Author: Shannon Shark @metspolice

From the Daily News:

Read more:http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2009/05/30/2009-05-30_meet_the_mets.html#ixzz0H0QPzrJn&B




I still say take the field to Meet the Mets and play Curly Shuffle in the 8th.

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@metspolice

As I mentioned in the previous post – Centerfield Maz is kind enough to let us grab entire posts.   Any opportunity I have to popularize the New York Giants I will grab.   I knew nothing about the below until I read Centerfield Maz.   If only there were somewhere in Queens where we could learn about former National League baseball teams.

MONDAY, MAY 25, 2009

NY Giants Southpaw Don Liddle – The Catch & The Glove

Don Liddle was born May 25, 1925 at Mt. Carmel, Illinois. The short left hander was drafted by the Boston Braves in 1946 then was traded to the Giants in a big trade before the 1954 season. Liddle went over to New York with pitcher Johnny Antonelli for Bobby Thomson & Sam Calderone. He was used as both a starter and reliever in the ’54 Championship season going 9-4 with a 3.06 ERA.

Liddle was brought in relief of Sal Maglie in Game #1 of the 1954 World Series to pitch to slugger Vic Wertz. With two men on, manager Leo Durocher summoned Liddle to do what was not common in the fifties, pitch to one batter,and get him out. Wertz ripped Liddle’s pitch approximately 450 feet to right enter field in the vast Polo Grounds. Willie Mays tracked it down making the most famous over the shoulder catch in history. Leo came out and pulled Liddle, bringing in pitcher Marv Grissom. In one of the greatest baseball quotes ever, during the exchange of the ball, Liddle looks at Grissom and said “I got my man”.

Liddle was chosen as the starter in Game #4 at Cleveland. He went into the 7th inning allowing five hits, & four runs, but only one of them was earned behind three errors. He got the win as the Giants scored seven runs off Bob Lemon & Hal Newhouser, sweeping the Series for the Championship. After the Series he was honored in his hometown with a parade and a red convertible.

The next season Liddle went 10-4 with a save, his ERA was high, over four. In 1956 he was traded to St. Louis and ended his brief career. (28-18, 4 saves & 3.75 ERA.) After baseball he was a supervisor in a Snap on tool factory in Mt. Carmel, Illinois for 18 years. He passed away from cancer at age 75 in 2000.

THE GLOVE: In 1955 Craig Liddle, Don’s son was visiting in the Giants club house. Willie Mays told the boy he heard he needed a new glove, and gave him his old one. The same glove used to make “the Catch” with in the previous World Series. He told the boy “take care of the glove & it will take care of you”. The boy used it in Little League, then preserved it in a bank vault before donating it to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

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@metspolice

Centerfield Maz who is cool enough to let us borrow entire posts emailed me that he caught a foul ball.   So here’s the re-cap….(why not)

I’d like to know more about the jersey he is wearing.   Is it a classic road?  Is that an R we see?  What is that material?

Maz runs a cool retro-blog so if you want to know who Willie Montanez was, it’s not a bad place to go.

THURSDAY, MAY 28, 2009

centerfield maz catches Ramon Castro’s Citi Field Foul Ball

I am proud to say that at last nights Mets win over the Nationals, not only did I witness live, (1) the 1st ball affected by the right field Pepsi Porch over hang (2) the 4th Mets win in a row (3) Rookie Fernando Martinez getting booed for lazily not running out a pop fly that was dropped (4) another Santana win, and a wild wacky game as a whole. But I also caught the second foul ball of my life. Well I actually didn’t catch it, but I benefited from a miss play of the row in front of me. 

In the 2nd inning Ramon Castro hit three foul balls in my area (Section 409), I got the third. First the ball hit off some ones arm in front of me, then the ball bounced into my row, and beneath the scrum of hands, elbows and heads banging together, I came out victorious!! Yes thanks to an assist I got my first Citi Field ball. I was impressed to see all the balls used at Citi Field games have the Inaugural season logo on them.

My 1st foul ball was caught in at Shea in 2005. I was down in the 1st row off the San Francisco Giants dugout at a Sunday double header. There was hardly anyone in the seats due to the fact that the DH was added because of a prior rain out. The Giants Jason Ellison hit a high fly ball right above me, it came down like it was in slow motion. I caught it with one hand & cupped it with my other hand. The crowd cheered, and I felt like a little kid. Security came over to see if I was ok, and I said couldn’t be better.

www.metspolice.com
@metspolice

Metsblog says that Meet the Mets was played in the 8th (instead of
Caroline which they played and I booed on Wednesday.)

That's great.

I'm starting to think someone in Flushing is reading the blogs.

Let's see if it sticks. I must have tickets today since I bought a
Saturday package. Oh wait…..today isn't a Saturday in ticketland.
Monday was.

Sent from my iPhone