Italian / American Outfielder: Chris Denorfia (2005-2014)

-
Christopher Anthony Denorfia was born on July 15, 1980 in Bristol, Connecticut. Bristol is now the home of ESPN studios. Denorfia was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds, out of Wheaton College in Massachusetts, in the 19th round of the 2002 draft.

The six foot right handed hitting outfielder, made it to AAA by 2005, hitting .330 for Chattanooga. He would debut for the Reds that season, hitting a HR in second at bat, a pinch hit shot in an 8-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 18 games that September, he batted .263.

In 2006 he began the season at Cincinnati, was sent down again where he hit .349 in 82 games at Chattanooga. He was back up again for the latter part of the season, hitting .283 with one HR & seven RBIs. At the end of the season, he was traded to the Oakland Athletics for a player to be named later.

In 2007 he had Tommy John surgery & did not play. He didn’t see much playing time in Oakland, batting .290 in just 32 games over two seasons (2008-2009).

WBC: In the 2009 World Baseball Classic he was Team Italy’s starting centerfielder, and had a huge game against Canada. He went 4-4 with a pair of doubles & two RBIs. In the outfield he made a diving catch to rob Italian/Canadian, Joey Votto of a double. 

Italy went on to beat the heavily favored Canadian team 6-2. He represented Team, Italy again in 2013 going 8-21 scoring five runs.

In 2010 Denorfia signed with the San Diego Padres as a free agent. On August 5th at Dodger Stadium, he chopped a ball in front of the plate that was misplayed at third base. The ball rolled along the outfield tarp & Denorifia circled the bases with one of the shortest hit inside the park HRs in history.

He was consistent batting over .270 in two seasons as a fourth outfielder, seeing action in 130 games in 2012 after Carlos Quentin went down with injury. Denorfia impressed, batting .293 with 8 HRs 36 RBIs & a .345 on base %. On April 11th, his two run HR were the only runs needed in the Padres 2-1 win over the Arizona D-backs.

In 2013 he saw solid playing time replacing the injured Cameron Maybin. On May 14th he hit a game tying 9th inning HR off the Baltimore Orioles; Jim Johnson, the Padres went on to a 2-1 win.  

Denofria played a fine outfield, winning the Padres Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Award, making 13 assists (5th best in the majors). He also won the teams September Heart & Hustle Award, he got into 144 games while batting .279 with 10 HRs 21 doubles 47 RBIs & a .337 on base %. 

In 2014 he returned as the Padres fourth outfielder, playing all three outfield positions, posting a perfect 1.000 fielding % through mid June. In a nine year career he is hitting .279 with 495 hits 36 HRs 87 doubles & 171 RBIs through mid June 2014. In the outfield he posted a .988 fielding % making 35 assists in 565 games.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering Bobby Ojeda's Tragic Boating Accident (1993)

-
Image
Steve Olin, Tim Crews & Bob Ojeda March 22 nd 1993: was an off day from Spring Training, for three Cleveland Indians pitchers; Former Mets 1986 World Champion pitcher; Bobby Ojeda, Tim Crews & Steve Olin. The three friends, took out an 18-foot open-air bass boat & went out fishing & gator hunting in the darkness of the evening on Lake Nellie in Clermont, Florida. Tragedy struck, when the boat rammed into a private dock that jutted out some 250 feet into the still waters. Two other Cleveland Indians personnel had arrived to meet the fishing party just as the horror took place. They heard Bob Ojeda saying they needed help. The two men jumped into the water and called out for someone to call 911. 27 year old pitcher; Steve Olin was killed instantly. 31 year old pitcher; Tim Crews was alive but was struggling to breathe suffering from massive head wounds. Bobby Ojeda was in & out of shock, he was suffering from head lace...
Read more

The History of Yogi Berra & the Yoo-Hoo Chocolate Drink

-
Image
Yogi Berra & Yoo-Hoo's  history go back to the 1950's. Yogi had met the Oliveri Family, the owners of the Yoo-Hoo company at a Country Club function near his home in New Jersey. Natale Olivieri started bottling the chocolate drink in 1928 in Garfield, w Jersey. By the late 1950's he Yoo-Hoo product wasn't selling all that well. Mr. Olivieri asked for Yogi's opinion at the new Jersey function. Berra said he actually liked the soft drink & started promoting it along with his teammates. Soon Yogi put Yoo-Hoo on the map, appearing in commercials, advertisements and supermarkets promotions.  Berra would show up at the factory in Carlstadt, New Jersey & became a hero to the factory workers. He soon became a Vice President of the company owning a large amount of Yoo-Hoo stock. In his auto biography Yogi wrote "One time I was in the office and the phone rang, I always answer a ringing phone, the woman on the other end asked if Yoo-Hoo was hyphenate...
Read more

Remembering Vixen Founder / Guitarist; Jan Kuehnemund (1961-2013)

-
Image
centerfieldmaz was shocked to learn of the sudden passing of Jan Kuehnemund, the founding member of the all female metal band Vixen. Jan was a fantastic guitarist, song writer & women pioneer in Heavy Metal. I am a huge fan of hard rock all girl bands & Vixen were one my long time favorites. Janice Lynn Kuehnemund was born November 18th, 1961 in St. Paul Minnesota. The female guitarist formed one of the first all female Metal bands in Minnesota with singer Janet Gardner while in high school in 1980. By 1985 they moved the band to Los Angles California, to be part of the Heavy Metal scene. In 1987 the classic Vixen line up of Jan Kuehnemund (lead guitar) Janet Gardner (vocals/ guitar) Share Pederson (bass) & Roxy Petrucci (drums) formed & released their debut album the following year. Vixen 1988 In a world of all male Heavy Metal bands during its heyday, Vixen were groundbreaking in being an all female metal band. The Runaways, with Joan Jett & Lita Ford...
Read more

Remembering Mets History (1979) SNL's Chico Escuela Visits Mets Spring Training & Attempts a Career Comeback

-
Image
Bill Murray interviews (Garrett Morris) Chico Escuela In March 1979, original Saturday Night Live cast member; Garrett Morris joined the Mets at Miller Huggins Field for Spring Training. At the time the Mets were still holding Spring Training in St. Petersburg Florida.  Garrett Morris was posing as  the fictional Mets player, Chico Escuela who wore uniform #5 (cinque).  Escuela was doing his famous spoof of the Latin players of the time, posing as a popular infielder from the Dominican Republic that didn't speak much English. His legendary catch phrase was "baseball been berry- berry good to me". "baseball been berry-berry good... to me" The Chico Escuela character appeared nine times during on SNL's fourth & fifth seasons. He debuted on December 9th, 1978, in a Knight of Columbus sketch as a guest speaker. He then became the Weekend Update Sports reporter, where after being introduced by Jane Curtain, he would reply "tank you Hane". Chico woul...
Read more

Remembering Batgirl: Yvonne Craig (1937-2015)

-
Image
centerfieldmaz interrupts baseball with a sad note on one of his favorite actresses. Being a huge Batman (TV series) fan Yvonne Craig has been someone I adored since I was a child.  As a boy I always hoped the Batgirl cycle would wiz by on the opening credits, meaning it would be a Batgirl episode. I didn't realize why until I got older & liked girls. For myself & millions of young boys of the 60's / 70's Batgirl was one of our first crushes. But her character also she added so much more than that to the final season of Batman. She was special in so many ways ... rest in peace Batgirl! Yvonne Joyce Craig was born May 16th 1937 in Taylorville, Illinois. As a young girl she was a talented ballet dancer, getting accepted to the prestigious Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. She eventually moved to Los Angeles & began an acting career. She landed a part in Gidget (1959) as one of Gidget's beach...
Read more