centerfield maz

Saturday April 30th, 1988: Davey Johnson's New York Mets (15-6) were off to a good start, on their way to their 1988 NL Eastern title. On this wild night they came to Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium, always am interesting place for the Mets, to face Pete Rose's Reds (11-11).   33,346 fans would certainly make their presence known tonight, in what would be an ugly situation before it was all over.  The Mets sent Bobby Ojeda to the mound, against the Reds Tom Browning. It turned out to be an infamous game that tarnished an umpire's career & added more drama to a Player/Manager's legacy. Things started out quietly, the Mets got a run in the 2nd, on Gary Carter's sac fly & the Red answered in the bottom of the inning, with an RBI single from Barry Larkin.  In the top of the 4th, Tim Teufel singled & moved along the bases, scoring on Kevin McReynold's two out single. The Reds tied it up, but in the top of the 6th, Darryl Strawberry blasted a ...

Eric Singleton Campbell was born April 9th, 1987, in Norwich, Connecticut. Norwich is located just under three hours from New York City. Eric was twice an All-State player at Norwich High School then moved on to Boston College.  He was a fine hitter there hitting over .300 getting signed by the New York Mets in the 8th round of the 2008 draft. Campbell began his career with the A Ball Brooklyn Cyclones playing third base while batting .260 in 2008. The next year he spilt time with the Savannah Sand Gnats & St. Lucie Mets playing mostly first base.  By 2012 he was at AA Binghamton playing first base & outfield batting .297. He made the All-Star team & drove in the games winning run with a base hit in the bottom of the 9th inning, earning him the game's MVP Award. That year he finished in the top ten in batting & top five in on base %. In 2013 he was at AAA Las Vegas with the 51s, with 8 HRs 25 doubles & 66 RBIs while batting .314 in 66 games. He wa...

Robert Mitchell Jones was born on April 11, 1972, in Orange, New Jersey. The Jones’s soon moved to Rutherford New Jersey, right on the outskirts of the Meadowlands & Giants Stadium. Bobby played baseball in Rutherford Little League & then later at Rutherford high school.  By 1991 he was drafted in the 44th round of the amateur draft by the Milwaukee Brewers. While playing A-ball in the Brewers organization he was taken by the  Colorado Rockies getting drafted in the Rule 5 Draft in 1995.  He pitched in the Pacific Coast League for the AAA Colorado Springs Sky Sox & was 5-1 in 1997 when the Rockies called him up. MLB Debut:   On May 18, 1997,  Jones made his MLB debut against his favorite team growing up, the New York Mets. He made the start at  Shea Stadium earning no decision in a 10-4 Mets win, pitching into the 6th inning, allowing two runs while walking seven.  After four starts he was 1-1 with an ERA of 8.38 & was se...

Philip Winston Hennigan  was born on April 10, 1946, at Jasper, Texas to Joseph Polk & Joye Phillips Hennigan. The five-foot eleven right-handed pitcher was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 4th round in 1966. He served in Vietnam doing Military Service in 1967, then returned to the pitch minor leagues. After going 10-10 at AA Waterbury in 1969, he got the September call up having to face Hall of Famer Rod Carew in his first appearance. MLB Career: Hennigan spend some more time in the minors but would mostly pitch out of the Cleveland bullpen from 1969-1972.  In 1970 he was 6-3 with three saves posting a 4.02 ERA in 42 games. He became Cleveland’s ace reliever in 1971, going 4-3 with 14 saves (8th best in the A.L.) posting a 4.94 ERA in 57 games.  He dropped off to six saves, third best on the Indians staff in 1972 behind Steve Mingori (10) & Ed Farmer (7) while posting a 5-3 record.  That November he was traded to ...

Brent Danem Mayne was born on April 19, 1968, in Loma Linda, California.  Mayne attended Cal State Fullerton where he was an All-American & eventually was inducted in the Orange Coast College Hall of fame. In 1989 the tall six-foot catcher was the Kansas City Royals first round draft pick (13th pick overall) out of California State University. As a catcher he was known as a fine defensive player, with a strong throwing arm who handled pitchers well. MLB Debut: The next season he was brought up to the Royals big league squad for nine games. Mayne would spend six seasons in Kansas City sharing time behind the plate with Mike Macfarlane. Overall, he hit .244 for the Royals with 20 HRs & 205 RBIs in 664 games. In 1991 he batted .251 in 85 games with the Royals  coming in eighth in the Rookie of the Year voting. On August 26th, he was behind the plate for Bret Saberhagen's no hitter against the Chicago White Sox. In 1992 behind the plate, Brent threw out a career best ...

Masato Yoshii was born April 20, 1965, in Osaka, Japan. The tall six-foot two right hander was originally drafted in Japan in 1984. Japan-Nippon Pro Baseball:  Yoshii struggled with high ERAs in his first two seasons pitching for the Kintetsu Buffaloes and earned his first career win in 1987. In 1988 he was the Pacific Leagues Relief pitcher of the Year, winning 19 games while posting 24 saves. He saved twenty more games the next year and eventually converted over to being a starter with the Yakult Swallows in 1993. He won ten or more games the next three years, having a career year in the final year of his contract. He wanted to remain loyal to his team but his agent convinced to shoot for higher salaries with other teams Some in Japan felt he was asking more than he was worth.  His friend Hideo Nomo convinced him to come over & pitch in America. He refused all offers in Japan to sign on with the New York Mets for $200,000 with incentives that would ma...

Luther Owens Barnes was born April 28, 1947, in Forest City, Iowa. He attended Oregon State University getting drafted by the New York Mets in the 21st round (482nd pick overall) in 1969. As a second baseman there wasn’t much room for Barnes with Ken Boswell & then Felix Millan both steadily holding the position through the mid-seventies. He certainly wasn’t seeing any action at short with All Star Bud Harrelson in that spot.  The five-foot ten infielder even lost out to the solid reserve, Teddy Martinez for any back up duties. In 1970 Barnes hit .290 in 121 games at AA Memphis. By 1971 Barnes was the AAA Tidewater Tides main second baseman playing for managers Hank Bauer & then former New York Giant Johnny Antonelli. He turned 51 double plays posting a .962 fielding % in 121 games at the position while hitting .273. Barnes got a major league call up that summer, debuting with the Mets on August 6th 1972 at Shea Stadium in a 12-2 Mets romp over the Chicago C...