Baseball fan friends

[ElHalo]

Ok, here's my quandry. I was wondering if any of you guys have serious, hardcore, baseball fan friends.

Most of my friends in NY my own age are Mets fans (owing to the Mets' being superior to the Yankees during my youth), and as a result are very bitter about baseball... they tend to be very knowledgable about current baseball happenings, but don't really have the sense of history that a lot of Yankees fans have.

I have a couple of Yankees fan friends, who are all complete lunatics about Yankees' history... they can tell you the date that Gehrig took over for Pipp, they can tell you exactly what was wrong with Charlie Keller, and they can tell you the day by day progression of Maris' homeruns in 61... but they're not so big on other areas of baseball history (one of them had never heard of Stan Musial, for example, despite the fact that the main bar outside Yankee Stadium is called "Stan the Man's.".

Then there's the Red Sox fans. I really only have one friend who's a Sox fan, but he's beyond ridiculous... he can tell you every single prospect the Sox have down to the rookie league level, he can give exact stats (including situation stats, close and late, day/night, etc.) for every Sox player vs. his Yankee counterpart, and call tell you everything possible about any foreseeable upcoming transactions involving the Yanks or Sox, and all the strengths and weaknesses of any potential competitors of theirs in or out of the American League... but is woefully uninformed about anything involved in the National League, or any history that doesn't concern the Yanks or Sox (until I explained, he'd never heard of guys like Hornsby, Feller, Musial, or Spahn, and (and this is just inexplicable) had never heard of Todd Helton, Bobby Abreu, or Brian Giles until their names came up in possible trades to the Yanks or Sox in the last two years).

Does anybody else have this problem, where even their friends that are into baseball just don't know much of anything about its history... or even the more popular, productive players in the national league? Just curious.

[iPod]

That's really weird. I don't see how you could have even a passing interest in baseball or baseball history without having at least heard of big time stars like Musial, Feller, and Spahn. If you hadn't heard of, say, Joe Morgan, well that's one thing. It's a little disappointing but I can at least accept it. But Stan Musial? Jeez.

[abacab]

Hell, I don't even have any friends that are baseball fans. I grew up in Pittsburgh and was the only baseball fan I knew. Pittsburgh sports start and end with the Steelers. Every time I tried to talk about the Pirates, I got looks of scorn.

[bluezebra]

Hell, I don't even have any friends that are baseball fans. I grew up in Pittsburgh and was the only baseball fan I knew. Pittsburgh sports start and end with the Steelers. Every time I tried to talk about the Pirates, I got looks of scorn.

Mention Roberto Clemente.

Bob

[TonyK]

When I grew up I knew a lot about the AL's eight teams, and very little about the NL. That is still the case today but not as bad. Fans decide what means the most to them and what they don't care about or don't have the time to keep up on.

You make a good point that friends often are ignorant of basic knowledge like who Stan or Clemente was. They have tunnel vision and focus on their team only. I live in minor league country so most fans here only follow the Yankees.

I wrote a baseball book and hoped to sell it to some fellow parents I knew from baseball and other sporting events. The buyers of the book in my town have mostly been the women I work with who are buying it as a present for someone they know. I personally would buy a book that a neighbor wrote if it was about a subject I had any interest in to help them out. I just did a book signing in my town and only two people showed up! Maybe it's the way I marketed it, but it illustrates how not everyone is interested in baseball history.

[abacab]

Mention Roberto Clemente.

That doesn't work for people under the age of 40. Though it's true that everyone who's old enough to have seen Clemente play loves to talk about how great he was.

[ElHalo]

Mention Roberto Clemente.

Who? .

[BoSox Rule]

(until I explained, he'd never heard of guys like Hornsby, Feller, Musial, or Spahn, and (and this is just inexplicable) had never heard of Todd Helton, Bobby Abreu, or Brian Giles until their names came up in possible trades to the Yanks or Sox in the last two years).

Have they ever heard of Joe Morgan?

[ElHalo]

Have they ever heard of Joe Morgan?

I can pretty much guarantee you they haven't, unless they've seen him on ESPN (and since most people I know don't have cable, they probably haven't).

[64Cards]

When I was a kid, in the 60's, I could name the starting 8, starting ptchers and manager for virtually every team in MLB. Nowadays during the season, I can tell you all about the Cards roster and probably name most of sttarters of the other teams in the NL Central, since they play those teams 18 times a year. Since we only play the other NL teams 6 times a year now, my knowledge is limited of those teams. As far as the AL, forget about it. There's just too many teams now.

But no excuse for anyone not knowing whom some of the games past greats were. But then for many people, history begins when they are born.

[leecemark]

--Nobody who I know in person cares about baseball history or discussing the game in depth. On the other hand, almost everybody I know is at least sort of a Mariners fan and you can have a casual conversation about the previous nights game or a free agent signing or whatever.

[The Dude]

Outisde my family, I know only 2 guys who are hardcore baseball fans. Like Mark said, most of the people around here are good for talking about recent stuff or just our team (my case the brewers), but for any real discussion, I have to go down to the card shop and hope those 2 guys are there.

[Captain Cold Nose]

People in Southwestern Ohio love talking about the Big Red Machine. But, unless it's Joe Nuxhall, Reds of the past aren't talked about too much. It's the status quo, which is why a guy like Tracy Jones, who has a radio presence, is far more recognizable of a name than his teammates who actually had decent mlb careers.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

The one thing that has increased my knowledge of current baseball over the last few years is playing fantasy baseball. It "forced" me to track all the top prospects and every major league team looking for that "hot" pitcher or that backup SS for my fantasy team. Every winter I look forward to Baseball America's Prospects book. It gives scouting reports on the top 900 baseball prospects.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

Have they ever heard of Joe Morgan?

Any hardcore Red Sox fans would remember Joe Morgan, one of Red Sox managers a few years ago.