centerfield maz

Alberto Terrero Castillo was Born on February 10, 1970, in the Dominican Republic. The tall six-foot catcher was signed out of high school by the New York Mets as an amateur free agent in 1987. Catillo would spend eleven years in the Mets minor leagues, making brief appearances in the big leagues with New York four different seasons.  MLB Debut: Castillo debuted in the big leagues on May 28th, 1995, catching Dave Mlicki at Shea Stadium going 0-3 against the Giants. He hit just .103 in 13 games with the Mets that season but showed good abilities behind the plate, even throwing out 4 of 5 base stealers. He saw action in six MLB games the next year & 35 games in 1997. 1998: Castillo was with the club out of Spring Training & had his shining Mets moment on Opening Day. Walk Off Hit: In an exciting pitcher's duel between the Mets & Phillies at Shea Stadium, Bobby Jones blanked the Phillies for six innings. Greg McMichael & Dennis Cook he...

Jerry Lee May was born on December 14, 1943 at Staunton, Virginia. May was originally a pitcher & outfielder playing in American Legion ball back in 1961. The six foot two right-handed hitting May, was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1961. He hit 21 HRs batting .284 in the A ball NY Penn League in 1962. He never hit that well again, playing three more seasons in the minors. MLB Career:  Jerry May would play behind Pirates main backstop Jim Pagliaroni with the Pirates for the 1964-1966 seasons. May had a strong throwing arm and was excellent at gunning down base stealers. In 41 games in 1966 he threw out 63% of would-be base stealers.  Over the next five years he would throw out over 40% of base stealers attempting to steal.  He became the Pirate regular catcher in 1967 batting .271 with 3 HRs 13 doubles & 22 RBIs in 110 games. In 1968 he played a career high 137 games but fell off to a .219 average with 15 doubles, one HR & 33 RBIs. In 1...

 August 20th 1978:  The cast of the TV show Happy Days had a softball team that played charity events from the mid-seventies into the early eighties.  The idea came from the great creator of the show, Gary Marshall. Gary Marshall was an Italian American, born in the Bronx & the older brother of Penny Marshall.  Penny started out on the Odd Couple as Oscar Madison's secretary Myrna Tyrner. She then appeared on Happy Days as Laverne DiFozio before going on to star in her own series- Laverne & Shirley with Cindy Williams.  A Young Howie Rose Interviews the Fonz Gary Marshall directed all three of those classic TV shows mentioned -the Odd Couple, Happy Days & Laverne & Shirley. He would also direct movies like - Pretty Woman, the Flamingo Kid, Overboard, Frankie & Johnny & the TV show  Mork & Mindy.  The Happy Days soft ball team also featured other actors & actresses at times. They would play for ch...

Luther Haden Taylor was known in the politically incorrect time of the early 20th century as Dummy Taylor. Taylor was a deaf mute who was born February 21, 1875 in Oskaloosa, Kansas. He attended the Kansas School of the Deaf in Olathe Kansas, just outside of Kansas City, Missouri.  He began playing semi pro ball in the Mid West, before breaking through in organized ball in Albany, New York. From there he was signed by the New York Giants and played with New York from 1900-1908.  He would communicate with the other players on the field through sign language and has been credited with helping expand the use of signs in baseball. He & his team mates would raise their fingers to show how many outs there were and do the same for pitch counts.  Taylor was a fan favorite with the Polo Grounds faithful at the turn of the century. He was also popular with his team mates & manager John McGraw, possibly because he couldn’t answer back.  In any event McGraw lear...

Sunday May 3rd, 1992: Jeff Torborg's New York Mets (15-10) visited Atlanta's Fulton County Stadium to play Bobby Cox's N.L. Champion Atlanta Braves (12-13) in front of 41,282.  The Mets were coming off a bad 1991 which was their first losing season 1983. They had been in contention until the last part of that season. In the off season the Mets brought in veterans Eddie Murphy, Bobby Bonilla, Willie Randolf, Kevin McReynolds & pitcher Bret Saberhagen as well as manager Jeff Torborg.  Due to injuries, age & bad performance the Mets went 72-80, the teams' most losses since 1983. They became known as the Worst team money could buy. But in this game, there was to be two career milestones for two good players, providing some season highlights. The starting pitchers for matinee, were David Cone (2-1) for New York & Charlie Leibrandt (2-1) for Atlanta. The two pitchers matched zeros until the top of the 5th inning. The Mets, Bobby Bonilla led off with a...

Eddie Clarence Murray was born on February 24, 1956, in Los Angeles, California. He was one of twelve children & was always playing baseball with his four brothers. He played Little League & at his Hall of Fame speech thanked his Little League coach for teaching him a love for the game. At Locke high school in South L.A. Murray was a teammate with non-other than future Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith.  Steady Eddie was drafted out of high school in the third round of the 1973 draft by the Baltimore Orioles.  The six-foot two switch hitting first baseman/ designated hitter went on to become one of the game's most productive players of his era, making it to Cooperstown.  He would play 12 years with the Baltimore Orioles, getting to seven All Star games, and win three straight gold glove awards (1982-1984).  He was amongst the league leaders in most offensive categories throughout his career, including RBIs 12 times & HRs eight t...

Here's a look back at Bartolo Colon's 2015 season for the NL Champion New Yor Mets. There was some slight trade talk about Bartolo Colon in the 2014-2015 off season but nothing came of it. He was slated to be the Opening Day starter for 2015, the veteran in a young pitching staff.  Colon earned the right for the Opening Day nod with his 15 wins the previous year. It was also a chance for the Mets to have Jacob deGrom start the home Opener & to add some rest for Matt Harvey in the three slot. Colon started out 2015 excellent. On Opening Day in Washington, Colon gave the Mets six solid innings, allowing just one run on three hits while striking out seven.  April 12th : In Atlanta on his next outing, Colon went seven innings, giving up three runs earning the 4-3 win over the Braves. In the Mets 4th inning, Wilmer Flores doubled & with one out Colon singled, driving him in with his first RBI.  April 17th: Colon had another strong performance, in seven inning...