centerfield maz

Donald William Zimmer was born on January 17, 1931, in Western Hills, Ohio and went to the same high school Pete Rose would go to in Cincinnati. Zimmer was an infielder earning the nickname Popeye, getting signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1949. In the minors while playing at Elmira, he got married at home plate before a game to his wife Jean Soot.  In 1953 he was leading the American Association with 23 HRs & 63 RBIs in July when he was hit in the head with a pitch striking his temple and was seriously injured. He was in & out of consciousness for a week, lost vision, then had to have holes drilled in his skull to relieve the swelling.  He was told he was finished in baseball, that playing was too dangerous. But the stubborn Zimmer wouldn’t accept that & made a remarkable comeback. MLB Debut: He was brought up to the Brooklyn Dodgers club in July of 1954 as a utility infielder, behind the talents of Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson & Jim G...

1984 was a great & exciting year for the New York Mets. It was the Mets first winning season in eight years. An exciting year had the Mets fighting for first place until mid September. They would finish with 90 wins (90-72) in second place behind the Chicago Cubs. That season Keith Hernandez would bat .311 (7th in the NL in batting) with 15 HRs 31 doubles (7th most in the NL) 83 runs scored & 94 RBIs (8th most in the NL). He would have three walk off wins for the Mets that year as well. Wednesday, May 2nd 1984: Davey Johnson's Mets (14-8) would host Jim Frey's Chicago Cubs (12-10) in front of a small crowd of 11,059 fans at Shea. The Mets young starter, Tim Leary would give up three runs in the 3rd inning, as the Cubs went up 3-0.  In the home 4th, Hubie Brooks doubled home the Mets first run. In the 5th, Cubs pitcher Chuck Rainey threw a wild pitch to George Foster with the bases loaded & Wally Backman scored making it 3-2. George Foster tied the game with ...

Alex Castro Trevino was born on August 26, 1957 in Monterrey Mexico.  His brother Bobby Trevino played in the major leagues with the California Angels in 1968 for 17 games. He had been a long-time veteran in the Mexican League. Originally playing in Mexico the New York Mets purchased Alex's contract in 1974 when he was just 16 years old. He played two years in the Rookie league then at A-ball in 1976 & 1977. T he five foot ten, catcher never batted over .240 in the minors until 1978. That year he hit .294 at AAA Tidewater leading the club in hitting. He earned a September call up to the last place Mets.   MLB Debut:  On September 11th, Trevino was inserted as a defensive replacement in a 9-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs. At the end of the month, on September 29th he started his first game catching pitcher Mike Bruhert in a 5-4 loss at Wrigley Field. He got his first career hit, that day and went 2-4 the next day finishing the year batting .280 in six games....

Kenneth George Sanders was born July 8, 1941, in St. Louis, Missouri. The five foot eleven, right-handed pitcher was signed by the Kansas City Athletics in 1960. In his first minor league season he won 19 games, then moved on to A ball where he went 13-8 with a 3.96 ERA. The following year he went through all levels of the minor leagues but lost 18 games. That season he was converted to a relief pitcher & found success. MLB Career: He made his MLB debut in August of 1964 appearing in 24 games going 0-2 for the Kansas City A’s. In 1965 he was drafted away by the Boston Red Sox in the Rule V draft, then in June was sent back to the A’s with former Met Jim Gosger for Rollie Sheldon, Jose Tartabull and John Wyatt.  That year he went 6-10 between Boston & Kansas City. Sanders would spend most of the next four years in the minor leagues, making just seven appearances with the 1968 Oakland A's. In 1970 he was traded along with Phil Roof, to the Milwaukee Brewers ...

Friday September 11th , 1987 : This was another classic (although not a good end result for the Mets) in the 1980's Mets Cardinals rivalry. There was no love lost  between the two teams & when they played each other, they both turned it up a notch. The Mets were the reigning World Champions & the Cards would get to this year's World Series, losing to the Minnesota Twins. Although the Mets took a tough loss on this night, it was a record setting night for Howard Johnson. Record Setter: In the 4th inning, Howard Johnson singled to left field with a soft line drive. With the Cards John Tudor on the mound & catcher Steve Lake behind the plate, Ho Jo took off for second base. He stole his 30th base of the year & went into the record books as the first infielder to join the 30-30 club. He joined an elite group of 30-30 members joining Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Bobby Bonds, Dale Murphy & Eric Davis. On August 19th, Ho Jo had hit his 30th HR ...

Salvatore Leonard Bando was born February 13, 1944, in the Little Italy section of Warrensville Heights, 16 miles southeast of Cleveland, Ohio.  His father Ben was a self-employed carpenter & accomplished softball infielder. His mother Angela was a home maker who also enjoyed sports playing both softball & basketball. Ben & Angela had a daughter Victoria & sons Salvatore & Christopher. The six-foot third baseman played baseball at Arizona State University with his future Oakland teammate Rick Monday & seven others who made the major leagues.  There his manager was the legendary coach Bobby Winkles who would later go on to coach Bando in Oakland in 1974. Winkles would also manage the California Angels. In 1965 Bando batted .317 was All Conference & batted .480 (12-25) with 9 RBIs in the College World Series. Bando was selected in the sixth round of the 1965 draft after Rick Monday who was the first-round pick of the Kansas C...