centerfield maz

I am proud to say that at last nights Mets win over the Nationals, not only did I witness live, (1) the 1st ball affected by the right field Pepsi Porch over hang (2) the 4th Mets win in a row (3) Rookie Fernando Martinez getting booed for lazily not running out a pop fly that was dropped (4) another Santana win, and a wild wacky game as a whole. But I also caught the second foul ball of my life. Well I actually didn't catch it, but I benefited from a miss play of the row in front of me. In the 2nd inning Ramon Castro hit three foul balls in my area (Section 409), I got the third. First the ball hit off some ones arm in front of me, then the ball bounced into my row, and beneath the scrum of hands, elbows and heads banging together, I came out victorious!! Yes thanks to an assist I got my first Citi Field ball. I was impressed to see all the balls used at Citi Field games have the Inaugural season logo on them. My 1st foul ball was caught in at Shea in 2005. I was down in the 1st r...

May 25, 1954: By todays standards a game lasting 2 minutes 54 seconds is the norm. Back in 1954 it took that long to comlplete a game where the Giants scored 21 runs pummeling the Pirates 21-4 at the Polo Grounds. The Tuesday afternoon matinee only had a crowd of 7000 plus on hand to see the Giants score the most runs they would in any game all year. Behind Johnny Antonelli's complete game seven hitter, his sixth victory in the 21 he would win on the season, the Giants scored 21 runs on 22 hits off fi ve different Pirates pitchers. Whitey Lockman led the charge with 4 hits and a grand slam HR to right field in the 7th inning off Joe Page. It was Lockmans 7th HR of the year and gave him 21 RBIs up to that point. Second baseman Davey Williams hit a three run shot in the 8th inning and was one of four Giants to have three hits on the day. Weak hitting catcher Ray Katt was batting .314 at the time, he had 3 hits, including a double, triple & an intentional walk, driving in five ru...

Back in June1979 I was graduating the 8th grade, for myself and a generation (or two) The Who's Kids Are Alright album & movie was a major soundtrack to that time. It was all over the radio in the summer & fall of 1979, especially on 95.5 WPLJ in its prime. When VCRs first came out we spent many an afternoon & evening renting out this movie watching it over & over as we partied to the music, as it came alive in video. The Kids Are Alright is movie that documents the Who's first 15 years in old television & concert footage. The producer was Jeff Stein who was a fan with no prior experience. He approached Pete Townshend in 1975 with the idea, and Pete was coaxed by the bands manager to do it. When the initial footage was shown to the band & their wives, they loved it. It was one of the first documentries where the story was told by the band and people close assciate d with them. They also used the project moved forward but needed more recent material. A fi...

The 1912 NY Giants dominated the National League and are considered one of the best teams of all time. John McGraw's Giants were in the middle of winning three straight pennants although they didn't win any of the those World Series.  On May 22, 1912 Christy Mathewson scattered three hits in the 1st three innings of a road game in Cincinnati. He retired the next 18 batters in a row, rolling along to a 6-1 Giants victory. The Giants came home to the Polo Grounds and went on a nine game wining streak. They would have a 10 game lead by the start of June and never looked back.They finished with 103 wins and a .682 winning percentage, 10 games ahead of the 2nd place Pirates. Christy Mathewson now 31, was 23-12 with a 2.12 ERA in 310 innings pitched. Believe it or not he wasn't the best of the staff. Rube Marquard set a record by winning 17 straight games, he ended up 26-11 with a 2.57 ERA, he pitched 294 innings.  The #3 man was Jeff Tesreau 17-7 with a league l...

Herb Washington is the only player in baseball history to be used solely as a designated runner. It happened during the zany days of Charlie O Finley's Oakland A's Dynasty. Charlie O believed a few extra wins could be had on the base paths. Those wins could be the difference in the standings & in the post season. He used six different players over the years as pinch runners, but all of them came to bat at one point or another, except for Herb Washington. Washington had no pro baseball experience at all, which was criticized by the A's players. Washington was a track star, a four-time all-American that broke the world record in the 50 and 60 yard dashes. On the 1974 World Champion Oakland A's team, his official position w as "designated runner." Washington had no baseball expierence, and didn't have much of a feel for the game. This upset the Oakland players, who felt the roster spot should have gone to a real baseball player. Washington had to learn...

May 16, 1983: In front of a tiny crowd of just under 2000, Mets manager George Bamburger inserted his top rookie prospect into the line up again for the eighth time. In just his first week in the majors, a young Daryl Strawberry hit his first career home run . It came off Pittsburgh's Lee Tunnel at Three Rivers Stadium. The home run came in the top of the 5th inning with Hubbie Brooks aboard, putting the Mets up 7-1. They would go on to win the game 11-4 with Ed Lynch getting the win, and Craig Swan getting credit for a save. The interesting Met line up of the day had Brooks & Jose Oquendo both drive in 3 runs and Strawberry & Lynch drive in two each. Strawberry would hit another home run the next day at Shea Stadium against the Padres Tim Lollar. That day Tom Seaver got his third win of the season in his 1983 return to the Mets. Two days later he would hit his 3rd of the season off the Padres Luis DeLeon, although the Mets lost this game. Straw would go on to hit 26 HR...

May 10th 1985: 46,000 fans fill Shea on a Friday night,to see Doctor K go against aging Phillies veteran, future Hall of Famer Steve Carlton. The Doctor was definitely in as he threw a complete game three hit shutout. He struck out 13 Phillies blowing his fast ball right by them; Juan Samuel went down four times all by himself. Gooden improved to 5-1 on the year, with a 1.31 ERA, and was amongst the top in the league in all pitching categories. His 13 Ks, and seven fly outs to the outfield gave the infield only four put outs all night. George Foster hit his 5th home run of the year in the 4th in ning, a two run shot, 2-0 Mets. In the bottom of the seventh after a fun 7th inning stretch, Gary Carter came up with the bases loaded. He hit a bases clearing double to making it 5-0 Mets. Times were good at Shea, as the 1st place Mets were rolling along at 17-8 on the year. May 11, 1 985: 20,000 fans gathered at Shea to see the Mets & Phillies go at it again. "El Sid" S...