The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League teams, the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants. During the 1962 and 1963 seasons, the Mets played their home games at the Polo Grounds. From 1964 to 2008, the Mets' home ballpark was Shea Stadium. In 2009, they moved into a new stadium, Citi Field.
In their 1962 inaugural season, the Mets posted a record of 40–120, the worst regular season record since Major League Baseball went to a 162-game season (two games from their inaugural season were never made up). The team never finished better than second to last until the 1969 "Miracle Mets" beat the Baltimore Orioles in the 1969 World Series in what is considered one of the biggest upsets in World Series history. Since, they have played in three additional World Series, including a dramatic run in 1973 that ended in a seven game loss to the Oakland Athletics, a second championship in 1986 against the Boston Red Sox that was cited in the Curse of the Bambino, and a Subway Series against their cross-town rivals the New York Yankees in the 2000 World Series which they lost in five games.
Lucas Christopher Duda (born February 3, 1986) is an American professional baseball player. He currently is a right fielder for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball. Duda bats left-handed and throws right-handed.
Duda was born in Fontana, California on February 3, 1986. He attended Arlington High School in Riverside, California. Duda then enrolled in the University of Southern California, playing for the USC Trojans baseball team from 2005—2007. Duda played 143 games for the Trojans, hitting 11 home runs, with 81 runs batted in, and a .275 batting average.
Duda was drafted by the New York Mets in the seventh round of the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft, as the 243rd overall selection.
Duda began the 2010 season at the AA-level Binghamton Mets, and was promoted to the AAA Buffalo Bisons on June 14. While in Buffalo, Duda homered in five consecutive games, tying a Bisons record. In 70 games for Buffalo, Duda hit 17 home runs, 2 triples, 23 doubles, and had 53 runs batted in, while compiling a .314 batting average. At the end of the season, the Bisons named him their Most Valuable Player.
Michael Patrick "Mike" Francesa, Jr. (born March 20, 1954) is an American radio talk show host and television commentator. He is primarily known in his former role co-hosting the popular Mike and the Mad Dog show on WFAN in New York City. Francesa now hosts his own show, Mike's On: Francesa on the FAN, during the afternoon drive slot formerly occupied by Mike and the Mad Dog.
Francesa started his career by spending six years at College and Pro Football Newsweekly. He was hired by CBS Sports in 1982 as a researcher, focusing primarily on college sports. In CBS Sports, he was initially a behind-the-scenes, statistic-wielding editorial assistant, but network executives were so impressed by his knowledge that he was made a studio analyst for college basketball and football and acquired such a reputation that The New Yorker termed him "Brent Musburger’s brain."
When he was a studio analyst at CBS Sports, he said the most common complaint he heard was about his New York accent.
ESPN tried to lure Francesa as its studio expert on college football, college basketball and NFL in 1991, but he declined the offer.
James Thomas "Jimmy" Fallon, Jr. (born September 19, 1974) is an American actor, comedian, singer, musician and television host. He currently hosts Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a late-night talk show that airs Monday through Friday on NBC. Prior to that he appeared in several films, and was best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998–2004.
James Thomas Fallon, Jr., was born in Brooklyn, New York. Jimmy is the son of Gloria and James Fallon, Sr., who is a Vietnam War veteran. His family later settled in Saugerties, New York, while his father worked at IBM in nearby Kingston, New York. He is of Irish descent. As a child, he and his older sister, Gloria, would reenact the “clean parts” of Saturday Night Live that his parents had taped for him. Fallon was such a fan of Saturday Night Live that he made a weekly event of watching it in his dormitory during college. In his teens, he impressed his parents with different impersonations, the first being of James Cagney. He was also musically inclined, and started playing guitar at age 13. He would go on to mix comedy and music in contests and shows.
Michael Brent Cuddyer ( /kəˈdaɪər/; born March 27, 1979) is an American professional baseball outfielder and first baseman with the Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball. He bats and throws right-handed.
Cuddyer was born in Norfolk, Virginia and is a 1997 graduate of Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake, Virginia, where he was a standout athlete in baseball, basketball, and football. Cuddyer was named Virginia's Player of the Year and Gatorade National baseball Player of the Year in 1997. He was also a member of USA Today's All-Star and the USA Junior National teams in 1997.