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Firsts

MFS62 Apr 11 2020 02:32 PM

Who was the first baseball player you really liked? Why? Who was the first baseball player you really disliked? Why? Later

RealityChuck Apr 11 2020 03:18 PM Re: Firsts

Liked: Roger Maris.* I wanted him to beat out Ruth. Disliked: Sandy Koufax because he dominated the Mets. I actually saw them beat him (the last regular season game he was knocked out of the box). Nowadays, though, I've come to appreciate just how good he was. *Yes, to my shame, I was a fan of the MFYs. My excuse was that there were no Mets when I first discovered baseball. I became a Mets fan in 1965.

Willets Point Apr 11 2020 03:42 PM Re: Firsts

Liked: Lee Mazilli and Reggie Jackson, because they were the New York superstars when I first became aware of baseball as a child. Disliked: Vince Coleman, because he always got on base and stole bases when the Mets were fighting the Cardinals for the NL East titles.

MFS62 Apr 11 2020 04:01 PM Re: Firsts

Liked: Roy Campanella - I rooted for the Brooklyn Dodgers and I had a catcher's mitt. (In case you're wondering, it was a Stan Lopata model) Disliked: Whitey Ford - it was obvious he was doctoring the ball, and nobody ever called him out on it. (read Joe Garagiola's book Baseball is a Funny Game - the players knew). Later

duan Apr 11 2020 04:36 PM Re: Firsts

Butch Huskey & Rey Ordonez Mark McGwire - had just been traded to the Cards when I went to my first met game in 1997. He was batting .111 - we gave him a hard time.

G-Fafif Apr 11 2020 05:28 PM Re: Firsts

Liked: Tom Seaver. Everything that every Met should be. Disliked: Ron Santo. Click these, pal.

cal sharpie Apr 11 2020 07:35 PM Re: Firsts

Liked: Ken Boyer. Was excited when the Mets traded for him and my dad took me to some meet-the-player thing where I got an autographed pucture. Dislike: Bob Veale. I don't really remember why.

Fman99 Apr 11 2020 07:50 PM Re: Firsts

I'm with Willets, we must be the same age. Lee Mazzili was my favorite player, but I definitely thought Reggie was cool. Most of the kids in my neighborhood were MFY fans and so he was the biggest thing around those days (1977-ish or so, when I first became cognizant of all of this). I don't remember disliking a player until much later on. I hated teams, though - hated the teams that the Mets played the most. Hated the Cubs and the Pirates and the Cardinals most of all, I think.

Benjamin Grimm Apr 11 2020 08:01 PM Re: Firsts

I guess my first favorite was Tom Seaver. It was 1971 on Long Island and everyone (with few exceptions) were Mets fans, and Tom Seaver was the most coveted baseball card. But I think the first guy I chose as a favorite, rather than picking it up from my peers, was Rusty Staub. I had to think for a while to come up with the first player I disliked, but it was probably Pete Rose, after his 1973 NLCS fight with Bud Harrelson.

nymr83 Apr 11 2020 08:08 PM Re: Firsts

Liked: not really sure. Griffey? Todd Hundley? Someone around 95-96 when I started to care. Disliked: Chipper Fucking Jones

Edgy MD Apr 11 2020 08:45 PM Re: Firsts

Until I started going to games, at 10 or so, players were just abstractions in the newspaper and on the radio. When I finally got out to Shea and saw these guys up close, for some reason, I just fixated on Doug Flynn doing infield practice. And practicing the double-play, the ball never seemed to pause. it would come from third or short and just make a right turn toward first, while accelerating. So, I became a big fan of a guy who hit .230 with neither power nor walks nor a particular baserunning acumen. Still hit his share of triples, though. Disliked? I dunno. Mike Torrez? Len Dykstra? I can't recall particularly disliking a whole lot of dudes — Mets or non-Mets. But Steve Garvey and Pete Rose both smelled exactly as phony to me as they turned out to be. Most issues of Boy's Life told me I ought to have the grit of Rose along with the polish of Garvey. But I wasn't much of a Boy Scout.

Willets Point Apr 12 2020 05:16 AM Re: Firsts

=duan post_id=35049 time=1586644577 user_id=99] Mark McGwire - had just been traded to the Cards when I went to my first met game in 1997. He was batting .111 - we gave him a hard time.

Was that the game when Armando Reynoso struck him out 3 times?

The Hot Corner Apr 13 2020 06:19 AM Re: Firsts

First player to grab my attention as a kid, was Willie Mays. Tommie Agee was the first Met. Though a Mets fan, Brooks Robinson won me over with his performance in the 1969 World Series against the Mets. I know he was playing for the other guys, but I was a young kid playing third base and after his performance in the WS, Brooks became one of my guys.

Johnny Lunchbucket Apr 13 2020 08:16 AM Re: Firsts

My memories are all jumbled, but data has helped reconstruct their order. It seems the earliest I can remember taking notice of a particular player was Mets pitcher Chuck Taylor in 1972. The phrase used by Bob or Lindsay was that the Mets "trailed by 6" and the meaning of the world "trailed" and "Taylor" stuck together in my brain. It wasn;t that I liked or hated Taylor, just noticed him earliest. My earliest favorites were probably Matlack and Milner, along with Millan and Seaver. The first player I "hated" was Jack Heidemann, not becayuse of anything he did on the field but because I must have turned up this hideous baseball card in every 2 packs in the summer of 75. Heidemann of course then became a Met! https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/~msAAOSwz39d2Lmg/s-l640.jpg>

nymr83 Apr 13 2020 06:51 PM Re: Firsts

Willets Point wrote: =duan post_id=35049 time=1586644577 user_id=99] Mark McGwire - had just been traded to the Cards when I went to my first met game in 1997. He was batting .111 - we gave him a hard time. Was that the game when Armando Reynoso struck him out 3 times?

I vaguely remember attending a double header at Shea during the homerun chase in which Turk Wendell struck him out in both games.

Willets Point Apr 13 2020 09:22 PM Re: Firsts

You know, I saw a double header at Shea against the August 1998 and it looks like McGwire hit a double off of Rojas in a pinch hit appearance in the first game. The nightcap must be the game I was thinking off where Reynoso struck out McGwire three times. This was the Mets' second double header in a row and third for that week!

seawolf17 Apr 14 2020 04:55 AM Re: Firsts

We were at the first of those two doubleheaders that weekend also. McGwire homered in both games; 50 and 51 on the season. Looks like Wendell did strike him out in the 8th in game 2, but didn't pitch in the first one.

Frayed Knot Apr 14 2020 09:59 AM Re: Firsts

I was at the second of those two back-to-back DH's -- had one of those 'Six-Pack' plans that year and just happened to have that as one of the games and just happened to have it turn out to be a DH/pennant race/HR chase game. I remember two distinct McGwire facts from that day 1) that a while lotta Met fans were incredibly pissed off when they showed up to the park and realized that Big Mac wasn't in the Game 1 starting lineup (he later PH'd). Did they really think he was going to play all four games in a 30 or so hour span? Were they really Met fans? Did they get tickets for that day just to see him? 2) That I got there early but thought of myself as a baseball fan who was far too sophisticated to be awed by batting practice theatrics. Then McGwire stepped up and with his first dozen or so seemingly effortless swings hit a dozen or so screaming liners either into or beyond the LF bullpen ... and I found myself jaw-droppingly awed.

batmagadanleadoff Apr 14 2020 11:12 AM Re: Firsts

If there were all those doubleheaders, then there hadda be rainouts. And I went to one of those rainouts. I remember waiting inside the stadium for what hadda be at least an hour and a half to find out if the game would be played or canceled. It was canceled. That's what made it a rainout.

nymr83 Apr 14 2020 11:15 AM Re: Firsts

Well, at least Wilpon got to sell concessions for a couple of hours before they cancelled! Localized radar back then wasnt what it is today, I feel like the fans waiting in the stadium for an eventual rainout is a less frequent occurrence.

Benjamin Grimm Apr 14 2020 11:36 AM Re: Firsts

But they're probably waiting even longer for a game that eventually resumes.

G-Fafif Apr 14 2020 12:12 PM Re: Firsts

I went to the second of those doubleheaders. The frontrunner readings, as gauged by the sudden explosion of Cardinal/McGwire gear, were off the chart.

G-Fafif Apr 14 2020 12:18 PM Re: Firsts

From a 2008 recollection of that twi-nighter in 1998: So we booed: long and loud and lustily and totally outnumbered. The instant Cardinal fans cheered. The event people, taken in by the lure of the deuce, cheered. The idiots in Yankees caps cheered. Probably a few too many Mets fans cheered. Not us. BOOOOOOOOO! It was not a popular decision, particularly with one red-shirted McGWIRE 25 one row in front of us and six sheets to the wind. He turned around and addressed us directly: “OH, WHO THE METS GOT? THE METS DON'T GOT NOBODY! THEY GOT RUSTY STAUB! RUSTY STAUB'S A FAG! A FAG! YOU BETTER SHUT UP! RUSTY STAUB'S A FAG! THE METS SUCK! YOU BETTER WATCH IT!” We didn't, but I was a little put off. Fortunately, Reynoso did not give McGWIRE 25 home run 52. He walked him in the first and struck him out to end the third and fifth. The more McGwire failed, the fewer fans he seemed to have. And Rusty Staub tied the consecutive pinch-hit record, so screw you, scary and drunk man. The guy in the red shirt got up and never came back. He went to the men's room. I know that because when it was all over, he was slumped over a urinal and not moving. Pity. That Cardinal jersey looked brand new. The whole thing is here, if you're so inclined to read...the rest of the story.

Edgy MD Apr 14 2020 12:30 PM Re: Firsts

I'm not sure it can get much better than that.

Lefty Specialist Apr 14 2020 02:48 PM Re: Firsts

Hm. First like is hard. When I was little I thought all baseball players were like superheroes. Seaver's an easy out here, but I think for some reason I liked Cleon Jones first. First hate. Ha. Pete Rose. How dare he beat up Buddy? Lefty Jr. was just shy of 3 years old when the Mets got Mike Piazza. He was 10 when he left. He worshipped him like a god, which of course he was. We have like 8 kid-sized Piazza shirts up in the attic. And he's got the adult-sized one he wore to the Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

Frayed Knot Apr 14 2020 03:02 PM Re: Firsts

I can't believe that so many folks here were at that DH and not one of you stopped by to say hello. Fuck youse all!!

seawolf17 Apr 15 2020 06:28 AM Re: Firsts

The first player who I really remember being like WHOA was Darrell Porter. This guy had big dorky glasses like me, AND he was a baseball player, AND he was good!

LWFS Apr 15 2020 10:25 AM Re: Firsts

FIRST LIKE: Gooden. He was up on the side of a building, with superhumanly-long arms and crazy command of Lord Charles. He was magic, and served like my gateway drug from superheroes like Batman and Spider-Man to big-ass sports dudes on the sides of buildings. Also, Steve Balboni, because he was meaty, and looked like the deli guy at our Gristedes. FIRST DISLIKE: Tudor or Andujar. Tudor and his pinched face. Andujar and... all THAT.