Our National Pastime

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There's no greater sign of Spring than Opening Day...

Are y'all baseball fans? What's your favorite team/player? What do you like/dislike about the sport (besides, of course, the games being seven hours long)?

And if you have both options in your neck of the woods, do you prefer major or minor league baseball?

-- Anonymous, April 15, 2002

Answers

Love it. Love it all. The game is the purest form of sport we have here in the USA, I believe.

I do prefer the minors to the majors in a big way - because you can practically sit on the field and talk to the players, and because they are all so damn earnest, and because going to the game costs $6 - but we are living in a major league city. Not being Braves fans, we are going to support GA Tech baseball this season.

My favorite player in all of baseball? Most definitely Chin-Feng Chen, member of the Dodgers farm system, formerly of the San Antonio Missions, now of the Las Vegas 51s. Soon to get the call up to the bigs and be the talk of Taiwan, I am sure.

-- Anonymous, April 15, 2002


Y'all realize that Tom Glavine is spoken for, yes? I am returning to our love shack in Country Club of the South as we speak.

My other favorite player is Mike Barrett of the Montreal Expos, because he was sweet to me when I was in 7th grade and he was in 8th and our lockers were next to each other.

-- Anonymous, April 15, 2002


Mike Barrett's going to have a heck of a year. Mark my words.

Being from Maryland, I'm a big Orioles fan. We also are blessed with lots of minor league baseball options ... the Frederick Keys and Bowie Baysox are Orioles farm teams, and the Potomac Cannons (in Va.) are a Cardinals (I think) affiliate. And Aberdeen will have a team in June, although that's a little far for me to drive.

-- Anonymous, April 15, 2002


I love love love baseball. I am a KC Royals fan even though they haven't had a good season since 1985.

I will marry George Brett some day.

-- Anonymous, April 15, 2002


Of course I'm an Orioles fan, bad seasons for years or not. And of course Cal Ripken, Jr. is my most favorite player ever. People seem to love to rile me up by saying that the only reason he retired last year was because he didn't think he was going to be included in the All Star team. God, I'm getting riled up thinking about it just now. Just don't say anything bad about Cal to me. He's a good man, and he loves milk.

I've gone out to Salisbury and Hagerstown to watch minor league games that were pretty good. I think they're just as much fun as major league games.

What do I dislike? That the teams aren't as cohesive as they used to be. It's no big deal to play in ten different teams in ten years, and it makes the sport less fun for me, because it doesn't always seem like I'm rooting for a team. Oh look, Barry Bonds is playing here this year... wait, didn't he talk shit about this team last year when he was playing for that other team? and so on. Maybe part of the reason I like Cal so much is because he always kept the Orioles as his team. Somwhere during the 80s, teams started to stop being teams as much as "Oh, we're going to have this ONE really good player that we just gave a $20 mil contract to, and let the rest sort each other out." That's not what a team should be.

-- Anonymous, April 15, 2002



Also, I miss Earl Weaver.

-- Anonymous, April 15, 2002

I miss Earl too, Keli.

My love for the Orioles (and the Major League) waned a bit with the strike. It diminished even further with the ownership of Peter Angelos. I have no respect for an owner that wants to manage the team as if he is sitting in the dugout. Between him firing Davey Johnson and trading B.J. Surhoff, he has proven himself to be a George Steinbrenner wannabe. At least George has backed off in the last several years.

I don't think I will ever have the same fond feelings about an Orioles team as an adult as I did for the team of my childhood, with Jim Palmer, John Lowenstein, Ken Singleton, the great Eddie Murray, etc.

-- Anonymous, April 15, 2002


Mike Boddicker, Gary Roenecke, Benny Ayala, Tippy Martinez, Jim Dwyer ... man, those were the days. I even miss the Mickey Tettleton mini-era.

-- Anonymous, April 15, 2002

Al Bumbry, people!

I feel so old thinking, "I remember when baseball kicked ass! You punks know nothing!"

-- Anonymous, April 15, 2002


And when you would go to a game and pray that it would rain so that Rick Dempsey would come out and do his "clown" routine, sliding into every base on top of the field cover.

-- Anonymous, April 15, 2002


Omigod! Yes!

Marry me.

-- Anonymous, April 15, 2002


Although, even if it didn't rain, you were usually almost guaranteed that Earl Weaver would come out of the dugout, pissed off, hat turned backwards, and kick dirt on at least one umpire.

-- Anonymous, April 15, 2002

One of the reasons I have developed an appreciation for the college and minor league version of the game is that I had the bad luck of coming of age at a time when my favorite team was doing well, but hasn't done well since.

The Philadelphia Phillies, people, where the shiznit in the late 70s. Mike Schmidt, Bob Boone, Larry Bowa, Gary Maddox, and one of the greatest left-handed pitchers EVER, Steve Carlton. They won consistently, culminating a 3 year success streak by winning the World Series in 1980.

And then?

NOTHING.

They had a fluke year in 1993 when they lost in the World Series and made a run at the playoffs last year. Besides that, they haven't done anything for 21 seasons. Not only have they not gotten to the post season since 1993, they have had very few seasons over .500.

It breaks my heart. Hence supporting the college and minor league teams. Because you cannot give up on your favorite pro team by supporting other teams, it is necessary to support winning teams in other versions of the game.

But I still have hope. Since it does spring eternal, dontcha know.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002


MOC, come visit and I will take you to a Cyclones game.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002

I lived in a minor league town for four years and never once went to a game. The Columbus Clippers weren't a big draw for people in my demo. Now, the MLS Crew are a different story, but that's another thread.

I was a huge Astros fan when I was in junior high and high school and went to quite a few games, but then the passion sort of just faded. Maybe because I did the math and figured out the real difference in my age and that of all my favorite players. The dream died.

I'm looking forward to going to some Braves games, mostly because it seems like a big deal here, and I'm all for getting into some Atlanta spirit.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002



So what is everyone's take on the cheap seats at a major league ballpark?

I'm all for them, particularly in Atlanta. Turner Field sells standing room only tickets for sold out games, which are most games, for $5. You then proceed to take whatever seat you want, consistently moving down rows as the game goes on.

Plus the cheap seats are where the really interesting people from Stone Mountain and Kennesaw sit. The last Braves we were at, we sat just above a family of no less than 20 people that had brought 30 coolers and took up three rows. They spent half the game tossing 2 lb bags of M&Ms back and forth to each other and going for beer.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002


My sweetheart brings his 0.89 ERA to Shea tonight.

Granted, it could be a meltdown night, but ooh, if I could get last- minute tickets.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2002


Baltimore has standing room only tickets when the game's sold out but nowadays that doesn't come into play too often, insofar as the only reason to come to the stadium is for Boog's Barbecue.

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2002

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