centerfield maz

Saturday April 18th, 1970: On this afternoon matinee at Shea Stadium, Gil Hodges' reigning World Champion New York Mets were still flying high, nine games into the 1970 season.  The Mets were at 5-4 at this point while on their first home stand of the season. Today they hosted Frank Lucchesi's Philadelphia Phillies in front of 23, 500 fans at Shea. Today  the Mets young fireball throwing pitcher, Nolan Ryan was making his first start of the 1970 season.  He went up against the Phillies Jim Bunning, who was familiar with Shea Stadium, having had pitched a perfect game there on Father's Day 1964. Today would be a historic day for Nolan Ryan as he would reach one of many, many milestones to come in his career. Today he would throw his first one hit game. Of course, Ryan would go onto throw an MLB record seven no hitters, but he would also throw 12 one hit games, also an MLB record tied with Bob Feller. In the top of the 1st inning, the Phillies Denny Doyle led off w

Sunday A pril 18th , 1971 :     This was the Mets eighth game of the season. It was the first game of a Sunday afternoon doubleheader at Shea  Stadium for Gil Hodges New York Mets (5-2) hosting Danny Murtaugh's Pittsburgh Pirates (6-4).  The 1971 Pirates would go on to win the World Series beating the Baltimore Orioles in seven games that year.  The Mets sent 24-year-old Gary Gentry to the mound to face the Pirates Luke Walker. Gentry was a fine young pitcher for the Mets starting out in the 1969 Championship season of his rookie year, going 13-12 with a 3.43 ERA. He earned the win the night the Mets clinched the NL East & was the winning pitcher in Game 33 of the World Series. In New York, Gentry was pitching in the shadows of Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman & Nolan Ryan.  Gentry would pitch four seasons for the Mets going 41-42 with a 3.56 ERA. He struck out 563 batters & walked 324 in 789 innings pitched in 131 appearances 9121 starts). Gary Gentry started out th

Carlos Ivan Beltran was born April 24th, 1977, in Manati, Puerto Rico. The six foot one Beltran was a star outfielder & volleyball player in his high school.  The   switch-hitting  outfielder was drafted in the second round of the 1995 draft by the Kansas City Royals at age 18. He was highly touted as a five-tool  player. quickly getting called up to the big leagues by 1998. Mets Career: In 2005 Beltran took over the centerfield job from Mike Cameron. Cameron moved over to left field but was not happy with the move. Quotes- Mike Cameron:  " Carlos is no doubt one of the best, if not the best defensive centerfielders in the game, and one of the best in Mets history. He plays with a smooth style, covers great range, goes back on a ball better than anyone, and had a strong accurate arm." Beltran quickly became popular with  the fans. Beltran & Pedro Martinez also acquired that off season, via free agency, help changed the organization around.  That year, the Met