centerfield maz

Robert Douglas Flynn was born on April 18, 1951, in Lexington, Kentucky. Doug’s dad had played in the Brooklyn Dodger organization in the late 1940s but never made the big leagues. His mother Ella played fast pitch softball in the 1940's as well. Doug had one sister Melanie & a brother Brad. Doug was a standout player at the University of Kentucky He was signed  after attending a baseball tryout camp  for the Cincinnati Reds, as a free agent in 1971. He spent three years in the minor leagues moving up a level each season. He never hit above .258 there but was known for being a fine defensive infielder. MLB Debut: He debuted with the Reds in 1975 as an all-around infield utility man for the Big Red Machine in their hey days. It was clear with Joe Morgan at second, Dave Concepcion at short & Pete Rose moving from left field to third base on the infield; there wasn’t much room for the weak hitting Flynn as an everyday player. He had to adjust to be a...

Friday April 19th: On a chilly Good Friday night game, 39,627 fans came to Citi Field to see the first place Mets host the St. Louis Cardinals. The Mets had won the series opener the previous night 4-1 led offensively by Mark Vientos first HR & RBIs from Bret Baty & Francisco Lindor, as all three players were starting to get hot. Tonight's starters were the Mets David Peterson (1-1) who was posting a 2.70 ERA having 17 strike outs in 16.2 innings of work & the Cards Miles Mikolas (0-2) who entered with a 9.00 ERA. In the top of the 2nd, Brendan Donovan collected his first hit of the night with a base hit. After Peterson struck out Jordan Walker, Thomas Saggese & Pedro Pages both singled bringing in Donovan with the first run of the game. In the bottom of the 5th, Bret Baty doubled into right field. Next Tyrone Taylor drove a shot to right center that got by both Cardinal outfielders, Baty scored & Taylor reached third with a triple.  After Francisco Lindor lin...

Frank John Viola Jr. known as "Sweet Music" was born on April 19th, 1960, to Frank a radio station controller & Helen Viola. Frank Jr. had one sister Nancy & a brother named John. The family lived  in East Meadow, NY on Long Island. The local Italian / American boy made out good & lived his dram coming home to pitch in for his favorite team. Viola said that his father would take him to see an average of ten Mets games a year. They would go to the Bronx for one game a year just to see that there was another team in town. In 1969 he remembered attending a baseball clinic where the Mets Jerry Koosman advised the youngsters not to throw curveballs until they got older. He remembered that advice although he did not become a pitcher until his final high school years. The six foot four, left hander went to East Meadow high school & became a local baseball star.  St. John's University:  Originally, he was planning on atten...