*********** We love baseball******************

by FlyingHighNow 54 Replies latest social entertainment

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  FlyingHighNow

  This is a baseball tribute thread. Please post anything and everything about baseball memories, the game, your favorite team, players opinions on the designated hitter rule. Anything.

  Baseball brings back the magical feelings of childhood and tagging along with my older siblings to the little league games played at the parks my mother worked when she was the art director for Mobile Parks and Recreation.

  Then there was the softball league I played for, very badly I might add, and loved every single game we lost. Never won a game. We were the rejects from the better teams, culled and formed into a team anyone and everyone could beat. We didn't care. We had our St. Mary's Parish Sheriff's Department orange and black shirts, our white wrangler shorts, white bobby socks and white keds. We got a New Orlean's sno ball after everygame: win or lose. We went to the tournament. We never had so much fun. I was the kid that the outfield moved "in" for. I missed every pop fly, way out there in center field. I was afraid of the ball.

  When my kids were young, we used to go to the ball fields and watch the little leaguers play. I so wished my kids could play ball, but alas, JW's said, "NO!" And my grandson Julian would rather play soccer or tennis. *Sigh*

  I'm a National League fan. I love the Braves. Just can't quite make my mind bend to accept the designated hitter of the American League. But I must admit I have been listening to the Tiger's games on the way home from work.

  Long live baseball ! And I hope to catch a White Caps game this summer.

  Here's to the crack of the bat, the soft thud of the catch and the dirty spots on the pants of the player who just slid into home. A tribute to the Boys of Summer:

  http://youtube.com/watch?v=pGH_mtib9fo
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  FlyingHighNow

  Woops. When I was a teenager, I dated a guy who played on a team. He was 6' 4". He came over to my house in his uniform one day. I swooned. Ever since I have been in love with the way the players look in those uniforms. "Grrrrrrr!"
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  FlyingHighNow

  http://youtube.com/watch?v=raSJDLv-Wpg&feature=related John Fogerty Centerfield

  I'm cheering up just listening to these songs. Ever see little pee wees playing tee ball? That's gotta be one of the cutest things on the face of this earth.
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  Fadeout

  I liked baseball more as a young kid, before it was pushed aside by football and basketball, but I do have a few good memories.

  When I stopped homeschooling and went to public school for the first time, I of course had had little exposure to participation in sports of any kind, sucked at everything and was about the smallest kid in my class to top it off.

  In PE I was the kid who everyone "moved in" for, like even the infield moved in to be further infield.

  So one sunny day I went up to bat and belted one right down the middle... I'll never forget how the center fielder leaped for the ball as it whiffed off the top of his glove... home run baby.

  What I lacked in athleticism I usually didn't make up for with effort, but it wasn't for lack of trying. Every play was life or death to me. And so it was that during the 7th grade softball unit, my team was getting absolutely killed and most of our guys were phoning it in, as by rights they should have been as the period was ending in about two minutes. I was playing second base, the batter drilled one right to me, I caught the ball in self-defense and sprinted toward the now-backpedaling runner who had left first. I went horizontal, stretched out my tiny arm and tagged him just before I hit the ground full force. Had my arm in a sling for a week afterward, but made the singlehanded double play and never regretted it.

  A dude like me has to hang on to every positive sports moment... ;-D
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  FlyingHighNow

  Awww, thank you, Fade Out. I am grinning ear to ear! I love your memories. You know, I dream sometimes of hitting a homerun. So cool that you hit one. That's awesome.

  In PE I was the kid who everyone "moved in" for, like even the infield moved in to be further infield.

  So one sunny day I went up to bat and belted one right down the middle... I'll never forget how the center fielder leaped for the ball as it whiffed off the top of his glove... home run baby.

  Me, too, even the infield. Gotta love those poor kids, doncha?

  Hey, you know, I just remembered how in Bayou Vista, we had moved to SE Louisiana by then, we used to play a form of kick ball called German baseball, at PE. One day, I was playing right field. I was daydreaming when I heard everyone screaming my name. I looked up to sky, my arms crossed across my chest. I saw the ball coming down at me and I just held out my arms, still locked in a cross and the ball landed ever so gracefully in my arms. We won the game on that play! I was an unintentional hero that day.
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  FlyingHighNow

  A dude like me has to hang on to every positive sports moment... ;-D

  That's cute. And I hear ya. I can relate.
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  FlyingHighNow

  I just bought three tickets to the White Caps game on Sunday May 4th. I am so excited. I have never been to a minor league game, only to see the Braves play the Mets back in the 90's. I'm giddy.
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  Fadeout

  I occasionally get tickets for the local minor league team... great seats, we're literally putting our feet up on the dugout.

  Even non-baseball fans like me can enjoy that. Also, they throw hot dogs from the field and we're in primo position to snag 'em. :-D
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  FlyingHighNow

  The seats I got are pretty good. They are to the left of home plate, the first row of seats in the second section up from the field. I can't wait. I hope the weather is not going to be too hot that day. I just might have to invest in a parasol.
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  Gopher

  The first game that I saw -- my dad took me to the old Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota in 1969 to see the Twins play the Oakland A's. As we approached our seats down the first base line, in the shade of the deck above us, I saw emerald green grass, bright white lines, and the thump, thump sound of infielders taking fielding practice before the next inning. The atmosphere was just awesome, the home team won the game 10-4, and I started following the Twins as they won the division title under manager Billy Martin.

  I've been hooked on baseball ever since. The local team moved indoors to the Metrodome in 1982, and the sound bounces off the roof now. There's a big blue baggy where the right field wall should be, it's covering the football seats. But my team did win two world championships, in 1987 and in 1991, inside that faux baseball stadium

  Where the old Met Stadium was, the Mall of America now sits. You can see the exact location of where home plate was, and if you look about 500 feet northeast and upwards, you'll see a seat that designates the location where Harmon Killebrew hit the longest home run in the stadium's history.

  The Twins will have a new outdoor stadium in 2010. It'll be like being a kid again.