centerfield maz

Tuesday July 10th, 1984: The 55th MLB All Star Game was held at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. It had been 23 years (1961) since San Francisco last hosted the All-Star Game in the Say-Hey Days of Willie Mays & the 1962 pennant winners. The game was broadcast on ABC with broadcasters Al Michaels, Howard Cosell & former Orioles manager, Earl Weaver doing calling the action.  Huey Lewis & the News sang the National Anthem & former New York Giants Hall of Famer, Carl Hubbell tossed out the ceremonial first pitch in front of 57,756 at "the Stick". The New York Mets were baseballs new young hot team. The Mets went into the break in first place a half game ahead of the Chicago Cubs. 1984 Mets All Stars: The Mets sent four players to the game, 19-year-old Dwight Gooden, the reigning NL Rookie of the Year  Darryl Strawberry,  veteran Keith Hernandez, & reliever Jesse Orosco.  Trivia: This was Keith Hernandez first All-Star game as a Met...

Tuesday July 15th, 1975: The 1975 MLB All Star Game was held at Milwaukee's County Stadium. It had been twenty years since  Milwaukee hosted an All-Star Game, when the Braves were the Milwaukee team.  Legendary Hall of Famer & Braves player Hank Aaron had moved with the team to Atlanta in 1966. But Aaron was closing  out his career back in the city where he first starred, now a Milwaukee Brewer where he was a full time DH.  In 1974 Aaron became  the All-time HR King, he was not only a hero in Milwaukee but   a national celebrity. This was Aaron's 25th All Star game appearance. 1975 also marked the first time the All-Star  Game used honorary captains; the first honorees were Stan Musial & Mickey Mantle. Mets 1975 All Stars: The New York Mets had no position players on the squad  but  did have pitchers Tom Seaver & Jon Matlack  representing the team . Tug McGraw who had been traded to the Philadelphia Phillies before...

July 13th, 1977: The night began as 14,626 fans came out to Shea Stadium to see Joe Torre's last place Mets (34-53) take on a hot first place Chicago Cubs team (55-32) led by Herman Franks.  '77 Cubs: On May 28th , the Cubs had jumped into first place & remained there over two months staying atop the NL East until August 6th. But from there on they went 18-37 finishing fourth at 81-81. In New York, times were bad at Shea Stadium. It had been 26 days since Mets traded away the fans beloved Tom Seaver & to a lesser extent, Dave Kingman, the teams only true slugger. It was the start of some very dark years for Mets fans. It's fitting the lights went out almost to confirm these dark times were here. Tonight featured a good pitching matchup, as Jerry Koosman (6-10) went up against the Cubs Ray Burris (9-8). The previous year Kooz won twenty games & was runner up in the Cy  Young voting. He had lost four of his last five starts. Ray Burris had lost his last two d...

Robin Mark Ventura was born July 14, 1967, in Santa Maria, California. His parents were John an Italian American & his mother Darlene was of Portuguese descent. Robin has two older brothers & one younger brother. The six foot one left hand hitting Ventura, was a star ballplayer at his high School in Santa Maria known as one of the best high school players in California. Robin attended Oklahoma State University where he led the division twice in RBIs & had a 58-game hitting streak. Ventura also led his team to a National Championship game, although they lost to Stanford University. 1988 Olympics: In 1988 he was the U.S Olympics team’s third baseman, in Seoul Korea batting .409 while winning a Silver Medal.  He starred in the 1988 World Cup as well, winning the Golden Spikes Award & getting named the best amateur player in the country. Later in 1988 he was the Chicago White Sox first round draft pick (the tenth pick overall). He spent just one season in ...