centerfield maz

Nicholas Dominic Dallessandro was born on October 3, 1913 at Reading, Pennsylvania. The short 5’ 6’ outfielder had tiny feet & one sports writer joked it took him 20 jumps to get out of the dugout. He earned the nickname “Dim Dom” making his debut with Boston in 1937 batting .231 in 68 games. He went to the Pacific Coast League playing with San Diego until the Cubs bought his contract in 1939. He played in 107 games for the 1940 Cubs, batting .268 with a HR & 36 RBIs. The next season would be his career best batting .272 with 6 HRs, 85 RBIs (10th in the league) 36 doubles (4TH in the league) & the second best fielding percentage in the outfield at .987. He posted a .362 on base percentage drawing 68 walks as well. The next two years he played under 100 games both seasons batting a best .261 in 1942. In 1944 he rebounded to play in 117 games batting .304 in 381 at bats, posting a .400 on base percentage (7th in the league) hitting 8 Hrs with 19 doubles with 61 walks ...

William Angelo Consolo was born August 18, 1934 in Ohio. His family moved to the West Coast, settling in Los Angeles where his father was a barber at the Statler Hilton Hotel in downtown L.A. He grew up in Los Angeles a long time friend of Sparky Anderson. Consolo was named Los Angeles High School Player of the Year in 1951-1952. He along with Sparky Anderson & Bill Lacheman played on the American Legion Nation Champion team in 1951. The game was played at Tiger (Briggs) Stadium. The shortstop was signed by the Red Sox as a bonus baby in 1953 right out of high school. The Red Sox supposedly enhanced their offer by arranging to purchase the barber shop confectionery at the Los Angeles Hilton on behalf of his father. He would play for the Red Sox for as their Opening Day second baseman the following year, Consolo played in a career high 91 games but only hit .227. He would become mostly a utility inf ielder in his MLB career batting a career high .270 in 68 ga mes in 1957. He t...

William Lewis Helper was born September 25, 1945 in Covington, Virginia. Helper was a six foot lefty originally signed by the Washington Senators in 1960. He was a promising young pitcher whose career was cut short due to arm troubles. He was 11-0 averaging 19 strikeouts a game in American Legion ball, then was a New York Penn League All Star leading the league in wins & strikeouts. He was scooped up by the New York Mets at the 1965 Winter Meetings and immediately made the team at the young age of 20. Hepler debuted on April 23rd 1966 against the Braves in Atlanta where he gave up two walks & a hit in one inning pitched. He made twelve other relief appearances in May & June before he got his first MLB win two months later. The win came against the Braves in Atlanta when Ted Abernathy botched a pick off attempt allowing Billy Murphy to score the tying run. Then Ken Boyer’s sac fly drove in what was the winning run. The Mets Jack Hamilton saved it for Hepler as he earn...

Jon Erich Rauch was born September 27th in Louisville, Kentucky. The big six foot eleven Rauch attended Morehead State University, the same school the great Football New York Giant Quarterback Phil Simms attended.  Rauch was originally signed by the Chicago White Sox in the third round of the 1999 draft. In 2000 he pitched for the US Olympic Team at Sydney Australia. That same year he was voted the Sporting News Minor League Player of the year. In 2002 he made the White Sox out of Spring Training getting his MLB debut against the Seattle Mariners pitching the 7th inning in relief. On April 21st he was roughed up by the Detroit Tigers allowing eight runs in just four innings of work. He was sent down to the minors but returned in September. In eight games he allowed seven HRs that season. He spent all of 2003 at AAA Charlotte, as well as most of 2004. That year he went 7-1 striking out 94 batters getting him back to the big leagues. He was traded to the Montreal Expos fo...

I am a huge fan of European female fronted hard rock/metal music. It's a genre that is huge across all parts of the world except in this country. The music is has taken heavy metal to a much more sophisticated level. Keyboards, choirs, symphonic orchestration & mezzo soprano operatic female singers. In my opinion it is more advanced & blows away anything that is popular in America. The US music industry is lame with corporate made rock, American idol molded singers, teeny bopper pop & hip hop garbage. Rock & Roll needs to be saved & this music is the answer. Finally it seems there may be some hope, as some of the European music has begun to break through.   Last night one of the biggest bands in the world (outside the U.S.) came to New York and put on one hell of a show at the Beacon Theater. They are Nightwish, one of the best bands in the entire world coming out of Finland. All their lyrics are in English and they speak the language fluently if yo...

In 1972 John Lennon & Yoko Ono were two highly publicized figures. The ex- Beatle was constantly in the news, on the front lines of the peace movement or helping support other activist causes. Some good, others not so much. Lennon was very accessible in those days, living in a small apartment on Bank Street in the West Village. John wanted to make New York his home, but the U.S. government was trying to deport him. The Nixon administration were afraid that Lennon's popularity would destroy any chance for re-election. They came up with a plan, saying he was ineligible for admission to the U.S. due to a cannabis possession misdemeanor, he had received in London in 1968. The FBI tapped the Lennon's phones and followed him & anyone associated with him on every move. Many public figures (including New York's Mayor John Lindsay, Bob Dylan, Fred Aistare & Jack Lemmon to name a few) all supported him, as did the fans with letters & petitions. John went through d...

Carroll Wayne Belardi was born on September 5, 1930 in St. Helena, California. The six foot left hand hitting first baseman, went to Santa Clara University getting signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1949. He hit .292 with 19 HRs in his first year in the minor leagues. He went to play in the New England League but was pulled out of there before the league folded due to financial problems. In 1950 he would hit over 22 HRs at AA Mobile. In 1951 he followed with a .302 batting average, 20 HRs & 33 doubles at AAA Fort Worth. He made two brief September appearances with the Brooklyn Dodgers those years, making the big league roster by 1953. Belardi would be Gil Hodges back up first baseman in 1953 and part of the 1954 seasons. The big minor league slugger showed power at the major league level as well, hitting 11 HRs in 163 at bats in 1953. He batted .239 drawing 16 walks (.311 on base %) driving in 43 runs & striking out 40 times. He got two pinch hit at bats in the 1953 Worl...

William Angelo Consolo was born August 18, 1934 in Celevland,Ohio. His family moved to the West Coast, settling in the Los Angeles area. His father was a barber & worked at the Statler Hilton Hotel in downtown L.A. While growing up he became a good friend of future MLB player & Big Red Machine manager Sparky Anderson. Consolo was named Los Angeles High School Player of the Year in 1951-1952. He along with Anderson & future MLB player Bill Lacheman, played on the American Legion National Champion team in 1951. The game was played in Detroit at Tiger (Briggs) Stadium. Sparky Anderson would also go to manage the Detroit Tigers & win a World Series there in 1984. The five foot eleven shortstop was signed right out of high school, by the Red Sox as a bonus baby in 1953. The Red Sox supposedly enhanced their offer by arranging to purchase the barber shop confectionery store at the Los Angeles Hilton on behalf of his father. He would play for the Red Sox for as thei...