The Velvettes said it best: It’s like finding a needle in a haystack. I mean, what exactly am I looking for? Let’s say that Frank Thomas is wrong and that at some point in the 1962 season, Richie Ashburn hollers “yo la tengo” and an uncomprehending Frank Thomas collides with him. Is the official scorer so conditioned to Mets miscues that it’s scored a clean hit, or is an error charged, and if so, to Ashburn or to Thomas? As far as I can tell, none of the above occurred in either of the two games on this day 50 years ago, both of which were won by the hometown San Francisco Giants. What DID happen was one of the most memorable melees in Mets history. Right in the middle of the action: Elio Chacon. None of the accounts can confirm that at some point Chacon pleaded “no mas,” only to have a non-Spanish-speaking Willie Mays slug him again.
