centerfield maz

  Sunday July 1st, 1984:  There was lots of excitement around Shea Stadium, for the first time in years as Davey Johnson's Mets were playing good winning baseball. Today in a Sunday double header, the Mets were 39-33 tied for second place with the Phillies, just one game behind the Chicago Cubs. The first game was rescheduled due to yesterday's rain out. They hosted the second place Atlanta Braves (43-36) managed by Joe Torre. Under Joe Torre, the Braves had just come off two winning seasons & he had gotten them to the NLCS in 1982, but they were swept by the St. Louis Cardinals.  Prior to that the Braves only had three winning seasons since the Mets beat them in the 1969 NLCS (13 seasons). The Braves would finish second that year at 80-82 but 14 games behind the NL Champion San Diego Padres. There would be six more losing seasons until their glory years of the 1990's began. The first game saw a good pitching matchup of Ron Darling (8-3) going up against th...

Robert John Shaw was born on June 29, 1933 in the Bronx, New York.  The six-foot two right hander attended high school in Garden City Long Island perusing a football career. Shaw then attended St. Lawrence University, located in upstate New York at Canton, 50 miles southwest of Montreal.  It was there he decided to drop football & play baseball.  MLB Career: Bob was signed as an amateur free agent in 1953 by the Detroit Tigers.  In August 1957 he was brought up to the Tigers big league club. In his debut he served a HR to the White Sox's Walt Droppo. After going 1-2 Bob was traded to the Chicago White Sox the next year.  White Sox Career: Shaw enjoyed his best season in 1959 as part of the A.L. Champion "Go Go Sox". He posted the best winning percentage in the AL at .750% going 18-12 with a 2.69 ERA (both third best totals in the AL).  Shaw pitched 230 innings with three shutouts & eight complete games. He was in the center of ...

Richard Jose Hidalgo was born on June 28, 1975, in Caracas,Venezuela. The big six foot three, outfielder batted & threw right-handed. He was signed by the Houston Astros in 1991 at just 16 years old. He was considered an all-around fast player until a knee issue hurt his speed. H e was a fine outfielder with a strong throwing arm and good power at the plate. After three years he reached the AA level & then hit 14 HRs two straight years at AA Jackson. In 1997 he began the year at AAA New Orleans hitting 11 HRs batting .279 before getting called up. Astros Career: Hidalgo was a September call up for the Astros in 1997, getting a hit in his first game, while hitting two HRs that month, playing in19 games. Houston won the NL Central but lost the NLDS to the Atlanta Braves. In the post season he saw action in two games going hitless in five at bats. In 1998 he was limited to 74 games with injuries. That season the Astros won the NL Cental again but lost the NLDS to the...

  Sunday June 25th , 1989 : On this day, Davey Johnson's Mets (39-32) were one game behind the first place Chicago Cubs, as they took on Nick Leyva's last place Phillies (24-46).  A big Shea crowd of 47,692 came out to see the Phils Terry Mulholland take on the Mets Sid Fernandez. "El Sid" would put the Mets & himself in the record books on this day, as the fly ball pitcher would record all 27 outs in the air, without the Mets making one infield assist. It was the first time a National League team had accomplished this feat, joining the 1945 Cleveland Indians, as the only other team to do it. In the home 1st, with one out Dave Magadan singled & Howard Johnson followed with a double. After Kevin McReynolds' struck out, Greg Jefferies hit a ball in the hole between second & short & reached on an infield single. Magadan was able to score the Mets first run. In the top of the 2nd, the Phils Ricky Jordan singled & Steve Jeltz, tripled to tie the ga...

Saturday June 9th , 1973 :  Walter Alston's second place Los Angeles Dodgers (34-23) were in town at Shea Stadium  for a Saturday matinee  in front of 47,800 fans. The 1973 Dodgers won 95 games finishing second to the mighty Big Red Machine. The Dodgers held onto first place from June 17th to September 4th before going 13-10 the rest of the way & falling to second place. They would win the NL pennant in 1974. Yogi Berra's Mets (23-27) were in fifth place at this point in the season that would eventually win them the Eastern Division & NL Pennant.  Today the Mets sent Jon Matlack (2-8) to the mound to face Al Downing (5-2). Trivia: Al Downing would serve up Hank Aaron's famous 715th career HR the following April, putting him first on the all-time HR list. Downing a Trenton, New Jersey native spent nine years (1961-1969) with the AL New York team as well. In his career he was 123-107 with a 3.22 ERA. In the top of the 1st, the Dodgers ...

Carl Owen Hubbell was born June 22, 1903 in Carthage, Missouri. The six foot left hander became known as King Carl & The Meal Ticket. As a young boy he would throw stones against his barn door, he got so good he was able to hit them on a hole the size of a dime. In his career Hubbell’ s best pitch was a screwball, he threw it so often it left his arm twisted and had his palm facing outward after his baseball career. Hubbell attended high school at Meeker Oklahoma & was originally signed by the Detroit Tigers. He was first sent to minor league Toronto & then to Decatur Georgia as well as the Texas League. After two years of frustrations, he was released by Detroit, because player manager Ty Cobb feared the screw ball would hurt his arm. In 1926 the New York Giants signed him, manager John McGraw said "after all Christy Mathewson threw a screw ball pitch called the fade away." Hubbell went 10-6 in his 1929 rookie year, with a 2.83 ERA. On May 8th, he th...

Jacob deGrom got the 2021 Opening Day start at Philadelphia. In 6.3 innings of work, he struck out seven & gave up three hits. He earned no decision in the 5-3 Mets loss. 14 Strike Out Game: On Saturday April 10th,  deGrom matched his career high with another 14 strike outs. He allowed just one run over eight innings of work but took a loss, as t he Mets were shut out by the Marlins Trevor Rogers (six innings) & Dylan Floro, Richard Bleier & Yimi Garcia. Another 14 K Game with Nine Consecutive Ks:    deGrom started this game in Colorado, with a 0.64 ERA, still looking for his first win. In the 2nd inning, after a leadoff double & a walk, deGrom struck out the next three batters. Over the next two innings he struck out the side each time for a career best nine straight strike outs, one short of the all-time record. deGrom struck out 14 batters for the second straight game, pitching six innings while earning the 4-3 win, his first of the season.  ...