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

Frank Daryl Tanana was born on July 3, 1953, in Detroit, Michigan. The left-handed fast ball pitcher was a 1971 first round draft pick for the California Angels, the 13th pick overall.  In 1973 he was 33-12 with a 2.70 ERA at two levels of minor league ball, getting promoted to the big-league staff by the end of the year. In 1974 Tanana teamed up with Nolan Ryan making them one of the best one & two combos in baseball. The saying went in Anaheim was “Tanana, Ryan & two days of crying’” during those mid-seventies hey days.  In his first full season, 1974 he was given the start on the second game of the season in Chicago against the White Sox. Although he pitched well into the 7th inning allowing just two runs, he got no decision. He then won his next two starts beating Texas & the White Sox at home.  In May he lost four straight starts going 2-4 in the month, although his ERA was just at 2.88. From the end of June on, he allowed more than three runs in a game j

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

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

Robert John Shaw was born on June 29, 1933 in the Bronx, New York.  The six-foot two right hander attended high school in Garden City Long Island perusing a football career. Shaw then attended St. Lawrence University, located in upstate New York at Canton, 50 miles southwest of Montreal.  It was there he decided to drop football & play baseball.  MLB Career: Bob was signed as an amateur free agent in 1953 by the Detroit Tigers.  In August 1957 he was brought up to the Tigers big league club. In his debut he served a HR to the White Sox's Walt Droppo. After going 1-2 Bob was traded to the Chicago White Sox the next year.  White Sox Career: Shaw enjoyed his best season in 1959 as part of the A.L. Champion "Go Go Sox". He posted the best winning percentage in the AL at .750% going 18-12 with a 2.69 ERA (both third best totals in the AL).  Shaw pitched 230 innings with three shutouts & eight complete games. He was in the center of a staff featuring Early Wynn (