centerfield maz

Guillermo Montañez Naranjo was born on April 1, 1948, in Catano, Puerto Rico, a suburb outside of San Juan known for being the home of the Bacardi Rum distillery. His father was a truck driver & his mother a housewife. In 1965, the six-foot left-hand hitting outfielder / first baseman would originally get signed by the St. Louis Cardinals at age 18.  The next year  Montanez would get drafted (Rule V) by the California Angels MLB Career:  In 1966 Montanez made his MLB debut on Opening Day as a pinch runner & stole a base against the Chicago White Sox He would play in eight games before getting sent to back to the Cardinals.  M ontanez played the next three seasons in the minors & then was sent to the Philadelphia Phillies as a player to be named later in the infamous Curt Flood trade. Flood had originally refused to report to Philadelphia challenging the reserve clause. In 1970  at AAA Eugene, in the Pacific Coast L...

Monday April 4th,  Opening Day 1988:  An exciting Opening Day in Montreal brought 55,413 Canadians out to Olympic Stadium (Stade Olympique) to see Buck Rogers' Expos host Davey Johnson's New York Mets. The previous year the Expos had won 91 games (91-71) finishing in third place four games behind the St. Louis Cardinals. The Mets (92-70) had finished second just one game ahead of  Montreal. Todays starting pitchers were Dwight Gooden for the Mets &  Dennis Martinez for the  Expos,   Gooden had started the 1987 season in rehab which was the only year he missed being the teams Opening Day starter from 1985-1991 seasons. In the Mets 1988 NL Eastern Champion season, Gooden would be an 18-game winner going 18-9 with a 3.19 ERA & 175 strike outs. Montreal's Dennis Martinez would go on to win 15 games that year, then & win 14 games or more in six of the next seven seasons. After a scoreless top of the 1st inning, ...

Ronny Mauricio was born April 4th, 2001, in the Dominican Republic. The six foot three infielder was signed by the New York Mets as an international free agent in 2017. He began his career with the Gulf Coast & Kingsport Mets. In 2021 he was with the A ball Brooklyn Cyclones getting promoted to AA Binghamton where he hit 20 HRs with 60 RBIs in 108 games.  He showed good athletic abilities in the Mets farm system; his name was being talked about as a possible future Mets star infielder. In 2022 he hit 26 HRs with 89 RBIs in a full season at Binghamton.  In 2023 he was promoted to AAA Syracuse, where he hit .292 with 23 HRs 30 doubles & 71 RBIs while stealing 24 bases in 116 games before getting the big league call up. Mauricio showed power as well as speed but also has trouble hitting breaking balls & needs to be more patient at the plate. MLB Debut: On September 1st, 2023, Mauricio made his MLB debut & doubled off the Mariners Logan Gilbert in his first career...

Albert John Weis was born April 2, 1938 in Franklin Square, New York on Long Island. He grew up in the town of Bethpage & attended Farmingdale high School. The Long Island boy then joined the Navy & while playing baseball there got signed by the Chicago White Sox as an amateur free agent. The speedy six-foot switch-hitting speedy  infielder stole 42 bases in 1960 at the low level of the minor leagues. Al spent four years in the minor leagues peaking in 1962 at AAA Indianapolis batting .296 with 13 triples, 15 doubles & 31 stolen bases.   MLB Career: In September 1962 Weis got a call up playing behind the double play combo of Hall of Famers, Luis Aparicio & Nellie Fox. Weis debuted in Washington drawing a walk in his first game in a 3-1 loss to the Senators. He went just 1-12 during the month (.083). At the end of the season the White Sox traded away Luis Aparicio, Weis played his rookie year as a utility infielder behind Nellie Fox & Ron Hanse...