centerfield maz

Rheingold Beer:    Anyone who remembers the Mets back in the early seventies has to remember one of its main sponsors; Rheingold Beer. Rheingold was a long time Mets sponsor, who boldly displayed it image high above the Mets huge Shea Stadium score board. Their ad was located on the left side of the Mets logo which of course was in the center, through the 1973 season. Rheingold Beer goes back to 1883 when it was first introduced in New York City. It became the main beer in New York in the 1950's, claiming to sell 35% of the beer in all of New York State. It became the official beer of the New York Mets from 1962-1973, during the Mets first days in the Polo Grounds, their huge ad took over almost all of the scoreboard. The Official Scorer would light up the H in the Rheingold sign when a hit was credited to a player & the E would light up to signify an error. Manage Casey Stengel would appear in many ads with Miss Rheingold all season in those days.

Michael Jay Andrews was born July 9th 1943 in Los Angeles; California. In 1966 the six foot three infielder, he came up with the Boston Red sox, under manager Dick Williams. Andrews was the REd Sox main second baseman in their 1967 "Impossible Dream” club that won the pennant& lost the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals. He was a fine defensive second baseman and hit pretty well for infielders of his time.  In that 67 season h batted .263 with 8 HRs 20 doubles 40 RBIs & 79 runs scored. In the World Series he hit .308 (4-13) driving in a run in the Sox 8-4 win at Fenway Park. In 1969 he hit .293 with 15 HRs & 26 doubles making the AL All Star team. He followed up with career bests in HRs (17) doubles (28) hits (149) runs (91) & RBIs (65) in 1970. After Dick Williams had left Boston as manager, Andrews found himself traded to the Chicago White Sox, along with Luis Alvarado for Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio, who was at the end of his career. 

1973 World Series Preview The Mets improbable climb from last to first in the final month, led them to a big win over the Cincinnati Reds, who had the best record in baseball in 1973. Now they had to go against the reigning World Champion, Oakland A's. The 1973 New York Mets were mostly about pitching. Led By that year's Cy Young Award Winner; Tom Seaver (19-10 ) also led the league in ERA (2.08) strike outs (251) & complete games (18). Koosman - Seaver - Matlack Seaver won three Cy young Awards & would strike out a record 200 plus batters for eight straight seasons. He led the league in that category five times, wins four times & ERA three times. The all time Mets left hander, Jerry Koosman was second to Seaver on the staff. (14-15 / 2.84 ERA / 12 complete games / 3 shut outs & 156 Ks).  Koosman's career was overshadowed by Seavers, but Kooz woul be in the leagues top ten in strike outs eight times, ERA six times & wins four times

In the days of the early seventies the Oakland A's won three straight Championships & changed the face of baseball forever.  The team's controversial owner was known to be cheap in paying his star players & known to meddle in the teams on field affairs. He drove managers crazy & even had Dick Williams resign after winning his second straight World Series. But Finley also revolutionized baseball in many other ways. He was instrumental in getting the designated hitter in the American League & have the World Series played at night, so fans could attend after work. He gave his players fancy names like Catfish, Blue Moon & True Blue.  When his star Reggie Jackson refused to shave his beard, he encouraged the whole team to grow facial hair by paying them $200 each.  The A's team even grew their hair long, a sign of the times. But before that baseball players had not had facial or long hair since the 1800's.  He introduced bright colored yello