centerfield maz

Dennis Leroy Springer was born February 12th 1965 in Fresno California, the hometown of Tom Seaver. He was one in a long line of Major league players that attended California State University at Fresno. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 21st round of the 1987 draft. The five foot ten, right hander's specialty was his knuckleball. He would spend seven years in the minors before making to the big leagues. By that time he was with the Philadelphia Phillies debuting in 1995 going 0-3 in just four games pitched. He then signed on with the California Angels playing there for two years into the transition of the team being called the Anaheim Angles. In two seasons there he posted ERA's near six & went a combined 14-15. He allowed the second most HRs in 1997 (32) & was fourth in the AL in earned runs with 112. He did throw a shut out in each of his seasons in Anaheim. In 1998 he was drafted by the new expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays as the 25th pick. U

Taylor Hill Teagarden was born December 21st 1983 in Dallas, Texas. The six foot right hand hitting catcher attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a star player. He was named Bug Twelve Conference Freshman of the Year & helped the 2005 Longhorns win the College World Series, making the All Tournament team as catcher. He was soon signed by his home town Texas Rangers in the 3rd round of the 2005 draft.  2005 was a rough year for him as he needed back surgery as well as Tommy John surgery. In 2008 he played on the US Olympic Team that won a Bronze medal. That year he also made his debut with the Rangers for two quick games in July & playing in 14 more games that September, batting .316.  In 2009 he played in a career high 60 games backing up Jarrod Saltalamacchia for the second place Rangers. He threw out 38% of would be base runners, while batting .217 with 6 HRs & 24 RBIs. Teagarden would spend four years in Texas as a part time player. He would the

Juan Centeno was born on November 16th 1989 in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. In 2007 the Mets drafted him out of high School in the 32nd round. The five foot nine, catcher Centeno, bats left handed while throwing right handed. He spent four years at the Mets A ball level between Brooklyn & St. Lucie, not hitting much but showing solid defense. After batting around or under .200 he hit .371 in 32 games (just 89 at bats) with the Cyclones in 2010. He then was pushed up to St. Lucie again even getting to AA Binghamton by the end of the season. In 2011 he was back at St. Lucie hitting .318. In 2012 he hit .285 at AA Binghamton as the clubs main catcher catching guys like Zack Wheeler & Jenrry Mejia. The next year he was playing in Puerto Rico, Binghamton & at AAA Las Vegas as their main catcher. He hit .305 & tossed out 56% of would be base stealers. With not much power he did not hit any HRs in 67 games. On September 18th he made his MLB debut catching & batting 8th

  Akeel J. Morris was born November 14h, 1992 in St. Thomas, United Sates Virgin Islands. The six foot one right hander pitched a perfect game in high school while in the Virgin Islands. He was selected by the New York Mets in the tenth round of the 2010 amateur draft. He pitched his first season with the Gulf Coast Mets & then at Kingsport, where he had great strike out numbers averaging 10.5 Ks per nine innings, but he had control issues, walking 6.5 batters per nine innings. In 2013 he was moved to Brooklyn where he went 4-1 with a 1.00 ERA with the Cyclones. He improved to strike out 60 batters while walking 23. In 2014 he got even better, while with the Savannah Sand Gnats he became a full time relief pitcher. He was 4-1 with 16 saves, posting a fantastic 0.63 ERA. He struck out 89 batters in 57 innings, which computes to a 14.1 strike out per nine inning ratio. In a rare instance, he struck out four batters in one inning in a game against the Augusta Green Jackets.

Julio Ruben (Torres) Morales was born February 18, 1949 in Puerto Rico. The right hand hitting five foot, ten inch outfielder was originally signed by the New York Mets as an amateur free agent in 1966 at the age of 17. He was taken away as the 16th pick by the National Leagues new San Diego Padres during the 1968 expansion draft.  Morales was an original Padre outfielder, making his debut as a September call up that season batting .195 with one HR & 6 RBIs in 19 games. He had good speed in the outfield & often made two handed basket catches playing as a reserve his first three seasons. By 1972 he was seeing regular action hitting .239 with seven triples, (sixth most in the NL) 4 HRs & 18 RBIs in 115 games.  In 1973 he played 122 games in the Padre outfield under manager Don Zimmer on a last place team going 60-102. Morales had 23 doubles, while batting .281. He would bat over .270 each of the next five seasons. But by 1974 the Padres had young outfielders Dave Winf

Robert Peter Geren was born on September 22nd 1961 in San Diego, California. He was a star athlete in high school, winning the San Diego HS Player of the Year Award. The six foot three catcher, was drafted in the first round (24th pick overall) by his hometown San Diego Padres in 1979. A year later he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals as a player to be named later in the deal that sent Gene Tenace & Rollie Fingers to the Cardinals. Fingers was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers in a huge deal four days later. As for Geren, it almost took him a decade to get to the big leagues, after spending five years at AAA ball where he eventually was signed by the AL New York club. He hit .271 at AAA Columbus in 1988 getting three call ups throughout the season. That year he appeared with his family, on the daytime version of the game show Family Feud. His family won the $5000 grand prize. He spent two years as back up to Don Slaught, taking over as the clubs main backstop in 1990.

Jerry Manuel was born December 23, 1953 in Hahira, Georgia soon moving with his family west to Cordova, California. He was picked in the first round of the 1972 draft, by the Detroit Tigers, the 20th pick overall. He was a solid middle infielder never known for his hitting. Life time he was a .150 hitter, going 19-127 in his brief career. He made his debut in 1975 as a September call up, going 1-18 in six games. The next season he hit only .140 in 43 at bats and found himself toiling in the minors for the next three years. In 1980 he was traded to the Montreal Expos for former Mets backup catcher, Duffy Dyer. He spent two seasons playing sparingly in Montreal; hitting a career best .200, with 3 HRs & 10 RBIs in 27 games in 1981. The 1981 strike shortened season was the only time the Expos ever made the post season. I I n the first round of the playoffs, Manuel went 1-14 playing in five games as Montreal defeated the Philadelphia Phillies. In the NLCS he appeared as a pinch

Saturday June 15th 2002: Today the Mets hosted their cross town rivals in a subway series game on an overcast day at Shea Stadium. It was a huge game, since this was the first time Roger Clemens was to come to bat, since the game was in an NL ballpark against the Mets, since the controversies between he & Mike Piazza. Back in the 2000 regular season Subway Series, Clemens had hit Piazza in the head with a pitch, laying him out at home plate. Piazza had continuously owned Clemens blasting HRs & hit after hit off the steroid ridden pitcher again & again. After the beaning Piazza missed time but returned to lead the Mets to the World Series, the first New York Subway Series since 1956. More controversy followed in Game #2 of that Series, when the two faced off & Piazza broke his bat on a pitch from Clemens. The bat barrel rolled to the mound & Clemens threw it in the direction of Piazza. Piazza walked to the mound & shouted words to Clemens but the umpire step

Aaron Shawn Estes was born February 18, 1973 in San Bernardino, California. The six foot two inch, left handed pitcher was a highly sought after prospect attending high school in Nevada, getting offered a scholarship to Stanford University. He turned it down when he was selected as a first round draft pick of the Seattle Mariners in 1991, the 11th pick overall. After four seasons in the minor leagues he was traded to the San Francisco Giants organization in 1995, along with Wilson Delgado in exchange for Salomon Torres.   He made his MLB debut in September of 1995 losing all three games he pitched. After a 3-5 year the next season, he turned it all around to have a career year. He went 19-5 (second most wins in the league) with 181 strikeouts, pitching 201 innings, posting a 3.18 ERA and making the NL All Star team. He was never known as a control pitcher & that year was no exception. He led the league in walks (100) and hit batters with eight.  Estes would walk 100 plus b

Robert Nathan Floyd was born October 20th 1943 in Hawthorne, California. He attended the University of Southern California, laying for the UCLA Bruins. He was drafted as an amateur free agent in 1964 by the Baltimore Orioles. Floyd was with the Orioles at the height of their AL domination, and not having much of a chance as a weak hitting infielder since the big league club had Brooks Robinson, Davey Johnson & Mark Belanger. He had cups of coffee in each season with Baltimore from 1968-1970. In those years they got to two World Series losing to the Amazing Mets in 1969 & beating the Cincinnati Reds in 1970. 1969 World Series: In 1969 was with the club all season & sat on the bench as the Amazing Mets upset the Orioles in five games. He did not expect to play unless Earl Weaver needed a pinch runner. He earned his $14,904 World Series share as well. Baseball Card: The back of his 1974 Topps baseball card noted, he was into hypnotism. He was long gone from the

So it seems the Philadelphia Phillies have two new murals painted at their Spring Training Facility, honoring the only two Championship Teams in their long 134 year history. (That's a Championship every 67 years.) One honors former New York Met & Phillie pitcher; Tug McGraw. McGraw started the phrase back in 1973, a rally cry that led the Mets to the 1973 National Leauge Pennant. (see post below). The slogan is legendary in Mets history & Tug McGraw's legacy where his baseball history began. In his career, McGraw did pitch one more year in Philadelphia (10 years)than in New York (9 years) & did use the phrase to less fan fare in Philly as well. Trivia: The slogan is now actually a trademark of the Tug McGraw Foundation. Tug McGraw was one of the star relievers in an age when the relief pitcher, known as "fireman" was coming into the lime light. McGraw was also a character that added to his celebrity status. He is not in Cooperstown but honored

Thomas Martin Veryzer was born on February 11, 1953 in Port Jefferson, New York. Tom came from a sport oriented family, his father John Veryzer was a basketball star at Manhattan College in the Bronx in the forties. Also his older brother played baseball in the Detroit Tigers organization in the early seventies. The six foot one, right handed short stop, Tom Veryzer went to Islip high school on Eastern Long Island getting drafted in the first round of the 1971 draft (11th pick overall) by the Detroit Tigers.  The shortstop had a good glove & impressed right away, getting a big league call up as soon as 1973 after playing at AAA Toledo. He batted a minor league best .296 in 1974 at AAA Evansville, getting called up for good after that season. He came up briefly in the 1973 & 1974 seasons with the Tigers getting his second big league start, in New York playing against the A.L. New York team at the end of the ’73 season. On the last day of the 1973 season he drove in the