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Showing posts from November, 2020

Former Mets Third Baseman: "The Grave Digger" Richie Hebner (1979)

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Richard Joseph Hebner was born November 26, 1947 in Boston Massachusetts. Hebner will forever be remembered as being a grave digger in the off season, as stated on the back of his 1974 baseball card. He made $35 for each grave he dug, working at a cemetery run by his family. In high school he was one of the best young hockey players in Massachusetts history, but he was also a star baseball player. He chose the baseball career getting picked in the first round of the 1966 draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He batted .336 at AA Raleigh in 1967 after 78 games there that season. In 1968 he batted .276 at AAA Columbus with 6 HRs & 51 RBIs.   He arrived in the big leagues at age 21 in 1969. This was at a time when the Pirates would dominate the NL East, with the exception of 1969 & 1973 when the Mets won the Eastern Divisional title. In Pittsburgh he made five post seasons appearances, winning a World Series in 1971. He was their regular third baseman until 1977 when he

Former Italian / American Pitcher: Dave Giusti (1962-1977)

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David John Giusti was born on November 27, 1939 in Seneca Falls, New York. Guisti attended Syracuse University, & was the Captain of their 1961 College World Series team. This was the same year Ernie Davis won the Heisman Trophy at Syracuse & rocker Lou Reed was also studying for the Orange. Giusti got signed that same year by the expansion Houston Colt 45’s & debuted the next season going 2-3 as a reliever. He bounced back & forth to the minors, going (34-27) making the Houston staff for good in 1965. By this time the team had changed their name to the Astros & Giusti won 15 games (10th in the league) going 15-14 with a 4.20 ERA. He would win 11 games in each of the next two seasons but posted losing records both years. He was traded to the St. Louis Cardinlas for the 1969 season going 3-7 with 12 starts in 22 games. He then was sent to the Pittsburg Pirates where he found a new home & new career. Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh ,converted him to a fu

Corey Oswalt: Mets Pitcher (2018-2020)

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Corey Edward Oswalt was born September 3rd 1993 in San Diego, California. The six foot, five, right hander, began his career as an infielder. By the time he committed to play at UC Santa Barbara he was a pitcher. He was drafted by the New York Mets in the 7th round of the 2012 draft. He spent two seasons with the Kingsport Mets, making it to Brooklyn by 2014, going 6-2 with a 2.26 ERA for the Cyclones behind Marcos Molina as the teams top two pitchers. This team also included Michael Conforto & Amed Rosario. Oswalt continued to pile on the wins, going 11-5 with the Savannah Sand Gnats in 2015, then 4-2 with St. Lucie & the Gulf Coast Mets but had an ERA of 4.22.  In 2016 he was promoted to AA Binghamton, going 12-5 with a good 2.28 ERA in 24 starts. At the end of the season the Mets added him to their 40 man roster. He made his MLB debut on April 25th, finishing off a 9-1 loss to the Cardinals in St. Louis. He was in AAA Las Vegas until the end of June when he was br