Most New York Mets fans don’t realize that Todd Pratt’s MLB career included the greatest walk in team history.
While Major League Baseball games should be on everyone’s televisions or fans viewing nine innings from their seats at the sport’s beloved cathedrals, baseball’s faithful must settle for other options.
Let’s not forget that April 1, is an annual date for National Walking Day. No, this isn’t an April Fools’ prank.
Hopefully, baseball fans were able to somewhat embrace the exercised-themed day, but ESNY revisits one of the greatest walks in New York Mets history.
Former Major Leaguer Todd Pratt was a notorious backup catcher with the Mets for parts of five seasons from 1997 until the 2001 trade deadline. The 1985 sixth-round draft pick was a solid second-string catcher and his career with New York entailed a couple of memorable moments.
Unofficial distance on this ball…410.5 feet. #OTD in #Mets history, Todd Pratt powered us to a walk-off series clincher in the 1999 NLDS. pic.twitter.com/rCJZ9gWGiV
— New York Mets (@Mets) October 9, 2018
One of those memories dates back to the 1999 National League Championship Series when the Mets and Atlanta Braves squared off. After Atlanta took a 3-0 series lead over the City That Never Sleeps, the Mets took their best shot at executing a comeback.
The orange and blue faithful witnessed a Mets victory in Game 4 at Shea Stadium, which paved the way for all the dramatics for Game 5 in Flushing.
The NLCS’s Game 5 progressed into extra innings and into the bottom of the 15th. Pratt stepped up to bat in the bottom of the 15th with the bases loaded after replacing the great Mike Piazza behind the plate. No. 9 walked in the game-tying run with one out.
There it was—history when fans least expected it.
Robin Ventura, the MLB’s grand-slam king, followed Pratt’s heroics with a grand slam to force a Game 6 back in Atlanta. Well, most Met fans know the story…
Pratt and the Mets mobbed Ventura after the clutch hit and wouldn’t let him round the bases to complete the “home run” on the game’s scorecard.
The Mets’ greatest walk and longest single in team history happened on the same night. While the Mets were eventually eliminated after Game 6, that Metropolitans squad still goes down as one of the greatest in franchise history and in large part because of the clutch performances in New York.
Now there’s a walk down memory lane.
