centerfield maz

  Mets Career:  In the early days of the New York Mets, the team were trying to bring back some former National League New York stars to draw fans to the Polo Grounds.  In 1963 the Brooklyn Dodger legend, Duke Snider was brought in & reunited with former teammate Gil Hodges.  Snider had considered retiring but was convinced by Dodgers GM Buzzie Bavasi that he should go play back in New York, as h e was close to reaching milestones in hits & HRs. Bavasi worked out a deal selling his contract to the Mets for $40000. D uring their 1950’s heyday, Snider had batted third in front of Hodges, the cleanup man. Duke Snider & Gil Hodges were the only players of the decade of the 1950's to drive in over 1000 runs each.  Snider had hit the most HRs (326) & driven in the most RBIs (1031) in the 1950s, while his teammate Gil Hodges was second to him in both categories.  But in 1963, the two players were at the ends of their careers. Snider ...

Leonard Shenoff Randle was born February 12, 1949, in Long Beach, California. His father was a longshoreman & World War II veteran & his mother a seamstress. He had seven siblings, three brothers & four sisters, all of whom earned college degrees. College Baseball: Randle was originally drafted in 1967 by the St. Louis Cardinals but did not sign. He elected to attend  Arizona State University where t he five-foot ten switch hitter was a two-sport star. He was the second baseman on the 1969 NCAA championship baseball team under legendary manager Bobby Winkles. The Sun Devils won the 1969 College World Series. He was also a football return specialist whose five punt returns for touchdowns stood as a WCA record for 35 years. Trivia: The soft-spoken Randle is fluent in three languages, he never drank alcohol, and has a master’s degree in education. Randle was a first-round pick (tenth pick overall) of the Washington Senators in the 1970 draft.  ...

Richard Warren Aguilera was born December 31, 1961, in San Gabriel, California. In high school he was originally a third baseman. In 1980 he got drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals but did not sign. Instead, t he tall six-foot four right hander, attended Brigham Young University, where he played on the same team with future big leaguers Cory Snyder & Wally Joyner. There he made the full-time transition to a pitcher. Aguilera was drafted by the New York Mets in the third round of the 1983 draft. In 1983 he began at A ball Little Falls going 5-6. In 1984 he began at A ball Lynchburg then was pushed up to AA Jackson where he was 4-4. In 1985 he was 6-4 with a 2.41 ERA at AAA Tidewater then got called up to the Mets staff when Bruce Berenyi went down with an injury.  Mets Career: Aguilera debuted on June 12th, 1985, at Philadelphia's Veteran Stadium, earning the win after pitching two innings in the Mets 7-3 extra inning victory. On June 16th he got...