centerfield maz

Richard Jose Hidalgo was born on June 28, 1975 in Venezuela. The big six foot three, Hildago was signed by the Houston Astros in 1991. He was considered an all around fast player until a knee issue hurt his speed. He was a fine outfielder with a strong throwing arm and good power at the plate. After three years he reached the AA level & then hit 14 HRs two straight years at AA Jackson. In 1997 he began the year at AAA New Orleans hitting 11 HRs batting .279 before getting called up. He played parts of two seasons batting over .300 both times. His first full season was 1999 and he hit 15 HRs with 25 doubles 56 RBIs but only hit for a .227 average. After the season he had knee surgery & it helped his troubles at the plate. In 2000 he had a huge year as did many other bats in baseball during the so called "steroid era". Hidalgo bashed 44 HRs (4th in the league) 122 RBIs (7th in the league) hit 42 doubles while batting .314 for the fourth place Astros. He st

May 21,1907: It was a classic match up for the day, the NY Giants star Christy Mathewson would go against Chicago Cubs ace, Three Finger Brown at the Polo Grounds. The Giants had a one game lead over the Cubs for 1st place in the National League. These were the Cubs of Tinkers to Evers to Chance, World Champions & the last Cub team to win a World Series (1908). They were bitter rivals of the NY Giants. The game turned out to be quite a pitchers duel. Giants catcher Roger Bresnahan, (who just last month became the first catcher to ever wear shin guards) would make two errors that would cost his team the game. The Giants 3-2 loss was Christy Mathewsons first of the year, but more importantly it put Chicago in a 1st place tie. The crowd back in those days were very unruly. This is still back in a time where baseball was just becoming a gentlemans game, there was alot of drinking & fighting still going on. The umpires of the game Hank O'Day and Bob Emslie had

Carl Owen Hubbell was born June 22, 1903 in Carthage, Missouri. The six foot left hander became known as King Carl & The Meal Ticket. As a young boy he would throw stones against his barn door, he got so good he was able to hit them on a hole the size of a dime. In his career Hubbell’ s best pitch was a screwball, he threw it so often it left his arm twisted and had his palm facing outward after his baseball career. Hubbell attended high school at Meeker Oklahoma & was originally signed by the Detroit Tigers. He was first sent to minor league Toronto & then to Decatur Georgia as well as the Texas League. After two years of frustrations, he was released by Detroit, because player manager Ty Cobb feared the screw ball would hurt his arm. In 1926 the New York Giants signed him, manager John McGraw said "after all Christy Mathewson threw a screw ball pitch called the fade away." Hubbell went 10-6 in his 1929 rookie year, with a 2.83 ERA. On May 8th, he th

Anthony Christopher Clark was born on June 15, 1972 in Newton, Kansas. The tall six foot eight Clark was a star basketball player in high school at El Cajon, California. He broke a San Diego high school area record for points in a season & a career, averaging 43.7 points per game. The switch hitting first baseman was also a star baseball player getting drafted in the first round (second pick overall) by the Detroit Tigers in 1990. By 1994 he was belting 23 HRs with 99 RBIs at AAA Toledo. Clark then hit 14 more in 1995 and although he was hitting for power he was striking out quite often. That season he got a September call up to the Tigers hitting his first career HR in Toronto a week after his debut. Clark would play the next six seasons in Detroit as the teams main first baseman, becoming known as “Tony the Tiger”. He had three 30 plus HR seasons, and drove in 99 runs or better three times as well. In his rookie year he was third in the A.L. Rookie of the year voting

Tuesday, June 3rd 1969: Tonight was a milestone in Mets history, it was the latest point in the season in club history that the team was above .500. The Amazing Mets were tied for second place, with the Pittsburgh Pirates,  8 1/2 games behind the Chicago Cubs. Tonight, Gil Hodges Mets (24-23) hosted Walter Alston's second place Los Angeles Dodgers (28-20) just 1 1/2 games out of first. On the mound was the 1969 Cy Young winner; Tom Seaver against L.A.'s Alan Foster. Starting Lineups Los Angeles Dodgers         New York Mets 1 Willie Crawford LF 1 Bud Harrelson SS 2 Willie Davis CF 2 Tommie Agee CF 3 Wes Parker 1B 3 Wayne Garrett 3B 4 Andy Kosco RF 4 Cleon Jones LF 5 Tom Haller C 5 Ed Kranepool 1B 6 Bill Sudakis 3B 6 Ron Swoboda RF 7 Jim Lefebvre 2B 7 Jerry Grote C 8 Ted Sizemore SS 8 Al Weis 2B 9 Alan Foster P 9 Tom Seaver P In the 1st inning, The Dodgers Willie Crawford was thrown out at second base trying to stretch Tommie Agee's error in