centerfield maz

Benigno Ayala was born on February 7, 1951, in Yauco, Puerto Rico, the six-foot right hand hitting outfielder was signed as an amateur free agent by the New York Mets in 1971.  He was a highly touted outfield prospect with a reputation for hitting with power in the minor leagues. In 1972  at A ball Visalia,  Ayala hit 19 HRs second  on the club to Ike Hampton. He drove in 66 runs second to Greg Harts. He followed with 17 HRs the next year at AA Memphis.  In 1974 Ayala was with AAA Tidewater batting .274, leading the club with 11 HRs 21 doubles & 40 RBIs. He was invited to Mets Spring Training 1974 where he hit HRs off Bob Gibson & Woodie Fryman. The Mets thought of moving Cleon Jones to left field to make room for Ayala but that didn't work out, so Ayala started the year at AAA. He was  called up to the Mets at the end of August.  Mets Debut:   On August 27th, Benny made his MLB debut in a 4-2 win ove...

 An Amazing Day a Mets fan fest was a big success at Citi Field. The Mets Universe with many alumni players from the past as well as current days players were on hand to speak on panel discussions, take photo ops & sign autographs.  The discussion panels were held in the Piazza Club throughout the day with seating on a first come basis with also plenty of standing room.  The discussion topics included wide range of Mets history. There was a special panel with the beloved Broadcast team of Gary, Keith & Ron. They shared stories & laughs from their glorious twenty years together in the booth. Another panel featured some of the elite Mets Retired Number players sharing stories of their careers (Mike Piazza, Keith Hernandez, Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry & David Wright). The 1999/2000 NL Champion Millennium Mets also had a panel with recollections of those two exciting years in Mets history. (Bobby Valentine, Mike Piazza, John Franco, Robin Ventura, Todd Ze...

William Edward Wagner was born on July 25, 1971, in Tannersville, Virginia. The farmer from the South, was originally a right hander but after breaking his arm, he learned to throw left-handed off the door of his barn. He developed that arm into one that was known to throw a fastball at 100 mph.  Wagner set N.C.A.A. records in the small school of Ferrum College getting himself drafted number one by the Astros in 1993.  In the minor leagues, he was a starting pitcher. In 1994 Billy led all pitchers with 204 Ks while pitching at A-ball Quad Cities. In 1995 he jumped from AA Jackson to AAA Tuscon going 7-5 with 157 strikeouts. MLB Debut: On September 13th he made his MLB debut pitching to one batter in the 6th inning of a 10-5 loss to the Mets at Shea. Wagner would spend nine years with the Astros going 26-29 with a 2.53 ERA becoming the teams All Time save leader collecting 225 saves.  In 1997 he became the Astros full time closer replacing Todd Jones....