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 was placed on wa

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 Dodgers in 1958. In his second at bat he homered off Robin Roberts

Steven Christopher Trachsel was born on Halloween 1970, in Oxnard California. His parents were Betty & Roy Trachsel, a banker. Steve was the oldest of three children, which included a brother & sister. He first attended Fullerton College then transferred to Long Beach State University, getting to the College World Series there.  In his college days he had issues learning to deal with his emotions while on the mound. The six foot three, right hander was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the eighth round of the 1991 draft.  In 1992 he pitched at AA Charlotte getting promoted to AAA Iowa where he went 13-6 in 1993. As he was getting ready to pitch Game seven of the championship he was called up to the big leagues. MLB Career: He got a September call up four days after his AAA team won the Championship. He got the September 19th start against the Marlins, where he gave up just two runs in seven innings of solid work but took a 2-1 loss to Chris Hammond. In three appearances he we