Mickey Callaway was pitching for the Durham Bulls in the summer of 2000, far away from the mayhem in Flushing on the last day of June. The Mets, the team he would someday manage, were trailing in the bottom of the eighth inning to their nemesis in the National League East. Silent all night, they erupted for a sustained, winning rally, capped by a blistering home run to left field by their marquee slugger. They went on to win the pennant.
Callaway had never heard of that game, he said late Wednesday night, “but I’ll have to go find that and watch it.