centerfield maz

  1999: In the third season of the TV show "Everybody Loves Raymond" (Episode 19 titles "Big Shots"). Ray the sportswriter, takes his brother Robert to the Hall of Fame for a 1969 World Champion Mets autograph signing event. Their mother, Marie Barone forces Raymond to take Robert to the show. When the brothers arrive at the Hall of Fame, the Meet the Mets line is very long.  Robert encourages Ray to use his sportswriter authority to jump the line. Ray attempts to use his credentials to get up front. After aggravating security, as well as the 1969 Mets alumni, Ray & Robert are forced to leave the event, never meeting the Mets. On their way home, they get pulled over for speeding. Now Robert tries to use his authority, of being a cop to avoid the ticket, but to no luck. On their drive home the Barone brothers break out into the classic Mets theme song "Meet the Mets". Former 1969 Mets included Bud Harrelson, Tug McGraw, Tommie Agee, Jerry Grote, Cleon J

Sunday October 19th, 1969:   After the Amazing Mets won the World Series, they were now national celebrities as the swinging sixties came to a close.  After their Miracle, run the Amazing Mets were getting offers to do commercials, magazine ads, personal appearances & television shows. One of the more popular appearances came on the biggest variety show in television, the Ed Sullivan show. Ed Sullivan had done interviews with Mets Manager Gil Hodges, Cleon Jones, Tommy Agee, Jerry Koosman and Tom Seaver on October 5th, 1969, just prior to the World Series, after the Amazing's won the pennant. Now after they had won the Worlds  Championship, the Mets entire team was invited to the Sunday October 19th Sunday night show. On that night other guests included a young female comedian named Joan Rivers, who did a standup routine. Also was A ctress & dancer Cyd Charisse, they did a dance to an instrumental version of the song "MacArthur Park".  Other acts that

Richard Warren Aguilera was born December 31, 1961 in San Gabriel, California. In high school he was originally a third baseman. In 1980 he got drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals, but did not  sign. Instead t he tall six foot four right hander, attended Brigham Young University, where he played on the same team with future big leaguers Cory Snyder & Wally Joyner. There he made the full time transition to pitcher. He was drafted by the New York Mets in the third round of the 1983 draft. After pitching at A ball Little Falls in 1983, he was 12-7 between there & AA Jackson in 1984. In 1985 he was 6-4 with a 2.41 ERA at AAA Tidewater when he got a call up to the Mets staff, after Bruce Berenyi went down with an injury.  Mets Career: He debuted on June 12th, 1985, at Philadelphia's Veteran Stadium, earning the win after pitching two innings in the Mets 7-3 extra inning victory. He got his first start at Montreal later that week but took a loss.  After losing his

Ruben Bruce Gotay was born on Christmas Day 1982 in Puerto Rico. The infielder was drafted at 17 years old in the 31st round of the 2000 draft by the Kansas City Royals.  In 2004 he batted .289 at AAA getting himself a call up to the Royals.  MLB Career:   He played in 44 games for the 2004 Royals hitting .270. The next season he saw action in 86 games, playing 81 of those games at second base for the Royals where he posted a .980 fielding %. Although at the plate his batting average fell off to .227 with 5 HRs & 29 RBIs. He was back in the minors the next season. In July of 2006 he was traded to the New York Mets for Jeff Keppinger.  Keppinger who was once considered a fine prospect in the Mets organization went on to have a good career in Cincinnati & Houston.  In 2010 he batted .288 with 34 doubles 6 HRs & 59 RBIs for Houston, posting the leagues 4th best fielding % for second baseman at .989. Looking back this was a terrible Omar Minaya trade & instead of havin

Roy Robert Partee was born September 7, 1917, in Los Angeles, California. Partee would sign with the Boston Red Sox and make the major leagues in 1943. He got the job as the Sox main catcher, hitting .281 in 96 games, but had no power in his bat, not hitting a single HR. In fact, in 1090 career at bats he only hit two career HRs. The following season he was called for military duty to serve in World War II but was rejected due to a bad ankle. He rejoined his team & posted the 2nd best fielding percentage among catchers at .989. He hit both of his two career HRs while driving in 41 runs, but his average fell to .243. At the end of the year, he enlisted in the military on his own, in San Pedro California and served until the War ended.  He came back to the Red Sox in 1946 & ended up losing his starting job to Hal Wagner. That year the Red Sox went to the World Series, but only went 1-10 playing in five games. The Mad Dash: He is most famous for having Enos Slaughter slid pa

John David Milner was born December 28, 1949, in Atlanta Georgia. He & his two siblings were raised by their mother Addie Milner. They lived in the Atlanta suburb of East Point in the segregated East Washington section. The all-around athletic Milner was an All-State halfback in football, a guard in basketball & of course a star baseball player.  In 1966 The Milwaukee Braves moved to Atlanta & Milner's baseball idol Hank Aaron was now playing in his hometown.  Eventually Milner was nicknamed "The Hammer" or "baby Hammer" after his idol Henry Aaron.  The six-foot left hand hitting outfielder / first baseman, was drafted by the New York Mets in the 14th round of the 1968 draft. He showed power & soon became a highly touted power hitting prospect in the Mets organization.  The Hammer had a unique batting stance, standing on top of the plate with his legs close together & straight. He waved his bat very slowly & leaned into the plate a