The Ball on the Wall Game and the Man Who Was Always There: Remembering Dave Giusti

Dave Giusti, a name Mets fans may not immediately place on the all time villains list but one that somehow always feels familiar, passed away on January 11, 2026, at the age of 86

If you grew up watching the Mets in the late 1960s and 1970s, Giusti was not a headline name like Gibson or Carlton. He may have not scared you like they did. What he did do, reliably, persistently, and often, was show up. And very often, that meant showing up against the Mets.

Giusti appeared in 60 games against New York, tied for the fourth most appearances he made against any opponent during his career. Only the Cubs , Cardinals and Phillies Dodgers surpassed that total. In other words, for Mets fans, Dave Giusti was not an occasional visitor. He was a regular.

And he was not just passing through.

In those 60 games, Giusti logged 161⅔ innings against the Mets, allowing 167 hits, 89 runs, 73 earned, and 20 home runs (Ed Kranepool had 4 ), finishing with a 4.06 ERA. His record against New York stood at 7 and 9, a near perfect reflection of how Mets Giusti encounters tended to feel, competitive, stubborn, and usually unresolved until late.

From the batter’s box, the Mets actually hit Giusti better than most teams did. New York posted a .266 batting average, .316 on base percentage, and .433 slugging percentage against him, numbers that stand out when you realize his career opponent OPS against the Mets, .749, ranked among the highest of any team he faced regularly. Only a handful of clubs fared better, and none with the same volume of games.

Shea Stadium, specifically, was no picnic for Giusti. In 27 appearances at Shea, Mets hitters tagged him for 12 home runs and a .407 slugging percentage, though Giusti still managed a respectable 3.21 ERA there. Even when he was hittable, he battled. That was kind of his thing. Perhaps Giusti's most memorable game at Shea was on September 20th 1973, "The Ball on The Wall Game." Ron Hodges would get the walk off hit off of Giusti , in what many believe was the turning point for the "Ya Gotta Believe" Mets.

What Mets fans sometimes forget is that Giusti was not just a familiar face. He was, at his peak, one of the most effective relievers in baseball.

In 1971, Giusti led the National League with 30 saves, then followed it up with one of the most quietly dominant postseason performances of the era. He threw 10⅔ scoreless innings in October as the Pirates defeated the Giants in the NLCS and then outlasted the Baltimore Orioles in a seven game World Series. When Pittsburgh needed outs that autumn, Giusti delivered them without drama and without mercy.

Giusti made his lone All Star appearance in 1973 and spent seven seasons in Pittsburgh, compiling 133 saves, still the third most in Pirates franchise history. Before his career concluded, he split the 1977 season between Oakland and the Chicago Cubs, then stepped away from the game having carved out a resume built on dependability rather than flash.

Across his career, Giusti appeared in 668 major league games, starting some, relieving most, pitching in the late innings long before closer became a branded role with entrance music and a marketing department. Managers trusted him because he kept taking the ball and rarely gave it back in worse shape than he found it.

That steady excellence did not go unnoticed after his playing days ended. Giusti was elected to the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame in 1989, inducted into the Pittsburgh chapter of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in 1987, and in 1998 was named an inaugural member of the Syracuse Baseball Hall of Fame, honors that reflect how deeply he was respected in the communities and organizations that knew him best.

Against winning teams, Giusti held his own. Against losing teams, he often thrived. Against the Mets, he simply kept coming back.

That familiarity bred a strange respect. Giusti was not the guy you dreaded. He was the guy you expected. The one already warming in the bullpen when you turned on the radio. The name you half recognized on the scoreboard and fully recognized by the fifth inning when the Mets had stranded runners in scoring position again.

He struck out 101 Mets hitters, walked 47, and rarely beat himself. His strikeout to walk ratio against New York mirrored his overall career profile, steady, professional, no wasted pitches.

Dave Giusti’s legacy will not be defined by a single iconic moment against the Mets. Instead, it is defined by repetition. Reliability. Presence.

For more than a decade, he was simply there, on the mound, in the box score, in the opposing dugout, part of the fabric of Mets baseball whether fans realized it or not.

And now, quietly , he is gone, leaving behind a career that reminds us that baseball history is not only built by legends and lightning bolts, but by the men who kept taking the ball, especially when it was their turn to face the Mets.

Rest in peace, Dave Giusti. Mets fans saw a lot of you.