centerfield maz

  Mets Career:  In the early days of the New York Mets, the team were trying to bring back some former National League New York stars to draw fans to the Polo Grounds.  In 1963 the Brooklyn Dodger legend, Duke Snider was brought in & reunited with former teammate Gil Hodges.  Snider had considered retiring but was convinced by Dodgers GM Buzzie Bavasi that he should go play back in New York, as h e was close to reaching milestones in hits & HRs. Bavasi worked out a deal selling his contract to the Mets for $40000. D uring their 1950’s heyday, Snider had batted third in front of Hodges, the cleanup man. Duke Snider & Gil Hodges were the only players of the decade of the 1950's to drive in over 1000 runs each.  Snider had hit the most HRs (326) & driven in the most RBIs (1031) in the 1950s, while his teammate Gil Hodges was second to him in both categories.  But in 1963, the two players were at the ends of their careers. Snider ...

Leonard Shenoff Randle was born February 12, 1949, in Long Beach, California. His father was a longshoreman & World War II veteran & his mother a seamstress. He had seven siblings, three brothers & four sisters, all of whom earned college degrees. College Baseball: Randle was originally drafted in 1967 by the St. Louis Cardinals but did not sign. He elected to attend  Arizona State University where t he five-foot ten switch hitter was a two-sport star. He was the second baseman on the 1969 NCAA championship baseball team under legendary manager Bobby Winkles. The Sun Devils won the 1969 College World Series. He was also a football return specialist whose five punt returns for touchdowns stood as a WCA record for 35 years. Trivia: The soft-spoken Randle is fluent in three languages, he never drank alcohol, and has a master’s degree in education. Randle was a first-round pick (tenth pick overall) of the Washington Senators in the 1970 draft.  ...

Thomas William Harkness was born December 23, 1937 in Quebec, Canada.  Hockey Player: Growing up in Canada, Harkness was a good hockey player and actually thought about perusing an NHL career. Instead of hockey, he chose baseball, signing with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1956. In April of 1957 the six foot two, first baseman was traded along with Elmer Valo to the Brooklyn Dodgers for Chico Fernandez. He would hit 118 HRs in the minors, including 28 at AA Atlanta in 1960, making him a power hitting prospect. Harkness was a minor league teammate of Tommy Lasorda in Montreal and the two played ball in Cuba just as Fidel Castro took power.  Drama In Cuba: During a game, Clay Bryant accidentally hit one of the armed Cuban soldiers. The soldier had a fit, pointing his gun straight at Harkness. Tommy Lasorda was the only person who spoke Spanish for the American team, he explained the situation and helped ease the tension. Harkness says, “He saved my life, he be...

Addison Devon Reed was born December 27th, 1988, in Montclair, California. The six-foot four right hander was drafted out of San Diego State University by the Chicago White Sox in 2010 as a third-round pick. In 2011 he went from Class A ball to the major leagues as a September call up debuting on September 4th in game against the Detroit Tigers.  In 2012 he became the second place White Sox closer, saving 29 games (7th most in the AL) going 3-2 with 54 strike outs in 55 innings with a 4.75 ERA under manager Robin Ventura. In 2013 Reed saved a career high 40 games (4th best in the AL) going 5-4 with a 3.79 ERA, he struck out 72 batters, walked 23 in 71 innings in 68 appearances. On June 5th he was the winning pitcher in a wild game in Seattle against the Mariners. He came into the game in the bottom of the 14th inning after the Sox had scored four runs on a Kyle Seager grand slam. The game was scoreless before that. As Reed was expected ...