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 ...

Kenneth Purvis Mackenzie was born on March 10, 1934, in Gore Bay, Ontario, Canada located on the North channel of Lake Huron.  The man with the thick glasses looked like a scholar, which he actually was. Ken was a graduate of the Yale class of 1956, lettering in both baseball & hockey.  Mackenzie was a six foot left hander was signed by the Milwaukee Braves in 1957. He went right to AA ball pitching in Atlanta winning 14 games. In his move up to AAA the following year he won 15 games making an impression. In 1959 he became relief pitcher mostly going 6-2at AAA Louisville making a debut in the big leagues by 1960. He saw action in just 14 games over two seasons in Milwaukee going 0-2 as a Braves reliever.  Mets Career: In October 1961, his contract was purchased by the New York Mets making him an original Met.  He would be the first Mets pitcher out of Yale University, until another famous alumnus in Ron Darling came along twenty years later.  ...

Patrick Theodore Joseph Misch was born August 18th, 1981, in Northbrook, Illinois. The six-foot two left-handed pitcher attended Western Michigan University where he was twice named All-Mid-American Conference second team.  In 2003 he was signed by the San Francisco Giants in the seventh round.  MLB Debut: He made his debut on September 21st, pitching a scoreless 6th inning in a 9-4 loss to the Brewers. He would spend parts of the next two seasons with the Giants going 0-7 with a 4.96 ERA. In June 2009 he was placed on waivers & picked up by the New York Mets. Mets Career: Misch made his Mets debut on June 24th pitching the 8th inning of an 11-0 Mets win. Misch would see middle to late relief thru the end of August. On August 22nd, he gave up a HR to the Phillies Chase Utley taking the loss. On August 28th he was put into the rotation making his first Mets start. He pitched seven innings at Wrigley Field allowing just a run on six hits, but he earned no decision as the M...

Carl Anthony Furillo was born March 8th, 1922, in Stony Creek Mills, Pennsylvania. His parents were  Michael & Filomena Furillo,  Italian immigrants.   The strong six-foot, right-handed Furillo, grew up four miles outside of Reading Pennsylvania and played on their local baseball team. His mother passed away when he was just 18 years old. Nick Names: Furillo had an incredibly strong throwing arm, earning him the nickname “The Reading Rifle”.   Defensively, Furillo was an outstanding outfielder, one of the best of his era. He was a master of playing the tricky right field wall at Ebbets Field, in front of the famous Abe Stark sign which read “hit this sign and win a suit”.  He would have ten or more outfield assists for nine straight seasons, finishing first or second in put outs six different times.  In his career Furillo threw out seven base runners that made too wide of a turn at first base. He was also called "skoonj" referring...