How old were you when you became a baseball fan?

[ian2813]

I was wondering how old most of the good members of Baseball Fever were when they really became true fans of baseball. I'd also be interested in hearing about what people's earliest baseball memories are. I ask because I was a bit of a latecomer to sports; I wouldn't really have called myself a fan until I was 13. Most of the other boys in school loved sports, but I never got into them until about 8th Grade (and I quickly made up for lost time).

Pre-fandom, baseball always had more presence in my life than any other sport. My father tried to teach me all the teams when I was about seven, and back then I knew the names of some Cub players (I believe the ones I knew were Ryne Sandberg, Mark Grace, Shawon Dunston, Andre Dawson, Rick Sutcliffe and Luis Salazar) as well as some big stars of the day (like Darryl Strawberry, Orel Hershiser and Ozzie Smith). I must've heard the names of some other Cub players too, because when I got older and started learning the history, names like Damon Berryhill and Dwight Smith sounded familiar to me.

Despite hearing more about the Cubs, my first game was a White Sox game. My father's work gave him tickets to Game 1 of the 1993 ALCS, so he took me and my two brothers. It was pretty cool, even though I was too young at the time to appreciate the experience fully. My brother started really getting into the White Sox during the 1994 season, and thanks to the game the year before and my brother always talking about them, I got to know that Sox team pretty well.

My family went to another White Sox game in May of 1995, and I think after that the ball got rolling for me to start following baseball by myself. 1995 was the first year I watched games on my own and followed the postseason. Looking back on it now it seems like a significant turning point in my life. Since then, for better or for worse, I haven't been able to stop loving this great game. Baseball has meant so much to me that I can only wonder who I'd be without it.

How old were the rest of you when you started really following baseball? Do you have any memories of baseball from before that?

[chicagowhitesox1173]

1979 is when I became a fan of em because thats when I started grade school and if you were a Cub fan you more than likely would learn to become a Sox fan pretty quick. I do remember watching the 70's players on channel 44 but the reception always came in bad so most of the time we listened to em on the radio.

I would say 1983 was when I really got into em though.

-I still remember the WW2 vets at the VFW used to really hate Bill Veeck.
-Chet Lemon and Ed Farmer were my two favorite players in the early 80's
-1983 was a fun year but I remember most people hated the uniforms.
-The Crosstown Classic always seemed more fun back then. The Sox always played their best players while the Cubs used minor leaguers.
-When Comiskey was demolished it seemed like alot of guys were more upset that McCuddys got demolished.

[ian2813]

1979 is when I became a fan of em because thats when I started grade school and if you were a Cub fan you more than likely would learn to become a Sox fan pretty quick. I do remember watching the 70's players on channel 44 but the reception always came in bad so most of the time we listened to em on the radio.

Cool stuff. Do you remember anything about Tony LaRussa first taking over?

-1983 was a fun year but I remember most people hated the uniforms.

Isn't that where the slogan "Winning Ugly" came from? At that 1993 playoff game my brother found a discarded program that he brought home (looking through it was one thing that helped me learn all the players), and one feature was a retrospective about the 1983 Sox. It cited the unattractive uniforms as the reason for the slogan.

[ol' aches and pains]

Cool stuff. Do you remember anything about Tony LaRussa first taking over?



Isn't that where the slogan "Winning Ugly" came from? At that 1993 playoff game my brother found a discarded program that he brought home (looking through it was one thing that helped me learn all the players), and one feature was a retrospective about the 1983 Sox. It cited the unattractive uniforms as the reason for the slogan.

Not so-the phrase was coined by Rangers' manager Doug Rader, who was whining that the White Sox were lucky, playing above their heads, and winning in unsusal ways. I really don't remember the specific details, but I'm sure that was the origin of the phrase.

[Railsplitter]

It was 1991, so I was 8 when I first paid attention to MLB. I had been playing baseball before that, but it was the 1991 postseason that got me hooked.

[tag0519]

8 in 1972. A nice world series!!

[pheasant]

I'd first liked baseball at age 7, but by age 11, I was regularly reading the sports page to check the standings and look at each players stats. I.e, I'd say I was a true fan by age 11(1979). Being a Twins fan, Rod Carew was my first basball hero. But he left for the Angels by the time I started studying the stats. I also liked Jim Rice and Reggie Jackson back in the day. But I will say that Reggies's candy bar wasn't that great.

[epaddon]

Age 7 in 1976 was my first awareness of baseball and my first year of becoming hooked. I think a WPIX promo for Yankees-Brewers in April 1976 first made me aware, and then what really helped was discovering baseball cards and buying them like mad which helped me to become familiar with the players from all teams and their history.

I lucked into becoming a Yankee fan that first year, with the renovated stadium and the pennant by Chambliss's HR. The next five years from 76 to 81 was a golden age for me on all levels.

[PlanetZoltan]

I was 19 actually when i first started watching baseball. Im not very close to any professional teams, so I wasnt really exposed to baseball much. I watched part of a World Series game in 2007 between the Red Sox and Rockies, and that was my first taste of pro baseball. I decided to watch another game that was on ESPN at the start of the next season, and it also happened to be a Red Sox game, so I guess it was around that time that I became a baseball fan, and a Red Sox fan as well.

[Ben Grimm]

Maybe one of the easiest things for me to answer on this site. I was 9 years old and was allowed to stay up to see the '75 World Series. I had no stake in either team, and didn't really care who won. But I still remember being instantly hooked, and when it was finally over baseball got itself another fan.

[Michael Green]

In 1973, when I was eight years old, I heard a voice wafting out of our transistor radio. I was mesmerized. It was The Vin, and that is when I became a baseball fan and a Dodger fan. Retrosheet lists the second game of a doubleheader on June 21, 1973, as a 5-1 Dodger victory, and I am almost certain the Dodgers won that first game I heard by that score, so that might even be the day!

The next year, I saw my first major league game, August 1, 1974, and got to meet my idol, who greeted me in his broadcasting booth by looking down and saying, "So you're the guy who wants my job!" And that night, we got a foul ball. Magical.

[Ben Grimm]

In 1973, when I was eight years old, I heard a voice wafting out of our transistor radio. I was mesmerized. It was The Vin, and that is when I became a baseball fan and a Dodger fan. Retrosheet lists the second game of a doubleheader on June 21, 1973, as a 5-1 Dodger victory, and I am almost certain the Dodgers won that first game I heard by that score, so that might even be the day!

The next year, I saw my first major league game, August 1, 1974, and got to meet my idol, who greeted me in his broadcasting booth by looking down and saying, "So you're the guy who wants my job!" And that night, we got a foul ball. Magical.

That's awesome. I had the pleasure of growing up hearing Harry Kalas every night. As great as he was, there was and always will be only one Vin Scully. He's on a level all by himself IMO.

[chicagowhitesox1173]

Not so-the phrase was coined by Rangers' manager Doug Rader, who was whining that the White Sox were lucky, playing above their heads, and winning in unsusal ways. I really don't remember the specific details, but I'm sure that was the origin of the phrase.

The story I always heard was some fans heard him say the winning ugly quote and it blew up after that. I always thought it was Rene Lauchman who started it but it was Doug Radar from what I read about it now.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

I was born in August 1968. I have strong, if fuzzy, memories of watching the 1976 playoffs. I watched the 1976 World Series with my dad. I started collecting baseball cards in 1977. My home town is 95 miles south of San Francisco so the Giants became my team. From 1976-85 the Giants pretty much sucked most of that time. Jack Clark was my favorite player.

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Funny, I rarely actually got to see the Giants play. We didn't have cable TV growing up so I listened on the radio or caught the occasional road game on local TV. Going to Giants games was rare for us. We didn't have a lot of money growing up. But my dad would take us to a doubleheader once a year. I still have fond memories of a Giants/Expos doubleheader in the late 70's I think.

[Ben Grimm]

I started collecting baseball cards in 1977.

True story...

I started collecting baseball cards in 1976. They were 15 cents per pack then. Every day my mom would give me $1.00 for a pretzel and a chocolate milk - I was 9 at the time.

I'd take my $1 and head over to the local drug store that sold tons of candy. I'd spend all $1 of it and come back to the schoolyard to sell it. I'd make sure to get a nickel of profit so I'd have $1.05 which would let me buy 7 packs of cards. I think I did this every day for a school year and ended up with more than 10 sets of cards. I did this thru '78 even though card prices I believe may have jumped to 20 cents a pack - I simply adjusted my buys. I, of course, no longer have those cards and can't remember if they were trashed or whatever. But I must say, it really sucked having to buy back some that I had simply to put my collection together. And no, they didn't cost anywhere near the 15 cents pack cost.