centerfield maz

 Monday April 17th, 2006: On this night Pedro Martinez would take the mound & look to reach the 200-win mark in his career. Pedro began his career in 1992 & spent his first two seasons with Dodgers.  In 1994 he was traded to the Montreal Expos for Delino Deshields. He spent four years in Montreal winning 55 games there (55-33) & became one of the best Pitchers in the NL. In 1997 he won his first Cy Young Award, leading the league in ERA (1.90) complete games (13) & WAR (9.0) in 1997. That November he was traded to the Boston Red Sox for Carl Pavano. In Boston his career really took off, as he won two more Cy Young Awards (1999 & 2000) just missing a third coming in second in 1998.  From 1999 to 2003 he won four ERA titles, led the AL in strike outs & winning % three times. In Boston he was a two-time twenty game winner & won 18 or more games four times. He made four post season appearances in Boston going 6-2, winning a World Series there in 2...

Good Friday April 15th, 2022: On this day, the new Mets ownership finally did what should have been done many years ago, they unveiled a statue of the greatest Met of all, The Franchise, Tom Seaver.  A spectacular bronze statue of Tom Terrific in mid delivery, with his knee just about to touch the ground, as was his trademark, will forever live outside Citi Field. For those of us who idolized him in his glory days, it was an emotional event, worthy of shedding a few tears. Tom's wife Nancy, his daughters Sara & Anne, as well as other family members, were on hand for the event. Tom & Nancy, once the darling young handsome couple, of New York in the swinging sixties & exciting seventies.  They would often appear together, in the newspapers, on magazine covers,  advertisements & TV spots.  We saw his daughters grow up through the years, in the annual Mets yearbooks, as his family were part of ours. Those were great days, two pennants, a world championshi...

April 1976: In the 1975 season, Tom Seaver earned his third Cy Young Award. He set an MLB record striking out over 200 batters for eight straight seasons. He led the NL in strike outs (243) for the fourth time, & led the league in wins (22) for the second time. He also posted a 2.38 ERA. Seaver began negotiations for a new contract with the Mets, but the two sides were far apart. Things began to get ugly as the feuding went public in the press. The Mets fans didn't want to hear any of this nonsense, just give their beloved Tom Terrific, anything he wanted. They knew he was the best pitcher in all of baseball. Seaver did want more money, by 1976 baseball salaries began to rise in the dawn of what was soon to become free agency.  Seaver had asked for $825,000 for three years, saying that he would consider playing out his option then go elsewhere if he didn't get what he felt he deserved.  With the Mets original owner Mrs. Joan Payson passing away recently, M. Donald Grant w...

April 15th, 1968: On a warm south Texas night, 14,219 fans came to see the Astros host the New York Mets. This was just the Mets fifth game of the season, having started out in California with the Giants & Dodgers.  The Mets had beaten Houston the game before with a combined shut out from Nolan Ryan & Danny Frisella.  Houston Astrodome Trivia: It was called the Eighth Wonder of the World at the time of it's opening. The Astrodome was the very first indoor air-conditioned stadium & would be home of the MLB Astros from its opening in 1965 thru 1999.  The Astrodome was also home for the NFL Houston  Oilers (1968-1996) & the NBA Rockets (1971-1975) The stadium held concerts, rallies, expos, as well as other events such as the Houston Livestock & Rodeo which was held annually from 1966-2002.  The 1968 MLB All Star Game has held at the Astrodome. The Mets Jerry Koosman struck out Carl Yastrzemski to end the game saving the 2-1 ML win....