centerfield maz

Tuesday July 10th, 1973: A crowd of 19,942 fans came out to Shea Stadium to see Yogi Berra's Mets (36-46) take on the Houston Astros (47-44) at Shea Stadium. The Mets had been struggling & would not start their pennant run that took them one game shy of a World Championship until the end of the month. Tonight's pitching matchup was certainly a good one, the Mets' John Matlack (6-10) went up against Houston's Jerry Reuss (11-5).   Two months earlier, Matlack had been hit in the face with a line drive but luckily returned with overcoming the situation. Quotes- Jon Matlack: "A couple of inches lower & I'd have needed major surgery. I was told it would be doubtful I'd ever pitch again if that had happened. Now there's no effect. I'm not ducking, I'm not flinching, not closing my eyes."  In his last two starts, Matlack had given up one earned run over 15 innings. The Astros were in fourth place at the time & were manager by legend...

Saturday July 19th, 1986:  In the mid-eighties one of the hottest nightclubs in Houston, Texas was a place called Cooters. Cooters was known throughout the country as a famous hangout for pro athletes, mainly because the owners would allow the celebrity sports heroes to drink for free.  This attracted athletes from all sports to the club, catering to the home teams & visiting teams as well.  This custom certainly brought more girls into the place & that made more guys want to get in as well. Cooters was a landmark goldmine. Tim Teufel, a rather quieter guy from the 1986 Mets team, was a new father & wanted to go out to celebrate.  Pitcher Bob Ojeda said he heard of this place called Cooters. Mets relief pitcher Doug Sisk had been there before, he claimed he came out of the bathroom one night returning to his table, only to find the cops waiting for him. He said he had been roughed up a bit, insisting he did nothing to get himself into trouble. D...

 July 19th 2025: Although the retirement of Mets uniform numbers had become an annual thing since the new ownership took over, Todays ceremony was still a special one. On this day the Mets retired the uniform number of "the Captain" David Wright one of the most beloved players in Mets history. Also one of the most professional, good hearted people & a true gentleman. David was joined by his wife Molly, his three children & his parents. Many of Wrights teammates who he chose were on hand, Jose Reyes, Daniel Murphy, Cliff Floyd, Michael Cuddyer, Joe McEwing & Josh Satin as well as managers Terry Collins & Willie Randolph. His long time agent, former Met, Keith Miller, his former coach & former Mets player Howard Johnson as well as long time bullpen coach Dave Racaniello. David came out from a gated area & walked over to the third base line standing on the golden base saluting the fans, put there in his honor. Along the way to the main area he greeted his...

Sunday, July 16th , 2006 :   Willie Randolph's first place Mets (55-376) were 18 games over .500 at this point in the season, with a thirteen-game lead atop the NL East.  They had just come off a 5-3 homestand in games with the Pirates & Marlins. They began a six game road trip splitting the first two games at Wrigley Field against Dusty Baker's last place Cubs (35-56).    They would continue to win throughout the summer going 15-9 in July with Carlos Beltran leading the mighty offense that month hitting 10 HRs with 32 RBIs with a 1.002 OPS in 24 games that month. In the bottom of the 1st, Mets starter Orlando Hernandez gave up three hits including back-to-back RBI doubles to fall behind 2-0.  In the bottom of the 2nd, Sean Marshall led off with a HR, then Juan Pierre singled stole second & scored on Michael Barrett's RBI double. Jacque Jones added an RBI single to make it a 5-0 Cubs lead. In the top of the 4th, Chris Woodward hit his third HR of the sea...

Friday July 14th, 1989: Tonight, Davey Johnson’s third place Mets (46-40) were in a tight NL East race, 2.5 games behind the first place Montreal Expos & one game behind the second place Chicago Cubs. Just two days after returning from the All-Star break, the Mets were on a four-game win streak as they landed in Atlanta to take on  Russ Nixon’s last place Atlanta Braves (37-52). From 1985-1990 the Braves finished last each year except 1987 when they finished fifth. But the team was to go into an amazing transition that would have them finished first in 14 of the next 15 seasons. In tonight's matchup the Mets Sid Fernandez (6-3) took on second year Braves pitcher John Smoltz (3-2). In his first year Smoltz went 2-7 but turned things around this year to go 12-11 & make his first All-Star team. In the bottom of the 1st inning, Sid Fernandez struck out Oddibe McDowell to start the game. After a double from Jeff Blauser, Fernandez struck out Lonnie Smith, then retired Andres Th...

Joseph Paul Torre was born in Brooklyn, New York on July 18, 1940. He attended St. Francis Prep. School located in Brooklyn at the time, later moving to Queens. The six foot two right hand hitting Torre was signed by the Milwaukee Braves in 1960. He hit .344 & won the batting championship in his only year in the minor leagues making it to the big leagues for good by 1961.  Braves Career: He would spend nine years with the Braves, as a teammate of Hank Aaron & Eddie Mathews & Warren Spahn. He moved with the franchise from Milwaukee to Atlanta, playing in Fulton County Stadium in 1966. He hit over .290 four times, batting over .300 twice. In his first full season, he came in second in the Rookie of the Year Award batting .278 with 10 HRs & 42 RBIs. In 1964 he batted .321 with 109 RBIs (both 4th in the NL) & hit 20 HRs coming in fifth in the MVP voting for the 5th place Braves. In 1966, as the franchise began playing in Georgia; he hit a career high 36 HRs d...