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This Day in Mets History
September 30th

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14 Fact(s) Found
1934 With a two-run round-tripper off Allyn Stout at Sportsman's Park in the Cardinals' 9-0 victory over Cincinnati, Rip Collins establishes a National League record when he blasts his league-leading 35th home run of the season as a switch hitter. The 30-year-old first baseman's mark will last until Howard Johnson goes deep from both sides of the plate 36 times in 1987 for the Mets.
1962 The Mets finish their inaugural season with 120 losses, a 20th-century record when the team drops a 5-1 decision to the Cubs at Wrigley Field. In his last career at-bat, New York catcher Joe Pignatano hits into an eighth-inning triple play with Richie Ashburn and Sammy Drake aboard, with the base runners also appearing in their last major league game.
1971 For the second time in his career, Tom Seaver becomes a 20-game winner when the Mets beat St. Louis, 6-1, at Shea Stadium on the season's final day. En route to the complete-game victory, 'Tom Terrific' whiffs 13 Redbirds to end the campaign with a league-leading 289 strikeouts.
1972 Pirates outfielder Roberto Clemente doubles off Mets' southpaw Jon Matlack to become the 11th major leaguer to collect 3000 hits. The two-bagger, sadly, will be his last hit as he will die in a plane crash on New Year's Eve.

1979 In his last big-league game, Ed Kranepool pinch hits in the top of the seventh inning and doubles off Bob Forsch when the Mets beat the Cardinals in the season finale at Busch Stadium, 4-2. The James Monroe High School graduate, who debuted with the team in 1962 at 17, had been the last original Met left in the majors.
1980 In front of only 1,754 patrons, Mets southpaw Pete Falcone beats the Pirates in the season's last game at Shea Stadium, 3-2. The crowd is the smallest to attend a game at the Flushing ballpark, with 33 fewer fans than yesterday's meager gathering.
1988 Joining Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, and Dwight Gooden, David Cone improves his record to 20-3, becoming the fourth pitcher in Mets history to win twenty games in a season. After his 4-2 complete-game victory against the Cardinals, the 25-year-old right-hander has a surprise visitor when former president Richard Nixon congratulates him in the Shea Stadium dugout.
1999 Mets' shortstop Rey Ordonez plays in his 96th consecutive game without committing an error, breaking Cal Ripken's major league record for errorless games in that position. The flashy infielder will finish the season, extending the mark to 100 games.
2006 In the Mets' 13-0 rout of Washington at RFK Stadium, Julio Franco, tying a career-high, drives in five runs, becoming the oldest major leaguer in history to accomplish the feat. The 48-year-old first baseman, with three hits, falls a triple short of completing the cycle.
2006 Five years and two cities after Frank Robinson, then the vice president in the commissioner's office in charge of on-field discipline, agrees to manage the MLB-owned Expos for a season, the franchise, now known as the Washington Nationals, will have a new skipper. Jim Bowden, the team's G.M., announces the search for a replacement for the 71-year-old Hall of Famer will begin after tomorrow's season finale against the Mets at RFK.
2007 With the help of New York losing 6 out of their seven last games (all at home) and squandering a seven-game lead with 17 to play, the Phillies clinch the NL. East title for the first time in 14 years by beating the Nationals on the last day of the season, 6-1. The Mets' colossal failure down the stretch is considered by many to be the worst collapse by a team in baseball history.
2009 Ricky Nolasco, en route to the Marlins' 5-4 victory over Atlanta in the season's finale, sets a franchise record with 16 strikeouts. The 26-year-old right-hander's performance includes whiffing nine consecutive batters, one shy of the major league record set by Tom Seaver with the Mets in 1970.
2009 Francisco Rodriguez becomes the fourth pitcher in the game's history to yield two walk-off grand slams in the same season when Justin Maxwell goes deep, giving Washington a dramatic 7-4 victory over the Mets at Nationals Park. Last month, Everth Cabrera of the Padres also hit a game-ending four-run round-tripper, making K-Rod Rodriguez the only major leaguer to surrender two game-winning bases-loaded homers to a pair of rookies.
2013 The Mets extend manager Terry Collins' contract for another two years, adding a club option for 2016. During his three-year tenure with New York, the 64-year-old skipper, who has also managed the Astros and Angels, has guided the team to a 225-261 record, the lowest winning percentage (.463) of his major league managerial career.
14 Fact(s) Found