Early Eighties Mets Reserve Outfielder: Gary Rajsich (1982-1983)

-
Gary Louis Rajsich was born on October 28th, 1954 in Youngstown, Ohio. The six foot to, left hand hitter attended Arizona State University, getting drafted by the Houston Astros in the 11th round of the 1976 draft.

After five seasons in the Astro minor leagues, he was traded to the New York Mets organization in1981. At AAA Tidewater, he hit 24 HRs with 56 RBIs while batting .277 in 74 games for the Tides.

In 1982 he made the Mets club out of Spring Training, debuting as a pinch hitter in the second game of the season. On April 12th, he got his first start & got his first career hit, a double at Wrigley Field off the Cubs; Dickie Noles. On May 18th, he hit his first career HR, a three run shot off future Met Bruce Berenyi, in a 7-4 win over the Cincinnati Reds. He played in 80 games for the 1981 Mets, batting .259 with 2 HRs eight doubles, three triples & 12 RBIs.

In 1983 he was back at AAA Tidewater, where he hit .270 with 28 HRs & 83 RBIs, both second to Clint Hurdle. He got the September call up, playing in 11 games for the Mets batting .333 with a HR & three RBIs in 36 at bats.

A youtube video exists of Rajsich making a spectacular catch for the Mets, at Shea Stadium while playing right field.

 In April of 1984 his contract was purchased by the St. Louis Cardinals & he went on to slug another 29 HRs at AAA Louisville.

In 1985 he was sent to the San Francisco Giants with Jose Uribe, Dave LaPoint & David Green in exchange for Jack Clark. In 51 games with the Giants he hit .165 with ten RBIs. It would be Rajsich's last year in the majors, ending his four year career at age 31. In 149 games he hit .236 with 70 hits, three HRs, 17 doubles & 27 RBIs. In the minor leagues he had hit 158 career HRs with 590 RBIs in 972 games.

Retirement: After his MLB career he played with his brother in the Senior Professional Baseball Association in St. Petersburg, Florida.

He then became an MLB scout, getting credit for signing the Boston Red Sox; John Lester. He also scouted for the Toronto Blue Jays & currently is the Baltimore Orioles Director of amateur scouting.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering Bobby Ojeda's Tragic Boating Accident (1993)

-
Image
Steve Olin, Tim Crews & Bob Ojeda March 22 nd 1993: was an off day from Spring Training, for three Cleveland Indians pitchers; Former Mets 1986 World Champion pitcher; Bobby Ojeda, Tim Crews & Steve Olin. The three friends, took out an 18-foot open-air bass boat & went out fishing & gator hunting in the darkness of the evening on Lake Nellie in Clermont, Florida. Tragedy struck, when the boat rammed into a private dock that jutted out some 250 feet into the still waters. Two other Cleveland Indians personnel had arrived to meet the fishing party just as the horror took place. They heard Bob Ojeda saying they needed help. The two men jumped into the water and called out for someone to call 911. 27 year old pitcher; Steve Olin was killed instantly. 31 year old pitcher; Tim Crews was alive but was struggling to breathe suffering from massive head wounds. Bobby Ojeda was in & out of shock, he was suffering from head lacerations but was coherent. The
Read more

Remembering Vixen Founder / Guitarist; Jan Kuehnemund (1961-2013)

-
Image
centerfieldmaz was shocked to learn of the sudden passing of Jan Kuehnemund, the founding member of the all female metal band Vixen. Jan was a fantastic guitarist, song writer & women pioneer in Heavy Metal. I am a huge fan of hard rock all girl bands & Vixen were one my long time favorites. Janice Lynn Kuehnemund was born November 18th, 1961 in St. Paul Minnesota. The female guitarist formed one of the first all female Metal bands in Minnesota with singer Janet Gardner while in high school in 1980. By 1985 they moved the band to Los Angles California, to be part of the Heavy Metal scene. In 1987 the classic Vixen line up of Jan Kuehnemund (lead guitar) Janet Gardner (vocals/ guitar) Share Pederson (bass) & Roxy Petrucci (drums) formed & released their debut album the following year. Vixen 1988 In a world of all male Heavy Metal bands during its heyday, Vixen were groundbreaking in being an all female metal band. The Runaways, with Joan Jett & Lita Ford
Read more

The Odd Couple TV Show's Beloved Supporting Cast

-
Image
On this the 45th Anniversary Season of when my favorite television show of all time The Odd Couple first debuted it's time to pay tribute to the great supporting  cast. Murray Greshler was a  big hit with fans as the simple minded bumbling NYPD Officer: Murray the Cop . Murray was a long time friend of Oscar Madison & usually becomes the subject of Oscar's jokes. Some great lines referenceing Murrays nose are "N ose' Feliciano" / "Tokyo Nose" & "Come inside Murray, your sucking up all the air in the hallway".  Even Felix chimed in asking him if the other army reserve soldiers made fun of him saying "when you look up it looks like a two car garage". Murray would become one of both Felix & Oscars best friends appearing 73 of the 114 Odd Couple episodes . Murray wouldn't think twice about double parking his patrol car double parked outside the Park Avenue or Central Park West building where Felix & Oscar
Read more

Fictional Mets Infielder Chico Escuela ( of SNL) Visits Mets Spring Training (1979)

-
Image
Bill Murray interviews (Garrett Morris) Chico Escuela In March 1979, original Saturday Night Live cast member; Garrett Morris joined the Mets at Miller Huggins Field for Spring Training. At the time the Mets were still holding Spring Training in St. Petersburg Florida.  Morris was filmed being interviewed by his SNL cast mate, Bill Murray as the fictional Mets player: Chico Escuela who wore uniform #5 (cinque).  Escuela was famous for his spoof of the Latin players of the time, who did not speak much English. His famous quote "baseball been berry- berry good to me" began the previous year on SNL's weekend update. Bill Murray & Ed Kranepool It was said during the mock 1979 Spring Training interview, that Chico who was a nine time All Star second baseman, had given up his job at the Weekend Update Sports desk to make a comeback with the Mets at age 41.  Chico had fictionally written a tell all baseball book; "Bad Stuff About the Mets" which tick
Read more

The 1970's Oakland A's Ball Girls- (MLB's First)

-
Image
In the days of the early seventies the Oakland A's won three straight Championships & changed the face of baseball forever.  The team's controversial owner was known to be cheap in paying his star players & known to meddle in the teams on field affairs. He drove managers crazy & even had Dick Williams resign after winning his second straight World Series. But Finley also revolutionized baseball in many other ways. He was instrumental in getting the designated hitter in the American League & have the World Series played at night, so fans could attend after work. He gave his players fancy names like Catfish, Blue Moon & True Blue.  When his star Reggie Jackson refused to shave his beard, he encouraged the whole team to grow facial hair by paying them $200 each.  The A's team even grew their hair long, a sign of the times. But before that baseball players had not had facial or long hair since the 1800's.  He introduced bright colored yello
Read more