Throwback Thursday:

Back when yearbooks were an important part of my baseball reading, the cover of the Mets 1974 Yearbook made this a keeper.
How many have you held onto over the years? Before the Internet served up an endless volume of statistics and stories, yearbooks used to be an important source of info about the players and other key personnel. Do you think the current editions feature photos of managers and executives posing with their wives? Times have changed!
1974 turned out to be anything but a vintage Mets season. The club hit its high-water mark in the third game -- after winning two of three. From there, it was downhill, as the Mets dropped under and stayed well under .500, finishing 71 - 91. With several key hitters -- such as Wayne Garrett, Rusty Staub and John Milner having off-seasons. the offense turned feeble. Perfect proof was Jon Matlack's finishing with a 13 - 15 record despite a stellar 2.41 ERA. The "Big Three" of Matlack, Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman combined for 39 complete games. It was a different game -- and for the Flushing faithful, a very disappointing follow-up to a thrilling run to the World Series just a year before.

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