|
|
|
“L-A-R-R-Y … L-A-R-R-Y”
Ahh, the sweet sound of serenading Chipper Jones at Shea Stadium.
For all of its lack of charm, there is something to be said of how that chant, along with the “Tomahawk Chop,” sound in Shea.
This weekend will be last time the Braves play at Shea. So, it’s worth noting that I have more great memories of them at Shea, as compared to other teams.
From Andruw Jones to John Rocker, this series has never been short of despised personalities in the last decade or so, especially the aforementioned Chipper.
In fact, there are too many to choose from.
My two favorite moments against the Braves at Shea involve my favorite Mets player of all-time, Mike Piazza. I will never forget September 21, 2001, when Piazza put New York City on his shoulders and lifted its spirits with a massive home run off of Steve Karsay. Forget about Bobby Thompson, for me, that was “The Shot Heard Around the World,’ the sound of which hit still sends chills down my spine.
My second favorite memory is June 30, 2000, when Piazza capped a 10-run inning with a laser of a three-run home run to left field to beat the Braves.
Todd Zelie’s quote about that game described it the best:
“There was no doubt it was going to stay fair. It was just whether it was going to hit the wall or go through the wall.”
The resiliency of the 2000 N.L. Champs resemble the same “never-say-die” attitude that the 2008 edition showcases each night.
So, for all of you who are going to the games this weekend, make sure you, the Shea faithful, let Larry hear it one last time and send him home with a sweep!
 |
 |
 |
RSS 2.0 Both comments and pings are currently closed.
It’s his favorite place to play because he may as well have the deed to the building…
“I love playing there. Check the numbers” is a direct quote.
I will remember a September ‘99 game vs. the Braves as one of the toughest losses I endured at Shea. Fonzy homered late and the place shook, but the Mets ended up losing and it looked like they had no playoff life left. But then a Pirates sweep, a Leiter gem in the Cincy playoff game, and a Piazza injury vs. the D-Backs, and I was back @ Shea a few weeks later to see Pratt’s ALDS-clinching homer elude Finley’s glove!
I digress– sweep the Braves and crush Larry!
I’ve posted this before, but I’m still mad at myself for this.
I left that game in 2000. My friend (a Yankee fan) was driving and his girlfriend wasn’t feeling well. Going into the bottom of the 8th he asked me if I would mind leaving. Imagine my reaction to listening to Piazza’s HR on the radio on the Grand Central Parkway!!! I was so glad when he broke up with that girl!!
I was at that game in the upper deck. That place was literally rocking during the 8th inning. I was afraid the levels were going to collapse.
One of my favorite things about that inning that no one really talks about was the fans chanting “WE-WANT-ROCKER!” We all wanted to see the Mets torch him. He never wound up pitching and I remember it said in the paper that he had a blister on his pitching hand… I’ve always believed he simply wanted nothing to do with that 8th inning. The Mets were on a mission.
I was at that game, too. My wife was nearly six months pregnant (with my daughter who was born on Oct 20, 2000…I watched game 1 of the WS in the hospital room that night with a pizza and a six-pack I snuck in) and we were talking about getting going after the 8th inning…we were in the back rows of the mezz down the left field line and couldn’t see the ball get over the wall, but you could certainly FEEL that it had by the way the place shook…without question as loud as I ever heard the place for a regular season game…
You just said more about the Braves in that one paragraph, than either of the ATL sports stations have mentioned in weeks. Lets Go Mets…stick it to them….
Yo, atlantsanumber1metsfan….I thought I was the biggest Met fan in Atlanta..moved here ffrom NJ 27 years ago and never stopped rooting for my Mets.
I just moved down here a year and a half ago…grew up in North Jersey too…haven’t given up any of my allegiences either. Mets and Jets till I die….
Fun living in enemy territory, isn’t it? I’m up in NW Georgia. Gonna be at the game at Turner on the 21st for my birthday, can’t wait!
Honestly, I’d much rather battle it out with the Braves than the Phils for the division. I prefer the Mets/Braves rivalry when both teams a playing well. I loathe the Braves more than any other team, but find that I have more respect for them than the freakin’ Phils…
I definitely have a lot more respect for them than the Phillies…and their fans (Braves fans that is) are such pushovers about baseball, ATL is a college football town, everything else is second.
The larry, larry chant is lame and counterproductive. All it does is egg him on and result in more hits, homers and RBI’s. There is zero upside –ZERO UPSIDE– to that stupid chant.
agreed.
You could say the same about booing Beltran. or Castillo.
Fans are stupid.
OR…you can say that doing that stuff does not make a player hit better. In case you haven’t noticed, Chipper Jones is a great hitter throughout the league, not only against the Mets. It’s like the people who complained that Reyes’s dancing was why the Mets lost to the Marlins.
My favorite Braves/Shea moment happened when Atlanta wasn’t even there. Game 3 of the 2000 NLDS, during the first inning, the scoreboard put up the news that the Braves had just been swept by the Cardinals. The crowd went nuts and 50K+ did a mocking Tomahawk Chop.
Almost as sweet as the Benny Agbayani walkoff homer that would follow 5 hours later…
My favorite Braves/Shea moment happened when Atlanta wasn’t even there.
Ha! We must have posted at the same time (see below).
Yea great post. I dont think i will ever get over my feelings about the braves. I still give anyone with a braves hat here in FL (yea its the south go figure) a loooooooong look lol. I will always be against the braves but i think at this point the phillies are the rivalry for us. The piazza hr on 9/11 is my fav moment in his career. The rivalries were great baseball and im sure the braves will revive that soon enough. Lets go mets. Gonna feel weird hearing LAAAAAAARRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYY at shea for the last time.
I have seen the Braves in person at Shea more than any other opponent, and my timing couldn’t have been worse. I went to 2 NLCS game in 1999, but not the grand single. I went to the game before the one where they rallied in the 8th, and the one two days later, but not that one of course (and they lost both of those, though I was there for Rocker’s return). And I was there for a game in that late September series in 2001 – but to the one Benitez blew. I also got to enjoy the 19-0 drubbing in 1999. That was the game that Franco (John) got hurt and was later replaced by Franco (Matt).
I think my favorite Braves-related moment actually came when they weren’t playing the Braves. During the first inning of game 3 of the 2000 NLDS against the Giants, the scoreboard showed that the Braves-Cards game went final, and the Braves had been eliminated. We all united to do a mock tomahawk chant that remains my favorite moment ever at Shea (other than chanting “faaaaaaaat-soooooo” at Tommy LaSorda in 1988).
OK guys – Buy one get one free tix in MR 23 Row F Seats 1 and 2 for Sunday, which I cannot make. email me: john.bluemke AT gmail.com
……hey, folks….greetings from boston….is it raining down there? What’s the forecast?
light rain in Manhattan right now. They should get it in tonight – hopefully on time
Trivia: What Met started the Larry chant by calling for it in an interview on WFAN?
I also was in attendance for the 10 run 8th inning. My buddy and I had Mezz seats and were sitting next to Braves fans the entire game. When the 8th inning was about to start we left the braves fans and went up to the upper deck to sit with some more of our friends. Needless to say when Piazza hit that laser of a homer we promptly sprinted back down to the Mezz to talk some serious trash. To this day that has to be in my top 3 Shea experiences for sure.
Trivia Answer: Piazza? I know he refused to call a grown man ‘Chipper’
Thats true, but it was definitely not a Met as high profile as Piazza, Hint #1-He was here for one season
Derek Bell?
Was it Greg McMichael? He was the Braves’ former closer, so he might have known that.
Imus started making fun of Larry saying that it was stupid for a grown man to be called chipper.
Anyway, when Piazza hit that home run after 9/11 it made him a NY untouchable hero to me. I will always admire and respect him for that.
Mike Hampton
I believe it was Orel Hershiser
DING DING DING! We have a winner! It was indeed Orel Hershiser, the same man who pitched for the “future mets” with Dr. Rickey Henderson Spock
Anyone else going to te game tonight? I have to travel and im wondering if it is goign to be rained out. Any ideas?
I am going. Radar looks like $hit though. Might end up spending the entire night at the Pine, instead of just Pre-Game.
Radar looks like showers/rain all night. Maybe it’ll stay light enough that they can play through it.
LET’S GO METS!
Chipper always got it. Baseball is at its simplest about entertaining the fans, and he knew it. His job was to play the villain, and he relished that role. I may hate him, but I respect him for taking the hate like a man!
The only reason I stayed at the 2000 game was because it was Fireworks Night. Had it been any other day I wouldn’t have stayed. I’m sure alot of fans felt that way too. Boy was I glad it was Fireworks Night. lol
Ahhh, i was at both of those games, The Sept 21st game obviously has special meaning to any of us who were living in NYC at the time.
But that 10 run inning game, Was just pure fun, We were sitting field level, all the way out in the outfield where the seats turn back in towards home plate, seated directly behind 2 of the nicest braves fans you could meet, all game we had been ribbing eachother and having a general good time, And as Steve Somers liked to say.. “And then there was the 8th inning” By the end of that inning, the guy just turned to me and said “Well Played” as if i had somehting to do with it, then he and his wife got up and left.
It was brilliant,
off topic but anyone else see that we lost the coin flip to philly if we tie? i hate that stupid rule…guess we’ll just have to win the division!
LET’S GO METS
That’s just as stupid as having home field for the WS if your league wins in the all-star game.
Why cant it be the better team that hosts the World Series.
And why cant the record during the season count as the tiebreaker, like in football. Or at least give them the home field advantage.
record vs the team you are tied with*
completely agree. we take the season series this year and we have to go into their ball park? i mean i would have accepted going to theirs last year if we tied with them taking the season series…so stupid…oh well…
LET’S GO METS
think we’re gonna get the game in tonight? how is it in corona/flushing?
i was there at the 99 playoffs the nite b4 the grand single – the crowd was dead i think we were down 2 games to 0 but we ended up coming back and winning that game
Love hearing those “Larry” chants. Don’t think it’s had much of an effect on him, though-Chip’s one of those players who can tune it out. If he ever became a Met, we’d love him.
Unlike a certain relief pitcher (Jeff Foxworthy may have been referring to him in his “You Might Be A Redneck If” routine), we only do this because of the damage he does to us on the field. Off the field, nothing eventful. Heck, anyone who names one of his kids Shea can’t be so bad.
I’m sure this weekend someone will ask #10 about not playing at Shea anymore.
The last word-if and when Mr. Jones does play his last game in New York, he will get a huge ovation. Rarely has an opponent done such damage against us for such a long time (in Brooklyn, that’s how Stan Musial got his nickname “The Man”).