Mauro Gozzo: Former Italian / American Mets Pitcher (1993-1994)

-
Mauro Paul Gozzo was born on March 7, 1966 in New Britain, Connecticut. 

 The Italian American right handed pitcher was nicknamed “Goose” by his team mates. Gozzo was originally drafted by the New York Mets in the 13th round of the 1984 draft. 

 He went 11-4 with a 2.45 ERA at A ball Memphis in 1985. He followed up with a 3.10 ERA & A 9-4 performance in the Carolina League during the Mets 1986 Championship season. 

 In March of 1987 he was traded along with Ed Hearn & Rick Anderson to the Kansas City Royals in exchange for David Cone. He eventually went to the Toronto Blue Jays organization going 12-1 in 1989 & got called up to the big leagues. He went 4-1 with the Blue Jays that season, getting traded over to Cleveland the next year.

He would win 10 games at the minor league level two more times, but only got into six MLB games over the next three seasons. He spent a year in Minnesota before returning to the New York Mets in 1993.

Gozzo went 8-11 with a 3.45 ERA at AAA Norfolk earning a September call up. He debuted with the Mets on September 6th, 1993 pitching the 8th inning in a 7-2 loss to the Houston Astros. 

 On September 18th, Gozzo earned a save against the Braves in Atlanta, closing out a 3-2 Mets win. He was credited with two holds along the way, but then on September 27th, he allowed a 9th inning tie breaking single to St. Louis’ Gerald Perry, which gave Gozzo the loss. On September 29th he pitched three scoreless innings in the Mets seventeen inning 1-0 win over St. Louis

In 1994 he got a chance as a starter, going seven innings against the Cardinals in St. Louis on May 8th, to earn the victory. He then beat the Atlanta Braves in his next start going into the 7th inning. But he then lost his next two starts & was back in the bullpen by the end of June.

He to wasn't too successful there, losing three of four decisions blowing a save & getting a credit for one hold. He finished the season at 3-5 with a 4.83 ERA striking out 33 batters, walking 28 in 69 innings pitched in 23 appearances.
 
Gozzo would not pitch in the majors again, he ended his six year playing career going 7-7 with one save, 55 strikeouts in 124 innings pitched over 48 games, posting a 5.30 ERA.

Retirement: He is now a director of a baseball team in the amateur athletic union.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

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

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 Story of the New York Mets Logo

-
Image
On November 16, 1961 cartoonist Ray Gotto (1916-2003) unveiled the circular New York Mets logo, a symbol which has virtually gone unchanged since its birth 55 years ago. Gatto was the illustrator of the "Ozark Ike" & "Cotton Woods" comic strips as well as having drawn many classic sports cartoons for the Sporting News. He won a contest that the club sponsored in order to start up a fan base beating out over 500 other entries for his design. The prize was not only to have his logo used but also $1000.  Artist Ray Gotto The original New York Mets team colors are blue and orange, the colors represent the two former National League teams who left New York for the West Coast. The orange represents the former New York Giants & the blue represents the Brooklyn Dodgers. Blue & orange are also the official colors of New York State. T he logo design is a round baseball with orange stitching and the Mets orange script lettering outlined in white ac
Read more

Remembering Christine McVie (1943-2022)

-
Image
 Longtime Fleetwood Mac singer Christine McVie passed away in hospital after a brief illness, she was 70 years old. The lovely Christine was a beautiful singer, songwriter, piano/keyboard player for Fleetwood Mac & in a solo career. Christine Anne Perfect was born in Lancashire, England on July 12th, 1943. Her father was a concert violinist & her mother a physic medium. Originally wanting to be an art teacher but she ended up in the music business. In 1968 she married Fleetwood Mac bassist John McVie, by 1971 she became a full-time member. It wasn't until 1975 when Stevie Nicks & Lindsay Buckingham joined Mac as the group became one of the biggest rock bands of all time. McVie usually was overshadowed by the star of Stevie Nicks. In 1975 her biggest songs from the album- Fleetwood Mac, Over My Head & Say You Love Me, both reached the top twenty in the US. She also co-wrote World Turning with Lindsay Buckingham, as well as Warm Ways & Sugar Daddy on her own. In
Read more