centerfield maz

July 27th, 1975: After the Mets 1973 Pennant season, the 1974 follow up was a disaster. The club finished 71-91 in fifth place. In the off season the club made some moves to improve run production. They acquired slugger Dave Kingman, who would set a club record hitting 36 HRs.  They acquired Del Unser from Philadelphia in the Tug McGraw trade; Unser became the everyday center fielder batting .294. They also got another outfielder; the speedy Gene Clines from Pittsburgh, he hit just .227.  One of the biggest names to arrive in 1975 was veteran Joe Torre. Torre a native New Yorker was now at the twilight of his career, but the Mets front office had been after him for years. Torre would have his worst season in 1975 batting just .247 with six HRs. In Spring Training 1975 there were a bunch of players who were now fighting for outfield & first base spots on the club.  Ten-year veteran outfielder, Cleon Jones was there as well assuming the left field ...

Thursday July 26th, 2012: On this day in Mets History, pitcher Matt Harvey made his much-anticipated MLB debut. That season at AAA he was 7-5 with 112 strike outs & 48 walks in 110 innings, posting a 3.68 ERA. He was ranked as the 54th top prospect entering the 2012 season.  Terry Collins' New York Mets (48-51) were on the road visiting Arizona to face Kirk Gibson's third place D-backs (49-50) in front of 22,010 at Chase Field. In the top of the 1st, the Mets gave their highly touted pitcher, Harvey some support as Ruben Tejada & Daniel Murphy started the game with base hits. Scott Hariston then doubled home both runners, giving Harvey a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the 1st, Matt Harvey began his career striking out Gerado Parra for strike out number one. After a fly out & a hit by Jason Kubel, he closed out the inning striking out Paul Goldschmidt. In the top of the 2nd inning, Harvey came to bat & in his MLB debut he doubled off the wall to deep...

Tuesday July 28, 1970:  Tonight, Gil Hodges second place Mets  (53-45)  were just a game out of first place & tonight they were hosting  Charlie Fox's fourth place San Francisco Giants (46-51). A big crowd of 50,174 came out to Shea to see the reigning World Champs take on the Giants who still had a big following from their New York days just a dozen years after they had left New York for the West Coast.  These Giants were a good team as well; they would finish third in the NL West (86-76) & win the Divisional title the next year. The club featured three future Hall of Famers in Willie Mays, Willie McCovey & Gaylord Perry. In tonight's game the Mets Jim McAndrew (5-8) went up against the Giants Rick Robertson (6-6). Jim McAndrew went thru the first four innings retiring the first 12 batters striking out four batters. In the bottom of the 1st inning, Tommie Agee led off with a base hit. Bud Harrelson then hit a triple to right field scoring Agee...

Friday July 24, 1970:   On this warm summer evening, Walter Alston's second place L.A. Dodgers (55-40) were in town for the first night of a big weekend Series.  As usual, a large crowd came to see the Dodgers whenever  they returned to town, as they were just 13 years removed from Brooklyn. The Dodgers were in a stretch where they lost seven of ten games & were  10.5 games behind the Cincinatti Reds In 1970, the Reds would win the NL Pennant & lose to the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series.  Manager Gil Hodges, reigning World Champion Mets (51-44) were in second place, 2.5 games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates. Tonight,  the big Shea crowd of 53,657 was on hand to see the Mets starter Jerry Koosman (5-5), go up against the Dodgers, Bill Singer (7-3). In the top of the 1st, Koosman gave up a base hit to Many Mota, then did not allow another hit until the 4th inning. In the top of the 4th, Willie Davis singled & stole s...

Saturday July 24th, 1993: In the dismal 1993 season, the Mets had fired manager Jeff Torborg & brought in Dallas Green. By late July the Mets were in last place 29 games out of first. On this Saturday afternoon the Mets (32-65) took a 5-4 loss to the third place Dodgers (51-46) in Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium. After the game, three troubled players hanging out together were involved in an ugly incident outside Dodger Stadium. Bobby Bonilla & Vince Coleman were exiting the player parking lot in Eric Dais' car when Vince Coleman decided to throw a lit M-80-firecracker out the window near a crowd of fans standing by the exit looking for autographs. The M-80, equal to a quarter stick of dynamite injured three people, according to the authorities at the time, a one-year-old girl was treated for a burn on her face near the eye, an 11-year-old boy was treated for leg trauma & a 33-year-old woman suffered a hearing problem as well as a vertigo reaction. When interviewed none...

Sunday July 24th, 1988: Tom Seaver Day- 46,056 fans came out to Shea Stadium as the Mets officially retired Tom Seaver's #41 & inducted him into the teams Hall of Fame. All the fans in attendance got a white cap with the circled #41 on it with the words "Tom Seaver Day1988" written around it.  They were also given a Tom Seaver painted poster artist by Don Mass. Some of Tom's old team mates were on hand for the celebration. His long time battery mate Jerry Grote, former  roommate/short stop Bud Harrelson, teammate Rusty Staub, as well as his the left hander who was usually next in the rotation behind him, Jerry Koosman.  The legendary pitching coach,  Rube Walker, along with  longtime Mets trainer Tom McKenna, were also in attendance.  Tom & his wife Nancy came out from center field waving to the crowd in a convertible car circling the field. They were met on the field by their daughters Sarah & Anne as well as other family me...