan, a two-time Gold Glove winner before coming to the Mets, made a pair of errors earlier in the game. Neither led to a run but for the usually reliable second baseman who had 9 errors in the regular season, a pair in back-to-back innings (9th and 10th) might have had Mets fans feeling like someone was going to eventually make a game-ending flub.

It almost feels Mets exclusive for how many times a World Series was won or lost because of bad defense. In 1969, pitcher Pete Richert threw a ball away to end Game 4 and give the Mets a 3-1 series lead. The 2015 Mets butchered their way to a loss against the Kansas City Royals. Most famous of all was the weak roller down the line that went between Bill Buckner’s legs.

Although Grote was not charged with an error, a passed ball counts almost the same. The run was considered unearned to Parker’s ERA but wasn’t able to escape getting placed on the scoreboard. The Mets dropped to 2-1 in the series before storming back with two straight victories.

A series of second-guessed moments and decisions, one unfortunate defensive mistake by one of the steadiest in franchise history might have turned out to be the biggest of them all.

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