centerfield maz

Wednesday August 4th 1982: The fifth place New York Mets (46-58) were in Chicago to play an afternoon game against Lea Elia's sixth place Chicago Cubs (42-66) in front of 9,237 fans in the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field. It was to be a strange but historic day for Mets utility player, Joel Youngblood. Joel Youngblood had been with the Mets since 1977, the versatile outfielder  had a strong arm &  hit .274 with a .742 OPS in his Mets career. Joel also played infield positions second base, third base & two games at short stop for the Mets. In 1981 he represented the Mets on the NL All Star team in the 5-4 win at Cleveland. Overall, he was a good player on a bad team, who never found a permanent position for two long. In 1980 as the new Mets ownership took over, things began to change. When a young Mookie Wilson arrived with the Mets, there was even less room for Youngblood.  Personally, Youngblood felt he was good enough to start on the poor club,...

Tuesday August 4th, 1970:  Gil Hodges reigning World Champion Mets (57-49) were in second place one game behind the Pittsburgh Pirates. 42,786 fans came out for an afternoon summer matinee at Shea. Today the Mets  hosted legendary manager Leo Durocher's third place Chicago Cubs (55-52).  During the 1969 Championship season, the Mets & Cubs became heavy rivals.  The Mets fire ball throwing, Nolan Ryan (5-6) got the start against the Cubs Joe Decker (2-5). Ryan had lost three of his last four decisions & was still having control problems at this point in his career. Although Ryan put up big strike out numbers & had some great outings in his Mets career, his control problem drove manager Gil Hodges crazy. In the top of the 1st inning, Nolan Ryan recorded three ground ball outs.  In the bottom of the 1st, Bud Harrelson reached on a one out single & stole second base for his 19th steal of the season. With two outs, Art Shamsky reached on an in...

The 1962 Mets lost a record 120 games in their inaugural season. As for winning games it was a rough season, but the fanbase grew in spite of its losing efforts as it was more important to establish National League baseball back to New York City.  The old fans of the New York Giants & Brooklyn Dodgers took to the Mets as well as a whole new generation of loyal fans starting what was to be one one of the games largest & loyal fan bases. In that zany season, there were many low lights as well as highlights. During the first week of August Mets slugger Frank Thomas also known as "the Big Donkey" brought some excitement to the old Polo Grounds. Wednesday August 1st,1962:   Casey Stengel’s Mets (26-77) were a distant 43 games out of first place. On this night, they hosted Gene Mauch’s seventh place Philadelphia Phillies (50-58).  In the top of the 1st, The Phillies Tony Taylor reached on a Mets error at short by Charlie Neal.  Don Demeter then hit a two run HR ...

Sunday, August 1st, 1999:  Bobby Valentines Mets (66-43) were boasting one the league's best records, trailing the Atlanta Braves by just a half game in the NL East.  The Mets had won eight of their last ten games, twelve of their last sixteen. This afternoon they were at Wrigley Field for the rubber game of the three-game set against Jim Riggleman's last place Cubs (48-54).  A Wrigley Field crowd of 39,222 filled the Friendly Confines to watch Kyle Farnsworth take on the Mets Al Leiter. In June Al Leiter had gone 5-0 winning five straight games, he went 2-2 in July coming into this game at 9-7. In the bottom of the 1st inning,  Al Leiter gave up a pair of singles but also struck out two batters, getting Glenallen Hill to end the inning. gain in the 3rd inning.  In the bottom of the 2nd, he walked Henry Rodriguez then struck out Gary Gaetti, Benito Santiago & Kyle Farnsworth. In the bottom of the 3rd, Leiter started the inning striking out two more...

Tuesday July 26th, 1983:    The Mets had just returned from losing seven of ten games on a road trip that took them through Houston, Atlanta & Cincinnati. Tonight, they opened up a three-game set at Shea Stadium, hosting Joe Torre's first place Atlanta Braves (61-37).  Torre had been the Mets manager from 1977-1981.  On the first game of this home stand, they had beaten the Braves 5-4 in a walk off win scoring four runs in the bottom of the 9th inning. Junior Ortiz & Dave Kingman had both reached on base hits. Then consecutive singles from Hubie Brooks, Keith Hernandez & George Foster won the game. Tonight, 16-year pitching veteran Mike Torrez went up against Rick Camp. Mike Torrez would pitch parts of two seasons for the Mets. leading the NL in losses (17) that season. Torrez was a big influence & mentor to young Dwight Gooden when he first came up to the Mets big league club. Mets pitcher Mike Torrez started out the game retiring the first nine batt...