Close Play At Third
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.