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Replies: 22
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All-In [27374]
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As you age ….
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Jun 9, 2023, 9:22 PM
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As I have, along with many of you, you think of all the changes that have been made in the sports world over your lifetime. They seem to occur in every sport. As a kid growing up in the cotton fields and peach orchards of Spartanburg County my early sports life was totally dedicated to the Red Sox. I’m not certain why I was so much in love with the Sox but my sports life revolved around that team. They were owned by a South Carolinian so perhaps that was the reason. In those days thete was almost no tv broadcast. In fact, there was very,very little tv! Mutual Radio had a game on daily but it was always the Yankees. Boo! Eventually as tv became more accessible to everyone there was a tv network that had games on weekly. Dizzy Dean and Buddy Blatner were the broadcasters. I could post for hours about those two and I bet a few of you older gentlemen remember them.
In those days I followed my beloved Red Sox very, very closely. The game was so different in those days that I could follow the minor leagues rosters of every team. You could follow your team by watching the farm teams and by reading the baseball magazines that featured all the prospects.
Today the game is so different that it isn’t even close to being what it was in the early 50s!
I’m watching the Sox/Yankees tonight and I don’t recognize more than a few players on either roster. In my day a trade was major news in the baseball world. Today they must happen daily !!!
I saw Ted Williams play twice in Greenville during spring training. That was a great feeling in 1958 and I still remember it like it was yesterday.
My uncle took me to Ebbets Field in Brooklyn to see Jackie Robinson play a game against the Reds. Wow. I still can’t believe that.
Today I can’t name one player on either team.!
we are very fortunate today to be able to watch our favorite team and players every day.
As a side note …. I remember Ted Williams signed a contract in the late 50s or early 60’s for 100,000 dollars and sport fans went nuts! No one was worth that kind of money!
Excuse my rankings …. It hurts to see the sports world change so much and perhaps not for the better
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Legend [18844]
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Re: As you age ….
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Jun 9, 2023, 9:26 PM
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Grew up a Reds fan in the 70s. Money has destroyed all sports in one way or another.
Cherish your memories because they are great ones and they are from the golden age of baseball
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All-In [27374]
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Re: As you age ….
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Jun 9, 2023, 9:35 PM
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As I recall the game I saw in Ebbets Field was against the Reds. The big play in the game was made by a backup third baseman named Don Zimmer. Remember him?
The Reds, in those days, were noted for their muscular players. They prominently displayed their huge Arms! Are you old enough to remember that?
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All-TigerNet [12592]
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Re: As you age ….
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Jun 9, 2023, 9:52 PM
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Ted Kluszewski
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All-In [27374]
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Re: As you age ….
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Jun 9, 2023, 9:54 PM
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His arms were considerably bigger than my calf!!!
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Orange Blooded [4685]
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Re: As you age ….
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Jun 10, 2023, 3:16 AM
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Shaped like real-life Popeye - his forearms were bigger than his upper arms.
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Legend [18844]
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Re: As you age ….
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Jun 9, 2023, 10:50 PM
[ in reply to Re: As you age …. ] |
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My dad made it up to majors at end of season with Brooklyn Dodgers. He loved the game and he shared a lot of stories . I don’t remember those years. I was born in 68
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All-TigerNet [10908]
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Re: As you age ….
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Jun 9, 2023, 10:03 PM
[ in reply to Re: As you age …. ] |
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Yea money changed traditions even before political correctness. The Braves moved to Atlanta just before I was 10 years old and we used to go to the games several times a summer. I knew all the players and most of who they were playing. I go back to the old tradition of the teepee in the outfield, Chief Noc-A-Homa running the bases and coming out of the teepee to do a dance after a Braves homerun. When I was in my 20s, the teepee area in the outfield was torn down to add more seats when MLB and the Braves wanted more more income.
I remember it all like it was yesterday. BTW the Braves lost 19 of 21 after tearing out the teepee area.
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Orange Blooded [4685]
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Re: As you age ….
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Jun 10, 2023, 3:19 AM
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Wish we could have Chief Noc-a-homa back. That name was amazing.
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110%er [5084]
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My childhood baseball memories dont go that far back
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Jun 9, 2023, 9:50 PM
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I started out a Braves fan when they had Dale Murphy, Bob Horner in the early 80's before they were "good". Then in 87 or 88 we got WGN and I became a Cubs fan because they were always playing afternoon baseball when I got home from school. My love for baseball faded with the strike and I never wemt back. I have little to no interest in any pro sports anymore. To be honest, if its not Clemson related or college football I dont watch much.
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All-In [27374]
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Re: My childhood baseball memories dont go that far back
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Jun 9, 2023, 9:59 PM
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I agree 95 and that is sad! Change is not always for the better. Young people today have a variety of interest in things much less fulfilling than sports.
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Legend [18844]
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Orange Blooded [2345]
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Re: As you age ….
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Jun 9, 2023, 10:40 PM
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Tiger, I saw wWilliams twice in Meadowbrook also. He hit a HR both times. One was the first in spring training that year. Had played very little because of a shoulder injury.
Ralph Hauck literally cursed my buddy for reaching oner the backstop wall to get a scroungy batting practice ball. Just another reason to hate the Yankees.
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110%er [5009]
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Re: As you age ….
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Jun 10, 2023, 3:51 AM
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One of the big reasons folks are not as in tune with the players on the teams they pull for is how international MLB has gotten. Years ago, very few of the players in the league weren’t either white or black American born players. Now, it seems most teams are filled with half foreign born players and people just do not identify with those guys the way they used to feel connected to American born players. That and the fact that players aren’t allowed to have their own personalities that used to you’d read about in the newspapers that kept people in aww or at least intrigued. Kind of like announcers nowadays, their all basically the same blah boring personalities on air out of fear of saying something someone will get offended about. My favorite growing up was Skip Carrey due to his lack of give a crap as far as he was going to say what he thought and you could agree or disagree
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Orange Blooded [2341]
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Re: As you age ….
Jun 10, 2023, 5:24 AM
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I’m still pissed at MLB for going on strike in the early 90s.😤
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Legend [18844]
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Re: As you age ….
Jun 10, 2023, 9:25 AM
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They lost fans forever then. Probably lost my every day watching then
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Hall of Famer [22281]
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Free agency was the beginning of the change.
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Jun 10, 2023, 6:04 AM
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I understand why the courts rules in Curt Flood's favor. I'm not going to debate the legal merits of that. But, that was the push that started the ball sliding down the slippery slope. Every change you mentioned about rosters, players, etc. can be traced to that. Heck, the obsession with Fantasy Leagues can be traced to that. We now have made an industry of following players, not teams.
As for radio, I fell asleep many a night listening to Harry Carey call Cardinals games (yes, he was a Cardinal broadcaster before he went to the cubs) on KMOX with the transistor radio under my pillow so my folks wouldn't hear it.
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CU Medallion [53773]
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In the 50's ...you could buy a mansion for 50k......***
Jun 10, 2023, 9:22 AM
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Commissioner [900]
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Re: As you age ….
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Jun 10, 2023, 9:37 AM
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SF Giants fan with “Say Hey” being my favorite player. I used to play stickball with a friend and would mimic their swings. I bat right-handed but could imitate a mean McCovey swing. At 65, I can still run through that SF lineup without blinking.
As Mays retired, I shifted to Cincinnati and The Big Red Machine. As you could imagine, my Joe Morgan “chicken wing” swing was pretty wicked too. I LOVED switch hitting as Rose.
We played hours and hours outside every day. You know, it’s pretty hard to hit a tiny rubber ball with a broomstick.
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All-In [27374]
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I truly appreciate
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Jun 10, 2023, 10:15 AM
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All the remarks that you fans posted regarding my thoughts on the game. Like everything in life baseball has gone through some changes and not all for the good of the game. The ‘influx’ of foreign players has drastically changed my following of the game I loved.
I’ll never forget one of the home runs Williams hit in a game against the Phillies in 1959 I think hit the very top of lights in right field and was still elevating as it crashed into the tower. I believe that ball would have ended up on the railroad tracks.
The new rule put into affect this year to speed up the game was really a plus I think. It is working.
I mentioned I was a Red Sox fan and as you perhaps remember the team was owned by Tom Yawkey from Georgetown.
There are some interesting tales about the Sunset Lodge in that coastal town also owned by Mr Yawkey. Some relate to baseball too!!!
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Standout [330]
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Re: I truly appreciate
Jun 10, 2023, 11:15 AM
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How did Ted Williams hit a hr vs Phillies as no interleague play back then (except World Series )
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All-In [27374]
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Re: I truly appreciate
Jun 10, 2023, 5:07 PM
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Spring training,,, it was very common in those days. You didn’t think the Sox and Phillies were playing a regular season game in meadowbrook park did you???
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CU Medallion [50787]
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Re: As you age ….Mays, McCovey, Morgan
Jun 11, 2023, 8:42 AM
[ in reply to Re: As you age …. ] |
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Mine were Clemente and Stargell from the Pirates because my AM radio could pick up KDKA games at night. I didn’t realize that all white Southerners were supposed to be racists until TV and other media came into my world
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