RunningAHEAD - Topic: Baseball Lovers' Thread

tetsujin209

MM#209 / JapanJoyful#803

posted: 9/18/2008 at 10:31 PM

People will come, Ray. They'll come for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway, not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. "Of course, we won't mind if you have a look around," you'll say. "It's only twenty dollars per person." They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it; for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they'll walk out to the bleachers, and sit in shirt-sleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game, and it'll be as if they'd dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick, they'll have to brush them away from their faces. . . . and ernie harwell, vin scully and the others for being the constants of normalcy through some otherwise very lonely personal and national times over the years.

^{"Enjoy yourself. Your younger days never come again."}^{100yo T. Igarashi}^{to me in geta at top of Mt. Fuji}^(8/2/87)

evryday

posted: 9/18/2008 at 10:39 PM

"Take me out to the ball game....

Quit being so damn serious! When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change. "Ya just gotta let it go." OM

Spareribs

King of PhotoShop

posted: 9/19/2008 at 9:19 AM

If you've never looked at a little kid's face when we walks through one of the tunnels at a major league stadium and comes out into the sun and sees that enormous field for the first time, or remembered back when you experienced that thrill for yourself, as I did as a 12-year old at Yankee Stadium, then you probably will never quite understand the rest of us. Spareribs

mainerunnah

posted: 9/19/2008 at 9:23 AM

Quote from Spareribs on 9/19/2008 at 9:19 AM:

If you've never looked at a little kid's face when we walks through one of the tunnels at a major league stadium and comes out into the sun and sees that enormous field for the first time, or remembered back when you experienced that thrill for yourself, as I did as a 12-year old at Yankee Stadium, then you probably will never quite understand the rest of us. Spareribs

Oh yeah now that's what I'm talking about...except for me it was at FENWAY, Go Sox! Big grin

rochrunner

posted: 9/19/2008 at 9:24 AM

Looks like I should start a Yankees/Bosox haters thread, but the RA servers would probably be overwhelmed with the traffic.

Doug, runnin' cycling in Rochester, MI

"Think blue, count two, and look for a red shoe"

stumpy77

Trails are hard!

posted: 9/19/2008 at 9:48 AM

Quote from mainerunnah on 9/19/2008 at 9:23 AM:

Oh yeah now that's what I'm talking about...except for me it was at FENWAY, Go Sox!

the heck with the 12 year old kid--that was me at 30 the first (and every!) time I walked into Fenway Big grin

Need a fast half for late fall. Then I need to actually train for it.

Henrun

posted: 9/19/2008 at 9:59 AM

As a 12 year old I sold refreshments at an AAA stadium (the home of the old Toronto Maple Leafs) and was witness to such events as Jackie Robinson when he first played in the "all white" league and other future hall of famers getting ready to make their major league debuts. Those memories have stuck with me and were the start of my life long love of baseball.

huskydon

posted: 9/19/2008 at 10:10 AM

I still remember when Seattle got their first major league team, the Seattle Pilots, and going to the games with my family in my youth. Alas, they lasted only one season. Sad

I remember years later going to the Kingdome and watching Ken Griffey patrol the massive carpeted outfield. And I remember going through the tunnel and seeing the field at Dodger Stadium for the first time. Lots of memories, lots of fun, life wouldn't be complete without baseball.... huskydon

Teresadfp

One day at a time

posted: 9/19/2008 at 11:24 AM

Quote from Teresadfp on 9/19/2008 at 11:23 AM:

I LOVED going to University of Texas baseball games with my dad when I was growing up. The old field was cool. I didn't think you would believe me if I described it myself, so here it is from Wikipedia: Cliff Clark Field was unusual because there was a 12- to 30-foot (9.1 m) limestone cliff that ran from left-center to center field that made playing the outfield adventurous. The cliff could only be accessed via a goat path in the left-center field. Center field was nicknamed "Billy Goat Hill." [1] There was a scoreboard on top of the hill in the field in front of the fence that could cause even more weird bounces for outfielders. Clearly, this gave the Longhorns a home field advantage over visiting teams. For example, the Longhorns could easily get an inside-the-park home run when a ball was hit in the direction of the cliff because the opposing outfielders were perplexed by its caroms and how to make plays by using the cliff. Longhorn outfielders could typically hold batters to a double or triple because of their familiarity with the cliff. Half of the team's outfielders purportedly chose to play on top while the other half chose to play in front of the cliff. Atmosphere While the ballpark had an irregular outfield, the stadium only sat 2,000. The stadium had an intimate yet palatial feeling that mirrored other jewel box ballparks such as Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, and Tiger Stadium. [2] [3] Once when the Texas A&M Aggies visited Clark Field, the crowd overflowed into right field and rowdiness ensued, which happened regularly when other visiting teams played there as well. In the late 1960s, the Sam Houston State Bearkats regularly opened with weekend doubleheaders in Austin. I also got to see Roger Clemens and Calvin Schiraldi help the Longhorns win a national championship when I was in college there. Calvin, who screwed up for the Red Sox in the '86 World Series, was in my high school graduating class. A nice guy, kind of quiet. I started going to games when Cliff Gustafson was newly hired. When I went back to a game with my two boys several years ago, they were celebrating his 1000th win. A lot of history!

fatozzig

posted: 9/19/2008 at 1:09 PM

For 14 years (4 as asst. coach, 10 as head coach) DH coached the oldest continuously running semi-pro team in the United States, Humboldt Crabs. They just wrapped up their 64th year this summer. This is some great baseball, and it's always "all about the kids and families."

Leslie
Living and Running Behind the Redwood Curtain
-------------

Trail Runner Nation

Sally McCrae-Choose Strong

Bare Performance

The Jogger

posted: 9/19/2008 at 3:33 PM

YAAAAAAWWWWWNNNNNN ZZZZZZZ's 8 Ball

Aamos

posted: 9/19/2008 at 5:33 PM

I was 8, it was '61 the grass was the greenest I'd ever seen, it was Tiger (my folks still called it Briggs) Stadium and the Indians beat us 8-1 but Stormin' Norman hit a homah and I got to see Al Kaline play right field. (And jon, thanks for mentioning Ernie Harwell--he spoiled me for most other announcers.) grins, A

Masters 2000 miles

Aamos

posted: 9/19/2008 at 5:37 PM

Quote from mainerunnah on 9/19/2008 at 9:23 AM:

Oh yeah now that's what I'm talking about...except for me it was at FENWAY, Go Sox!

Wasn't it amazing how Yaz could play left field? He'd decoy runners into thinking he was going to catch a fly ball (that he knew was going to carom off the Monster), then at the last minute, he's spin around and get the ball on the first hop, having positioned himself exactly where the ball was headed.

Masters 2000 miles

evryday

posted: 9/19/2008 at 11:09 PM

Some of my fondest memories were playing little league baseball. The cameraderie (sp) of the team....I'll never forget it. Still have a those little trophies from back in the day....... I'll also never forget the time my dad nearly beat up the other teams coach Black eye

....not so fond memory, but it turned out to be a good life lesson for me.

Quit being so damn serious! When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change. "Ya just gotta let it go." OM

mainerunnah

posted: 9/20/2008 at 6:26 AM

Quote from Aamos on 9/19/2008 at 5:37 PM:

Wasn't it amazing how Yaz could play left field? He'd decoy runners into thinking he was going to catch a fly ball (that he knew was going to carom off the Monster), then at the last minute, he's spin around and get the ball on the first hop, having positioned himself exactly where the ball was headed.

Oh yeah indeed it was...YAZ always was and still is my most favorite player of all time. My biggest disappointment as a Red Sox fan is that they couldn't win a championship while YAZ was playing...if anyone deserved to win one he did. He was and still is such a class act, boy does this discussion bring back some nice memories! Big grin

Masters Running

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