centerfield maz

Thomas Anthony Parsons was born September 13, 1939 in Lakeville Connecticut. (This is Tom Parsons the pitcher, not be confused with Tom Parsons the world famous Australian cricketer). The tall six foot seven right hander, was signed in 1957 by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was 12-7 in first year at AAA ball then fell off to below .500. In 1963 he went 11-15 at AAA Columbus, getting him a September call up to the Pirates staff. He pitched in one game, taking a loss giving up six runs in four innings pitched. 1964 was a wacky year for Parsons; in June he was sent to the Houston Astros but then got returned back to Pittsburgh two months later. After going 8-7 for the two organizations minor leagues, his contract was then purchased by the New York Mets. He was brought right up to the Mets staff, debuting on September 15th finishing up a 3-1 loss in San Francisco. He pitched in four games for the ’64 Mets that September On September 20th he got the start in his second appearance i...

Vincent Paul "Vince" DiMaggio was born on September 6, 1912 in Martinez, California. He was the oldest of the three famous DiMaggio brothers, getting to the big leagues with the Boston Bees in 1937. He got a starting job right away and became a fine defensive outfielder. Vince would lead all N.L. centerfielders in assists & put outs four times in his career, as well as games played three times. In his rookie year he hit .256 with 13 HRs with 69 RBIs striking out a league leading 111 times. The next season he led the league again striking out 134 times, batting just .228 with 14 HRs (10th in the league) & 41 RBIs. In two seasons with the Bees his teams finished fifth. He was sent to the A.L. New York club and played at their AA Kansas City team where he hit .290. Later that year he was sent to the Cincinnati Reds. There he only played in ten games at the big league level over two seasons. In 1940 he was with the Pittsburgh Pirates where he had his best seasons....

Johnny William Rawlings was born on August 17th, 1892 in Bloomfield Iowa. He would attend high school in Los Angeles & get into pro ball by the time he was 21. The five foot eight inch tall, Rawlings was a fine defensive middle infielder. He would begin his career with the Cincinnati Reds in 1914 then jump to the outlaw Federal League that same year. After two seasons with Kansas City he returned to the major leagues with the Boston Braves. He played four seasons in Boston, getting traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1920. In 1921 he was hitting a career best .291 with the Phillies, before he was traded to the New York Giants on July 1st. He was brought in to fill a gap at second base, more than for his hitting on John McGraw's eventual World Championship team. With the glove Rawlings, had his best season, leading the league in games (146) double plays turned (93) assists (495) put outs (342) & errors (32) posting a .963 fielding %. In 88 games he even hit .282 ...

Franklin Francisco was born on September 11, 1979 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The six foot two right hander was signed out of high school by the Boston Red Sox in 1996. He suffered an injury soon after & did not pitch again in the minor leagues until 1999. He spent six years in the minor leagues getting traded to the Chicago White Sox & Texas Rangers organizations. He made his MLB debut in May 2004 & pitched in 45 games of relief, for the Rangers going 5-1 with a 3.33 ERA. An injury had him miss most of the next two seasons. He would pitch out of the Texas bullpen for four more seasons (2007-1010) earning the closer role in 2009 when he saved 25 games (tenth in the AL) & finished 42 games (also tenth in the AL). In the 2010 Rangers A.L. Championship season, he lost the closer position to Neftali Feliz, but still went 6-4 with two saves, before going down with injury at the end of August. He missed the post season & in January was traded the To...

John Raymond Hudek was born on August 8, 1966 in Tampa, Florida. The six foot one right hander, was selected in the tenth round of the 1988 draft, by the Chicago White Sox. He spent four years in the White Sox organization, and then went to the Detroit Tigers system. He was released there and moved on to the Houston Astros organization. After just six games in the minors, he was brought up to the Astros staff in late April. On May 5th 1994 he earned his first save, it came in Cincinnati over the Reds. From there he was used as a closer & saved 16 games by the All Star break. He was the teams closer until Todd Jones took over the spot by the end of the season, he would take over the role in the next two years as well. Despite only pitching in 42 games in 1994 (39 innings) Hudek had 16 saves going 0-2, while posting a 2.97 ERA. He made the All Star team & came in second in the Rookie of the Year voting. He would spend four years in Houston, eventually becoming a middle r...

William Chris Carter was born on September 16th, 1982 in Fremont, California. The six foot left hand hitting Carter attended Stanford University & was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 17th round of the 2004 draft. He had a big minor league year in 2005 hitting 21 HRs with 85 RBIS at A ball Lancaster. He was pushed up to AA Tenesse where he hit 10 HRs in 36 games. In 2006 he then hit .301 with 19 HRs & 97 RBIs in the Pacific Coast League at Tuscon. He was batting .324 in 2007 when he was traded twice on the same day, first to the Washington Nationals & then to the Boston Red Sox. He continued hitting well at the minor league level, batting .300 with 24 HRs & 81 RBIs at AAA Pawtucket in 2008. He got a June call up to the Red Sox to replace an injured David Ortiz. He debuted as a pinch runner for Coco Crisp & then got a base hit in his first MLB at bat. He was sent back down to Pawtucket returning to Boston in June. In 2009 he was back at AAA Pa...

Francis Xavier Healy was born on September 6, 1946 in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The big six foot five catcher, attended American International University at Springfield. In 1964 he was signed by the Cleveland Indians, spending five years in their minors leagues. In 1968 he was drafted as the 56th pick in the expansion draft, chosen by the Kansas City Royals. He would make his MLB debut playing six games there in 1969 & spending the next year in the minors. In October of 1970, he was traded to the San Francisco Giants for Bob Garibaldi. Healy played in 47 games for the 1971 Western Division Champion Giants, as the backup catcher to Dick Dietz. He hit .280 with two HRs & 11 RBIs. He did not play in the NLCS & after hitting just .152 the next year in 45 games, he was traded back to Kansas City. He became the Royals main catcher in 1973 playing solid behind the plate, throwing out 44% of would be base stealers. That year he had the distinction of catching Steve Busb...