centerfield maz

 Spring Training 2003: The history of this battle, began the previous Spring Training in 2002. During a March 28th game in Dodger Town, at Vero Beach, Florida, Mota hit Piazza in the hip with a pitch.  An inning later, as he was leaving the game, Piazza ran up to Mota & grabbed him by the collar. Players broke it up & order was restored. Piazza was fined for his actions. On Wednesday night, March 12th 2003, the Mets & Dodgers faced off in an exhibition game in Port St. Lucie, Florida.  This time with the Mets down 10-1 in the 5th inning, Piazza stepped in against Mota. The first pitch Mota threw, came inside at the waist. Piazza was visibly angry, he grimaced, held back his temper & stepped back in to the batters box. On the very next pitch, Mota hit Piazza on the shoulder. Piazza wasted no time & charged the mound.  Mota threw his glove at Piazza & ran. Both benches cleared, four Dodger players held Piazza back from tearing the pitcher apar...

William Francis Denehy, was born March 31st 1946 in Middletown, Connecticut. The six foot three, right hander was signed by the New York Mets, right out of high school, just one of two players to come out of Middletown High. The Mets were anxious to get some young talent up to the big leagues. In 1965 impressed, leading the NY Penn. League in wins, going 13-9 with a 2.78 ERA. He was promoted to AA Williamsport winning nine of eleven decisions, with a 1.97 ERA, 100 strike outs in 128 innings. In the Mets minor leagues, Denehy was considered just as good as the young exciting Tom Seaver. They were noted as 1A & 1B in no particular order by Spring Training 1967. Both pitchers did well & made the club going north. Trivia: Denehy is pictured to the left of Tom Seaver, on Seaver's 1967 Topps Rookie Card. Mets Career: Denehy debuted in the fifth game of the 1967 season, facing the Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium. He pitched well, striking out eight in 6.1 innings of work, but ga...

Jeremy Richard Griffiths was born on March 22, 1977 in Fairview, Ohio. The big six foot six right hander was drafted in the third round of the 1999 draft by the New York Mets.  He moved through the minors as a starting pitcher, in 2002 he was second on the staff at AA Binghamton to Paul Seibel going 8-6 with a 3.86 ERA. In 2003 he was moved to AAA Norfolk where he was tied with Jason Middlebrook for the team lead in wins (7) pitching in 21 games, posting a 2.74 ERA. Mets Career: Griffiths made his debut on June 5th, 2004, against the Milwaukee Brewers pitching two innings of shutout ball in the 7th & 8th innings.  It would be the only time in his nine games pitched that season that he didn’t allow a run. He made his first start in an inter league subway series game, taking the loss getting pounded for five runs on seven hits in three innings pitched.   He made one more start before being sent down, although it was his best outing.  Griffiths ...

Jesus Maria Rojas Alou was born March 24, 1942 in the Dominican Republic. Jesus is part of one of baseball’s most famous families, The Alou’s. He is the brother of Felipe & Matty Alou, and the uncle of Moises Alou. Jesus was the youngest of the talented Alou brothers & was actually considered the best prospect of all the Alou’s. He was signed with a $4000 signing bonus by the San Francisco Giants in 1958. He flew through the lower levels of the minor leagues, never hitting below .324.  In 1962 he got to AA El Paso & batted .343 with a .376 on base %. The following season he batted .324 in the Pacific Coast League with Tacoma getting a September call up to the Giants team. MLB Debut & Alou Brother History: He made his debut in on September 10, 1963, in a game where the Alou brothers made history against the New York Mets. They became the first set of brothers to bat in the same inning, let alone for the same team.  Jesus came to bat against Carl W...

Spring Training- March 21st 1965: On this day a classic but forgotten exhibition game, was played at Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg Florida.  At the time, this was the Spring Training home of the New York Mets. The Mets hosted the Pittsburgh Pirates & sent pitcher Gary Kroll to the mound. The Mets offense supported Kroll today, by scoring six runs, giving the team a nice lead. Kroll had a rough start, as he walked three batters in the 1st inning, but got out of the jam. He then went on to had one of the best outings of his career. He would not allow a hit & shut out the Pirates for six innings.  Manager Casey Stengel, then brought in reliever, Gordie Richardson. Richardson came on & blanked the Pirates in the 7th. In the 8th inning, veteran catcher Del Crandall hit a grounder to short stop Roy McMillan. Crandall reached first base as McMillan was charged with an error.  Richardson then retired the side without any harm done. He held the Pirates hitless in t...

Spring Training- March 22nd 1962: The brand new New York Mets, were an expansion team in their first Spring Training. A rag tag bunch of has been players beyond their prime & some very young new kids made up the team, headed by manager Casey Stengel.  Stengel had been fired from the AL New York team after losing the 1960 World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates. These Mets were about to head North, bringing Nation League baseball back to fans who had lost their Giants & Dodgers to California just five years prior. This was the first meeting between the two New York clubs, the first subway series game, albeit a spring training exhibition one. Casey's Mets were 5-7 that spring, not bad for a team that would lose 120 games in the regular season. On the other side, Casey's old team was 10-1 just coming off a World Series win. For Casey this was a big game, he wanted some kind of revenge. There already was some drama going on, even in 1962 with the Mets not even hav...

Donald Emery Florence was born on March 16, 1967 in Manchester, New Hampshire. The six-foot Italian / American lefthander was signed by the Boston Red Sox in 1987.  He pitched in the Sox minor leagues for seven years going 28-39 before being granted free agency in 1994. He was signed by New York Mets and pitched in 41 games at AAA Norfolk posting a strong 0.46 ERA going 0-1. Mets Debut: Florence was called up that August. On August 12th he debuted in a 12-10 win at Philadelphia. Florence got credit for a hold pitching 1.1 innings allowing a run.  Although he is forgotten by most fans, Don Florence posted a 3-0 record, with a perfect .1000 winning %. His three victories most amongst no losses is the best in Mets history. On August 10th, in his second career outing; he pitched one perfect inning to earn his first career win. He relieved Bill Pulsipher before giving a save opportunity to John Franco in Philadelphia.  On August 28th he pitched a scoreless ...

Casey Stengel Spring Training 1962 1962 Mets the First Spring Training Don Zimmer- Felix Mantilla- Charlie Neil- Gil Hodges & Casey Stengel Casey Stengel & Roger Craig Casey Stengel & Gil Hodges Yogi Berra -Warren Spahn & Casey Stengel 1965 Mid Sixties Spring Locker Room 1969 Mets M anager Gil Hodges Yogi Berra 1969 World Champs Nolan Ryan & Jerry Grote 1969 World Series MVP- Donn Clendenon Jerry Koosman 1970 After the Championship Ron Swoboda Bob Aspromonte- Kenny Boswell & Bud Harrelson 1970 Tom Seaver Tom & Nancy Seaver with daughter Sara 1972 Duffy Dyer - Rookie & Cleon Jones Listen to Tom Seaver 1973 NL Champs- Tug McGraw & Yogi Berra Joe Torre with his second Wife Dani & a Daughter  Gary Carter 1985 1985 Cy Young Winner- Dwight Gooden 1986 World Champions Ron Darling 1986 Manager Davey Johnson 1986 Gary Cart...