centerfield maz

Timothy P aul Bogar was born October 28, 1966, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Bogar attended East Illinois University getting drafted by the New York Mets in the 8th round of the 1987 draft. He spent six years in the minors having his best year at A ball Columbia in 1988 batting .282. Bogar was a member of the last AAA Tidewater Tides team before they moved over to Norfolk. He was one of the team's top hitters batting .279 behind Jeff McKnight (.307) Chris Donnells (.301) & Steve Springer (.290).  Tim Bogar finally made it to the Mets in 1993 debuting as a pinch hitter on April 21st at Shea Stadium in a 10-0 win over the San Francisco Giants. On May 11th, he drove in his first career run during a multi-RBI game in a 4-3 loss to the Cardinals. On August  2nd, Bogar doubled in a run, then later added a two-run  single to lead Bret Saberhagen to victory in a 43 win at Montreal. On August 14th, Tim had one of his biggest days at the plate whe...

Ralph McPherran Kiner was born October 27, 1922 in Santa Rita, New Mexico. He was raised by his mother in Alhambra, California. The six foot two, right hand hitting left fielder / first baseman was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1941. Kiner led the Eastern league in HRs (14) in 1942 & was promoted to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1943. But he was soon drafted into the Military where he served three years in the Navy Air Corps. during World War II. He made his MLB debut in 1946 at age 23, and began an incredible career. In his rookie year, he went on to lead the NL in HRs with 23. He drove in 81 runs & led the league in strike outs (109) posting a .345 on base%. The next year he became a true slugging star, belting 51 HRs, the second most the NL had ever seen up to that point. He led the league in HRs, slugging (.639%) total bases (361) & OPS (1.055). He was 6th in the MVP voting, playing for the 7th place Pirates. In August of 1947, he set a record ...

Joshua Michael Thole was born on October 28th 1986, the day after the Mets won the '86 World Series. Thole was born & raised Breese, Illinois. The six foot one, left hand hitting catcher was drafted out of high school in the 13th round of the 2005 draft by the New York Mets. Thole never showed any power at the plate but showed good defensive skills & was a good singles hitter. He hits much better against right handed pitching. He spent two seasons in the Rookie League, then two seasons at A ball. He hit .300 with a minor league career high of five HRs at A ball St. Lucie in 2008 followed by a .328 year at AA Binghamton.  That year he was praised by Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen on how good his defensive skills were behind the plate, as early as Spring Training. With the Mets going nowhere in the pennant race he was brought up to the big-league club on August 31st. Mets Career:  Thole was being primed as the Mets catcher of the future, receiving...

Ronald Clyde Gardenhire was born October 24, 1957, in Butzbach West Germany. His family migrated to the United States, settling first in Oklahoma where Gardenhire went to high school. He then attended college at the University of Texas at Austin. The six-foot right hand hitting infielder, was drafted by the New York Mets in 1979 in the sixth round. In his first pro season he made the Carolina League All Star team while at A ball Lynchburg. He was promoted to AA Jackson in 1980 & then had a fine season at AAA Tidewater in 1981. He hit just .254 but played a fine defense & made it to the Mets team by September 1981.  Mets Career: On September 1st, Gardenhire debuted as a pinch runner for Rusty Staub & stayed in the game playing at second base in a 3-2 loss to the Astros in Houston. He went 13 for 48 that month good for a .271 average. He played mostly at short stop (18 games) posting a .969 fielding %. 1982: The next season he got the Mets main short ...