Blogging from A to Z — the letter G
The letter “G” stands for GAME. When I talk about my “love of the game”, there’s only one game I’m talking about. If you know anything about me, you know that I am talking about baseball.
My baseball story begins before I was born. My mother grew up in the Bronx, in the shadow of Yankee Stadium. My father was a Brooklyn boy whose heart belonged to the boys in blue, the team that played at Ebbetts Field, the legendary Brooklyn Dodgers. On their first official date, my father took my mother to the Stadium to see Joe DiMaggio play. He must have really wanted to impress my mother if he was willing to venture into “enemy territory”.
My first baseball memories date to 1969, the year the Mets won their first World Series. Everyone was a Mets fan that year. But I didn’t really become a fan of the game until the late 1970’s, when the Yankees dominated the sport. Names like Reggie Jackson, Goose Gossage, Bucky Dent, Thurman Munson, Ron Guidry, Graig Nettles, Lou Pinella, Willie Randolph …
But by 1986 my loyalty had shifted. Drew is a Mets fan, always has been, and like many Mets fans he hates the Yankees. So I became a Mets fan as well. And was properly rewarded …
Who could ever forget the 1986 World Series, game six … how the Red Sox thought they had it in the bag, until Mookie Wilson hit a blooper that rolled through Bill Buckner’s legs … oh the days of Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez, Darryl Strawberry, Ron Darling, Dwight Gooden, Howard Johnson, Wally Backman … I was at the ticker tape parade …
And who could forget the year 2000, when the World Series became the Subway Series? I bought a t shirt for my father, it had the the Mets and Yankees logos as well as the symbols for the #4 train to the Bronx and the #7 out to Shea.
But my heart belongs to Mike Piazza for a home run he hit on September 21, 2001.
I’ve made my pilgrimage to Cooperstown, of course.
These days I try to get to Citi Field at least once during the season. It’s ridiculously expensive. But I’ve also become a fan of an Atlantic League team, the Long Island Ducks. For the price of a movie we get to watch a baseball game, so we go several times every season.
It’s April, and the season has just begun. The Mets have a good team this year. Let’s put last year’s disappointment behind us and enjoy the game.
When I saw "game", I knew it was going to be baseball. Enjoyed reading your baseball origin story. Here's my baseball story: I'm not a big baseball fan (haven't been for years) but I was a big fan in my childhood. In my case, neither of my parents were interested so I have no idea where my interest came in. Like you, I started out as a Yankees fan, and my memories stretch back to the Mantle vs Maris battle for the home run record in 1961. I never did get to Yankee Stadium, though. When they fired Yogi Berra after the Yankees lost the 1964 World Series, I switched allegiance to the Mets. Fortunately, the young man I started dating in 1970 and eventually married was a Mets fan, too (and still is), along with all his siblings. He attended his first Mets game ever at the Polo Grounds with an uncle. Most of his family, though, are Yankees fans. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteOh, my, the Polo Grounds. I’m too young to remember that, but the Mets back then … who would have imagined the team that played back then would win the World Series just a few years later?
DeleteI have watched baseball on TV. I don't have much idea of the game, though I am a sports fan. The game is not popular here in India. The equivalent of baseball here is cricket. In fact, in this season, there is an American player taking part in the Women's Cricket League. I am not quite sure if cricket is getting popular in the US.
ReplyDeleteIt’s not popular here, but I’d like to learn more about it.
DeleteThat home run was in the first game back after 9/11. They were playing the Braves. Chipper Jones loved hitting at Shea so much that he named one o his kids Shea...
ReplyDeleteJones always got quite a “welcome” at Shea
DeleteHappy baseball season.
ReplyDeleteDon't know the first thing about baseball, used to dabble in something called 'Rounders' at school, that was a looong time ago. Nobody knew to play it once I got back to my home country India, so that was that. And that was a long time ago too :)
ReplyDeleteVisiting from the A-Z and all the best for the rest of the challenge.
Baseball looks like a fun game to play and to watch.
ReplyDeleteRonel visiting for G:
My Languishing TBR: G
Giants of All Kinds