25 Random Baseball Things

Unemployment had me doing a lot of things I wouldn’t have otherwise been doing. Wearing slippers during all waking hours was a new thing for me, as was talking to the preschool moms about what was on sale and where each week. But perhaps the weirdest thing I did was spend a lot of time — really way, way too much time — on Facebook. It’s a weird little word on there, mostly because the people who are the busiest and have the most interesting lives are the ones with the least amount of time to update their pages. As a result, me and every other unemployed person, stay-at-home parent, and/or college student update multiple times a day, take weird quizzes, seek out people to whom they haven’t spoken since Reagan’s first term, and engage in all manner of other social networking tom foolery. It’s sad, yes, but it’s better than sitting alone in a room watching The Price is Right. Well, at least since Bob Barker retired, anyway.

But perhaps the weirdest thing to hit Facebook in recent months was the “25 Random Things About Me” meme. You’ve no doubt heard about it. Someone tags you, and you’re required to write 25 random things about yourself, post it, and tag ten or twenty other people and on and on it goes. I did it. So did a lot of my friends. There’s a pretty heavy backlash against it hitting right now. Actually, we may be on to the backlash against the backlash. I’m not sure, because I haven’t read Slate this month, and they’re the ones that keep track of this sort of thing. But I really don’t care. I kind of liked the meme, because when well-written, they can almost be lyrical, and even when they’re bad, hey, I like to learn random things about people, even if one of those things is that I hope I never get caught talking to them alone at a cocktail party.

As I said in the previous post, I’m not following the news that closely this week, so I’m putting up some more general stuff. Someone may one day kill me for doing this, but I think one of the general posts I’d like to do is a variation on the 25 random things thing, this time adapted to baseball. If this enrages you, fine, skip it and click over to one of those sports sites with a greater boobs-to-content ratio than this one or pick up a David Halberstam book or something. If not, feel free to write your own and I’ll post some of the better ones later in the week. Either way, feel free to mock me in the comments. God knows I wish I had the stones to mock some of the people on Facebook. So, without further ado:

25 Random Baseball Things About Me

1. I was a pretty poor excuse for a ballplayer as a kid. I was slow and had no discernible instincts or really any talents on the diamond. I did own a nice catcher’s mitt, though — Lance Parrish model; a gift from an uncle — and for some reason that caused my coaches to pencil me in at catcher way more often than they should have. No one was keeping track, but if they were, I would no doubt have been recognized as the all-time passed ball leader in Michigan and West Virginia Little League history.

2. By the time I got to Babe Ruth ball, they coaches wised up and stuck me out in left field where I couldn’t hurt anyone. The ballfields on which I played were smack dab in between giant DuPont and a Borg Warner chemical plants in Washington, West Virginia. The DuPont plant has since become famous for spewing a bunch of ammonium perfluorooctanoate — also called C8 — into the local water supply, which has been linked with infertility and cancer and stuff. I have had two normal children and don’t yet have cancer, so I’m guessing I lucked out. Apart from that, though, the ballfields were quite nice.

3. My brother, who is two years older than me, played on my first little league team. He was the exact opposite of me: supremely talented, but not all that interested. I was playing in my first or second game when I got hit in the back by the opposing pitcher. It wasn’t dirty or anything—no one has control when they’re 11—and I took my base. In the next half inning, my brother was on the mound and the other team’s pitcher came to bat. Curt was jawing at him as he walked to the plate and beaned the kid in the helmet with his first pitch. All hell broke loose. As a rule I hate beanball shenanigans at any level, but I was really impressed with my brother that day.

4. I went to my first Major League game on the Fourth of July, 1978. It was the Tigers-Blue Jays at Tiger Stadium. I don’t remember a thing about it. The first one I do remember was June 17, 1979 against the Angels. Alan Trammell hit a home run that day and he instantly became my favorite player.

5. I went to dozens of games at Tiger Stadium between 1978 and 1984, using my great uncle’s season tickets. He first bought them back in the 40s or something, and they were right behind home plate. Because I was brought up sitting in such good seats, to this day I am somewhat miffed if I have to sit in bad seats at a ballpark, and my attention easily strays from the action.

6. A friend of my father’s used to help organize a big baseball card show in Detroit every year. Because we knew him, he’d get us in to meet whatever ballplayers were signing cards without having to pay or wait on line. This allowed my brother and I to talk to a lot of them at length. Dan Quisenberry was, by far, the nicest ballplayer I’ve ever met. Trammell was actually underwhelming, but at the time I chalked it up to his being preoccupied with saving Metro Detroit from threats from communists, Martians, and the Baltimore Orioles. Jack Morris was a total ass — maybe the most prolific ass of the entire 1980s. Hank Aaron had about 20 handlers and employees with him, and I kind of felt sorry for him. Stan Musial appeared to have driven in himself, accepted no star treatment whatsoever, and seemed like he’d grab a broom and help clean up if you had asked him. He asked me if I played ball. When I said yes, he said “that’s swell.”

7. This one was actually in my Facebook 25 things: For reasons involving one baseball card lying funny on top of another baseball card, from the time I first became aware of his existence sometime in 1978 or 1979 until the 1981 World Series, I thought that Graig Nettles was black. When I saw him on TV and told my dad of my confusion, he told me that Nettles used to be black until he “had the surgery.” I then spent a few weeks believing that people could have race-change surgery before my dad told me he was joking. I’m almost positive now that I was looking at a George Scott card and had it in my mind that he was Nettles.

8. Though he should be some kind of hero of mine given my Tigers’ fandom back in the day, I have always been vaguely creeped out by Kirk Gibson. I’m certain this has something to do with the fact that my mom, watching a Tigers game over my shoulder in the early-to-mid 80s, said that she really liked watching him run.

9. The great uncle with the Tigers’ season tickets was really more like my grandpa, we were so close. He died the second week of April, 1984. On the day of his funeral — a Saturday — we came back to his house and turned on the TV and watched the Game of the Week. Pete Rose had hit his 4000th hit the day before, and they were showing highlights. My uncle hated Pete Rose, so I took his little Montreal Moment as something of an affront. I decided later that the Tigers’ fast start and ultimate championship that year was cosmically arranged by the ghost of my great uncle, as was Pete Rose’s later disgrace. In hindsight this was silly. The Tigers were loaded that year and would have won with or without Uncle Harry’s help. Rose? I’m pretty sure Harry’s ghost dropped the dime on him.

10. For several years of my youth, I was strongly of the opinion that George Brett was the best baseball player of all time. People would mention Mantle, and I’d say “he was no Brett.” I don’t even know why I thought this, but I’m sure it had something to do with the chase for .400 in 1980 and some key hits to beat the Tigers over the years. Even later, when my brain and experience taught me that, yes, there were players better than George Brett, there was always part of me that felt like I was lying when I admitted it, and that yes, Brett was still the best.

11. For reasons I can’t recall, my parents got a subscription to USA Today in the mid 80s. I would spend hours looking at the stat packages they published mid-week, AL on Wednesday, NL on Thursday if I remember correctly. League leaders and team capsules were printed every day, much as they still are now. It wasn’t as good as the Sporting News, but I didn’t know that, because I didn’t get the Sporting News until few years later. As far as I was concerned I had hit the motherlode. With Baseball-Reference and ESPN’s sortable stats around no one needs those weekly stat packages anymore. Still, I probably pick up a USA Today two or three times a week, due to 20 year-old residual goodwill.

12. The first time I ever thought I could write about baseball for a living was in the spring of 1988. My Dad knew a sportswriter for the Parkersburg Sentinal and told him that his 14 year-old kid knew a bit about baseball. The reporter, seeking an angle for a preseason article, asked me to write up my predictions for the coming season to compare to his own. I spent a ton of time on mine, predicting not only the outcome of the pennant races, but postseason awards, random statistical events, and everything. I typed it all out on the world processor for my Commodore 64 (Speedscript!), and presented it to him. He had about a page and a half of handwritten notes with random weird stuff like “Sam Horn will hit 50 Homers!” He ended up not writing the piece, but I kept the predictions. Yeah, it was only Parkersburg, West Virginia, but mine were better and better-written than the pro’s were, and from that day on I knew I could do this if I set my mind to it.

A Hardball Times Update
Goodbye for now.

13. I’ve been to thirteen major league ballparks: Tiger Stadium; Camden Yards; Veterans Stadium; PNC Park; Jacobs Field; Great American Ballpark; Miller Park; Wrigley Field; Kauffman; AT&T Park; Dodger Stadium; Angel Stadium; and Petco Park. Tiger Stadium is obviously my favorite, but that one aside, either Camden Yards or AT&T gets the nod. Least favorite: Great American Ballpark. There wasn’t a corner they didn’t cut on that joint, the fences are too close, and it’s facing the wrong damn way.

14. In the early 80s, the Lipton Tea Company printed up giveaway posters with covers of every World Series program on them, which were distributed at Tiger Stadium (and I’m guessing other parks too). My brother and each grabbed one and I had mine on my bedroom wall from the time I got it until I graduated high school. Because of it, I memorized the participants in every World Series in history, and can still recite them in order to this day. I lost it at some point, but last year my friend Todd found one on Ebay and bought it for me. I’m fixing to put it up in my son’s room. I’ll have to find something to supplement 1983-2008, however.

15. I switched from being a Tigers fan to being a Braves fan in the mid 80s after my family moved to West Virginia in 1985. I had weird feelings of guilt about this for years — not unlike someone might feel for having an affair — but it pretty much dissipated by 1988. You can read more about that here).

16. I always enjoyed playing catch more than actually playing baseball. I liked to pretend to be different pitchers when playing catch, and got pretty good at emulating their styles. I thought my Gene Garber was particularly good. So good, in fact, that I tried it out for my Babe Ruth coach with the idea that he could use me in a game, the misdirection and unorthodoxy of it all making up for my lack of velocity. The coach watched three pitches — two of which sailed on me — and walked away without a word. Needless to say, I was back in left field that day.

17. As a Braves fan, Game Seven of the 1991 World Series should have been the biggest must-see game of all time, but I missed just about all of it. I was a freshman in college, and I had gone back home that weekend to visit my girlfriend (who would one day become my wife), who was then still in high school. I stayed in West Virginia late into the day, and driving back up to Columbus that Sunday evening, I couldn’t get the game on the radio at all (it was a 1987 Cavalier and the radio was an obvious place where costs were cut). The first thing I heard of the game was on the radio in the shuttle bus which took me back to the dorm from the remote parking lot. I was getting near my dorm when Danny Gladden came to bat, and I told the driver I wasn’t getting out until I heard it end, so I’d just tag along with him for a while. Then Gladden hit the double and it was over. I had shed almost all of my superstitions by then, but part of me felt like my missing the game had something to do with the Braves losing.

18. In 1984, my family was on a vacation, driving through North Carolina, when my Dad saw a sign that said the town was the home of Gaylord Perry. He stopped the car, checked a directory at a phone booth, and 20 minutes later we were pulling up at Gaylord Perry’s house, where we ended up having lunch. Perry was really nice about it and gave us a bunch of free stuff, autographed baseballs, and everything.

19. For several years in the mid-to-late 90s, my baseball watching petered out to near non-existent levels. If it had not been for the Internet and my discovery of sabermetrics and sabermetric writing, I think it’s entirely possible that I would have lost touch with the game forever. At the very least I would have interacted with it in the same way I interact with pro football: I would have acknowledged it. I would have generally known what was going on during the season. I would have, however, watched very few games and cared very little about the outcome of any of them.

20. I went to the last game ever played in Municipal Stadium in Cleveland. On the way out, I discovered that a guy had parked with his bumper crammed up against mine. There was no apparent damage, but I was really upset, and impulsively keyed his car. Sixteen years later and I still can’t think about Municipal Stadium without pangs of guilt over my moment of vandalism. Still, it was that same 1987 Cavalier, and bad radio notwithstanding, I really loved that car.

21. My writing is informed by a lot of sabermetric/analytical content, but truth be told, I enjoy watching hit-and-runs, sacrifice bunts, and managers who let guys steal bases at will, even if they’re often not successful.

22. I enjoy dog day baseball way more than postseason baseball. I get antsy when games start to matter, and prefer games after which you can turn off the TV and not think much about them.

23. For all of the crap you hear about Dodgers fans, I have never been more impressed with a group of fans than I was with the people I sat near in Dodger Stadium for an interleague game in 2007. Contrary to the cliche, they came early, stayed late (it was a 10 inning game), paid attention, and were extremely knowledgeable. I think a lot of this had to do with the fact that we were up in the upper deck way down the third base line. These fans weren’t there because someone at the office got them tickets. They were there because they loved baseball and loved their Dodgers.

24. I’ve only been intoxicated at a ballpark once in my life, and that was for a day game at Wrigley Field in 2000. In fact, I think I was still intoxicated from the night before and used the ballpark Old Style as hair of the dog and just never slowed down. I had a good time, but I’d like to give Wrigley another chance, because I don’t think I showed it my best side, nor allowed it to show me its best side that day.

25. I’m afraid to go to a game in Comerica Park because I worry that I’d like it, and liking it would represent a betrayal to Tiger Stadium. Everything about me and baseball comes back to Tiger Stadium.

OK, that was longer than I thought it would be. Don’t feel the need to do it yourself, but if you do, I’d like to read it, whether it be in your own writing space if you’re a columnist or blogger-type, or simply in the comments or in an email if you’re a civilian.


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Chris Kash
15 years ago

That was beautiful. If I weren’t at work I’d try to do my own.

Shawn
15 years ago

In case you were wondering, the Parkersburg paper is still that bad.  So bad, in fact, that I will not pay for it anymore; used to subscribe, but can’t justify the expense.

RoyceTheBaseballHack
15 years ago

Re: # 23, Dodger Stadium.
I had relatives in the LA area who I enjoyed an extended visit with in 1983. My cousin took me to all the requisite LA sites: Disneyland, Malibu, The Sunset Strip, and Dodger Stadium.  I grew up in Houston, so the whole Big City Thing was not a culture impact. However, for a guy who had only experienced professional baseball in The Astrodome, Dodger Stadium was the most impressive thing I’d ever seen.  I could easily pen 3000 words about that one experience that I’ll spare everyone, but one of the things that struck me was that it was a Wednesday night game against the Reds, who I think had a lock on last place in August of 1983.  There were 37,000 + in the place that night. I made a comment to my cousin about the announcement of one Dodger player that surprised me, and every person within ten feet spun around and explained that he had been called up from the Minors that day and, didn’t I read the paper??? So, I agree – say what you want about The Dodgers, but those are some real fans out there.  And Dodger Stadium is a worthy place.

Joao
15 years ago

A parenthetical after the names of some of the ballparks with the identifying city would have spared me having to look up ATT Park. 

The benefit of having grown up without a team anywhere nearby is that I can switch alliegences without any guilt, and it also allows me to pick a team before the start of the playoffs, re-set them after each round if necessary, and still stay interested in the playoffs, unlike say in the NHL, where after my team is eliminated, I usually stop caring.

John Roberts
15 years ago

Really like your writing. I remember when the Braves moved to Atlanta (7 years old at the time) and your memories of the “bad years” (the seasons of Andres Thomas were just one of the periods of ghastly ineptitude during the franchise’s first 25 years in town) brought back some of my own. Like you, I missed most of the final game of the ‘91 World Series because of my future wife. That was the evening her parents were meeting and passing judgement on the man she was presenting as her intended husband. As it happened, the TV in the restaurant bar was in my field of vision but it was about 50’ away and I couldn’t see the score or determine much of what was happening. Also, I realized that it would be a good idea to devote my attention to the dinner conversation and simply trust that the miracle season would culminate in a storybook ending. A friendly waiter did give me score updates every few innings. At one point, it was obvious that something was happening but agonizingly indecipherable. [Turns out that it was the Lonnie Smith base running fiasco.] We did get to the car in time for the 10th inning and my fiancee was kind enough to request that we listen on the radio but that was perhaps more painful that missing it entirely. Incidentally, I moved to South Charleston, WV, last summer. With TBS no longer carrying the Braves and WSB (the former flagship radio station of the Braves radio network)having dropped the team, it’s not easy being a Atlanta fan here.

Andy L
15 years ago

Number 18 is amazing!  I’d like to do something like that…stop by Paul Molitor’s house or something like that.

JakeSuds
15 years ago

Wow Craig, number 25 on your list is the way I feel about Comerica verbatim…  I’ll put my own up in a day or so.  I didn’t even grow up with box seats!

MooseinOhio
15 years ago

Need to make Fenway number fourteen on your list of ballparks.  It’s only a twelve hour drive from Columbus to Boston and I’ll pick you up on my way through from Athens.

We can hit the HoF and some minor league games on the trip if you like.  Should we invite the wives and kids or just have some classic male bonding moments?

Detroit Michael
15 years ago

Oops, posted a quick comment on this one accidentally under the next article.

I like Comerica Park on the whole better than Tiger Stadium.  Tiger Stadium literally might have had a third of its seats with an obstructed view and one just doesn’t get a bad seat at Comerica.  Also, the trough urinals were disgusting.  Comerica Park has too much internal advertising, which takes a long time to learn to ignore, but you’ve got a nice view of the field and the city outside.  Admittedly though, the right field overhang seats in Tiger Stadium were cooler than any place in Comerica Park.

Ron
15 years ago

Wow, Dan Quisenberry, George Brett, and Stan, all in one blog. Good stuff.

mike in brooklyn
15 years ago

re #19:  Interesting.  My own baseball watching petered out about that time period too.  I’m about 10 years older than you, I think, so it ain’t an age thing.  And, like you, sabermetrics brought me back.  Being a Mets fan, the Subway Series helped, too (even though I was living in Boston at the time.)

1 random baseball thing about me:
Like I said, I’m a Mets fan.  My birthday is Oct 27, the day the Mets won it all in ‘86.  Same birthday as Ralph Kiner, long time Mets announcer.  My mother’s a big Mets fan too.  Her birthday is Oct 16, same day Mets won it in ‘69.  And same birthday as Tim McCarver, who was actually a good announcer back when he worked for the Mets.
Oh…and I lived in Boston in ‘86…my happiest and loneliest birthday all rolled into one!

BillyBeaneismyHero
15 years ago

First baseball game I ever went to was at Cleveland Stadium.  It was in mid-September of 1993, and they were playing the hated Yankees.  (My brother and dad are Yankee fans, and I’m a Red Sox fan.)  Appropriately, there were only about 8000 people there, and my dad was seated right behind a pole.  Even despite the craptastic nature of the ballpark, I was still excited.  There was this grumpy old man who bitched about how he didn’t understand why they wouldn’t let Paul Sorrento hit against lefties.  To cap the night off, my dad made us leave mid way through the eighth to (wait for it) beat the traffic.  FOR 8000 PEOPLE (most of whom left before the seventh)!  It made sense at the time, but I still look back at that moment and chuckle a bit.

John McCann
15 years ago

The USA today stats were Tuesday and Wednesday, and I still buy the paper sometimes too due to all the warm and fuzzy feeling of those years.

Also, I am amazed that anyone who has been to PNC does not consider it the best of the new ballparks.

Hojo
15 years ago

I liked the one about your great uncle and the 1984 Tigers. My mother often recalls that her grandfather (a big Tigers fan) died in April of 1984 and feels the Tigers World Series run that year was because of him. Then came 2006, when her uncle died in the spring. She thought for sure the Tigers would win it all because of him once they started hot and made the playoffs. Sad to say, they petered out in the Fall Classic, but it was still one of the best seasons any of my family will remember, and she thanks her uncle for the memorable year.

Richard in Dallas
15 years ago

Moose,
You can’t take that trip unless you promise to meet my son and I in either Cooperstown or Boston.  I’ve been to both, but my son only Cooperstown.  And Fenway is number one on his I wanna go there next list (it’ll be #10 for him).  And my son, at 15, could easily fall in to the wife and kids category OR do the male bonding thing….

Sutton
15 years ago

Re: #8 As a Dodger fan, my first distinct baseball memory was watching the 1988 playoffs, particularly Gibson’s home run. The following season, while he was on the DL, my father managed to get me into a forest fire prevention commercial with him that was taped on the field at Dodger Stadium. Gibson came off as an interesting guy. He was incredibly generous to us. I was shocked by his surprisingly high voice. He was larger than life to me so I remember that voice quite well.

There was one moment during the commercial when the cleaning crew was making noise up by some concession stands. We couldn’t do the filming with all the noise. Before anybody could do or say anything, Gibson turns around and yells, “Shut up!” The whole place went quiet and stayed quiet until various Dodgers (oddly enough, Manny Mota, who was a coach, and Mickey Hatcher were the first two on the field) began coming out for pregame warm-ups.

Aarcraft
15 years ago

Three Random Baseball Facts About Me

#1
I was born in St. Louis, but moved to Houston when I was eight. As such, I was a 80’s Cardinals fan but a 90’s Astros fan. They were compatible until the teams were put into the same division. Then, my allegiance shifted entirely to the Astros, in time for the Biggio/Bagwell years. My favorite players are Ozzie Smith and Jeff Bagwell, arising out of this shift in the 90’s.

#2
My uncle is a baseball fanatic who used to do a Orioles post game sports talk show in lower Pennsylvania. Growing up, the fun family game was for him to pose trivia questions that I couldn’t answer. When my wife, who has little no baseball knowledge, first met him, she memorized some baseball facts. Easy ones, like Hank Aaron’s homerun total, and DiMaggio’s hitting streak. When she was finished with literally the only baseball knowlegde she had, he asked her “who was in the batter’s box when Bobby Thompson hit the shot heard round the world.”

#3
My first baseball memory, and quite possibly my first memory period, was Ozzie Smith hitting the home run in the 1985 NLCS and Jack Buck yelling “go crazy folks.” I remember it, because my dad did indeed go crazy, and I spilled my milk.

glenn
15 years ago

If you’re going to go up to Boston, you might as well come back down I-95 into Philly and see Citizens Bank Park.  I have been to all of the one’s in #19 except for Petco and Miller, and the Bank is the best of all the new ones I’ve seen, including Nats.  The place has the best food in the Majors, phenomenal sight lines, and the fans are worth the price of admission, and I mean that in a good way.  They back the Phils like no other fans I’ve ever seen.  If you decide to stop in, get in touch.  I’ll be there all summer.

glenn
15 years ago

oops, I meant #13.

Cubnut
15 years ago

A wonderful challenge, Craig. I took it up last night at our blog, The Cub Reporter.

http://tinyurl.com/bqoypl

I believe some of our other writers are going to follow suit.

glenn
15 years ago

Regarding #4,

I just remembered a few of things I haven’t thought about in oh, 35 years.  I remember my father and my grandfather taking me to Bat Day at the corner in ‘66, ‘67, and ‘68, back when they actually handed out real Louisville Sluggers, and not those little things they sell in the team shoppe now.

I can still remember getting the Al Kaline model the first year, the Dick McAuliffe the second year, and Mickey Stanley the third.  The first Bat Day was likely not my first game, as the old guys would take me all kinds of weird places (Tiger games, Lions games, bars, bowling alleys, horse tracks, drag races, more bars, Red Wings, etc.) under the guise of “babysitting,” which at the time I thought was perfectly normal, but now probably qualifies as child abuse of some sort.

I also remember going to a game in early ‘67 and badgering Harmon Killebrew until he tossed me a ball.  Somehow the old guys got their hands on seats right next to the visitors dugout at Tiger Stadium, so I was probably pestering every Twin within earshot.  It was the first ball I ever got from a Major Leaguer.  I was all of seven years old.

Richard In Dallas
15 years ago

Aarcraft:
Re: #2

Are you referring to a young centerfielder wearing #24 in the ON DECK CIRCLE, or did you actually mean who was in the batter’s box, in which case the answer was in the question?

Jason B
15 years ago

Living in Tennessee most of my life, the fanbase around here tends to skew mostly Braves, with some Reds and Cards thrown into the mix for good measure.

As a Blue Jays fan (don’t ask me why – I never felt geographical proximity was the best reason to develop a rooting interest), I’ll forever savor sticking it to the sudden hometown favorites in the 1992 Series (damned bandwagon jumpers).  Hopping around my bedroom in the basement like a madman, but trying not to be *too* loud and incur the wrath of Dad (Braves fan).  It’s not dissimilar from the Wrath of Khan (RIP, Ricardo).

If it’s any consolation, we won that battle but not the war.  11 straight division titles is damned impressive. *DAMNED* impressive.  (1994 still existed, so none of this “14 straight” business!)

Aarcraft
15 years ago

Richard:
Good call. I meant on deck circle. Although, he could have said batters box. At that point I don’t it would have made a difference as to whether my wife knew the answer.

Aarcraft
15 years ago

She is improving though

Pete Toms
15 years ago

Oddly for a hoser my first big league game was at Three Rivers.  IIRC Rooker vs Koosman.  Lumber Company days.  We were on our way home from Wheeling, my sister performed a handful of times on the WWVA Jamboree and my dad knew I was a big Pirates fan. (Not sure why, I think because I read something about Clemente when I was a small kid that impressed me.)  I’ve kept very few things from my past but I still have the Pirates program.

I’ve not been to any of the HOK parks but plenty of the old ones.  After Three Rivers, Exhibition Stadium, Skydome/Rogers Centre, Olympic Stadium, Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium, Fenway Park, whatever the hell the place where the A’s play was called at the time and Candlestick.  I went to a Bears game a handful of winters ago and the first place I went in Chicago was Wrigley.  It was November I think (it definitely wasn’t baseball season) and I walked around the exterior of the stadium and bought a Bears hat in a souvenier shop across the street.  Because I live in a minor league city (Ottawa), I’ve seen a ton of AAA ball and last season independent CanAm League.

Drew
15 years ago

You son of a bitch!  So you’re the one that keyed my car!

(Not really, but wouldn’t that be one hell of a thing to come out of this?)

Mikee A
15 years ago

I’ve had the same experience at Wrigley…four times.  Hmmmmm….Old Style…

Kelly
15 years ago

Okay—I posted mine as well.

smsetnor
15 years ago

No worries abotu beign drunk at Wrigley.  Like jesus, she loves all sides of you.

Jeff Brown
15 years ago

I think I may be the exact same age as you the writer.  I was born in East Lansing in 1973. It seems that many of my memories mirror yours.  I remember going to see Gibson play baseball for the Spartans in East Lansing. (one of my absolute earliest memories) My dad took me to Tiger stadium many times as his dad had taken him in the 50’s.  I love the Tigers to this day, with my own kids I go to watch them any chance I get, in K.C. and Minnesota now that I have moved. I too am avoiding a trip to Comerica because I will always remember walking out of the tunnel to see the field at Tiger stadium the first time and that is how I want to remember Tiger home games.

Millsy
15 years ago

Here are a couple of my favorite random experiences/thoughts from my list…I started this thread on Facebook now haha.  Good idea, Craig.

4. My dad was my coach from the age of 5 until high school ball (and even 3 years there for fall league). The only reason he started coaching me was because, at the first day of T-ball practice and we were the first ones there, the real coach showed up, tossed down the equipment bag, looked at my dad and said, “Looks like you’re the new coach,” and left. My dad never played baseball, but, eventually, we won the Rec League Championship when I was turning 12. That was 1996, and our team name was the Braves. In 1993 and 1994, we were the Blue Jays…but we didn’t win the championship.

5. In college, each pitcher got to pick their intro music since we had a couple friends running the books and the PA. I chose “La La” by Ashlee Simpson. I never lost at home. Now all those guys I pitched against have to live with the fact that they got shutout by the guy dancing to Ashlee Simpson on the mound during warm-ups.

16. I’ve been to one spring training game. It was the Astros vs. the Braves. I got to watch Roy Oswalt vs. Tim Hudson—two of my favorite pitchers. Preston Wlson was on the Astros at that time, who my college coach had coached with the 1992 Junior Olympic Team. When I asked what kind of player he was and if he was a hard worker, etc. Lew Jenkins only reply was, “All I can say is he’s the best dressed black boy I’ve ever met.” Thanks coach.

17. My college coach also coached Alex Rodriguez. When I asked him about A-Rod, he said to me, “He’s the best damn baseball player I’ve ever coached.” That was the extent of the conversation. Thanks again, coach.

21. I’ve always thought that Todd Helton should have won the MVP unanimously over Jeff Kent in 2000.

24. One time, after my freshman year in college, I decided to play on a Babe Ruth league team just to have fun. In the MD state all star tournament, we played on a tiny field that was 320 all around. My first at bat I hit a line drive to dead center field. I flipped the bat, because it was obviously out, and did a little Pujols skip toward first. I then heard the fence *CLING* and saw the center fielder pick up the ball. I got a single and acted like I sprained my ankle. That’s what I get for being a cocky jackass.

Jonathan Norberg
15 years ago

1. Kent Hrbek shares my birthday. When one of the best players on your team shares your birthday, the favorite player of a kid is a given.
2. Never played baseball past grade school, and I stunk even then. I would go up to bunt the guy to second and completely miss the ball.
3. One of my best memories was from a visit to Yankee stadium as a kid. It was NY-MN doubleheader, and the Twins swept! Allan Anderson saw me in Twins gear and waved to me!
4. I was riding my bike down a hill when I was about 8, and I wiped out—giving me a scar in my stomach and a hole in my favorite Hrbek shirt. I still have the shirt.
5. Collected cards heavily through my kid years. One highlight was winning a 1987 set from the local card shop. This was announced on the radio during the game and my mom told me while I was in the shower. I thought it was the greatest ever!
6. In 1987 I was 9, and it was past my bedtime during the WS game 7. But I snuck into my parents’ room during the last inning and was able to watch. I remember distinctly hopping up and down on all fours!
7. As a kid I was able to go with an adult friend to the Winter Caravan, and I had my picture taken with Jeff Reboulet and Pat Meares! Unfortunately, the camera was stolen, and I never got to see the pic.
8. But, years later I was able to see Puckett AND Killebrew at the same Caravan. My highlight was telling Killebrew, “I can’t wait to tell my Grandpa I met you,” and having him reach out and shake my hand.
9. One of the worst games ever attended was an opening day blow-out by the Rays. First pitch of the season was a bomb against Radke. It was a long night…
10. Did see a couple doozies, though. In particular, a 2-hitter by Joe Mays against the Red Sox (and Pedro.) That was awesome!
11. Only ever been to three parks: the Dome, Yankees stadium and Kauffman.  Obviously the Dome stinks, but I still am in awe every time I walk in and see the field. Baseball is just amazing!
12. Once saw Shannon Stewart at a gas station after a heart-breaking extra inning loss when Shannon had tied it up with a HR. Told him, “Good game—you’ll get them tomorrow,” and he thanked me and shook my hand.
13. Started in my teen years to focus on collecting autographs. Wrote many players and found some folks I admired and some I disliked. The ones I especially disliked actually refused my mail. The ones I liked not only signed my card but included a brief note too. P.S. Palmeiro and Giambi were two that signed my cards.
14. After probably 50 games throughout my life, I finally got my first batting practice ball last year at Kauffman. (I really love Royals fans because the empty stadium is what allowed me to get three!)
15. Took my sister to 2004 Opening Day. This was Mauer’s first big league game. He slapped a couple hits and had a good debut. Drove back the next day listening to the injury that derailed his year.
16. I was living in South Africa at the time of the ‘91 WS, so I had to get everything second hand. Thankfully, some friends mailed the recorded VHS tapes and I got to see the infamous Hrbek move, the dreadful tomahawk chop, etc.
17. I was also living in South Africa when I got to see Ken Burn’s Baseball. I watched the series with my dad, and I will always remember that with fondness. I think the series is completely brilliant, and it can rival the top non-sports documentaries. I still see some of the regulars in their normal facets of life and automatically think of baseball—even if that is just a passion and not really who they are!
18. I wrote a lot of poetry when I was a teenager, but I only wrote one about baseball. It was called “The Rookie” and it was quite dreadful. I did write a good one about cricket, though, if you’re interested…
19. I loved recycled baseball magazines as a kid. Whether a Beckett with Bo Jackson on the cover, or the Sporting News (when it was a newspaper.) I had friends who would pass them along, and I could look at these for hours. In South Africa I could do the same thing—even if the magazine was weeks or months old!
20. I discovered fantasy baseball about 4 years ago, and I love it! I am a bit kooky, though, as I tie my passion for the Twins and my passion for fantasy baseball together. I refuse to start pitchers against the Twins as I want my team to crush the opposition every time they play. I can maintain with pride that my baseball team means more than my fantasy team.
21. I helped teach a bunch of Africans how to play ball in a village. We didn’t have enough gloves, no bases, etc, but we had a ton of fun.
22. My favorite baseball movie is probably “Pride of the Yankees”—even though I hate the Yankees. That said, give me a baseball-themed movie and I will almost undoubtedly like it. “Angels in the Outfield,” “Rhubarb,” “Pride of St. Louis,” “The Rookie,” “The Sandlot,” etc. In fact, give me just about anything baseball and I will enjoy it! (You should see my collection of books!)

hector
15 years ago

The Angels had a player named Morris Nettles who was black – I’m guessing somehow you got him confused with Graig.

Ethan Stock
15 years ago

When I got to 6, I thought “what about Gaylord Perry being the nicest ballplayer ever?” and then you covered that in 18.  So who was nicer? 

When I got to 13 I thought, “what about the last game at Municipal Stadium” and then you covered that in 20.  So does that make 14 parks? 

Another random memory from that game:  On our way out of the stadium, I saw gently pressed in concrete somewhere the iconic tread pattern of Birkenstocks and thought, “what the hell is that?”  A year or two later I moved to California and realized what that tread pattern had been.  Funny how your brain can key on something so tiny.

Craig Calcaterra
15 years ago

I think Quisenberry was still nicer, because it was really Perry’s wife who showed us all of the hospitality. It was all “Gaylord, you should take them back to the den and show them the trophy case,” and “Why don’t y’all stay for lunch?”  I mean, yes, Perry himself was great and not the least bit hostile, but his wife was certainly the one running the show.

You’re right: it’s 14. I have no idea how I left Municipal Stadium out of that count.

Sean
15 years ago

My favorite baseball moment has to be Brad Radke pitching five solid innings in his final appearance for the Twins.  When he was pulled from the game I cried as I thought about a man who gave his entire career to a dismal (at the time) organization who did nothing but abuse his arm and derail his career early.  I will forever admire Radke for giving his career to the Twins.  If I ever find myself in Radke’s hometown, it will be impossible not to pull a Gaylord Perry on his unsuspecting family.