A few days after Labor Day, 1969, the New York Mets had already won more games than they had in any of their previous seven seasons. Tom Seaver and the 77-56 Mets faced the fifth-place Phillies for a Friday twi-night doubleheader on September 5 at Shea Stadium.
Second-place New York had cut a 10-game mid-August deficit in half and had a chance to draw even closer since the first-place Cubs had already lost that afternoon at Wrigley Field.
Seaver took the mound with a record of 19-7 for the year. It was his 99th career start and to that point, he had a 51-32 mark, 550 strikeouts, 2.