The Drama of Former Pitcher Julio Machado (1989-1991)

-
Julio Segundo Machado was born on December 1, 1965 in Zulia, Venezuela. In 1985 the twenty year old five foot nine, right hander was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies. His minor league career never took off & 

 Four years later in March 1989 he was released. A week later he was then signed by the New York Mets. He pitched through all levels of the minors in 1989, landing in AAA Tidewater by August. He finished up the year with an overall record of 6-7 with 12 saves.

On September 7th, 1989 he debuted with the Mets in a mop up performance of a 13-1 Mets win against the St. Louis Cardinals at Shea Stadium. He would make ten appearances that month for the second place Mets who finished six games behind the Chicago Cubs. 

 On September 24th he blew a save against the Montreal Expos, when Dave Martinez completed a five run 9th inning with an RBI base hit. Machado finished the year at 0-1 with a hold & 3.17 ERA.

In 1990 he made the Mets staff as a reliever out of Spring Training. On April 13th he earned his first career win, coming against the Expos, while pitching one inning of relief. On April 24th he earned another win in a 2-1 Mets triumph over the Atlanta Braves. He picked up wins in July & August as well. Overall In 37 games with the Mets, Machado had good control with a decent fastball. He went 4-1 while posting a 2.37 ERA, striking out 27 batters in 34 innings.

In the first week of September he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for catcher Charlie O’Brien. Machado went 3-3 in Milwaukee the next season and looked to have a good future.

Drama: In the winter of 1992 he was back at his home in Venezuela when tragedy struck. He was involved in a car accident and then got into an argument with the young woman driving the other car. Machado pulled out a gun, shooting the woman & killing her.

Needless to say he never played in the majors again, but did pitch in Venezuela for three years, while awaiting his sentence. He was convicted & served four years of a sixteen year sentence in prison. When he got out he attempted a baseball comeback but no MLB team would touch him.

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 Sal Bando: Former Italian / American All Star (1966 - 1981)

-
Image
Salvatore Leonard Bando was born February 13, 1944, in the Little Italy section of Warrensville Heights, 16 miles southeast of Cleveland, Ohio.  His father Ben was a self-employed carpenter & accomplished softball infielder. His mother Angela was a home maker who also enjoyed sports playing both softball & basketball. Ben & Angela had a daughter Victoria & sons Salvatore & Christopher. The six-foot third baseman played baseball at Arizona State University with his future Oakland teammate Rick Monday & seven others who made the major leagues.  There his manager was the legendary coach Bobby Winkles who would later go on to coach Bando in Oakland in 1974. Winkles would also manage the California Angels. In 1965 Bando batted .317 was All Conference & batted .480 (12-25) with 9 RBIs in the College World Series. Bando was selected in the sixth round of the 1965 draft after Rick Monday who was the first-round pick of the Kansas City Athletics. MLB Debut: He got
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

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