What do you love about baseball?

[Mr. Baseball]

Obviously, if you play OOTP baseball the odds are you an avid baseball fan.

But what I want to know is what got you into the sport?

[sofla97]

Going to ballgames with my father. Playing ball everyday at the park with my friends , collecting baseball cards, making up "baseball dice games". Basically ,my youth. It was programed into me at an early age.

[TGH-Adfabre]

PLaying on teams as a kid. Then I checked out for my twenties and early 30s. I checked back in after joining softball teams in Colorado.
I ended up playing a season of amatuer wood bat baseball. It was the first time I had hit a baseball since elementary school. Awesome summer.
Go Cards!
Pujols helped a little.

[Green & Gold Heart]

Being a chick, I have to admit, it was the cute guys.

But then I came to love the game itself.

I still like the cute guys. But I would still love baseball if all the players were ugly.

[Afino]

Originally Posted by sofla97

Going to ballgames with my father. Playing ball everyday at the park with my friends , collecting baseball cards, making up "baseball dice games". Basically ,my youth. It was programed into me at an early age.

I'm glad I wasn't the only young soul who did that


BTW, despite my love of hockey (obviously), baseball was and always will be my first love. I've tuned out traditional fantasy baseball and even MLB quite a bit, but because of OOTP, my love of baseball in itself lives on.

[f.montoya]

What got me into the sport? Two words...

Baseball cards

I started collecting in 1973 and I remember all I cared about was counting every player's home runs on the back. Obviously I treasured my Willie Mays and Hank Aaron cards. Then the 1975 Topps set came out and every card had different plays on the back; single, home run, double, strikeout, etc. That is what got me into baseball strategy games that later were like Avalon Hill Statis Pro Baseball and APBA. I played little league thru high school and still go to the batting cages every now and then, even though I'm 42.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by f.montoya

What got me into the sport? Two words...

Baseball cards

I think this is my answer as well, with a similar path to where we are now, well met.

[mrcoach00]

My dad introduced me to whiffleball at very young age and then I moved on to tee ball. I was hooked. I couldn't believe that all these kids knew and played the same game that my dad and I had been playing in the backyard. I asked my dad about how these kids knew about his game. He explained that he didn't make up the game and that you can grow up to play the game as your job. I was floored; I wanted to be one of those grown ups!

I've been trying to make it to "the show" ever since. OOTP will probably be the closest I get to having a job in baseball, for now. It sure does seem real enough (thanks Markus).

I have decided that once I retire I'm going to apply to be an usher at the local minor league park. Not the big leagues, but it'd be nice!

[TribeFanInNC]

For me, I think it is the stats and the historical context of them. I remember memorizing things like all the 50 HR players (a lot easier before 1990). Baseball cards fed into this a lot of course. Then came games like the Cadaco All-Star Baseball spinner game and Strat-o-Matic. Then some computer baseball games and roto baseball.

Today, I like the relaxed pace and ambience of watching the games at the ballpark live. To that end, I find myself enjoying minor league baseball more and more.

[RchW]

My intro to baseball was strange. We emigrated to Canada from Scotland in June of 1966. I played soccer (obviously) even though by Scottish standards I was a poor player. Since we lived in an apartment building with other immigrants, soccer ruled, not baseball or hockey. At that time, I was not allowed to watch TV but had a good radio and, unknown to me, could pick up all the high powered Westinghouse stations at night, one of which was KMOX.

I started to listen to the games, with no clue what was going on. I had seen some pictures of Baseball but never actually seen a game. Next stop was the library and a book on baseball that had diagrams and positions laid out. I drew my own diamond on some cardboard and had player names on cut out pieces of paper. That turned into my own game of made-up baseball later on. I finally saw a game on TV later that year or in 1967. I didn't see a live game until I went to Montreal in 1973.

To this day I love listening to baseball (and many other sports) on radio. I can see everything clearly and it takes me back to those summer nights starting in 1966.

[MorseMoose]

Kirby Puckett,
Baseball cards,
Mike Piazza,
Playing, and
Atmosphere

[jbergey22]

The Twins
Dome Dogs
Baseball Statistics(the sport where they actually mean something)

[HerbD]

I like the fact that I can be watching a game on TV, fall asleep in the second inning, wake up in the ninth inning and not have missed a thing!!

[Russ]

Originally Posted by RchW

My intro to baseball was strange. We emigrated to Canada from Scotland in June of 1966. I played soccer (obviously) even though by Scottish standards I was a poor player. Since we lived in an apartment building with other immigrants, soccer ruled, not baseball or hockey. At that time, I was not allowed to watch TV but had a good radio and, unknown to me, could pick up all the high powered Westinghouse stations at night, one of which was KMOX.

I started to listen to the games, with no clue what was going on. I had seen some pictures of Baseball but never actually seen a game. Next stop was the library and a book on baseball that had diagrams and positions laid out. I drew my own diamond on some cardboard and had player names on cut out pieces of paper. That turned into my own game of made-up baseball later on. I finally saw a game on TV later that year or in 1967. I didn't see a live game until I went to Montreal in 1973.

To this day I love listening to baseball (and many other sports) on radio. I can see everything clearly and it takes me back to those summer nights starting in 1966.

There's something magical about how the game of baseball translates to the radio. Listening today takes me back to my family sitting around the basement when I was a kid. I can still hear Jon Miller's call when Fred Lynn won a game for the O's in 85 with a walkoff homer.

[TribeFanInNC]

Originally Posted by Russ

There's something magical about how the game of baseball translates to the radio. Listening today takes me back to my family sitting around the basement when I was a kid. I can still hear Jon Miller's call when Fred Lynn won a game for the O's in 85 with a walkoff homer.

Very true. I think I prefer Gameday Audio to watching the games.

[ukhotstove]

What got me into baseball - Holidays at my cousins in Wisconsin.

What I love about baseball - History of the game, in most sports I prefer the history rather than whats happening now.

[DWK]

Originally Posted by f.montoya

What got me into the sport? Two words...

Baseball cards

I'm going to agree this is how I started

[actionjackson]

What I love about baseball: Two words: no clock. The most boring aspect about the other sports is that a quarterback can take a knee to run out the clock. In hockey and basketball you can play keep away. In baseball if you want to win it's simple/not so simple: make 27 (or more if extras) outs on the other team and have the lead when you make the 27th. Same thing with tennis for me, but this thread is not about tennis, so I'll leave that for another thread.

What got me into the sport? playing it, collecting baseball cards etc, my Uncle taking me to my first game against the Angels. My Dad was a huge football fan, but baseball? In and out. Thankyou Uncle Peter. Up until then, it had been hockeyhockeyhockey...but now there was baseball. It suited my pace much better and the Leafs were being run into the ground by their demented, crooked and downright nasty owner Harold E. Ballard...Sooo...

...The tipping point was buying Strat-O-Matic at age 12 in 1981, from a little toy store around the corner from my house that doesn't even exist anymore. My best friend and I played that game to death in our neighbouring cottages over the next few summers and on weekend visits (we lived about an hour away from each other). Our parents thought we were loco. Up at a resort with sunshine, a lake, beautiful surroundings and there we were sweating it out in cabins that probably got up to 90 - 100 degrees with the sun bearing down on the roofs in the daytime (for some reason the owner of the resort had removed the trees close to the cabins, which had provided shade...but I digress). We. Did. Not. Care. We were in our own little world.

The Strat addiction probably led to the trip that cemented my love of/addiction to the game. Summer of 1985: 6 games in 6 days. Sunday: Yankee Stadium: Yankees vs Red Sox. Monday: The Mistake By the Lake in Cleveland to see our Jays and Dave Stieb lose to the hapless Indians and Tom Waddell (?) who tossed a complete game at us. WTF? Tuesday: Three Rivers Stadium to see Pete Rose, Dave Parker and the Reds with Mario Soto on the bump taking on the Pirates and Rick Reuschel in the midst of his incredible comeback season. Wednesday: Veterans Stadium to watch the Phillies get absolutely shellacked by the Dodgers. I think it was Mike Marshall who hit a Grand Slam that landed about two seats over from us. My friend's Dad (who did all the driving with a bad back ) was in the scrum for the ball but couldn't come up with it. The next night: Shea Stadium where the Mets waxed the Giants on a CG 3-hit SHO by Terry Leach. Finished up in Fenway: Red Sox/Twins. In batting practice I caught an absolute screamer (probably Puckett, but don't know for sure) and received a standing O from the sparse crowd from which I apparently went multiple shades of beet red. Also received a bruise on the bone at the base of my glove hand index finger. The Jays topped it all off at the end of the year by staving off the Yankees and getting into the playoffs (heartbreak city). I was at the first game against the Royals and the atmosphere was insane. I miss that up here these days...Anywho, that's enough out of me...Next...Step right up and tell us your story.

[MorseMoose]

0-0 Count
1-2-3 Inning
2 (Curveball)
3 outs
4-6-3 Double Play
5 tools
6-4-3 Double Play
7th inning stretch
8-men out
9 innings
Atmosphere
Batting Practice
Cards
Designated Hitter
Extra Innings
Fastball
Green grass
Homeruns
Inside-the-Park Homerun
Junior Circuit
Kirby Puckett
Lights
Minnesota Twins
No Hitter
Official Scorer
Pinch Hitter
Quality AB
Retired Numbers
Senior Circuit
Triple Crown
Utility Players
VPete Vuckovich
World Series
X-pansion
"You're out!"
Zoilo Versalles

[kenyan_cheena]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

What I love about baseball: Two words: no clock. The most boring aspect about the other sports is that a quarterback can take a knee to run out the clock. In hockey and basketball you can play keep away. In baseball if you want to win it's simple/not so simple: make 27 (or more if extras) outs on the other team and have the lead when you make the 27th. Same thing with tennis for me, but this thread is not about tennis, so I'll leave that for another thread.

I agree with this.