centerfield maz

  Marlon Jerrard Byrd was born on August 30th, 1977 in Boynton Beach, Florida. T he six foot right hand hitting outfielder attended Georgia Perimeter College at Marietta Georgia. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 10th round of the 1999 draft.  By 2001 he was voted the second best prospect (behind Josh Beckett by Baseball America, winning the MVP while joining Jeromy Burnitz in the 30-30 club of the Eastern League. In 2002 he made his fourth minor league All Star team, hitting .297 leading the International League in runs (103) extra base hits (59) & total bases (256) while at AAA Scranton.  That September he got a call up to the Phillies big league club, joking second baseman Marlon Anderson as the only two major leaguers ever to have Marlon as a first name. In 2003 the Phillies were hoping Byrd was the word, as he got a regular job in their outfield. In 135 games he hit .303 with 7 HRs & 45 RBIs posting a .366 on base %, coming in f...

Mark David Loretta was born on August 14, 1971 in Santa Monica, California. The six foot infielder was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 7th round of the 1993 draft. After making the American Association All Star team in 1995 he got a promotion to the Brewers squad as a September call up. He earned a reputation as a good contact hitter and one of the toughest guys to get out with two strikes. He usually wore the uniform number 8 most of his career, until his final years. He would spend seven and a half seasons in Milwaukee, batting over .285 four times. In 1998 he batted .316 with a .382 on base percentage, striking out only 47 times in 434 at bats. Loretta would bat .291 the next season and hit over .280 twice more before going to the Houston Astros for the 2002 stretch run. He would play all infield positions in his career, posting fielding percentages at the top of the league at both second base & shortstop. In 2000 he posted the best fielding percentage by all NL s...