Luis Rojas: The 23rd Mananger In Mets History

-
Luis Alou Rojas was born on September 1st 1981 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Rojas' father is legendary baseball player/manger Felipe Alou. Alou has fathered eleven children. 

 Luis (among others) is half brother to former Mets player Moises Alou. His uncles are former short time Met, Jesus Alou & 1966 NL batting champion Matty Alou.

Rojas played for a short time with the Montreal Expos in their minor leagues, as a first & third baseman. His mind soon was more focused on managing like his dad.

Quotes- Luis Rojas: "That was more my role model growing up. If I had seen him play, maybe I would have thought more about playing."

Although he was never an MLB Player, Rojas has a long coaching & managerial career behind him, although it was never at the big league level. The Mets first hired him as their coach in the Dominican summer league (2007). In 2008 he joined the coaching staff of the Gulf Coast Mets. By 2010 he was coach for the A ball Savannah Sand Gnats.

In 2010 the Mets named him manager of the Gulf Coast Mets, St. Lucie Mets & then the Sand Gnats from 2012 to 2014. He was voted best managerial prospect in the Florida State League by his peers in 2015 & 2016.

In the Dominican Professional Baseball League, he replaced David Bell as manager in the 2015 / 2016 season & won his team a Championship.

In 2017 & 2018 he was the Mets AA Binghamton Rumble Ponies manager, bringing his team to second & fifth place finishes respectively. 
In 2019 the Mets thought so highly of Rojas that he was put on tier staff as quality control / outfield coach. This supposedly happened to block him from the Tampa Rays, who wanted to add him to their big league coaching staff.

 After hiring & mutual resigning of Carlos Beltran, due to the ridiculous Astros sign stealing scandal, Rojas was named manager of the 2020 Mets just a few weeks before Spring Training is to begin.

 As with anything Mets, there is skepticism, but just the same, some positive reaction. Former Mets player & legendary manager Bruce Bochy stated his approval for Rojas. He is a longtime friend of Felipe Alou as well.

 Mets Rookie of the Year- Pete Alonso: " loved having Luis in '18 & '18 as my AA Manager! It's awesome playing under him & having him on staff last year as well!! Super pumped to have him as the manager. Also throws some damn good BP.

 Marcus Stroman: Love love love it. Love being around him on the bench last year. Always teaching & full of knowledge. Super laid back & brings nothing but great vibes each & every day. Excited even more for the year!

 Trivia: Rojas & Alou are now one of six father / son managers in MLB history. Connie & Earl Mack, George & Dick Sisler, Bob & Joel Skinner, Buddy & David Bell, Bob & Aaron Boone.

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 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

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