centerfield maz

In April of 1965 Yogi Berra signed on with the New York Mets as a Player / Coach. Berra had retired as a player after the 1963 season & was quickly named manager of the A.L. New York team for 1964. Although they finished first, they lost the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals & Berra was fired.  No appreciation given, even after all his years of quality service.  But as usual, Yogi got the last laugh. The  next year without him they finished sixth & would finish in fifth place or lower for the next six years into the early seventies. The Mets had also signed another future Hall of Famer, veteran pitcher Warren Spahn. He too was at the end of his career. Yogi commented to the press on the two veterans getting together. Quotes- Yogi Berra: "We may not be the oldest battery mates in history, but we sure are the ugliest." The Mets manager once again had "his man" on his team. Of all the greats that Casey Stengle had managed, Yogi was his favorite...

In 1977, there wasn't too much for Mets fans to get excited about. Things just seemed to be getting worse & worse.   It was the start of one of the darkest periods in team history, the start of seven straight losing seasons. Tom Seaver was on the verge of being traded & in the new era of free agency, management had no intentions of signing any high-priced players. When Jon Matlack took the mound in this night game, the Mets were in the midst of a long streak that would go 12 of 14 games, with Matlack breaking a five-game losing streak. Friday May 13th,1977: A crowd of 19,448 mostly coming to see Tommy Lasorda's high flying NL Champion Los Angeles Dodgers (24-7) take on Joe Frazier's Mets (11-19).  Joe Frazier led the Mets to an 86-76 third place finish in 1976. In 1977 after 45 games going 15-30, he would be fired & be replaced by Joe Torre who would be the Mets only Player/Manager in team history. At this point in time, Shea Stadium was buzzing...

Saturday May 12, 1973:   Yogi Berra's Mets had started out May  with a five-game  losing streak at home, taking losses to the Reds & Astros.  T hey then took two of three from the Atlanta Braves before heading on the road.   In the first game of a short five game road trip, they beat the Pirates 4-3.  On this Saturday afternoon the Mets (16-13) took on Bill Virdon's Pirates (12-14) at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.  The starting pitchers were the Pirates' Bob Moose (2-2) going up against the Mets Cy Young Winner of that year, Tom Seaver (3-3). Trivia:  The Pirates Bob Moose threw a no hitter against the Mets on September 20th, 1969, at Shea Stadium. That year he was 14-3 with the leagues best winning % (.824%). Moose won a World Series with the Pirates in 1971 appearing in three games of that series.  In 1972 he threw a wild pitch in the bottom of the 9th inning of the final Game #5 of the NLCS allowing George Foster to score th...

Peter Alan Schourek was born on May 10th, 1969, in Austin Texas. The tall six-foot five left hander grew up in Virginia on the outskirts of the Nation’s Capital.  In 1987 he was signed out of high school by the New York Mets in the second round of the amateur draft.  The next year he missed the entire season due to an arm injury.  By 1990 he won 16 games (16-5) through all three levels of the minor leagues, highlighted by going 11-4 with a 3.04 ERA at AA Jackson. There he was tutored under pitching coach Bob Apodaca. Mets Career: In 1991 he impressed at Spring Training, making the Mets staff as a reliever.  Schourek made his MLB debut in the second game of the '91 season at Shea Stadium pitching a scoreless 1.1 innings in a 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. After finishing up a pair or Mets losses, he recorded a save on April 21st in win at Montreal. Three days later earned his first career win pitching three scoreless innings at Philadelphia...

Friday Night, May 6th, 1983: Shea Stadium filled just 15,916 seats, as two Mets stars from different generations careers crossed over. Tonight, was the much-anticipated debut of the young, talented, Mets rookie outfielder, Darryl Strawberry. Strawberry, the former number one draft pick was ushering in a new era in Mets history, while on the mound, "The Franchise" Tom Seaver represented the past, Glory Days of a Mets Championship. Tom Seaver now in his second coming to the New York Mets, late in his career,  got tonight's start for George Bamberger's fifth place Mets (7-15).  S eaver went up against Mario Soto & his former Cincinnati Reds team (13-14) in third place under Russ Nixon. Seaver pitched eight innings, allowing three runs on four hits, striking out seven. The game was scoreless when Gary Redus hit a solo HR in the 6th inning. The Reds scored two more runs in the 7th, as Seaver walked two & Alex Trevino &...

Armando Martin (Gutierrez) Reynoso was born on May 1st, 1966, in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The six-foot right hander began pitching in the Mexican League. MLB Career: In 1991 he came over to MLB getting signed by the Atlanta Braves. After two brief seasons appearing in nine games with Atlanta he was drafted by the Colorado Rockies as the 58th pick of the 1992 expansion draft. In 1993 Reynoso was the Rockies ace winning 12 games (12-11) being the only pitcher on the Colorado staff to win in double figures. Injures limited him to just nine games the next year & in 1995 he was used mostly as a reliever. In 1996 he was 8-9 with a 4.96 ERA being used again in a starting role. In November of 1996 he was traded to the New York Mets for Jerry Dipoto. Mets Career:  In 1997 Reynoso had a great Spring Training, starting out by throwing seven shutout innings over two starts before having elbow troubles. On April 13th, he made his Mets regular season debut, pitching fiv...

Saturday May 4th, 1991: The Mets had finished in second place or better over the past seven seasons, with two NL East Titles & a World Championship in those years. But in 1991 the season turned out to be a very big disappointment, as they finished up in fifth place going 77-84. Howard Johnson was the team's biggest star, HoJo slugged his way to be the only Met in team history to lead the league in both HRs & RBIs in a single season. At this early point in the season things were still looking good, manager Bud Harrelson's Mets were at 14-9, in second place just one game behind the Pittsburgh Pirates. A good crowd of 38,413 came out to Shea Stadium to see the Mets host Roger Craig's struggling San Francisco Giants (8-15). The Giants had come off five straight winning seasons with two NL Weast titles & were the NL Champions two years prior. They too would disappoint with a 75-87 fourth place finish in 1991. On this afternoon the Mets Ron Darling (1-2) went ...

Carlton Francis Willey was born June 6th, 1931 in Cherryfield, Maine. The six foot right-handed pitcher was originally signed by the Boston Braves as an amateur free agent in 1951. After serving two years in the United States Army he was back in baseball by 1955. In 1957 at AA Wichita he led the American Association with 21 wins (21-6) winning the MVP award there. The Sporting News voted him the Top Prospect entering the 1958 season. MLB Career: Willey debuted against the Chicago Cubs on April 30th 1958 in a one inning relief appearance. He made three relief appearances, and then in his first start, threw a 7-0 six hit shutout against the newly relocated San Francisco Giants.  Willey was 2-3 in mid July & then went on a seven game win streak where he threw four complete games in the stretch. During the rest of the season he also shut out the Giants again, the Philadelphia Phillies on a six hitter & the Pittsburgh Pirates on a seven hitter. He had the best season...