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A determined Seaver returned for redemption in Game 4 and took a 1-0 edge going into the ninth. Clendenon had given the junior pitcher the lead after launching a rocket in the second off of Mike Cuellar, but Frank Robinson and Powell both responded with late-game singles with Brooks Robinson on deck. The Oriole slugger nailed a perfect line drive to center, but right-fielder Ron Swoboda mimicked Agee's performance in Game 3 and made a spectacular diving, one-handed catch. While Frank Robinson tagged up and scored from third, Swoboda had shortened a potential big inning. The deadlocked remained 1-1 through the bottom of the tenth when the Mets sealed the deal on Jerry Grote's double and Oriole reliever Pete Richert's errant throw on pinch-hitter J.C. Martin's bunt. Seizing the opportunity, Rod Gaspar (pinch running for Grote) sped home for the 2-1 win.
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Ron Swoboda's Pain
by: Joe McDonald | Publisher and Editor-in-Chief | Wednesday, September 14 2005
CENTRAL ISLIP, NY – He was raised in Baltimore and became a star in New York. But for former New York Met Ron Swoboda, New Orleans is his home.
And when Hurricane Katrina was bearing down on the Big Easy, he knew the worst was coming.
“My whole family got out,” Swoboda said at a charity event on Long Island. “If you had the means and watched the warnings, you could not stay. To watch the power of that storm and the fact the tracking never varied. As soon it was in the Gulf, it was aimed right at us. None of it was good.”
The Swoboda family evacuated their home before the storm. He is currently staying with his parents in Baltimore, but said his house sustained no damage because, as it was situated on higher ground “uptown by the river,” no flooding occurred. But New Orleans is deserted and it could be quite some time before the former Met outfielder returns to the Crescent City.
“You look a month down the road, all you have is…I don’t know,” Swoboda lamented. “I take it really personally, because I have an affection for that town for a person who is from the outside.”
The 1969 World Series star settled in the Big Easy in 1981 and since 1995, he worked as the color commentator for the AAA New Orleans Zephyrs, which is currently the Washington Nationals affiliate. The team was on the road during that week, so the players were nowhere near the storm and Zephyr Field is located west of New Orleans in Metairie [Jefferson Parish] and remained relatively dry.
“We weren’t a playoff contender at all during the season, so there are no more home games,” Swoboda explained. “The Zephyrs want to play. They’ve got until April and they have plenty of time.”
His employer aside, it will be a long time before anything normal will happen again in New Orleans. Swoboda first waited out the storm in Baton Rouge with his son-in-laws, because, at first, it looked like a “manageable disaster.”
“But when the levees broke in the Industrial Canal –which was the most devastating– and then 17th Street Canal poured water into New Orleans, it turned it into something of proportions you can’t even define,” Swoboda said.
He also felt for his fellow New Orleans residents who were trapped in the Superdome and Convention Center for the first few days after Katrina.
“There were some bad boys with guns and they did some bad things, but 99% of those people did what they were told. They were abandoned for four days without any food, except what they could snatch out of those stores,” he said. “That’s what most of that Fox channel classified as rampant looting, but those people were desperate.”
The government’s response to the event and the coverage by the news channels also didn’t help.
“We certainly didn’t alleviate any of their fears the first few days or so,” Swoboda thought. “Think of it, 90 degrees and no food or water. I tend to empathize more than most. Unfortunately, television has to dwell on the most negative things and repeat it…and repeat it.
“So it was 30,000 looters and roving gangs with guns shooting at helicopters. Not to apologize about any of that, because there were bad boys with guns, who needed to be dealt with.”
Swoboda feels the blame for the poor response should be shared by all parts of the government, and the removal of FEMA chief Mike Brown was a step in the right direction.
Now the former Met will be a part of the reconstruction of a “unique city with its culture and music.” He feels the French Quarter, which sustained little damage, can be opened first and “some industry based upon the river” will be started back up.
“I bet you will know more in six months,” he thought. “But just think about that, how long until New Orleans will be New Orleans? Maybe never. Someone asked, “When will it would be normal there?’ Well, you have to redefine normal.”
Whatever the definition of the word is, New Orleans will still be Swoboda’s home.
by: Joe McDonald | Publisher and Editor-in-Chief | Wednesday, September 14 2005
CENTRAL ISLIP, NY – He was raised in Baltimore and became a star in New York. But for former New York Met Ron Swoboda, New Orleans is his home.
And when Hurricane Katrina was bearing down on the Big Easy, he knew the worst was coming.
“My whole family got out,” Swoboda said at a charity event on Long Island. “If you had the means and watched the warnings, you could not stay. To watch the power of that storm and the fact the tracking never varied. As soon it was in the Gulf, it was aimed right at us. None of it was good.”
The Swoboda family evacuated their home before the storm. He is currently staying with his parents in Baltimore, but said his house sustained no damage because, as it was situated on higher ground “uptown by the river,” no flooding occurred. But New Orleans is deserted and it could be quite some time before the former Met outfielder returns to the Crescent City.
“You look a month down the road, all you have is…I don’t know,” Swoboda lamented. “I take it really personally, because I have an affection for that town for a person who is from the outside.”
The 1969 World Series star settled in the Big Easy in 1981 and since 1995, he worked as the color commentator for the AAA New Orleans Zephyrs, which is currently the Washington Nationals affiliate. The team was on the road during that week, so the players were nowhere near the storm and Zephyr Field is located west of New Orleans in Metairie [Jefferson Parish] and remained relatively dry.
“We weren’t a playoff contender at all during the season, so there are no more home games,” Swoboda explained. “The Zephyrs want to play. They’ve got until April and they have plenty of time.”
His employer aside, it will be a long time before anything normal will happen again in New Orleans. Swoboda first waited out the storm in Baton Rouge with his son-in-laws, because, at first, it looked like a “manageable disaster.”
“But when the levees broke in the Industrial Canal –which was the most devastating– and then 17th Street Canal poured water into New Orleans, it turned it into something of proportions you can’t even define,” Swoboda said.
He also felt for his fellow New Orleans residents who were trapped in the Superdome and Convention Center for the first few days after Katrina.
“There were some bad boys with guns and they did some bad things, but 99% of those people did what they were told. They were abandoned for four days without any food, except what they could snatch out of those stores,” he said. “That’s what most of that Fox channel classified as rampant looting, but those people were desperate.”
The government’s response to the event and the coverage by the news channels also didn’t help.
“We certainly didn’t alleviate any of their fears the first few days or so,” Swoboda thought. “Think of it, 90 degrees and no food or water. I tend to empathize more than most. Unfortunately, television has to dwell on the most negative things and repeat it…and repeat it.
“So it was 30,000 looters and roving gangs with guns shooting at helicopters. Not to apologize about any of that, because there were bad boys with guns, who needed to be dealt with.”
Swoboda feels the blame for the poor response should be shared by all parts of the government, and the removal of FEMA chief Mike Brown was a step in the right direction.
Now the former Met will be a part of the reconstruction of a “unique city with its culture and music.” He feels the French Quarter, which sustained little damage, can be opened first and “some industry based upon the river” will be started back up.
“I bet you will know more in six months,” he thought. “But just think about that, how long until New Orleans will be New Orleans? Maybe never. Someone asked, “When will it would be normal there?’ Well, you have to redefine normal.”
Whatever the definition of the word is, New Orleans will still be Swoboda’s home.
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