centerfield maz

Roger Philip Bresnahan was born on June 11, 1879 in Toledo Ohio. The fiery player was known as “The Duke of Tralee” because of his Irish ancestry. The five foot, nine inch two hundred pound right handed began his career at the turn of the 20th Century as a pitcher. He pitched for the Washington Senators (1897) & Baltimore Orioles (1901). By 1902 he jumped over to the National League with John McGraw & Iron Joe McGinnity to the New York Giants . He would end up playing all infield & outfield positions in New York at one time or another. In New York for John McGraw's Giants, Brenahan became a pioneer catcher, introducing catching gear at the MLB level. He is credited with inventing shin guards & being the first catcher to use them in an actual game. He also created a leather type batting helmet after he suffered a severe beaning in 1908. These protective items were slowly being introduced in college play in the early 20th Century, but Bresnahan was the firs...

Robert Thomas Aspromonte was born to a Italian American family, on June 19, 1938 in Brooklyn, New York. He would go to Lafayette High School, the same school that produced Sandy Koufax, John Franco, Pete Falcone & his older brother Ken who also played in the major leagues. The versatile Bob Aspromonte would play all infield and outfield positions at some point in his career. He was signed by his hometown Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956 as an amateur free agent. He played in only one game there in 1956 due to league rules for bonus babies. He played un he minor leagues for foir seasons batting .329 at AAA St. Paul in 1960. He was called up to the Dodgers now relocated in Los Angeles batting .180 in 55 at bats. In 1961 he was selected by the Houston Colt 45s in the 1961 expansion draft becoming their regular third baseman for the next seven seasons. He would play in at least 125 games every year batting .280 or better twice. In his first full season (1962) he hit 11 HRs with 1...

50th Anniversary of the 1969 World Champion "Amazing Mets" June 27th 2019: Today the New York Mets & the City of New York Officially named 126th St along the Right field side of Citi Field, Tom Seaver Way. The official address of Citi Field is now also a tribute to Seaver, 41 Seaver Way. Seaver who has now retired from public life, did not attend, neither did his wife Nancy who stayed with Tom back in California, where they have wine vineyards. But their daughters & grand children did make it tp the event. Quotes- Sara Seaver: "We are so happy to be part of this ceremony & our father is honored & humbled to be memorialized in these ways, we thank the Amazing fans for their outpouring of love & support". Seaver has had his uniform #41 retired by the Mets * did have a gate named after him at Citi Field. There are finally plans for a long overdue Tom Seaver statue outside Citi Field by the HR Apple as well. from centerfield: It...

Ronald Michael Luciano was born June 28, 1937 in Endicott, New York. Endicott is a village in Broome County, located in the Binghamton area.  He attended Syracuse University and was a standout offensive line man, getting drafted in 1959 by the Detroit Lions, as a third round pick. His football career didn’t work out and Luciano turned to baseball. He began his professional umpire career in the Florida State League in 1966. By 1969 he was promoted to the American League. He became a celebrity Umpire with his flamboyant style over the next 11 years. He would shoot players out with his fingers, , shout out or safe calls repeatedly, make multiple signals of safe calls with his arms waving, stand on one leg making out calls, and many other theatrical episodes.  He never backed down from confrontations, especially with Orioles manager Earl Weaver. They had legendary arguments, and once through Earl out of both ends of a double header. Their hatred for each other was so i...

50th Anniversary of the 1969 World Champion "Amazing Mets" Tuesday, June 24th 1969: The Philadelphia Phillies (26-38) arrive in town for a twi-night double header at Shea Stadium. The Phils managed by Bob Skinner who was a long time outfielder with the Pittsburgh Pirates, a member of their 1960 World's Championship team, also was a member of the 1964 Cardinals World Championship team. The Phillies let him go later in the 1969 season.  Drama: In the late morning, controversial Phillie slugger Ritchie Allen (soon to be known as Dick Allen) decided he wanted to go to Monmouth Park, New Jersey to bet on a horse race.  Allen made the 72 mile trip from Shea to the racetrack & played the ponies. He made his way back to Queens, but arrived at the ballpark after the game had already started, infuriating his manager.  Some in the Phillies organization believed he forgot there was double header, thinking it was just an ordinary night game start. Others claim he j...

Steven Lynn Chilcott was born on September 23rd 1948 in Lancaster, California. The five foot eleven catcher/ first baseman was the New York Mets number one draft pick in the 1966 amateur draft. The Mets chose Chilcott over outfielder Reggie Jackson. Jackson was chosen by the Kansas City Athletics & went on to a Hall of Fame career. As for Chilcott he is the only position player to be chosen first overall & never make the major leagues. Chilcott was a star athlete at Antelope Valley high school, playing both baseball & football. He attracted a lot of attention & the scouts came out to see him. Among those coming out to watch him play, was Mets manager Casey. Chilcott remembered that the day Stengel came out, hundreds of more people came just to see him. Stengel & the Mets were convinced that Chilcott was their man; they gave him a $75,000 signing bonus to start. It made sense, that Stengel picked the catcher, since he had spoken of how important catchers were...

50th Anniversary of the 1969 World Champion "Amazing Mets" Sunday June 22nd 1969: 55,862 fans came out to Shea Stadium for an matinee double header, on a beautiful sunny afternoon for baseball.  Today was a special day, as Mets fans were ecstatic that the Mets (34-28) were 3 1/2 games ahead of the reigning NL Champions St. Louis Cards (32-32). The Cards were in fact NL Champions for the past two seasons winning a World Series in 1967. Quotes: When manager Red Schoendienst was asked if his teams difficulties could be related to complacency of being a two time champion, he said "No I don't think so. They've been trying hard. They feel they can win this thing. They've been hustling. It's just for a while we weren't able to put it all together". Starting Lineups Cardinals 1 Lou Brock LF 2 Vic Davalillo CF 3 Vada Pinson RF ...