centerfield maz

Randall Wayne Sterling was born on April 21st, 1951 in Key West, Florida. His father Clayton Sterling was a minor league first baseman who never got to the big leagues. Randy Sterling was the Mets first round draft pick (4th pick overall) in the Championship season of 1969. The six foot two, right hander was another fine arm in a long line of quality young pitching prospects the Mets had in the early seventies. By the time he got to AA Memphis in 1972 he was the staff’s leading pitcher going 12-11 with a 3.47 ERA just ahead of Bob Apodaca. The next season he was pushed up to AAA going 10-7 second on the staff to John Glass on the AAA Tidewater Tides staff. In 1974 he was only one of two pitchers (the other being Hank Webb) to reach double figures in victories. Sterling's twelve wins lead the staff going 12-11 with a 3.39 ERA. Sterling got a 1974 September call up, making his debut at Jarry Park in Montreal on September 16, 1974 against the Expos. He became the first New Yo

Michael Warren Scott was born on April 26th, 1955 in Santa Monica, California. The six foot two right hander attended Pepperdine University getting drafted in the second round of the 1976 amateur draft by the New York Mets. Scott pitched two seasons at AA Jackson going 14-10 with a 2.94 ERA in 1977 getting promoted to AAA Tidewater. He finished the year then pitched three more seasons at AAA Tidewater, going 10-10 in 1978.  Scott pitched well enough in Spring Training to make the 1979 Mets staff. He made his MLB debut on April 18th 1979 pitching two innings relieving Pat Zachary in a game against the Montreal Expos. He got his first start on April 24th & pitched five innings getting the win over the San Francisco Giants at Shea Stadium. He pitched in 14 games until mid June getting just one more decision, a loss before getting sent down to Tidewater until September. He made four appearances with the Mets that month going 0-2 with a hold in relief. He finished up at 1-3 wit

Rogers Hornsby was born on April 22, 1896 in Winters, Texas growing up in the Fort Worth area. The great Hornsby, nicknamed “the Rajah” was hired by George Weiss, the Mets first General Manager in 1961. He was to serve as a scout of the other NL teams, then became a coach for 1962 Mets in their inaugural season. Hornsby was more of a batting instructor that gave out hitting tips, rather than a hitting coach by today’s standards. There really was no such official title as a hitting coach until the mid seventies. Hornsby’s theory was to hit the ball straight up the middle. Mets Manager Casey Stengel would say, Hornsby could hit up the middle because he had enough power to hit it over the center field fence. Contrary to his style, Stengel believed in hitting down the lines, because that’s where the worst fielders played. Hornsby was always tough critic on players and very outspoken. The best compliment he could come up with on his scouting reports were “the guy looks like a maj

Brian Jeffrey Giles was born on April 27, 1960 in Manhattan, Kansas.  He was the grandson of George Giles who played in the Negro Leagues from 1929-1937.  Brian Giles attended Kearney high school in San Diego & was signed by the New York Mets in the third round of the 1978 draft. Giles not known as a big hitter, batted .299 at A ball Lynchburg (1979) & .286 at AA Jackson (1980) getting pushed up to AAA Tidewater in 1981. He made his MLB debut as defensive replacement in the 12th inning of a 4-2 Mets loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on September 12, 1982. He was back at Tidewater the next year returning to the Mets in August batting .210 behind a young Wall Backman at second. Although the scrappy Backman batted .272, he made 16 errors & had a fallen out within the organization. So in 1983 the second base job was up for grabs in Spring Training. Giles won the position & played his only career full season for the ’83 Mets. He hit .245 but showed speed wit

Adolph Louis "Dolph" Camilli was born on April 23, 1907 in San Francisco, California. The five foot ten first baseman signed with the Chicago Cubs right out of Sacred Heart high school. Camilli spent eight years in the minor leagues, hitting 17 or more HRs five times. He came up with Cubs in 1933 for 16 games as a September call up. Midway through the 1934 season he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies, and finished the year hitting 16 HRs with 87 RBIs while leading the NL in strikeouts (94). By 1936, he became a solid player, hitting 25 or more HRs & driving in 80 runs, three years straight for the Phillies. He would lead the league in strike outs again in 1935, 1938 & 1939, also striking out over 100 times four times in his career. At that point in time he was both the NL single season & all time strikeout leader. In 1937 he led the NL in on base percentage (.446%) while batting a career high .339 (.6th in the NL). At first base he led the league in fi

Neil Walker came to New York from Pittsburgh in the 2015-2016 off season in a trade for pitcher Jonathon Niese & to replace Daniel Murphy at second base. The Mets knew they were getting an upgrade defensively but had no idea that Walker would have the hot start he did, making everyone forget about a guy named Daniel Murphy, for the time being. April 5th 2016 Kansas City: After the Mets dropped their first game of the season in a hauntingly familiar place, Kansas City the second game was important to come out of with a win. Noah Syndergaard, probably the most hated pitcher on the Mets staff in Kansas City, continued where he left off in last years World Series. He shut out the Royals for six innings striking out nine. Jim Henderson, Addison Reed & Jeurys Familia contributed with scoreless, hitless innings as well. One of the newest Mets; Neil Walker did all the damage hitting a two run HR off Chris Young in the 4th inning, sealing the Mets 2-0 win. Friday April 15th

Alejandro Alberto De Aza was born on April 11th, 1984 in the Dominican Republic. The left hand hitting outfielder was signed out of high school by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2001. In 2004 he was selected by the Florida Marlins in the Rule 5 draft. He batted .286 & stole 34 bases in A Ball, following up with 27 more steals batting .278 at AA Ball the next year. In 2007 he surprised everyone by winning the centerfield job with the Marlins beating out other players with more experience. But a fractured ankle & surgery ruined his bid to remain in the line up & he played in just 67 games in three seasons, missing all of 2008. He was placed on waivers getting picked up by the Chicago White Sox, he played there as a back up getting a chance to start in 2013 when he had his best season. De Aza hit 17 HRs with 27 doubles 62 RBIs while batting .264 in 153 games. He won the Player of the Week Award for July 14th, 2013. In four seasons with the White Sox, he was in the

Christopher Domenic Iannetta was born April 8, 1983, in Providence, Rhode Island. His family comes from two different villages in Naples, Italy. They came to America & settled in Rhode Island where he was raised. The five foot eleven catcher, went to high school in the baseball town of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Pawtucket is the home of the Red Sox AAA farm team. Iannetta then attended the University of North Carolina, playing for the Tar Heels, making All Conference & coming in second in HRs (15) in his junior year. That same year he was drafted by the Colorado Rockies. In 2006 he tore up the minors at two different levels, batting .321 at AA Tulsa & .351 at AAA Colorado Springs. Baseball America had him ranked as the #18 prospect in the Pacific Coast League. He made his MLB debut on August 27th 2006 getting a base hit & an RBI off the San Diego Padres. The next day, he did the same thing against the New York Mets in an 8-4 Rockies win. Iannetta hit .260 in 21 gam

Ricardo Bones was born on April 7th 1969 in Guyama, Puerto Rico. The five foot ten, right handed pitcher was originally signed as an amateur free agent by the San Diego Padres in 1986. Bones arrived in the big leagues by 1991 with the Padres going 4-6 in 11 starts posting a 4.83 ERA. The next year he was involved in a big trade that sent him & Jose Valentin to the Milwaukee Brewers for Gary Sheffield. Bones spent parts of five seasons in Milwaukee winning ten games or more for three straight seasons 1993-1995. In 1994 he was 10-9, positing a 3.43 ERA (8th in the AL) & was the Brewers representative in that years All Star Game. Unfortunately he was .500 or under in two of those years. In 1996 he was the player to be named later in a deal to the AL New York club where he pitched in just four games. The journeyman pitcher went to the Cincinnati Reds (1997) Kansas City Royals (1997-1998) Baltimore Orioles (1999) & Florida Marlins (2000-2001). In his 11 year career

John Joseph McGraw was born on April 7, 1873 in Truxton, New York. He was son to an Irish immigrant who arrived in America in time for the Civil War. His father eventually married John McGraws mother after settling upstate in Truxton, New York which is located in Cortland, County New York State. The McGraws had seven more children after John was born, but the harsh winters & poverty of trying to raise such a large family was over bearing. A fever swept the McGraw household in 1884 killing Johns mother & three of his siblings. The family moved out of the house into a hotel but McGraw’s relationship with his father fell apart. His father had no tolerance for his sons love of baseball & became abusive toward him. Young John McGraw left home at 12 years old to live with a neighbor, Mary Goddard. He took on a number of jobs & played baseball for his local high school team. The short McGraw at five foot seven, made up for his size by playing hard. He played for t