centerfield maz

Michael William Difelice was born on May 28, 1969 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The six foot two catcher, is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, getting drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the eleventh round of the 1991 draft. He didn’t hit for power or average but was always a fine defensive catcher. He threw out over 45% of would be base runners from 1994-1996 earning a quick cup of coffee with the 1996 St. Louis Cardinals. MLB Career: In 1997 he saw action in 93 games, sharing time with Tom Lampkin, batting .238 with 4 HRs & a career high 30 RBIs. In 1998 he was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the expansion draft becoming an original Devil Ray. He would spend three and a half seasons with Tampa throwing out over 40% of base stealers twice.  photo by centerfieldmaz- Spring Training 2007 He batted a career high .307 in 1999 (179 at bats). That season he also hit a career high six HRs, & repeated that the following season. On July 31st, 2001, he

Raymond Joseph Robert Daviault was born May 27, 1934 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The right handed pitcher had ties with all three National League New York baseball teams at one time or another in his career.  The six foot one, right hand pitcher was originally signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1954.  He pitched in their organization for six seasons mostly at the A ball levels or lower.  At the time he arrived he only spoke French. In 1960 he went to the San Francisco Giants organization & pitched there for two seasons. In 1960, he was a best 13-5 with a 2.76 ERA, at AAA Rio Grande Valley.  Daviault was a ten game winner (10-9) in 1961 for Tacoma, in the AAA Pacific Coast League, before getting drafted by the New York Mets in the 1961 expansion draft. Original Met: Daviault was an original 1962 Met & became the first Canadian born player to don a Mets uniform. He became known as "Frenchy" due to his Quebec upbringing. He was remembered as a good natured guy wit

Friday May 22nd, 1998: The ground work on this massive Mets deal, was laid a week earlier when the Los Angeles Dodgers traded Mike Piazza & Todd Ziele to the Florida Marlins in exchange for Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla, Charles Johnson & Jim Eisenreich. It is considered one of the worst deals in Dodger history. It all happened as the end result of contract disputes with L.A. & Piazza since he was to be a free agent at the end of the season. The Florida Marlins had won the World Series the previous year & wanted to cut salary. They would shed over $22 million on this trade alone. The Marlins had a big league fire sale, dumping all their big salaried players.  In acquiring  Mike Piazza, it would give them a big chip to trade for more top prospects.  After the 1997 Marlin Championship, The New York Mets acquired  Al Leiter, for pitching prospect A.J. Burnett. At this point in time, both teams GMs were on good terms, making it easier leading up to the Piazza deal.

When the Bobby Valentine era began in late 1996, there were signs of good things to come. In Valentine's first full year at the helm, the Mets won 88 games, the most wins they had had in seven years. It was also the first time they went over .500 since 1990. In 1998 they won 88 games again, this time finishing second but still missing out on the wild card spot. There were a couple of more pieces Valentine & the Mets needed to complete their team to make a deep post season run. On May 22nd, 1998 Mike Piazza arrived & the Mets had their superstar player, a future Hall of Famer. In Piazza's first full season the Mets won 97 games & made the post season. Piazza hit 40 HRs & drove in 124 runs.  In 2000 he led the Mets to the NL Pennant.  But before the greatest hitting catcher of All Time arrived, the Mets were in turmoil at the catchers position. Todd Hundley had been the Mets All Star catcher & had the position locked up since 1992. By 1996, he had set

Bobby Valentine was drafted as a first round pick out of Stamford high school in his native, Connecticut back in 1968. At the age of 18, Valentine was named the MVP of the Pioneer League. He played under manager Tommy Lasorda, who became a mentor & lifelong friend to Valentine. In 1969 Valentine was briefly brought up to the big leagues for five games. He then continued to develop over two more seasons in the minor league level.  At the age 20 he was playing at the Los Angeles Dodgers AAA Spokane club, batting .340 with 14 HRs 39 doubles 16 triples & 29 stolen bases. Valentine was rushed up to the big league club, & he batted .249 with the '71 Dodgers, in 101 games. The next year Bobby still didn't have the power & speed he had in the minors. But Valentine did raised his average to .274 in 1972. That winter the Dodgers & the cross-town California Angels in Anaheim, made a blockbuster trade. Bobby Valentine was part of the deal that sent him, Frank

Saturday May 12th, 1990: In this Matinee at Shea, Davey Johnson's Mets (16-14) hosted Tommy Lasorda's L.A. Dodgers (14-17) in front of 41,935. Things were slowly going sour for the Mets, since the '86 Championship Season, the Mets only made the post season one more time in 1988. They would fire Davey Johnson during the 1990 season & give Bud Harrelson the position. But things would get even worse for Bud into the nineties.  But on this day, Mets pitcher Frank Viloa, known as "Sweet Music" would set a franchise record, by winning his ninth start in a row, dating back to last season. For Viola, he started out 1990 at 6-0 entering this game, with a 1.05 ERA. He had 45 strike outs with just five walks in 44 innings of work. Two starts earlier, on May 2nd, Viola shut out the Cincinnati Reds on a six hitter at Shea, striking out a season high eleven.  In the top of the 1st, Juan Samuel flew out to start the game. Then Frank Viola struck out Willie Randolph & Ka

Sunday May 9th, 1982: It was a Mother's Day matinee at Shea, as a small crowd of 15,008 came to see George Bamberger's second place Mets (14-15) take on Frank Robinson's fourth place San Francisco Giants (13-16). These were still rough times for Mets fans, as the team was still two years away fr om competing & posting a winning record. Also worth noting, a week earlier the Mets had traded the popular Lee Mazzilli for yet a still unknown Ron Darling. Tonight, the Mets sent Brooklyn born pitcher, Pete Falcone to the mound against the Giants Alan Fowlkes. To start the game, both pitchers struck out three batters over the first two innings. In the home 3rd inning, Hubbie Brooks doubled to left field.  Ron Gardenhire followed with a single, scoring Brooks with the Mets first run.  In the 4th inning, the Mets George Foster singled, then veteran catcher Ron Hodges hit his first HR of the season, making it 3-0. The HR was Hodges first since the first game he played back in