centerfield maz

Mark Patrick Johnson  was born on October 18, 1967, in Worcester, Massachusetts.  Dartmouth QB: The big six-foot  230 pounder attended Dartmouth University playing football there as the team's quarterback. He set many school passing records there (later broken by Jay Fielder) in the two years he was their starting QB. Johnson was also a gifted baseball player & switched to full time baseball by his junior year. getting drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1990. His minor league career didn’t take off until 1994 when he hit 23 HRs with 85 RBIs at AA Carolina. Johnson joined the Pirates big league team in 1995 batting just .208 in 79 games, but in 221 at bats he did hit 13 HRs. In 1996 he became the Pirates main first baseman playing in 127 games; he hit 13 HRs again but this time had 343 at bats. He hit 24 doubles driving in 47 runs posting a .345 on base % batting .274. Over the next two seasons he only appeared in ten games at the major league level. He w...

Frank Oliver Howard was born on August 8, 1936, in Columbus Ohio. His father was also a large man who worked as a railroad machinist & his mom, a homemaker. He was the third of six family children. Howard worked as a laborer at age 14, where the big kid handled a jack hammer. Howard attended Ohio State University playing both baseball & basketball. He was drafted by the NBA Philadelphia Warriors but chose to play baseball instead. He was signed by the Dodgers in 1958 who had just relocated to Los Angeles.  Trivia: He earned the nickname “Hondo” after John Wayne's character in the film of the same name.  The six-foot seven inch tall, 255-pound Howard would become one of the biggest players of his era. Howard was an intimidating presence at the plate & his long HRs had him being compared to Babe Ruth. MLB Career: Howard tore up the minors winning an MVP Award earning him an MLB cup of coffee with the D...

Richard Frank Gardner was born December 19, 1944, in Binghamton, New York. The six-foot left-handed pitcher batted right-handed, getting signed by the Minnesota Twins in 1963. He was drafted away by the New York Mets that same year. At A ball Orlando (33 games) & Wilson (two games) that year he went 17-11 with a 2.46 ERA.  In 1964 he rose through the ranks, reaching AAA Buffalo. In 1965 he began the year at AA Williamsport going 5-3 then was an impressive 4-1 with a 1.70 ERA at AAA Buffalo getting a big league call up. Mets Career: Gardner was called up to the Mets for September. He arrived late so the team had him go straight to the hotel here he was watching the game & learned he was starting tomorrow's game. He debuted in New York on September 1st, 1965, getting a start against in the second game of a double header with the Houston Astros. Rusty Staub & Jim Gentile both hit HRs spoiling his debut, as Gardner exited after three innings taking th...

Leonard Anthony Harris was born October 28, 1964 in Miami Florida. Harris was signed out of high school as a fifth round draft pick of the Cincinnati Reds in 1983. The five foot ten left hand hitter signed as a third baseman & outfielder. Harris then spent six years in the minors, never hitting more than ten HRs or batting above .285. In 1988 he hit .338 at AA Glen Falls in 17 games getting promoted to AAA Nashville. There he batted .277 making it to the big leagues as a September call up.  In 16 games Harris batted .372 getting noticed. In July 1989 he was traded along with Kal Daniels to the Los Angeles Dodgers on exchange for Mariano Duncan & Tim Leary.  Harris spent five years with the Dodgers becoming their main third baseman by 1990 while also playing some outfield. He hit .304 16 doubles & 15 stolen bases in his first full season in L.A. He followed up batting .287 with 12 steals in 1991 but his average fell off over the next two seasons, bottoming o...

Elio Chacon Rodriquez was born October 26, 1936 in Caracas, Venezuela. He was only the seventh player in MLB history to come from that country. He was originally signed as an infielder by the Cincinnati Reds in 1956.  MLB Career: He made the Reds as a backup second baseman behind Billy Martin in 1960 hitting just .185 at the end of June when he was shipped back to AAA, returning at the end of the year.  Chacon was again a reserve behind Don Blasingame for the 1961 NL Champion Reds, improving his hitting to .265 with 2 HRs 4 doubles & 5 RBIs in 132 at bats. 1961 World Series: He appeared in four games of the 1961 World Series getting three hits in 12 at bats. He hit a bloop single off pitcher Ralph Terry and came around to score the winning run of Game #2.  That October he was the fourth pick of the New York Mets in the 1961 expansion draft becoming an original Met.  Mets Career: Chacon debuted with New York in the second game of the season at sho...

Ryan Matthew Church was born on October 14, 1978, in Santa Barbara, California. After attending the University of Nevada, Church was drafted in 2000 by the Cleveland Indians in the 14th round.  Ryan hit over 17 HRs four times at the minor league level, including the 2004 season at AAA Edmonton. MLB Career: Earlier in the year he had been traded to the Montreal Expos system. He was called up in late August debuting in a game against the Rockies at Colorado. Ryan  would remain with the club through the end of the season, hitting his first career HR at Florida on September 15th. Church became an original Washington National the next season as the team left Canada & settled in the Nation's Capitol. Ryan  started out the year as a candidate for the Rookie of the Year Award, until he got injured crashing into the wall in Pittsburgh while down chasing a fly ball.  He was batting .325 but never regained his hitting form again that year, going on the DL two more...