centerfield maz

William Harold Terry was born on October 30, 1898 in Atlanta, Georgia. "Memphis Bill"  as he was known, began his playing career as pitcher while he was still a teenager. By 1922 the Toledo Mud Hens signed Terry & they converted to a full time first baseman. But his best asset was that he was a fantastic hitter. That year in the minor leagues, he batted .377 with 15 HRs & was quickly brought up to the New York Giants MLB team by mid September. The following season he was backup at first base to Giants Hall of Famer; George “High Pockets” Kelly, batting .239 with 5 HRs & 24 RBIs in 77 games. The '24 Giants won the pennant and faced the Washington Senators in the World Series. 1924 World Series: In Game #1 of the World Series, he got the start at first base, as "High Pockets" Kelly played outfield & second base. Terry had a big day, collecting three hits, including a 4th inning HR off "The Big Train" Walter Johnson in the Gi...

Thomas Javier Rivera known as T.J. Rivera was born October 27th, 1988 off Westchester Avenue, in the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx, New York. Along with Johnny Monell, he was one of two Mets on the 2016 roster who were born in the Bronx, Ed Kranepool must be proud! The six foot one infielder, attended Lehman High School in the Bronx, as a freshman just after the 2000 Subway World Series. His father was a Mets fan as was many of his friends, unfortunately T.J. rooted for the A.L. New York team. He eventually smartened up when he signed with the New York Mets. Many of his coaches with the New York Nine had ties in Alabama Junior College & their coach, former Met Mackey Sasser. Rivera attended junior college & then played for the Troy University Trojans in college. It was at Troy University where he met his future wife. In 2011 he was an undrafted free agent & got a chance with the New York Mets organization. He was with the Kingsport M...

Gilberto Garcia Flores was born on October 27, 1952 in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The six foot, right hand hitting outfielder, was originally signed by the Baltimore Orioles in 1970. With such a talented rich organization in those days he was released by 1972. From there he was picked up by the California Angels in 1973, playing five seasons at their minor league level before making it to the big leagues. The good base running outfielder, batted over .300 three straight years in the minors leagues. He first batted .307 at AA El Paso in 1975, then later that year he hit .329 in 44 games in the Pacific Coast League at Salt Lake City. In 1977 he was batting .333 at Salt Lake when he was called up to the Angels that May. He debuted on May 8th, at Fenway Park in a game against the Boston Red Sox, playing centerfield & batting in the 8th spot. He got three hits, including a triple in his debut. Flores got into 104 games playing in the outfield & as a Designated Hitter that seas...

Thomas Andrew Nieto was born October 27th, 1960 in Downey, California. The six foot one right hand hitting catcher, attended Orel Roberts University at Tulsa Oklahoma. He was drafted twice early on but chose not to sign. He was eventually drafted in the third round by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1981. He was brought up to the Cardinals in 1984, as a back up catcher. In the Cardinals 1985 NL Championship season, he shared time behind the plate (95 games) with veteran Darrel Porter (84 games). 1985 Post Season: In the post season he saw limited action going hit-less in eight at bats. Nieto played in two games of the seven game World Series loss to the Kansas City Royals. The next year he was traded to the Montreal Expos, playing behind former Met Mike Fitzgerald. By 1987 he was traded along with Jeff Reardon to the Minnesota Twins, getting to another World Series. That year his Twins beat his former Cardnial teammates in the World Series although Nieto did not see any action. H...

Jose Manuel Lobaton was born October 21st 1984 in Venezuela. The six foot one catcher signed with the San Diego Padres for $70,000 right out of high school.  He briefly played with the Padres, seven games in 2009 before being designated for assignment. He was picked up by the Tampa Rays, spending all of 2010 in their minor leagues. Lobaton spent three seasons in Tampa splitting time with Jose Molina in the 2012 & 2013 seasons. In 2013 with the Wild Card Rays, he saw the most action, playing in 100 games batting .249 with  career highs in HRs (7) doubles (15) RBIs (32) & hits (69).  Behind the plate he posted the 5th best fielding % (.996%) while turning 6 double plays (3rd most in the AL) but allowed 63 stolen bass tossing out just 14% of would be base stealers. During a three game span in mid August he hit a walk off triple & a walk off HR, becoming only the fourth player to do that & the first catcher since Wally Schang in 1917. Post Sea...

Jose Alexander Cora was born on October 18, 1975 in Caguas, Puerto Rico. After high school in Puerto Rico he attended the University of Miami where he was named to the College World Series all-tournament team in both 1995 and 1996. Alex Cora is a member of the Miami Hurricanes Sports Hall of Fame (2006 inductee). He was then selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the third round of the 1996 draft being rated by Baseball America as the best collegiate defensive player. He made brief appearances with the Dodgers in 1998 & 1999 before becoming the team’s regular short stop taking over the position from Mark Grudzielanek. Cora held the position from 2000 through the 2002 season. He also began to play more at second base & moved over to that position from 2003-2004. After never hitting better than .238 in a season he had a career year at the plate in 2001 batting .291 with a .371 on base %. Trivia: In 2004 he had a 18 pitch at bat against Matt Clemet of the Chicago ...

Julio Enrique Valera was born on October 13th 1968 in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. The six foot two right hander was signed out of San Sebastian high school in 1986. Valera spent two years at A ball winning 15 games at Columbia in 1988. He won ten games (10-6) at AA Jackson the next year making it to AAA Tidewater by the end of the season. He went 10-10 with the '90 Tides second to Manny Hernandez in victories and posting one of the clubs top ERA's. Valera got called up to the Mets squad in September 1990 debuting at Shea Stadium in a start against the San Francisco Giants. He went six innings earning a 6-5 win & keeping Bud Harrelson's Mets in first place by one game. In his next start the Pirates had taken over first place & they beat up Valera for five runs in the first two innings, he exited with the loss. In three appearances he was 1-1 with a 6.92 ERA. In 1991 he went an identical 10-10 at AAA Tidewater, making two relief appearances on the Mets club in J...

Lewis Pessano (Dickerson) is a pioneer for Italian American ball players. He is credited as being the first Italian American professional baseball player, paving the way for many greats to come after him. Due to the prejudice against Italians & Americans of European descent, back in those early days, many people chose to change their names to make them sound more Americanized. Pessano was no different & changed his last name to Dickerson. He became known by the nick name of Buttercup, given to him by his Reds teammates, after a character in the popular Gilbert & Sullivan play of the times, H.F.S. Pinafore. The play had opened in London in May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical theatre piece up to that time. Lewis Pessano was born on October 11, 1858 outside of Baltimore, Maryland in the town of Tyaskin. He began his playing career as a right handed hitting outfielder way back in 1878 as an outfielder with the Cin...

Jason Orville Pridie was born October 9th, 1983 in Phoenix Arizona. The six foot one left hand hitting outfielder was drafted out of high school by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the second round in 2002. He spent six years in the minors, getting drafted away by the Minnesota Twins but was then sent back to Tampa. In November 2007 he was Traded by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays along with Brendan Harris and Delmon Young to the Minnesota Twins for Jason Bartlett and Matt Garza. That season he hit .303 with 17 HRs in the minors between AA & AAA. He got a September call up playing in ten games going hitless in four at bats. In 2009 he spent the year at AAA Rochester hitting 13 HRs batting .270 getting a chance to play in one game at the major league level. He was placed on waivers & picked up by The New York Mets in February 2010. Pridie got a chance to play for the Mets when centerfielder Angel Pagan went down with injury in 2011. Pridie debuted on Aprill22nd going 0-3 in a 4-1 ...