centerfield maz

October 1st, 1973: The crazy 1973 New York Mets season, all came down to the last games of the regular season which had ended for the rest of the league the previous day. After the previous rain outs earlier in the weekend, a double header was scheduled between the Mets & Cube at Wrigley Field to close out the season. All the Mets had to do was win one game in order to clinch the N.L. East. as both the St. Louis Cardinals & Pittsburgh Pirates lost their final games of the season on Sunday. In recapping, most of the Mets regular players were struggling through injuries most of the season, not getting healthy as a team until the final month. Also, they had the best pitching staff in the league & everyone stepped up from starters to relievers. The Mets had won 22 of their last 31 games dating back to August 27th when they were still in last place, six & a half games of first place. They had won eight of their last ten games as well. They took over first place on Friday Se

Wednesday October 1st: 1969: Gil Hodges New York Mets had already clinched the NL Eastern Division & today were winding down the regular season. It was their last series before the post season was to begin. Fitting enough, they were closing out the season at Wrigley Field in Chicago.  The Cubs who were the heavy favorite to win the NL East at the beginning of the season. The team that featured four future Hall of Famers in Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo & Ferguson Jenkins held a commanding ten game lead over the Mets in mid-August.  Manager Leo Durocher worked his regulars too hard playing them every day & it began to wear them down. But mainly because the Mets had the best pitching in baseball & Manager Gil Hodges had his team playing to the best of their abilities. Everyone contributed in some way to the Mets winning as the club  went 38 -11 since that time on August 13th when they were ten games back. Now the Cubs were nine games behind the Amazing's

Lee William Capra was born October 1, 1947, in Chicago, Illinois. The five-foot eleven righty was selected by the New York Mets in the 27th round of the 1969 draft. He helped Illinois State University win the college championship that same year. Capra became another highly touted pitching prospect for the early 1970’s Mets, having a great minor league career going 44 -18 with a 2.86 ERA overall.  In 1971 after going 3-0 at AA Memphis, Capra was promoted to AAA Tidewater. There he went 13-3 second to Jim Bibby in victories while posting a .219 ERA.  Nickname of Buzz: "I had a little wooden bat & my father would throw the ball to me right outside our building when i was six. I would swing & start spinning around & there was an older man watching us all the time & he told me that I looked like a buzz saw. The Buzz part stuck." Mets Career: Capra earned a September call up & debuted at Shea Stadium on September 15, 1971.  He pitched four innings in rel

Saturday September 29th 2007:   The reigning NL Eastern Champion Mets were in the midst of one of the worse collapses in history. On September 12th New York had a commanding seven game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies.  But these Mets fell apart, losing 11 o15 games, plus a streak of five losses in a row. As the Phillies stayed hot, the Mets fell a game behind in the standings. On this Saturday Willie Randolph's Mets (88-73) hosted Fredi Gonzales fifth place Marlins (70-91). John Maine took the mound against Chris Seddon. Today Maine would step up as he did in last years post season & have one of his best games ever. As the Mets were facing elimination & down in the dumps Johhny Maine showed heart. Although he walked Dan Uggla in the 1st inning, he quietly kept retiring the side & posting strike outs. In the 2nd inning he recorded two strike outs, in the 3rd he struck out the side. He would add a pair of strike outs in each of the next three innings as we

  Sunday September 30th, 1979: On this the last day of the regular season Joe Torre's Mets were in last place once again (66-91). The last game of the 1970's would also be the last game for original Met, Ed Kranepool. Ed Kranepool played 18 seasons for the Mets & is the all-time team leader with 1853 career Mets games played. Kranepool was signed out of James Monroe high school in the Soundview section of the Bronx in 1962 at just 18 years old.  He debuted for three games in the Mets inaugural season. He had been with the Mets through Casey Stengle & the losing years, to Gil Hodges & the Miracle Championship of the 1969 Amazing Mets. He was there for the pennant team of 1973 & the losing years of the late seventies. Kranpool had been the team's first baseman (1304 games) & outfielder (250 games). He had always been a reliable pinch hitter off the bench, earning the nickname "Steady Eddie". By the latter part of his career, he became one of the

David Joseph Magadan was born September 30, 1962, in Tampa, Florida. Magadan was originally drafted by the Boston Red Sox in 1980 but chose to stay in school instead. He was the MVP of the American Legion World Series, and then attended the University of Alabama where he won the Golden Spikes Award in 1983. He helped the Crimson Tide get to the College World Series where he faced Calvin Schiraldi & Roger Clemens. He was selected College Player of the Year by Baseball America and got signed by the New York Mets, as a second-round pick in 1983. Magadan was pure natural hitter, batting well over .300 at all minor league levels, getting a cup of coffee to the big leagues in September of 1986.  Mets Career:   Dave Magadan came up as a third baseman & first baseman making his Mets debut on September 7, 1986, pinch hitting for Kevin Elster.  He got his first start on September 17th, the night the Mets clinched the 1986 NL East title, as Keith Hernandez was nursing an injury.