October 25, 1986

It was a Saturday night, and Drew and I and his buddy Marc were in the basement of his parents' house.

Game 6 of the World Series was on, live from Shea Stadium.  We were watching, of course, but the game wasn't going well, so we were also chatting about all sorts of things.

In the bottom of the 9th the Mets tied the game on a Gary Carter sacrifice fly.

Top of the 10th inning, and the Red Sox took a 5-3 lead.

Bottom of the 10th.  Backman and Hernandez were retired, and the Red Sox can practically taste the champagne.  The scoreboard actually congratulated them as world champions.

Congrats that proved to be premature.

Gary Carter hit a single to left and began the greatest rally of all time.

Kevin Mitchell singled to center.

By now the game had our undivided attention.

Ray Knight singled to center and Carter scored.

By now we were on our feet, standing in front of the TV.

Mookie Wilson came up to bat.  Mitchell scored on a wild pitch and tied the game.

You know that feeling when everything is so tense that you just can't breathe?

With a full count, Wilson hit a slow ground ball that rolled between the legs of first baseman Bill Buckner.

Knight scored, and the Mets won the game.

Game 7, two nights later, was almost anticlimatic. But the Curse of the Bambino struck again, and the Mets became world champs.

I will always remember that iconic photo of Jesse Orosco and Carter enbracing on the mound.

My office at the time was in lower Manhattan, right on Broadway.  We had a front seat for the ticker tape parade on the 28th.

Rest in peace, Gary Carter.