centerfield maz

James Patrick Barbieri was born on September 15, 1941 in Schenectady, New York. In 1953 he was captain of the Schenectady Little League World Series Championship team. His team was runner up the previous year as well. His team mate on those teams was future Mets coach Billy Connors. When he grew up, the outfielder a contract with the Dodgers in 1960, and played six seasons in the Pacific Coast League for Spokane. In 1966 he was having his best year batting .357 leading the PCL in hitting when the first place Dodgers called him up on the 4th of July. He only played in 39 games that season & his whole MLB career, batting .280 (23-82) with 5 doubles, 3 RBIs & 2 stolen bases. He also made the post season roster and had one World Series at bat going 0-1 against the Orioles. He became the first player ever to play in both the Little League & Major League World Series’. It was a tough Dodger outfield to get into with Tommy Davis, Ron Fairly, Willie Davis, & Lou Jo...

Aerosmith’s "Cocked & Loaded" 2010 Summer Tour rocked across Europe in June, wrapping up in Venice, Italy on July 3rd. This month they are bringing it home across North America with last night’s stop in New York, on Long Island at the Jones Beach Theater. The weather looked like it may be an issue, but it held off with only a few sprinkles, just enough to frizz up Steven Tyler’s hair. It’s hard to imagine that Aerosmith have now been around go ing on four decades. I go back to the seventies as a fan of the band, since they exploded on the radio with Walk this Way, and came alive out of the pages of Creem magazine. Did you practice drawing the Draw the Line album cover as much as I did? I was there as they reunited in the early eighties and I think have seen just about every tour since. I lost count but I believe last night was my ninth or tenth Aerosmith show. Once again they did not disappoint. The band opened up the show with a rocking killer version of 1975’s album tit...

Barry Paul Manuel was born on August 12, 1965 in Mamou, Louisiana. He was a star pitcher at Louisiana State University getting drafted in the 2nd round of the 1987 amateur draft by the Texas Rangers. He came up in September 1991 and got his first MLB victory pitching in just 8 games. The next year he pitched only 3 games in September going 1-0 again. He was released then picked up by Baltimore, released & signed by Montreal. He spent four years in the minors leagues before coming back up in Montreal in 1996 going 4-1 with a 3.24 ERA. The Mets purchased his contract in Spring Training in 1997, and he was put right in the bullpen. He took a loss on the 5th game of the 1997 season, allowing two runs in the 8th inning after Rick Reed had thrown seven shutout innings. Manuel pitched in 19 games getting only that one decision, going 0-1 with a 5.26 ERA, allowing 15 earned runs in 25 innings pitched. His stay in New York was short, and he was granted free agency at the end of the year. H...

Christopher Michael Coletta was born on August 2, 1944. in Brooklyn, New York. The five foot eleven, left hand hitting outfielder grew up on Long Island. He was a star player at Hicksville high school in the early sixties, getting signed by the Boston Red Sox in 1962 as an amateur free agent. Coletta was a left hand hitting outfielder. He would spend ten seasons in the minor leagues before getting a call up as a member of the 1972 California Angels. In his minor league career he hit over .300 nine times, including batting .332 in 1972 earning the call up. He made his debut in mid August, but saw very little playing time the rest of the way. In the first game of a double header in September, he got a pi nch hit driving in a run against that years World Champion Oakland A’s. His hit came off Blue Moon Odom in the top of the 8th while down 10-0. On September 24th he hit his only career HR off Minnesota’s Jim Perry, in the 8th inning in what turned out to be the game winne...

Richard Jack Stello was born on July 20, 1934 in Massachusetts. He was raised in an orphanage & then on a New England farm, with afmily whom beacme his own. He later attended Merimack college, and began his career as a stand up night club comic. He went into the Air Force and was stationed in Toyko, Japan in the 1950’s. It was there he became interested in umpiring & enrolled in George Barr umpire school. In the early to mid sixties he umped in the Florida State League, Texas League & then the International League. He was promoted to the National League in 1968, the Year of the Pitcher. Stello was the second base umpire when Lou Brock broke Maury Wills single season stolen base record in 1974. He got to Umpire the classic 1975 World Series between the Red Sox & the Reds, taking the home plate duties for Game #4 in Cincinnati. In 1981 he umpired his next World Series, and was behind the plate for Game #6 as the Dodgers beat the A.L. New York team. Stello also worked two...