centerfield maz

Billy Rolland Cowan was born on August 28, 1938 at Calhoun City, Mississippi. The six foot right hand hitter, attended the University of Utah and was signed by the Chicago Cubs in 1961. He was the 1963 Pacific Coast League MVP hitting .315 with 25 HRs & 120 RBIs at AAA Salt Lake City. Cowan made it to the big leagues the next season. He had his best season in that rookie year, hitting 19 HRs with 50 RBIs, 16 doubles & 12 stolen bases (9th in the league) batting .241. He struck out 128 times (second in the NL) while posting a poor .268 on base %. In the outfield he made a league leading eleven errors with a .965 fielding %. In the off season he was traded to the New York Mets in exchange for George Altman. He was the Mets leadoff hitter & centerfielder on Opening Day 1965, going 0-4. Cowan wasn't hitting barely keeping his average above .200 most of the season. On June 21st he hit his first HR of the season. It was the only run scored in the game, as Al Jackso...

Ernest Gilbert Broglio was born August 27, 1935 in Berkley, California. The six foot two right hander, pitched locally with the Oakland Oaks in the Pacific Coast League. He spent time in the Cincinnati Reds & New York Giants organizations before getting traded to St. Louis. In October 1958 he was traded along with Marv Grissom to the St. Louis Cardinals for future Met Hobie Landrith, as well as Billy Muffett and Benny Valenzuela. He came to the big leagues in 1959 and started out by going 0-4 with a blown save. On June 16th he earned his first career win, coming against the Philadelphia Phillies. His season was highlighted by a four hit shut out on August 5th against the Pittsburgh Pirates. In his rookie year he went 7-12 with a 4.72 ERA. In 1960 he was one of the NL’s top pitchers, leading the league in wins (21-9) posting the second best ERA (2.74) pitching in 226 innings, striking out 188 batters & throwing three shutouts. He even got to be on the cover of Sports ...

  Darrin Jay Jackson was born August 22, 1962 in Los Angeles, California. Jackson was a star outfielder at Culver City high school, was selected in the second round by the Chicago Cubs in 1981. Early in his minor league career he was a good base stealer, swiping 58 bases in 1983. Injuries slowed him up as he got older, making it to the big leagues by 1985. He was back & forth to the minor leagues for most of his 12 year career. From 1985-1992 Jackson played for the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres & Toronto Blue Jays mostly as a reserve outfielder. He had his best years at San Diego in 1991; hitting 21 HRs with 12 doubles 49 RBIs while batting .262 playing in 122 games. The next year he had career highs in games (155) doubles (23) runs (72) triples (5) stolen base (14) & RBIs (70) playing as a regular. He came to the New York Mets in June 1993 in a trade with Toronto for short stop Tony Fernandez. He missed six weeks of the season with hyperthyroidism, and nev...

John Anthony Romano Jr. was born on August 23, 1934 in Hoboken, New Jersey. At a young age his uncle gave him the nickname of “honey” which would stick withhim. His father was a semi pro base ball player and taught Johnny to play the game. The five foot ten inch, two hundred pound catcher, got signed by the Chicago White Sox in 1954. He then put up some impressive numbers in the minor leagues. Romano bashed 38 HRs while batting .351 at Waterloo in 1955 winning the MVP Award, getting promoted to the Pacific Coast League the next year. He soon set a minor league record by hitting HRs in seven straight games. In 1957 he played at AAA Indianapolis under Former New York Giants catcher Walker Cooper the teams manager. Cooper helped Romano work on his catching abilities. In 1958 he hit .291 with 25 HRs & 89 RBIs getting his big league call up. He debuted in the big leagues in 1958 playing briefly with the White Sox for two seasons. There he learned even more about the art of catchin...

Raymond Clifford Cook was born August 20, 1936 in Dallas, Texas. The six foot, right hand hitting Cook was signed by the Cincinnati Reds in 1955, scouted as a third baseman with power. In the minor leagues he had three seasons of 30 plus HRs & 100 plus RBIs. He was brought up for a cup of coffee by the Reds in September 1959 going 8-21, good enough for a .381 average. In 1960 he hit his first career HR but struggled batting just .208 after 54 games when he was sent back to AAA. In 1961 he was the American Association MVP belting 32 HRs with 119 RBIs while batting .311. He was called back up in September for four games with the ’61 NL Champion Reds. In May of 1962 he was traded along with Bob Miller to the expansion New York Mets for Don Zimmer.  He got his first start at third base on May 9th 1962, in Chicago, going 1-4 in the Mets 3-2 win. In his first home start at the Polo Grounds, he got two hits, including a triple and an RBI against Bob Shaw & the Milwaukee B...

Lance Daniel Broadway was born August 20, 1983 in Bryan, Texas. The six foot four right hander attended Texas Christian University, where he was a star pitcher. He threw two no hitters, while winning the Triple Crown of pitching going 15-1, getting selected All Conference. Broadway also majored in communications. In 2005 he was the Chicago White Sox number one draft choice, the 15th pick overall. In 2006 at AA Birmingham he struck out 111 batters in 25 games, getting labeled as having the best breaking ball in the league. Baseball America chose him as the fourth best prospect in the Sox organization. Although he struggled in 2007 he got a September call up, debuting on September 7th, earning his first MLB strike out in 2/3 of a perfect innings work. His first decision came as a loss against the Cleveland Indians the following week. Back at AAA in 2008, he was ranked as the #2 Sox prospect, being ranked with the best curve & change in their system. He was now considered an ev...

Thomas Jones Goodwin was born on July 27th, 1968 in Fresno, California. The six foot one, left hand hitting outfielder attended Cal State University at Fresno. There he played baseball, football & basketball. He was originally drafted as a 6th round pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1986 but chose not to sign. He was a member of the 1988 USA gold medal winning Olympic baseball team. He stole nine bases, & hit .250 scoring nine runs in the 12 games. In 1988 he was the Los Angeles Dodgers first round draft pick. He was a great base stealer, stealing 82 bases at the A ball & AA ball levels in 1990. In 1991 he stole 48 bases at AAA Albuquerque, getting a September call up to the Dodgers for 16 games. Goodwin played three seasons with the Dodgers as a backup outfielder, never making it as a top player. In 1994 he was placed on waivers & got picked up by the Kansas City Royals. With the Royals he stole fifty or more bases for three straight seasons, coming in second ...

Anthony Francis 'Tony' Cuccinello was born on November 8, 1907 in Long Island City, Queens New York. He played baseball at Bryant High School in Queens getting a baseball contact with the Cincinnati Reds. Tony hit over .300 three times in the minors getting to the big leagues by 1930. He hit .312 with 22 doubles & 10 HRs in his rookie year, making a big impression. He followed that up with another .300 season (.315) posting a .374 on base percentage, although his power numbers fell off. In 1932 he got traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers and was back home in New York. He spent four seasons in Brooklyn getting to two All Star games, as the Dodgers main second baseman. In 1934 he had career highs in HRs (14) & RBIs (94) with 32 doubles. On July 5th 1935 at the Polo Grounds both Cuccinello brothers (Tony & Al) hit HRs for their respective teams, becoming the first big league brothers to do so in a game while opposing each other. This feat has only been accomplished si...

Salvatore John Campisi was born on August 11, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York. The right handed pitcher attended Most Holy Trinity high school & & Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus. He was signed by the Cardinals in 1964. He won 10 or more games five different times in the minors, going 58-21 with a 2.69 ERA in his minor league career. In 1969 he was 13-2 with a 1.99 ERA, at AAA Tulsa, and got a promotion to the big leagues, going 1-0 in seven games. In 1970 he saw action in 37 games, going 2-2 with 4saves posting a solid 2.92 ERA in 49 innings pitched. In October 1970 he was Traded with Jim Kennedy to the Minnesota Twins for Herman Hill & a minor leaguer. He only saw action in six games and was done in the big leagues. His 1971 Topps baseball card is on the high number end giving him a value of around $6. Lifetime he was 3-2 with a 4 saves and a 2.70 ERA.

Brandon James Lyon was born on August 10, 1979 in Salt Lake City Utah & is a Mormon. The six foot one right hander attended Dixie State College of Utah, getting drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 14th round of the 1999 draft. Lyon made his MLB debut on August 4th, getting a start against the Baltimore Orioles. He went an impressive 7.1 innings allowing just one run taking a 2-1 victory over Sidney Ponson. Lyon pitched well enough to be 5-2 by late September, before losing his last two starts. In 2002 he began the year in the Blue Jays rotation but by mid June he was 1-4 & his ERA was at 6.53. He was sent down to the minor leagues & was placed on waivers at season's end. He was picked up by the Boston Red Sox & from there on became a middle reliever. In 2003 he was a big part of the Sox bullpen, making 49 appearances going 4-6, finishing up 31 games. He earned nine saves, second to closer Byung Hyun Kim's 16. Lyon did not pitch in the post season....

Daniel Peter Graves was born on August 7, 1973 in Saigon, South Vietnam. His father was a United States serviceman serving in the Vietnam War, and his mother was a native Vietnamese citizen. After getting married & having young Danny, they moved to South Florida by early 1975. Danny Graves is the only MLB player to ever be born in Vietnam. He grew up in South Florida & became a star pitcher at the University of Miami. In his sophomore year he made 59 appearances & earned a save in the College World Series. In his junior year he set a school record with 21 saves while posting a 0.89 ERA. The right hander was drafted in the fourth round of the 1994 draft by the Cleveland Indians. He pitched in the college World Series that year, then tore his ACL missing all of 1995. He recouped & became the Indians top prospect, being bred as a closer right from the minor league level. He had two brief seasons in Cleveland (1996 & 1997) appearing in just 15 games each season goi...