centerfield maz

Monday September 27th, 1976: Joe Frazier's third place Mets had put in a good season (85-71) but were 11.5 games out of first place & finishing in third place. It was another disappointing ending without making a post season appearance, the third straight since the Pennant of '73. The Mets were on a four-game win streak, having just swept a weekend series with the Cubs at Shea Stadium.  With just six games left to play, just only 2,929 fans came out to a rainy Monday night Shea Stadium as the Mets hosted Charlie Fox's last place Montreal Expos (53- 103).   The Mets sent Jon Matlack (16-9) to the mound, to face Larry Landreth (1-1).  Tonight Jon Matlack went the distance, pitching seven innings, in the rain shortened 10-2 Mets win. Matlack allowed three runs on seven hits, walking three while striking out one. Matlack had one of his finest years, winning a career high 17 games (17-10) (7th most wins in the NL) with a league lea...

Tuesday September 23rd, 1969: Gil Hodges first place Mets (95-61)  took the field tonight, in excitement knowing that a win would assure them of at least a tie for first place in the NL East. The Mets had won three straight, were leading the NL East by six games with six left to play. Tonight, the Mets hosted the previous year's NL Champion St. Louis Cardinals (82-73). 32,364 fans came to Shea as The Mets' Jim McAndrew (6-7) went up against Hall of Famer Bob Gibson (18-12). Bob Gibson was the 1968 NL MVP & Cy Young Winner,  going 22-9 with league leading 13 shut outs, 268 Ks & a 1.12 ERA. He was two wins away from his fourth twenty-win season in the past five years. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the 3rd inning, Mets short stop Bud Harrelson walked, then advanced on a fielder's choice, He then scored on Wayne Garrett's single to right field, giving the Mets a 1-0 lead.  The pesky Harrelson's offensive numbers never ...

Monday September 18th, 1972: Yogi Berra's Mets were 73-67 in third place 15 games behind the first place Pittsburgh Pirates. On this night 15,622 came to Shea to see the Mets host Bill Virdon's Pirates (89-51). It was a good pitching matchup, as the Mets sent that years Rookie of the Year; Jon Matlack (12-9) to the hill against Nelson Briles (14-7).  In the 1972 Rookie of the Year voting, Jon Matlack led the way followed by the Giants Dave Rader & the Mets John Milner. The game certainly stood up to the billing as both pitchers were on their game. Matlack would scatter just five hits along the way, striking out six Pirates allowing three walks. Briles had allowed five hits & two walks along the way, striking out seven Mets. Both pitchers kept their shut outs into the 9th inning. Matlack got the first two outs of the inning, but then gave up back-to-back singles to Richie Hebner & Bob Roberstson. Matlack then got the weak hitting Gene Alley to pop out. In ...

Edwin Donald Snider was born September 19th, 1926 in Los Angeles, California. As a child he walked around like he was royalty and his parents gave him the nick name “Duke”. While playing in Brooklyn he became known as the Duke of Flatbush & The Silver Fox. Snider was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1943 while he was a quarterback at Compton High School. He went into the military in 1945 then came to the minor leagues, and by 1947 made a brief debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers, who still had Carl Furillo & Pete Reiser playing centerfield. In 1948 Snider was batting .326 at AAA Montreal and was called up for good. By 1949 he was Brooklyn’s main centerfielder and would hold down that position until the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles. Snider went on to become the biggest bat in the classic Brooklyn line up, making 8 All Star Games, leading the league in HRs in 1956, lading in RBIs, doubles, hits & walks one time each, as well as runs scored three times. He w...

Sunday September 15th, 1963: A s the New York Mets started gathering a fan base, they began to come up with unique ideas to root on their team. The early Mets were not a good ball club but the fans still loved them. Many fans were old New York Giants & Brooklyn Dodger fans. Others were a new breed of Young New Yorkers getting ready to let loose in the swinging sixties. One of the Mets fans popular things to do was to express themselves with banners.  Plaquards as Manger Casey Stengel called them, would soon be seen all around the Polo Grounds. But Mets President George Weiss banned the banners at the games, claiming they were blocking the view for other fans sitting in their seats. The drama began as Mets fans blasted the team for taking away their banners. The negative press didn't sit well for a bad ball club just starting out in the largest city in the world. The solution was to have a Banner Day, a parade of banners would be allowed on the field in betwee...

Friday September 6th, 1985: Davey Johnson's Mets (80-52) were 1.5 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL East, so every game was important at this point in the season. The Mets were on a west coast road trip where they had taken five of six in San Francisco & San Diego. Tonight, they were in Los Angeles for a big three game series with Tommy Lasorda's first place Dodgers (77-53). Tonight's game had a marquee pitching matchup of two of the best in the game, the Mets 1985 Cy Young Award winner Dwight Gooden, the phenom who had one of the best pitching seasons of all time. Gooden (20-4) had already won his twentieth game & was setting all kinds of records. He went up against Fernando Valenzuela (16-9). In 1981 Valenzuela had his own rookie phenom season as "Fernando mania" took over the country. He went 13-7 in the strike shortened season leading the NL in strike outs (180) innings (192) shut outs (8) & complete games (11) with a 2.48 ERA. The ma...

Friday September 8th, 1972: Yogi Berra's third place Mets (67-63) hosted Red Schoendienst fourth place St. Louis Cardinals, in the first game of a Friday evening double header.  Although both teams were out of the pennant race, the Mets were proudly displaying a pair of hot rookies in tonight's game. John Milner & Jon Matlack who would both be the co-stars of the game. The Mets left hander Jon Matlack (11-8) would win  the 1972 Rookie of the Year Award, tonight he went up against the Cards' Reggie Cleveland (13-12). In the 1st inning, John Milner batting in the third position, doubled putting runners on second & third with one out. Ed Kranepool was walked intentionally & then Reggie Cleveland walked Cleon Jones with the bases loaded, giving the Mets a 1-0 lead.  Jon Matlack would surrender three singles in both the 2nd & 3rd innings, resulting in two Cardinal runs. The RBIs came from Jorge Roque & Ken Reitz. For John Milner he would singl...