{"id":3393,"date":"2021-03-29T07:19:29","date_gmt":"2021-03-29T13:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/?p=3393"},"modified":"2021-03-29T09:39:04","modified_gmt":"2021-03-29T15:39:04","slug":"caught-on-tape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/?p=3393","title":{"rendered":"Caught On Tape"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The most famous 61 since Roger Maris’ shot off future Met Jack Fisher has come gloriously back to life.<\/p>\n

Just in, Met historian Dennis D’Agostino alerted me to a newly published Youtube of the entire WGN broadcast of 1979’s Opening Day Mets-Cubs game at Wrigley Field that included the major-league debut of the Mets’ Jesse Orosco.\"\" As readers of this site know this was an important historical moment not just because Orosco would go to make another 1,251 appearances–the most for a pitcher in baseball history–but that for the unusual circumstances under which he appeared: Wearing a jersey that bore No. 61, with no name on the back. Verifying this bit of odd history–Orosco made all of his subsequent appearances for the Mets wearing No. 47–and maintained that number for 23 years until a career-ending 8-game stretch with Minnesota when teammate Corey Koskie wore 47–was one of the landmark Holy Grails of this project.<\/p>\n

Over the years and with the help of good people like like Dennis, my Cub fan friend Kasey Ignarski, who provided his own hand-scored scoresheet, and a third fan who provided video stills of the game, we nailed this. But I never saw the whole broadcast until yesterday. You will die when you hear Jack Brickhouse’s commentary at the 2:25:30 mark. Start here:<\/p>\n