April 11, 1962: Mets' First Game
From The Met Wiki
| Date: April 11, 1962 |
| Mets starter: Roger Craig |
| Mets: 4 |
| Cardinals: 11 |
| Winning pitcher: Larry Jackson |
| Key player(s): Larry Jackson, Stan Musial, Bill White |
| Key play: Musial's RBI single, Bell's single, Hodges' home run |
The Mets' inaugural game took place in St. Louis. After four seasons without a National League baseball team, New Yorkers had one of their own for which to cheer again. However, the Cardinals spoiled things with a 16-hit attack en route to an 11-4 victory over the Mets.
To start Mets' history, Richie Ashburn stepped up to the plate against the Cards' Larry Jackson. Ashburn flied to center field for the first out of a scoreless first inning for New York.
Roger Craig took the mound for the Mets in the bottom of the first. Julian Javier and Bill White got singles and Stan Musial followed with another single to score Javier. Craig balked to move the runners to second and third before Ken Boyer's ground out scored White for a 2-0 St. Louis lead.
In the second, Gus Bell singled off Jackson for the Mets' first hit ever. One inning later, Charlie Neal singled home Ashburn for their first run. Frank Thomas's sacrifice fly to score Felix Mantilla tied the game before the inning ended.
The Cardinals got three more runs in the bottom of the third. The Mets responded with their first home runs ever when Gil Hodges hit one out in the fourth and Neal did the same in the fifth. The Cards answered back on Boyer's RBI double off Bob Moorhead to make the score 6-4 after five innings.
Moorhead got shelled for four St. Louis runs in the sixth. Two run-scoring singles and two sacrifice flies increased the Cardinals' lead to 10-4. Herb Moford pitched a scoreless seventh inning before the Cards' got their final run against Clem Labine in the eighth.
Jackson retired the Mets in the ninth for a complete game victory. The new team was beaten in its first game, but a new era in New York baseball had begun.
