My loyalty to the Texas Rangers solidified after my first trip to the old Arlington Stadium. Growing up in central Texas, I liked the Rangers and the Astros because they were Texas teams. Neither was close to where I lived so I liked both teams. Somewhere around the age of 11 or 12, my best friend's family was going on a summer vacation to Arlington to visit Six Flags and see a Ranger's game. Luckily for me, I was invited to go along. We went to a double header between the White Sox and Rangers. Between games there was a frisbee catching dog exhibition. That double header sealed it for me and I've been a die-hard Rangers' fan ever since.
It's been a lot of hoping and having those hopes dashed year after year, but that doesn't keep me from hoping again. It's kind of like hoping the next card release doesn't stink. I can always hope , but that doesn't make it true.
So, where does your loyalty come from?
grew up in northern British Columbia. Only one tv channel. then, in 1982, my dad drove a truck and trailer 1700 kilometres to Vancouver and came back with something called a satellite dish.
ReplyDeleteWTBS and Skip Caray with Pete Van Wieren gave me Braves baseball 162 times a year. I was hooked for good.
Damn I miss Skip...
I was born in the Pittsburgh area. I lived there until I was 16. That is where the Burgh Love comes from. Steeler football is like a drug in my family. I also grew up playing little league and attending clinics with former Pirate players. When I played hockey, we always had Penguin players/trainers/managers/coaches "dropping in" on our practices. We used to have season tickets to the Penguin games (prior to the Stanley Cup years) and we shared tickets with two other families back in the early 80s for the Steelers. Though my loyalties have waned for the Buccos over the years (and baseball as a whole), my passion for the Pens and Steelers has never been greater.
ReplyDeleteI was born in SoCal and then moved about the country (Dad was in the Navy) always followed the CA teams. In Eugene Oregon in High School Jill Roberts (classmate) brother, Dave Roberts, was drafted by the Padres. That was 73 and then in 85 I got back into cards and saw Tim Flannery was two weeks younger than me and have followed them ever since. To losing two World Series and through several fire sales
ReplyDeleteMuch like Rod, I was born in Georgia, my dad was in the army so we moved everywhere. I stuck with the one constant so I became a Falcons fan and Braves fan. When we settled in Florida it was the same year the Devil Rays started and I switched my allegiance to the Rays as the local team and I was able to go to the games all season. I kept my allegiance to the Falcons though because of my dislike for Malcolm Glazer and the bucs
ReplyDeleteI was born and raised on the south side of Chicago in a family of Sox fans. Two things got me hooked on the Cubs: no lights at Wrigley meant all day games, all broadcast on WGN, and the success (and later monumental flop) of the 1969 team. Once I made the switch to the Cubs, there was no turning back...my dad and my brothers wouldn't let me!
ReplyDeleteBorn in Baltimore. First game was an Orioles game, the rest is history!
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in SoCal, the gandparents were Dodgers fans, I liked the Angels when I was small because they had half of spring training in Palm Springs. When Grandma moved to Seattle, she got WTBS on the TV and I fell in love with the Braves of the early 80's. When I went to my first Mariners games in the Kindome in 1983 that was it, I was an instant fan. Wasn't easy being an M's fan in SoCal in the 80's. I live and die by the Mariners, and still cheer for the Braves. I was a Padres fan when Mr. Padre, Number 19 was on the team. Still my favorite player of all time.
ReplyDeleteGrew up in central Wisconsin. Earliest baseball memories are the early 80's American League, especially the larger than life members of the Milwaukee Brewers including Cecil Cooper, Gorman Thomas, Pete Vukavich, Robin and Molitor, and even that scrappy Gantner, I even cheered for George Brett and Kirk Gibson back then! We didn't have cable and baseball was about listening to Uecker call the game on the huge consol radio in my parents living room and then replaying the feats latter in the back yard.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Philadelphia. I didn't really pay much attention to baseball until I was about 20 years old (in 1971). The Phillies have been my favorite team ever since. I moved to Houston in 1995, but continue to follow the Phillies. I've adopted the Astros as my second favorite team since I like to watch baseball and listen to games on the radio. But in an Astros-Phillies matchup, I'll be rooting for the Phillies.
ReplyDeleteA lot of things contributed, but unlike most others, it didn't have to do with location. The first card I ever pulled was a Dodger. I was a bookworm as a kid and read a lot about Dodger history. That made me even more a fan. The Dodgers were in a lot of World Series as a kid. That solidified my devotion. I am fiercely proud of my team's legacy. Their history is one of the greatest in sports, if not the greatest.
ReplyDeleteBy proximity, I had a shot at liking either the Mets or the Yankees. In the late 1980s, when I started to pay attention to baseball, the Mets were good and the Yankees weren't. I ended up sticking with the Mets.
ReplyDeleteI think my father's still a little disappointed that I didn't wind up a Phillies fan like him -- maybe if we lived a little further south in New Jersey when I was a kid, I would have.
Great responses everyone. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
ReplyDeleteThe Astros were always my second or third favorite team to the Mets. I don't know why I loved the Mets, I just liked Reyes. But then on vacation in Florida, we were staying down the road from the Astros S.T. and I met all the players. They were all very nice and I've followed since then.
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