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The Mets History of Spring Training in St. Petersburg Florida (1962 - 1987)

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Before the New York Mets made their Spring Training home on the East Coast of Florida in Port St. Lucie, they called St. Petersburg on the West Coast their home. They opened up camp in their inaugural season of 1962 & played 25 Spring Trainings there through 1987. AL Lang was a businessman, turned politician & Mayor of St. Petersburg from 1916 to 1920. He was the first to see the potential the area had to have baseball teams from the cold Northeast winters, prepare for their seasons in sunny Florida.  Al Lang was instrumental for making Florida the home of Spring Training & forming the Grapefruit League. In 1916 the St. Louis Browns practiced there for Spring Training. Eventually the Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals & A.L. New York club all came to St. Petersburg. Over the next decade he was able to lure in nine of the then, twelve MLB teams. In 1947 the City of St. Petersburg opened up Al Lang Stadium named in his honor, The St. Louis C...

More Mets Memories of Spring Training In St. Petersburg (1962 - 1987)

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1962 Casey Stengel 1962 Mets the First Spring Training Don Zimmer- Felix Mantilla- Charlie Neil- Gil Hodges & Casey Stengel Casey Stengel & Gil Hodges Casey Stengel & Roger Craig 1965 Yogi Berra -Warren Spahn & Casey Stengel  Mid Sixties Spring Locker Room 1969 Mets M anager Gil Hodges 1973 Yogi Berra 1969 World Series MVP Donn Clendenon 1969 World Champs Nolan Ryan & Jerry Grote 1970 Ron Swoboda 1970 Jerry Koosman After the Championship 1970 Bob Aspromonte- Kenny Boswell & Bud Harrelson Tom Seaver 1972 Tom & Nancy Seaver with daughter Sara Duffy Dyer - a Rookie & Cleon Jones Listen to Tom Seaver 1973 Willie Mays Arrives 1973 NL Champs- Tug McGraw & Yogi Berra 1984 Jesse Orosco 1977 Joe Torre with his second Wife Dani & a Daughter  1985 Gary Carter  1985 Cy Young Winner- Dwight Gooden 1986 World Champions 1986 Ron Darling 1986 Manager Davey J...

Shawn Estes: Short Time Mets Pitcher & His Big Start in a Mid-Season Subway Series Classic (2002)

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Aaron Shawn Estes was born February 18, 1973, in San Bernardino, California. While pitching in high school in Nevada, the six-foot two-inch, left-hander was a highly sought after prospect. Shawn was offered a scholarship to Stanford University but turned it down  when he was selected as a first-round draft pick of the Seattle Mariners (the 11th pick overall).  In 1995 after four seasons in the minor leagues, Estes was traded to the San Francisco Giants organization, along with Wilson Delgado in exchange for Salomon Torres.    MLB Career:   In September of 1995,  Estes made his MLB debut taking losses in all three games he pitched. In 1996 he was 3-5 with a 3.60 ERA in 11 starts at the big-league level. In 1997 he had a career year for the first place Giants, going 19-5 (second most wins in the NL) with A 3.18 ERA, 181 strikeouts, pitching 201 innings & making the NL All Star team. Estes was the ace of his Giants' staff that season...