centerfield maz

Saturday May 11th, 1996: On this day 23,237 fans came out to Shea Stadium to celebrate John Franco Day. The Mets honored the Brooklyn born pitcher who, was a graduate of nearby St. John's University, in a pre-game ceremony.  The Italian / American John Franco had recently recorded his 300th career save, less than two weeks earlier. On this afternoon, D allas Green's New York Mets (15-19) hosted Jim Riggleman's Chicago Cubs (16-20). Pete Harnisch took the mound for New York, and Kevin Foster for the Reds, in what turned out to be a wild brawling afternoon. In the top of the 1st inning, the Cubs Sammy Sosa hit a two run HR to start out the scoring.  In the bottom frame, with one out, the Mets Jose Vizcaino singled & Bernard Gilkey walked. Next up was catcher Todd Hundley, with two strikes on him, Kevin Foster threw a pitch straight at his head.  Hundley was not happy & neither was pitcher Pete Harnisch.  Hundley ended up popping up maki...

Tuesday May 8th , 1973 : Early on in the Mets 1973 Pennant season, the Mets had a big scare when one of their top pitchers got struck with a line drive. The previous night, they had beaten the Braves to get to .500 & were just one game out of first place. On this chilly rainy evening at Shea Stadium, Yogi Berra's Mets (13-13) hosted Hall of Fame slugger, Eddie Mathews' Atlanta Braves (9-17) in front of the smallest crowd in the ten year history of Shea Stadium, up to that point of just 6,840. Logo Trivia: The Braves were sporting their classic lower case red colored "a" on their white & blue caps.  Tonight, the Mets young southpaw, who was the reigning NL Rookie of the Year, Jon Matlack (2-5) took the mound against Atlanta's Ron Reed (1-4). Jon Matlack held the Braves scoreless over the first three innings.  In the home 3rd inning, Ron Reed recorded the first two outs. Next, Teddy Martinez singled, then Felix Millan doubled off his old Brave...

Sunday May 9th, 1982: This Sunday was a Mother's Day matinee at Shea, as a small crowd of 15,008 came to see George Bamberger's second place Mets (14-15) take on Frank Robinson's fourth place San Francisco Giants (13-16). These were still rough times for Mets fans, as the team was about to have its fifth straight losing season. They were still two years away fr om competing with a winning record.  A week earlier the Mets had traded away the popular Lee Mazzilli in exchange for, yet a still unknown young pitcher named Ron Darling. Today, the Mets sent Brooklyn born pitcher, Pete Falcone to the mound against the Giants Alan Fowlkes. In the top of the 1st, Pete Falcone struck out Chili Davis & Johnnie LeMaster to start the game. Tom O'Malley doubled but Jack Cark flew out to left to end the inning. In the bottom of the 1st, Alan Fowlkes struck out Mookie Wilson & Wally Backman to start the inning, then Gary Rajsich flew out for a 1-2-3 inning. In the home 3rd i...

As Davey Johnson's Mets came into Cincinnati for a three game series with the Reds, they had just left Atlanta taking their first loss after a record eleven game win streak. The Mets were in first place already holding a 5.5 game lead over the Expos. They were about to go on another seven game win streak taking them into mid May. Friday May 2nd, 1986: Pete Rose's Reds were off to bad start, having lost five straight & nine out of their last ten entering this game this series would set the Red Legs back further.  Pete Rose Trivia: At the time Pete Rose was the last player/manager in baseball & no one else has played the dual roles since. This would be the All-Time hits leader's last season as a player with his final at bat coming on August 7th. That season he mostly platooned with veteran Tony Perez at first base. Rose would continue to manage until his gambling habit had him placed on MLB's ineligible list in 1989. Todays starters were Sid Fernandez for New Y...