L.J. Mazzilli a Chip of the Old Block For the New York Mets

The current state of affairs for the New York Mets may look bleak, but pales in comparison to the mid-to-late 1970s. Back then, their home ballpark Shea Stadium was dubbed “Grant’s Tomb” and the nickname was well earned. But there was one bright spot as the decade continued and it was someone that the fans could actually relate to. And that was Brooklyn’s own Lee Mazzilli.

The blue chip outfielder was drafted 14th overall by the Mets in 1973, which just happened to be a year in which they were a Cinderella team that won the National League pennant and pushed the mighty Oakland A’s to a seventh game in the World Series.

By the time ‘Maz’ made his major league debut in 1976, the Mets were a perennial second-division club and their low attendance triggered the aforementioned infamous moniker that was directed towards M. Donald Grant, the man who was running the team after the Payson family anointed the long time front office employee as the point man following the death of the family matriarch Joan.

Even though the Mets did not win many games with Mazzilli in the line-up, he was a draw at the box office and the Mets even held a ‘Lee Mazzilli Poster Day’ with a free giveaway.

But by 1982, Mazzilli’s tenure with the team he grew up rooting for had come to an end and he was traded to the Texas Rangers for two righthanded pitching prospects. The fan base did not approve of the deal at the time but the exchange ended up favoring the Mets, with Ron Darling becoming a star pitcher and Walt Terrell doing a nice job himself before being dealt for Howard Johnson, who also went on to enjoying a very productive career at Shea.

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Things came full circle when Mazzilli returned to the Mets in 1986 and had a big hit in the incredible Game 6 comeback versus the Boston Red Sox. Yes, Maz earned a championship ring as a Met.

His son Lee, Jr. (better known as L.J.) was not even born until four years after that magical October but he eventually followed in his father’s footsteps, although the younger Mazzilli is an middle infielder. Father and son couldn’t have been any prouder when the Mets selected him in the fourth round of the 2013 MLB Draft.

Although he still needs to work his way up through the farm system, Mazzilli, 24, has been impressive at every stop. He appeared in the 2013 New York-Penn League All-Star Game and again earned similar honors in 2014 while in the South Atlantic League. He also was added to the Las Vegas 51s’ postseason roster and appeared in one Triple-A playoff game. In two minor league seasons, Mazzilli has a .293 batting average.

Now he is playing in the Arizona Fall League and being the same type of spark plug his father was a generation ago. Legging out triples, drawing walks, stealing bases and scoring runs are just examples of what he has been doing in the AFL for Scottsdale.

Like father, like son.

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