centerfield maz

Tuesday July 1st 1969: Donn Clendenon had only been with his exciting new Mets team for two weeks. He was to share time in a platoon with Ed Kranepool & then some. Most important Clendenon brought a power bat to a Met line up that desperately needed one.  In his first ten games he had 4 hits in 22 at bats with four RBIs. But as he settled in with his new club & July started Clendenon went on a tear driving in 12 runs over five games, he would collect nine hits, score five runs & hit one HR. The next night he pinch hit & scored the tying run in a crucial game against the first place Cubs. July 2nd 1969: The Mets took an 8-5 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in this game, as they dropped both ends of a double header. In the second game Clendenon went 2-2 while driving in a pair of runs with base hits off Mike Torrez & Joe Hoerner. July 3rd 1969: As the road trip continued in St. Louis, Gil Hodges Mets turned things around. Tonight behind rookie pitcher Gary

  Sunday July 1st, 1984:  There was lots of excitement around Shea Stadium, for the first time in years as Davey Johnson's Mets were playing good winning baseball. Today in a Sunday double header, the Mets were 39-33 tied for second place with the Phillies, just one game behind the Chicago Cubs. The first game was rescheduled due to yesterday's rain out. They hosted the second place Atlanta Braves (43-36) managed by Joe Torre. Under Joe Torre, the Braves had just come off two winning seasons & he had gotten them to the NLCS in 1982, but they were swept by the St. Louis Cardinals.  Prior to that the Braves only had three winning seasons since the Mets beat them in the 1969 NLCS (13 seasons). The Braves would finish second that year at 80-82 but 14 games behind the NL Champion San Diego Padres. There would be six more losing seasons until their glory years of the 1990's began. The first game saw a good pitching matchup of Ron Darling (8-3) going up against the Braves Ric

Norman Craig Anderson was born July 1, 1938 in Washington D.C. The six foot right-handed pitcher attended Lehigh University, where he became the school's star pitcher. Anderson struck out 289 batters in 189 innings and pitched a no hitter there as well. He became the first player to make it to the big leagues from Lehigh University, when he was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1960.   He briefly pitched in the minor leagues at AA Tulsa, posting a 1.68 ERA, getting brought up to the majors that same year. Cardinals Career: He debuted on June 23rd, pitching three scoreless innings in relief of Ernie Broglio, while earning his first career victory against the San Francisco Giants. In that game he got a hit scored a run & benefited from a grand slam by Stan the Man Musial. He would go 4-3 with a save & posting a 3.26 ERA with St. Louis in his rookie season.  Mets Career: In October of 1961 he became an original New York Met when he was the 16th selection in the expa

Friday June 30th , 2000 :   A big crowd of 52,831 came out to Shea Stadium to see Bobby Valentines second place New York Mets (45-32) take on the Bobby Cox's first place Atlanta Braves (48-31). At this point in time, the Mets were just three games behind the Braves after having lost to them the night before. Andres Galarraga's three run HR off Rick Reed was the biggest blow of that game. That broke the Mets seven game win streak. At this point in time, the Mets / Braves rivalry was at its peak. On this evening, the starters were the Mets Mike Hampton (7-5) as he took the mound against Atlanta's Kevin Millwood (5-6). In the 1st inning, Hampton was shaky, he gave up two singles. With Andres Galarraga at bat, Mike Piazza was charged with a passed ball & then Hampton hit him with a pitch to load up the bases. He then walked Javy Lopez & it was 1-0 Braves. Hampton stopped any further damage by getting Bobby Bonilla to ground into a double play. In the 3rd, the Br

Ronald Alan Swoboda was born on June 30, 1944 in Baltimore, Maryland. Swoboda was the captain of his high school soccer team as well as a top player on the basketball & baseball teams. The six foot two right handed hitting outfielder was signed out of Maryland University, as an amateur free agent in 1963. He signed for $35,000 after a strong AABA tournament performance. Swoboda only played minor league ball for one seasons, impressing the Mets with his power on a team looking for a home grown slugger. He hit 14 HRs at AA Williamsport & then three more HRs at AAA Buffalo in 22 games. He earned the monikers Rocky & Swobo, as part of Casey Stengel's young Mets "Youth of America". He made the 1965 Mets team out of Spring Training and made his big league debut as a pinch hitter on Opening Day ‘65. In the 6-1 loss to the Dodgers, he lined to second base off the legendary Don Drysdale. In the second game of the year he hit his first career HR, a pinch hit