centerfield maz

Sunday July 11, 1954: In the opener of a doubleheader‚ at the Polo Grounds, Leo Durocher's first place New York Giants (57-26) pounded Fred Haney's last place Pittsburgh Pirates (26-55) 13-7. Giants right fielder Don Mueller wasted no time, in the 1st inning he collected a double to drive home Whitey Lockman for a 1-0 lead. In the 2nd, Monte Irvin lead off with a HR, his 16th of the year. Later Wes Westrum singled. Whitey Lockman then connected for a two run HR, his 13th of the year. Alvin Dark then followed with a back to back HR, his 10th of the year, making it 5-0 Giants. In the 3rd, Hank Thompson lead off with a HR. Willie Mays singled and after Monte Irvin grounded out, Davey Williams was hit by a pitch. Westrum then singled bringing in a run. Pitcher Sal Maglie bunted & reached base safely. Next, Whitey Lockman's sac fly brought in another run. Al Dark then singled bringing in Westrum putting two men on base. Don Mueller then tripled to...

Sunday July 18th 1976: Tonight Joe Frazier's third place Mets (48-44) were hosting Dave Bristol's; fifth place Atlanta Braves (41-48). Carl Morton (0-6) (the 1970 NL Rookie of the Year) took on the Mets veteran Mickey Lolich (4-10).  Lolich had come over from the Detroit Tigers, in a deal that sent the popular; Rusty Staub to the Motor City.  Loilch's best days were behind him, back in the sixties /early seventies, he had been one of the game's best left hander's. In a deal that never made any sense, the Mets traded away Staub one of their biggest RBI guys on a team that didn't score many runs & brought in Lolich on a Mets team with a strong rotation.  Starting Lineups Atlanta Braves         New York Mets 1 Jerry Royster 3B 1 Mike Phillips SS 2 Rod Gilbreath 2B 2 Felix Millan 2B 3 Jim Wynn CF 3 Joe Torre 1B 4 Willie Montanez 1B 4 Dave Kingman LF 5 Tom Paciorek LF 5 Mike Vail RF 6 Ken Henderson RF 6 Del Unser CF ...

Friday May 14th 1999: Bobby Valentine's New York Mets (2015) were having a fine start to what would be their Wild Card Champion season. On this night they arrived in Philadelphia to take on Terry Francona's Phillies (19-15) also having a good start. Both teams were battling for a second place spot behind those pesky Atlanta Braves. The Mets one & one half game behind with the Phils a game behind them. Mets pitcher Masato Yoshii went up against Chad Ogea in front of 21,074 at the Vet. Starting Lineups Mets 1 Roger Cedeno RF 2 Edgardo Alfonzo 2B 3 John Olerud 1B 4 Mike Piazza C 5 Robin Ventura 3B 6 Brian McRae CF 7 Benny Agbayani LF 8 Rey Ordonez SS 9 Masato Yoshii P Phillies 1 Doug Glanville CF 2 Marlon Anderson 2B 3 Scott Rolen 3B 4 Rico Brogna 1B 5 Ron Gant LF 6 Bobby Abreu RF 7 Mike Lieberthal C 8 Desi Relaford SS 9 Chad Ogea P In the top of the 1st, Roger Cedeno reached on an error & advanced on a force play. He then stol...

Monday May 31,1937: New York Giants Hall of Fame pitcher Carl Hubbell (King Carl or the Meal Ticket as he was known) had just set a record by winning 24 consecutive games. The pitcher with the high leg kicking delivery dominated the league for two seasons. On May 31st, 1937 at New Yorks Polo Grounds, the NYFD had to turn away a crowd of an estimated 20,000 fans who did not have tickets for the game, for public saftey. An incredible 60,000 had already jammed into the Polo Grounds and the surrounding hills, to watch Carl Hubbell continue his win streak. But it was on this day that he took his first loss in ten months losing 10-3 to the Brooklyn Dodgers. One of the things that makes baseball so great are the unsung heroes, that shine for a day to break or spoil a record. Today it was Brooklyn Dodger, back up catcher Paul Chervinko, making his first MLB start of a short 45 game career. Chervinko would contribute with two RBIs helping Brooklyn defeat th...

Steve Charles Balboni was born on January 16th 1957 in Brockton, Massachusetts. The six foot three right hand power hitter, attended Eckerd College & was a second round draft pick of the AL New York club in 1978. Balboni became known as Bye Bye Balboni, for his long HRs & some may say his frequent strike outs. He was a feast or famine type hitter. In 1979 he bashed 29 HRs at A ball Ft. Lauderdale & then went on to have three straight 30 plus HR seasons at Nashville (1980) & at AAA Columbus (1981-1982). In those years at Columbus he was the AAA HR Champion. In 1982 his 32 HRs came in just 83 games & the following year he hit 27 HRs in 83 games. MLB Career: Balboni would see brief action in parts of three seasons with the AL New York club, debuting in 1981 in four games. In December 1983 he along with Roger Erickson got traded to the Kansas City Royals for Mike Armstrong, who went 3-3 in three seasons & Duane Dewey, who never got to the big leagues....

September 7th 2015: After stumbling, losing two of three games in Miami, the Mets had also lost 2 1/2 games in their lead in the NL East. Terry Collins first place Mets (75-61) came to Washing DC to face Matt Williams Nationals (71-65) for a Labor Day matinee. The Nats arranged their pitching staff so their ace Max Scherzer would face the Mets in the opener, the Mets sent the struggling Jonathan Niese to the mound. Today the Nats faced a much different Mets team then they had known earlier in the season. In the 2nd inning, two of the Mets "new comers" helped put New York on the board, as Rookie Michael Conforto hot a solo HR (his 6th HR of the season) & veteran Kelly Johnson added another making it 2-0. In the 4th Yoenis Cespedes hit a towering Dave Kingmanesque HR into the flower pots in left field, putting the Mets up 3-0. For Cespedes it was his 31st HR of the year, his 13th as a Met & his 30th RBI as well. In the 4th inning, Jonathan Niese fell apar...

Jermaine LaMont Allensworth was born on January 11th, 1972 in Anderson, Indiana. The six foot outfielder batted right handed and was a star player at Perdue University. He was Perdue's first All American in 105 years of the school's history. He was named the third best prospect in the country by Baseball America and was drafted in the first round by the Pittsburgh Pirates (34th pick overall). He hit .308 with 18 stolen bases in 21 attempts, at A ball Welland in his first season. Three years later he hit .316 in 51 games after getting promoted to AAA Calgary. He made his MLB debut that year getting called up in July. In his second career game he drove in the game winning run & three weeks later he hit a career grand slam. In 1997 he became the Pirates main centerfielder batting .255 with 3 HRs & 43 RBIs, while stealing 14 bases. The next season he hit .309 & was traded to the Kansas City Royals after 69 games. Next he was traded to the New York Mets on Augu...

Robert Alan Person was born the day won their first pennant on October 6, 1969 in Lowell, Massachusetts. The six foot right hander was originally signed in 1989 way down in the 25th round by the Cleveland Indians. He spent five seasons at the A ball level eventually getting traded to the Chicago White Sox organization. He was then chosen by the expansion Florida Marlins as the 47th pick in the 1992 expansion draft. At the end of Spring Training 1994 he was traded to the New York Mets for minor leaguer Steve Long. He finally reached the AA level in 1994, going 9-6 at AA Binghamton. He went 5-4 the next year getting promoted to AAA Norfolk where he was 2-1. He did well enough to get a September call up to Dallas Green's second place Mets team. Person made his debut on September 18th pitching in relief in a 7-1 Mets loss to the Atlanta Braves. After making another relief appearance, he got a chance to make his first start on September 27th. That day he earned his first car...

John Collins “Blondy” Ryan was born January 4, 1906 in Lynn, Massachusetts. The fiery enthusiastic infielder was signed as an amateur free agent in 1930 by the Chicago White Sox. He made his MLB debut that same year batting .207 in 28 games. He spent the next two years in the minors getting to the Polo Grounds in 1933 under Bill Terry. That off season he was traded to New York for Doc Marshall & cash. Ryan arrived in New York at the right time, and even though his career was brief, he won a World Series with the 1933 Giants. Doc Marshall had been the short stop in 1932 when the Giants finished in sixth place, he had hit .248 without any HRs & 28 RBIs. Blondy Ryan was known for his fielding, especially his outstanding range. He would commit 42 errors in 1933 but his .950 fielding percentage still put him above the rest of the league. He led the league in assists (494) had 832 chances with 296 put outs (5th in the NL). His fielding was so good; he got 24% of the votes for...

Sunday August 21st, 1966: Wes Westrum’s ninth place New York Mets (55-69) visited Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia to face Gene Mauch’s fourth place Phillies (67-57).  The Mets starter that day facing Philadelphia's Jim Bunning, was a young Tug McGraw, who was in his second MLB season. Tug would start 12 of the 15 games he pitched that year & this game was to be his best outing of the year.  In the home 3rd; Jim Bunning the opposing pitcher, drove a single to right field. In the 5th Harvey Kuenn led off with a base hit, those would be the only hits McGraw allowed on the day. After Kuenn's hit, Jim Brandt would reach on an error & Bill White would hit a sac fly bringing in the Philadelphia lone run. McGraw struck out three & walked just one.  In the 6th as the Mets were down 1-0, Bud Harrelson started out with a walk. Chuck Hiller singled to center with one out & Larry Elliot then doubled, bringing in both runrers, as the Mets went ahead 2-1....

Dicky Angel Gonzales was born on December 1st 1978 in Bayamon Puerto Rico. The five foot ten right hander, was drafted by the New York Mets in the 16th round of the 1996 amateur draft. Gonzales spent six years in the Mets organization before making it to the big leagues. In 19998 he went 10-3 at A ball Capitol City. In 1999 he was 14-9 for A ball St. Lucie getting promoted to AAA Binghamton the next year. There he was 13-5 with 138 strike outs in 147 innings. In 2001 he would begin the season at AAA Norfolk & get a call up to fill in a start. Gonzalez debuted with the Mets on May 1st, 2001 pitching four innings of relief against the Houston Astros. He allowed three runs in the Mets 7-5 win. On May 7th he was given a start in Colorado at Coors Field. Although he gave up five runs on eleven hits he had offensive support & earned his first win as the Mets prevailed 10-9. He gave up four runs in his next start in San Francisco & took the loss. After a loss in Montreal he ...