centerfield maz

Steven Curtis Henderson was born on November 18, 1952, in Houston, Texas. He attended Prairie View A &M in Texas, getting drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the fifth round of the 1974 draft as a promising outfielder.  He batted .312 with 17 HRs & 61 RBIs at AA ball Trois Rivieres in 1976. The next year he was batting .326 after 60 games at AA Indianapolis, but wasn’t much room on the Big Red Machine in the mid-seventies for a young player in the minors. Tom Seaver Trade: On June 17th, 1977, Henderson became famous for being the key player in the Tom Seaver trade on what Mets fans call “The Midnight Massacre”. Henderson along with Pat Zachary, Doug Flynn, & Dan Norman went to the New York Mets for Hall of Famer Tom Seaver.  There was a lot of hype and big expectations put on the young Henderson by the organization trying to make the Seaver trade look somewhat justified. Henderson & not many other players could ever have lived up to those expectations. Mets Ca

Xavier Clifford Nady was born on November 14, 1978, in Salinas, California. The six foot two right-handed hitter was the Northern California, High School Player of the Year in his senior year. He was offered a deal with the St. Louis Cardinals but did not sign. He attended the University of California at Berkley, setting a school slugging record there. He got chosen by the San Diego Padres in the second round of the 2000 draft.  Trivia: He became just the 18th player in history to go directly to the major leagues in 2001, but after one game was sent to the minors anyway.  There he hit .302 with 26 HRs & 100 RBIs at A Ball Lake Elsinore, getting named the California League MVP. He went to AAA Portland in 2002 & hit 23 HRs with 80 RBIs. He suffered an injury & needed Tommy John surgery. MLB Career: He returned to the big leagues in 2004 batting .267 but was sent back down again, then hit .330 with 22 HRs at the AAA level in Portland.  In the outfield Nady was a fine

Calvin Lee Koonce was born on November 18, 1940, at Fayetteville, North Carolina. The six-foot right-handed pitcher attended Campbell Town University and signed with the Chicago Cubs in 1961. Koonce was in the major leagues the next season, making relief appearances in his first two outings. On April 27th, 1962he made his first start, pitching a complete game one run victory in St. Louis against the Cards.  One Hitter: On July 13th he pitched the best game of his career, it came at Wrigley Field against the Cincinnati Reds. In the 4th innings he allowed a base hit to the Reds; Don Blasingame, but he then retired the next 17 batters in a row, finishing off a one hit shutout. He pitched well in the first half of the season, finding himself at 9-3 with a 3.63 ERA at the end of August & looking like a future super star. But then he struggled, losing seven of his last eight decisions, finishing up at the year at 10-10 with a 3.97 ERA. He would spend some time in the minors an

James Wesley Hook was born November 18, 1936, in Waukegan, Illinois. He was the only boy growing up with two sisters. His parents owned a local pharmacy & his uncle a lumber yard in the small community of about 2,000 people.  Hook was a star player at Northwestern University, but he was also very intelligent, earning a mechanical engineering degree.  The six-foot two right-handed pitcher was signed as a bonus baby by the Cincinnati Reds in 1957, making his MLB debut later that same year. MLB Career: Hook made his debut pitching two innings of relief against the St. Louis Cardinals on September 3rd. On September 25th he made his first star, getting knocked out in the third inning after allowing seven runs (five earned) against the Chicago Cubs. He appeared in only four games over the next two seasons going 0-2 with an ERA over eight.  By 1959 he got a starting role in the Reds rotation and went 5-5 with a 5.13 ERA. In 1960 he went 11-18 (second most losses in the NL) allowing