Mets vs. Braves on July 4th, 1985 is a wild one: Wally Backman (l.) needs a 'f------' ice whirlpool' after 19-innings; Doc Gooden (c.) shoos a band from his pregame bullpen session and Keith Hernandez chomps on raw meat - who's, no one is sure - after the win.
Thirty years later, Wally Backman is still laughing about Keith and the raw steak. Weird stuff happens at four in the morning, especially after two rain delays, 19 innings, six hours and 10 minutes of baseball and fireworks. Some of it sticks in the mind.
“You need to ask Hernandez what he did,” Backman says on the telephone, punctuating his anecdote with a smoky chuckle.