Close Play At Third

Photo © Louis Requena

It looks as though Mets third baseman Wayne Garrett was going to apply the tag and get Astros shortstop Roger Metzger out, before he gets to third. But I don’t know for sure if that is what happened, because I don’t have information on exactly when this photo is from.  An educated guess: 1971 or 1972.

Regardless it is a good action shot.

On November 29, 1979 Metzger lost the tips of four of his fingers on his right hand in a freak power saw accident. He tried to play the following season with the Giants saying, “I don’t want people feeling sorry for me. I want to win a job on the Giants because someone thinks I can play. I just have to adjust to that fact. I have to go on living. The world doesn’t stop because something happens to you.”

Metzger played only 28 games in 1980, mostly as a defensive replacement, batting just .074. He was released on August 16 that year ending his career prematurely at age 32.

On other interesting factoid on Metzger:  During his 11 years in the majors with 4,201 at bats, he hit just five home runs.