Ive not attended very many liveb MLB games, However, on vacation I took my Kids to see Atlanta and the Cardinals. They got to see Ozzie, crime Dog and Eckersly to name a few.
I had an interesting childhood--no dad in the picture (long story). The pastor (from whom I learned lots about being a pastor) of the church my mom and I attended sort of adopted me as I was close in age to his son. He was a big baseball fan and the Braves were the only southern MLB team in those days. Every summer in the 70's we would make 3-4 trips to Atlanta and stay at the HOJO that was close to the stadium. We would stay for 2 or 3 games. As a result I got to see Gibson, Sutton, Seaver, Ellis, Richard, Mays, Bobby Bonds, Stargell and many others. Also, got to see the All-Stars the Braves traded away guys like Ralph Garr, Darrell Evans, Earl Williams, Dusty Baker, and several others (it seems like as soon as the Braves traded them they got much much better LOL). It was fun watching Niekro on the mound---in those days IIRC the only true bright spot in the rotation. Then of course there was the king--even though he was later in his career watching him take his swings was a treat! Would have loved to have been there that night! Another highlight was Cooperstown 2014 which was the year Cox, Maddux, and Glavine were inducted along with with LaRussa, Torre, and Frank Thomas. I still try to get to a series somewhere in the Midwest each year. Fortunately, Milwaukee and St. Louis (I avoid Wrigley-it is less than desirable stadium for comfort) are close and with inter-league KC and Minneapolis are as well. Lots of good memories!! I have been blessed!
I've previously mentioned seeing Valenzuela vs Gooden in LA. Mets won in extras and it took about 2 hrs to get out of the stadium. Best in person memory tho is the underdog wild card Marlins beating the Indians in game 7 of the 97 WS on Edgar Renteria's game winner. I think everybody outside of Miami was rooting for the Indians.
I also remember getting to see a RHP for the Braves, Ron Reed- a 6’8” pitcher that did a complete cartwheel between the mound and the first base line one night after completing a really good inning. The “rest of the story” with Ron Reed was my Dad and I heard him interviewed after a game about he wore size 16 spikes…. In my junior year of HS I went from a size 14 to a size 15-at that time 14 was the largest size spikes available to the public. My Dad called the Braves clubhouse and got Ron Reed on the phone explaining our situation. He hooked us up with their equipment manager and they got Wilson kangaroo hide-size 15 spikes shipped to us. I used this source for my spikes until I was through playing and coaching.
In 1970 I got to see Rico Carty playing with the Braves. If memory serves me right he won the NL batting title that year. The ball would leave his bat and get into the outfield seats in a hurry.
In the summer of 1969 I got to see Don Sutton for the Dodgers go up against the Braves-for a RHP his curveball was what I’ve always heard referred to as special…ya know, Bert Blyleven special. Sutton’s curveball was “put you in the rocking chair” Uncle Charlie special. You could hear the “pfffp” spin when it left his hand. The other thing that always made Sutton special to me was he was from Pensacola and he went to Gulf Coast Community College in PC before signing. They were our arch rival at Chipola in the Panhandle Conference. After he signed with the Dodgers he bought uniforms for GCCC. Their colors were Dodger blue and white and he had the Dodgers like script copied onto the GCCC uniforms as Gulf Coast in Dodger blue. Pretty cool.
My son and I went on an NE vacation in 2020. We flew into Boston, went to Acadia National Park, went over into Nova Scotia for some fishing, and went back to Boston. We went to Fenway and saw a comedy of errors by the Bluejays, but also a great at-bat by Mookie Betts.
I grew up a fan of the Reds. I was 12 when my dad took me to a game at old Crosley Field where I got to see Hank Aaron get his 3,000th hit.
Was at a Yankees/Redsox game and witnessed the only postseason cycle in MLB history. 16-1 Sox win. On our way thru the concourse in the ninth when Brock Holt hit the HR.
Objectively best MLB game I've been to: Boston Red Sox vs Milwaukee Brewers Box Score: August 16, 1992 | Baseball-Reference.com The Brewers Jaime Navarro outduels Red Sox HOVeryGood pitcher Frank Viola, 1-0. Navarro in fact had a "Maddux", a complete game with 99 (<100) pitches. Red Sox put 23 in play with 1 line drive. My aunt Janet (RIP) and I enjoyed the game, though for me not nearly as much as my 42-year-old-pitcher-lovin'-self would today... the rest of the family was having a lousy time being in (accidentally) the no-smoking, no-drinking section on a Robin Yount off-day. Most fun: Twins come back to beat Devil Rays 7-4: Tampa Bay Devil Rays vs Minnesota Twins Box Score: July 1, 2005 | Baseball-Reference.com. Great day having one last "hurrah" with my college roommate, culminated by Torii Hunter with an RBI walk and a Jacques Jones 3-RBI ground ball "triple". All four runs off Dewon Brazelton, whom I also beat the snot out of in my 2005 MVP Baseball video game Twins "franchise".
Hardest hit ball I've heard and kinda saw.... Manny Ramirez hit a ball off the monster at Fenway, you heard the crack of the bat, saw a blurry white blob, and within seconds it hit the wall on a rope of ropes! Pedro Martinez pitching twice at the Trop. Do you know how hard of a ticket it was to watch Pedro in Boston? You could grab great seats for more than half the cost in St. Petersburg! The Devil Rays still drew almost 30 thousand for Sox/Yankees games in those days. Nomar hit a game winning double against the Orioles back in 99.(yep, I'm old) You could just feel that was going to happen. He was batting second that 10th inning, Only Gator games have I heard a stadium rocking like that honestly. That night Fenway was an insane asylum. Sidenote, Mick was the best! I'm a Red Sox fan, what can I say... Any of the few games at Camden Yards I've seen!! That place is amazing...
Saw Ramirez and wife once grocery shopping in a SFla Publix as he lived in West Broward at the time. Funny, he was not as big as I expected. Great memory for my son was being there for Miguel Cabrera's first game in the MLB. Cabrera hit a walkoff HR vs the Rays I believe.. Been to Fenway once, cool place but the Sox lost, so a bit of a downer.
Jan and I went to Washington DC the summer of 2012 to visit the WW II Memorial in honor of our Dads. My Dad was an Airborne Paratrooper and her Dad was US Navy during WWII. While we were there we took in a Nationals game vs the Diamondbacks. We got to see Stephen Strasburg in a start. There was pure lightning in his arm. Quite a treat to watch him pitch live.
Some more memories. Back in the early 1970's the White Sox were horrible but they were my team. One time I was sitting alone in the leftfield general admission the the GM (Roland Hemond) sat down next to me and we talked about the team. Mostly he wanted to know why I was there and it was simple: The Sox were my team, I loved baseball and no way in the world would I ever go to Wrigley. It is a Southside thing. I saw in person Dick Allen come really close to hitting the "exploding" scoreboard at the old Comiskey. Only a few had ever hit one into the centerfield bleachers and he came within one row of actually hitting the scoreboard. That guy could put a serious hurt on a baseball. When he came up every outfielder was on the edge of the warning track. If I had tickets to see the Twins way back in the day I would show up really early to watch the Fat Kid (Harmon Killebrew) take batting practice. It was unbelievable.
Many of my greatest MLB game memories are from the magic summer of 1969 and the Miracle Mets- I was 14 and in "love" for the first time (another story). My family lived about 10 miles east of Shea stadium but public transport could get you close to the stadium. GA tickets were $1.30 and I must have gone to 15+ games that year as the Mets surged while the Cubs collapsed. Many memorable moments that second half of season as the Mets closed the gap but the "Black Cat Game" takes the cake. September 9, 1969! As the Mets closed a 10 game deficit to 1.5 games, the Cubs were in town with the respective aces pitching: Seaver vs. Jenkins... when suddenly in the 4th inning a black cat appeared from behind home plate... circled Ron Santo on the on-deck circle and stopped and stared into the Cubs dugout --Folklore has it, the cat stared at Cubs mgr. Leo Durocher -- the capacity crowd went crazy! The Mets won the game 7-1 (with Seaver throwing a 5-hit complete game) and went on to win the pennant and the WS. Wonderful times.
@gator1977– I hear you about 1969 being a magical year. I saw the most of the MLB live games I’ve seen from 1967–1970. The American Legion Post #30 in Albany, Ga carried their baseball team that I played on up to Atlanta a couple of times every summer to see the Braves. It was truly a great era of baseball to get to see.
Yes, a great era for baseball. Pitchers throwing complete games and pitching 300 plus innings. The elegance of the era is gone and now it's swing fom the heels -- the fans want to see the long ball not a masterpiece on the mound. No bunting, the rare hit and run... Gotta enjoy the game as it exists today but those were special times.
Agree completely—manufacturing runs with steals, with the bunt, the hit & run, the safety AND suicide squeeze, were as much a part of the game as well, they should be. I love a long ball for our team as much as anyone-but I do not like to see a hitter act like he’s never been there before. Immediate emotion for hitting a home run, fine-I have no problem with that. But the showboating, damn…….
