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Who is your favorite childhood baseball player?
As a kid in the 80's reading baseball books my favorite historical player was Ted Williams. Dude was the last to hit 0.400 in a season and lost a good chunk of his prime career to the war and still hit 521 homers.
My favorite modern player I watched (as you may have guessed from username) was Jeff Bagwell. I loved imitating his goofy squat stance while me and my brothers played back yard baseball with a tennis ball and rake stick. The guy hit for power, average, took walks, stole bases and body slammed opponents during brawls! He broke my heart in postseason play much of the time but still holds a special place in my heart regardless. Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk |
Senators late 60s, Frank Howard was about all there was to root for.
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My favorites were Jim Rice and Fred Lynn. Oh, if Freddie had stayed with the Sox...
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Darryl Strawberry
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The KC Royals are my team. I have followed the team from the beginning, and as a 6 year old (at the time growing up in a small Kansas town 1970) with a name of Lou, my player was Lou Piniella. My next door neighbor, a teenager named Mike Bartlow called me sweet Lou.
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Nolan Ryan in the last few years of his awesome career. I couldn't believe that a guy that old was that good (while playing for pretty crappy teams most of his career). And that fight with Ventura was like watching a collision between baseball generations and the older generation kicked butt. I still laugh when I see a pic of that moment, with Ryan holding Ventura in a headlock.
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I had 2:
Tom Seaver and Johnny Briggs, who was from my hometown of Paterson, NJ |
The handle should pretty much give it away. The story? If I can brush the cobwebs off an old book in the back of my memory it was 1962 (could have been '63 I guess) and at 13 years old I'd gotten the first ok (with a few be carefuls) from my parents to venture from New Jersey into New York City without an adult. The Cincinnati Redlegs were in to play the Mets at the old Polo Grounds for a day game. As a Yankee hater who's greatest baseball thrill so far had been Mazeroski's World Series home run I was ecstatic that National League baseball had returned to New York. My friend (a Yankee fan) and I got there super early. Our tickets were on the Cincy side and the ushers didn't object to us walking down to the unoccupied field seats and getting a close up view of the Red players warming up and such. Out of the clear blue Vada Pinson comes strolling over to us and chats us up for what was probably a minute or two - it seemed like a half an hour to us. It was a larger than life experience and made an instant lifelong fan out of me. Even many years later I was saddened when he passed at such a young age. He and Frank Robby are chucking the ball around again somewhere.
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Donnie Baseball for me. I grew up loving the Yankees when they were horrible: the Melido Perez and Scott Kamieniecki days. Mattingly was the only reason to go to the game. Always a class act, always had the upmost respect of baseball. When he became a manager I gained even more respect for him. He talked to everyone at spring training and was more than happy to sign for his fans, including for me and my rookie card:
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Duke Snider. Followed closely by Stan Musial.
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Ken Griffey Jr was my favorite growing up. 89 was when I first remember getting into baseball and card collecting. He was so exciting to watch. Both at bat and the catches he would make in center field.
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Brooks Robinson
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Mattingly for me.
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Nolan Ryan and Fred Lynn
Being an Angels fan
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Stan Musial. I even tried to mimic his batting stance until a coach convinced me that it was not a good stance for me. In college it was Bob Gibson as he was from Omaha and played for Creighton.
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Like most kids who discovered baseball in the late 50s and had no hometown team (Norfolk, VA), the Mick.
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Pete Rose is my favorite since the late 1960's
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Still my favorite player, Harmon Killebrew.
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Until October 2, 1963, it was Mantle...after that, it was Koufax.
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Frank Thomas
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“The Catch” gave me the Willies, simply aMaysing.
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Born in '56 and grew up in Victoria, B.C. Became a die-hard Yankees fan thanks to KVOS-TV in Bellingham, Washington, and loved to watch Mantle and Maris as a kid. In the early '70s briefly switched to the Swingin' A's because of Catfish and Reggie, but returned to the Evil Empire when Hunter went to New York in '74.
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Will Clark. Growing up in the late 80's early 90's, I loved his intensity.
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Growing up in Montreal in the early 70's my favorite player was Mack Jones.
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Robin Yount and Roberto Clemente. I liked Paul Molitor a lot, too, and Jim Gantner.
Yount, Molitor and Gantner played like a million games together. https://i.imgur.com/VsVtxIx.jpg |
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Johnny Bench. I was fortunate to meet him to be able to tell him so. I was hoping I'd be able to get a picture with him. Ends up I did not even need to ask. As he was approaching from a distance he yelled over to me "Hey you, with a classy outfit like that get over here and take a picture with me." The classy outfit was my Reds #5 jersey. We spoke for several minutes, and each time I thanked him, he thanked me for being a fan. Great life memories!
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1)Rose,2) Lynn,3) Brett,4) Cedeno
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My Favorite
Al Kaline — the gentleman superstar!
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Johnny Bench.....I was 10 when the Reds won the World Series in 1975 and followed that up with another in 1976....Bench was the 1976 WS MVP...rest is history....
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Jim Rice. Saw him in Double A in Bristol CT and was hooked.. In '75 my buddy across the street followed Lynn and I followed Rice. What a great year and Summer of Baseball..
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Wade Boggs and Roger Clemens, which basically reveals where and when I grew up. :p
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Ernie Banks. I wasn't around for his prime years but I'm old enough to have seen him play his last several years, maybe 5-6 games. WGN, the Cubs & Ernie, it was a great childhood.
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Bobby Murcer was my hero as a young boy. Adored him and still do. My mother sewed me a custom Murcer Yankees #2 pinstripe uni to wear when I was 4 years old. (God Bless her!)
The victim of unreal expectations, he still had an awesome career. A .277 hitter with over 250 HRs and over 1,000 RBIs. 5 time All-Star and a heck of a broadcaster and an even better human being. My mother-in-law recently passed from a brain tumor - the same type that claimed Murcer's life. I never appreciated how awful he had it near the end until I saw a loved one go through it. |
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Growing up it was always watching the "Murph" as Americas team on TBS
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Pete Rose was my favorite player in the 1970's.
Rickey Henderson was my favorite player in the 1980's. |
Ken Henderson then Jim Spencer. Both as White Sox. Apparently I didn't expect much from my childhood heroes! :)
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Player I watched--darryl strawberry
Player I read about (there was no youtube)-- Ted williams |
Growing up an O's fan in the late 90s and 2000s (a lot of bad O's teams), I always liked Melvin Mora, Cal Ripken, Miguel Tejada, Brady Anderson. Later on my favorite player was Nick Markakis.
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Hi Jerry,
11/1/08 to be exact, at an appearance in Wilmington, MA. To this day, I cannot believe how cool he was. BTW, great picture, and I'm glad you too met Johnny! Best always, John |
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Steve Garvey and Joe Morgan. As a Dodger fan I have no idea why I was drawn to an arch enemy Cincinnati Red, but I always loved Morgan (until he hit the broadcast booth)
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Don Lock
My first MLB game I ever went to back in the 1965 or so era was at old DC stadium with the Washington Senators..... Don Lock hit 2 home runs that day and I grew up thinking the guy was the next coming of Babe Ruth! LOL
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In 69-70 I became a Dodgers fan and Don Sutton then Steve Garvey were absolutely my favorite players till they were traded. |
That's an easy one:
http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibit...er%20Aaron.jpg I was almost nine years old when Hank Aaron broke the record and deep in the throes of a boyhood infatuation with the game, so Hank Aaron was a god. |
the reds’ Big Klu for me!
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Darryl Strawberry for me - 1986 was the first world series I saw as a kid (on TV, not in person). I imitated his leg kick in my swing throughout my childhood.
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Tony Perez was my favorite. Rose, Morgan and Bench got all the attention... and with good reason. But Perez quietly delivered every time they needed it most. I've still never seen a better clutch hitter, or a guy who could continually get that crucial 2-out hit. Even Sparky admitted that Tony was the Heart & Soul of those pennant-winning Bid Red Machine teams.
I even made my Mom sew a number 24 onto my little league jersey (they were not numbered back in the '60s). I live in the Seattle area now, and boy could the M's use a Tony Perez! And the way Votto is playing, I suppose the same could be said of the Reds. :rolleyes::rolleyes: |
This guy, from the first year I started buying packs:
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Brooks Robinson
Brooks Robinson was my childhood hero and still my favorite all time player. I loved the O’s players and teams, but Brooksie stood out. I’m a Orioles fan for life; I try to take the good with the bad and at times I have to live in the past...
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As a long-suffering Reds Fan, same here... LOTS of living in the past. :mad:
And Brooksie absolutely stifled us in the '70 World Series. That series was perhaps my biggest disappointment as a young kid, as I really expected the Reds to win. But play after play, it cemented the fact that Brooks Robinson was one of the greatest 3rd Basemen ever. |
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I guess the O’s knew going into the ‘70 WS that there would be plenty of action on the SS/3rd base side with all the pull hitters on the Reds. What most people don’t consider is that Brooks was 33 years old at the time and been making plays like this, year after year, over the past 15 years or so. As an O’s fan we knew, we got to see first hand, day in and day out, but the rest of the baseball world got to see just a glimpse of how great Brooksie really was at third. Of course in my mind, and likely each and every old school B’more fan, that he IS the greatest 3rd basemen ever... |
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Don’t Knock The Rock
Arriving in Detroit through a straight-up trade for batting champ Harvey Kuenn in 1960, Rocky Colavito caused young boys to cheer and women to swoon.
With a rocket arm, a powerful bat, and Hollywood good looks, he was one for the ages in Detroit. Take a look at his 1963 Topps (#330) card — royalty in an Old-English D. Who remembers the behind-the-back bat stretch he’d do while on deck? |
Ken Griffey Jr. - I tried so hard to copy his swing when I was young but could never pull it off even half as smooth.
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If you're my age and grew up in L.A. there was only one option. It was the first baseman who hit .300, collected 200 hits, and drove in 100 runs seemingly every year--and most importantly was a Topps all-star every year.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...51b4e6a1fc.jpg
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Fred Lynn and Jim Rice. Lynn may have the slight edge in that I'm a lefty as well and could copy his swing.
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My favorite is Andre Dawson. Started heavily watching the Cubs in '87 as a 6 year old kid during his MVP season and was a fan ever since.
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