centerfield maz

James David Riggleman was born November 9th 1952 in Fort Dix, New Jersey. The five foot eleven, right handed hitter played mostly as an infielder. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1974, moving over to the St. Louis Cardinals organization in 1976.  He reached the AAA level by the late seventies but never made it to the big leagues. y 1981 his playing career was over at age 28. He immediately went to coaching & managing in the Cardinal minor leagues. He moved over to the San Diego Padres minor leagues, getting promoted to the AAA level. By 1993 he was promoted to the Padres big league managerial position, after the departure of Greg Riddoch. In his first season, his Friars finished third, then seventh in 1993. The team improved to fourth place in the strike shortened 1994 season.  After San Diego, he moved over to the Chicago Cubs managing them for five seasons. His best finish was second in 1998, winning 90 games going 90-73. It was Riggleman who...

Dave Eiland was born on July 5th, 1966 in Dade City Florida. The six foot three right hander began his college career with the Florida Gators at the University of Florida. He then transferred to attend the University of South Florida at Tampa. The start pitcher was drafted in the seventh round of the 1987 draft by the A.L. New York club. Eiland made his MLB debut in Milwaukee on August 3rd 1988 getting a start in a 6-5 loss to the Brewers. He pitched seven innings of three hit ball, allowing a run with no decision.  Trivia: In that game he made MLB history, being the only player to give up a HR to the first batter he ever faced, then hit a HR in his first at bat. Eiland served up a HR to the his first batter, non other than Hall of Famer, Paul Molitor. Then Eiland himself hit his HR in his very first at bat. It would be his only HR in 22 career at bats. Eiland would pitch between the minors & the majors for most seasons throughout his career. In 199...

a view from behind home plate @ FITTEAM Ball Park Of the Palm Beaches Manager Mickey Callaway & the Team Line Up To Honor America Noah Syndergaard Michael Conforto Pete Alonso Jeff McNeil Juan Lagares Dilson Hererra Gregor Blanco Keon Broxton Tomas Nido (C) & Jacob Rhame (P) Corey Taylor Danny Espinosa the crew behind home plate Row 1 & 2 And from the home team Astros: Jose Altuve Justin Verlander George Springer The Shooting Stars - Astro Girls

Eric Joseph Langill was born April 9th 1979 in Kirkland, Quebec. While growing up in Canada, he of course was huge hockey fan, his favorite player being Patrick Roy. He played childhood hockey, best as a face off specialist. He gives credit to his love of baseball to the Montreal Expos. He attended Des Moines Area Community College, where he played more baseball than hockey. Next he was drafted by his favorite team, the Montreal Expos in the 34th round of the 1999 amatuer draft.  The catcher would spend six years in the minor leagues with Montreal & The Los Angeles Dodgers organizations. He hit just one HR while batting a career .210 with 46 RBIs. He reached the AAA level twice (2004 & 2006) both times at Las Vegas in the Pacific Coast League. Langill had an intense passion to play the game, but wasn't the most gifted athlete. His drive made him popular with fans wherever he played. Since 2011 he has been bullpen catcher for the Mets along with Dave Racaniello....

50th Anniversary of the 1969 World Champion "Amazing Mets" After MLB & the Players Association came to an agreement, it was time for the clubs to sign their players. The Mets immediately signed their two ace pitchers, the guys Mets President Johnny Murphy called " the teams untouchables". Tom Seaver & Jerry Koosman were deemed untradeable in that years winter conversations with other clubs. The money seems nothing by todays standards bit was pretty good for 1969. Seaver got a 40% raise taking him tp $35,000 & Koosman who was just entering his second year, jumped from league minimum ($10,000) to $25,00, a substantial 65% increase. Mets infielder Al Weis was also signed, Ken Boswell, Ed Kranepool & Art Shamsky have all agreed to sign over the phone. In the next few days, the only unsigned Mets, Tommie Agee, J.C. Martin & Ron Swoboda signed contacts as well.  As he signed Swoboda stressed a need to impress Gil Hodges & make up for ...

**this year marks the 50th anniversary of the 1969 World Champion Amazing Mets. centerfieldmaz will be remembering the 1969 team with posts on memorable 1969 moments & games all season long. The Mets entered Spring Training with some hope & optimism. They had just finished up the 1968 seasons in ninth place with a 73-89 record. Obviously they had some good pitching, with their two aces having made the All Star team. Jerry Koosman had finished his 1968 Rookie season coming in second to Johnny Bench in the Rookie of the Year voting. He  made the All Star team, finishing up with 19 wins (19-12)  a 2.08 ERA (both fourth best in the NL), 179 strike outs & seven shut outs (third best in the NL).  Tom Seaver had gone 16-12 with a 2.20 ERA (seventh in the NL) & 205 strike outs (sixth in the NL). Young fireball throwing Nolan Ryan had struck out 143 batters in 133 innings, but had walked 75 times & went 6-9 in 21 games (18 starts).  The Mets adde...