centerfield maz

Thursday July 4th 1985 : At this point in time, Davey Johnson's New York Mets were tied for third place with the Chicago Cubs with a 41-35 record. They were 4 1/2 games behind the first St. Louis Cardinals & three games behind the second place Montreal Expos.  The Mets were in Atlanta on this Independence Day, facing Eddie Haas' fifth place Braves (34-42). The Braves were eleven games behind the first place (reigning N.L. Champion) San Diego Padres. The game began in front of 44,947 fans with Dwight Gooden going to the mound against the Braves; Rick Mahler. Neither starter was around for too long. There were two rain delays, which didn't help the time situation that was about to unfold. In the 1st inning, the Mets Wally Backman singled but was picked off first. Keith Hernandez then doubled & scored on a Gary Carter RBI single. But the Braves answered as Claudell Washington tripled & was brought home by Rafael Ramirez.  In the 3rd inning, Dwight Goo...

Monday-Fourth of July 2022: Buck Schowalter's Mets were comfortably 19 games over .500 atop the NL East with a three-game lead.  After a short homestand where they lost three of five, they were in Cincinnati for the Independance Day Holiday.  David Bell's Reds were struggling at 27-51. On this afternoon 19,533 came out to Great American Ballpark as the Mets Taijuan Walker took on Hunter Green. In the top of the 1st, the Mets Brandon Nimmo led off with a base hit but was thrown out trying to steal second. They would load the bases, but Eduardo Escobar popped up to end the inning. In the top of the 2nd, Mark Canha was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Tomas Nido dropped a one out base hit to right field. Brandon Nimmo then hit a three run HR, to give them a 3-0 lead. For Nimmo it was his sixth HR of the season. In the bottom of the 3rd inning, Taijuan Walker started the inning hitting Matt Reynolds with a pitch. Aramis Garcia followed with an infield single.  Former Met...

1967 Mets Team Photo In 1962 National League baseball returned to New York City. Whenever the Mets hosted games against the two former National League teams that moved West, the Giants & Dodgers it was always something special for the fans. In 1967, it had been ten years since the New York Giants & Brooklyn Dodgers had left town. Many of those old fans were still heartbroken, never getting over the move. So, when those two teams came to town, the Mets would always draw bigger crowds than usual. Juan Marichal Back then, expansion was not what it was today, so the first few years were losing ones for the New York Mets. But they were motivated by the excitement & always played the former New Yorker teams tough. Those Giants & Dodgers had some good teams out West in those days as well. From 1962 thru 1966 they combined to win three of the four NL Pennants. A s for the San Francisco Giants, they were coming into Shea Stadium on the 4th of July 1967, led by mana...

Tuesday July 4, 1972: On this Fourth of July, Holiday afternoon, it was an old-fashioned twin bill matinee at Shea Stadium followed by some fireworks at night. Yogi Berra's second place Mets (43-28) were just one game behind the first-place reigning World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates. Today the Mets hosted Don Zimmer's last place; San Diego Padres (25-47). The Padres were playing in the franchise's fourth season of MLB play.   They would finish in sixth place (last in the NL West) their first six seasons through 1974. They would lose 100 games or more fur times in that stretch. The Padres best hitter was Nate Colbert who would hit 38 HRs & drive in 111 runs. For the Mets, Tom Seaver who was already 10-4 was going up against the friars' Clay Kirby (5-7). Seaver would win 21 games that year, the third time in his career he won twenty or more & the second straight year. He posted a 2.92 ERA; he had won the NL ERA title the two previous year & would post the lea...

Friday July 4th, 1986:   On this Independence Day, the Mets hosted the Houston Astros, in what was to be an NLCS preview of that year. During the regular season the Mets went 7-5 against Houston.  At this point in the season, Davey Johnson's first place Mets (54-21) were running away with the NL East, holding a 12.5 game lead over the Montreal Expos.  Over in the NL West, Hal Lanier's Houston Astros (42-37) were 1.5 games behind the San Francisco Giants but would eventually take over the division. Todays, starting pitchers, were two of the best in that era as the Mets Dwight Gooden went up against future Hall of Famer, Nolan Ryan in front of 28,557 fans at Shea Stadium. In the bottom of the 1st inning, Lenny Dykstra led off with a double to right field. He advanced to third on Wally Backman's ground out. Keith Hernandez then singled up the middle scoring Dykstra with the first Mets run & Keith's 34th RBI. In the top of the 2nd, Kevin Bass led off with a base hit, bu...

Friday July 4th, 1969: Gil Hodges New York Mets (43-34) had just come off a four-game split in St. Louis with the reigning World Champions. On this Independence Day double header, they were at Pittsburgh's Forbes Field to take on Larry Shepard's Pirates (38-41). Former Pirates slugger Ralph Kiner, now a Mets broadcaster & Donn Clendenon another former Pirate enjoyed returning to Pittsburgh to see their former team & some old friends. For the Mets, Tom Seaver was going for his 13th win of the year, against two losses, facing off with the Pirates, Bob Veale. From 1964 thru 1967, Veale had won 16 games or more each season.  In the top of the 2nd, Rod Gaspar reached on an error advancing to second base. Catcher, Jerry Grote singled, bringing home Gaspar with the Mets first run.  In the top of the 3rd, utility man, Bobby Pfeil doubled, one of his nine doubles on the year, then Cleon Jones drove him in with a single to left field for the Mets second run. Cleon Jones...