Craig Calcaterra of Shysterball did his own baseball-tinged version of everyone's favorite Facebook meme, so I thought I'd do my own, in honor of the start of the season. Note: I found this much easier to do than my regular 25:
1. I was never very good at actually playing baseball, but I once had a two-homer game in T-ball, and probably led my Little League in walks (because no pitcher in my league could get the ball over the plate.) I would have been a perfect Moneyball player if 11-year-olds were eligible for the draft.
2. I kept my baseball card collection intact because I always assumed that the cards would be worth something someday. Unfortunately, it turned out every other kid my age had the exact same idea.
3. I've been a Twins fan my whole life, though the Phillies are my NL team, and I adopted the Red Sox for awhile in the '90s when I was living in Boston and the Twins weren't even trying.
4. Even though I'm not really a Phillies fan, I liked the Phillies more than most Phillies fans did prior to last October.
5. I'm very lucky that I married a woman who enjoys both watching and going to games.
6. Our children will be raised in both faiths (Twins and Phillies.)
7. The Braves are my least-favorite team (for several reasons, including the Tomahawk chop, their fans who don't care, and John Rocker), followed closely by the Yankees and White Sox.
8. I've seen the last out of every World Series since 1985. I had the hardest time in 1992, when I was at a Jewish youth group event, and my friends and I snuck into the rabbi's office to see the Blue Jays finish off the Braves.
9. I went to eight Twins games in 1987 (including spring training, regular season, playoffs and World Series) and 10 in 1991; the Twins were undefeated in games I attended both years. Every subsequent season, if I went to a game and they lost I knew it wasn't their year.
10. Kirby Puckett was always my favorite player, followed by Tom Brunansky, but for some reason Randy Bush seemed to always hit a home run whenever I went to a game.
11. The only time I ever went to spring training was the Twins at Tinker Field in Orlando in 1987; they of course won the World Series that year.
12. I went to World Series Games 1 and 6 in '87, Games 2, 6, and 7 in '91 (all at the Dome), and Game 4 at Shea Stadium in 2000.
13. Since I was at Game 6, I never heard Jack Buck say "and we'll see you tomorrow night."
14. At the end of our rehearsal dinner the night before our wedding, my dad told everyone, "and we'll see you tomorrow night!"
15. Myself, my wife, and both sets of parents went to the Phillies game days before our wedding in 2007, a game in which Cole Hamels took a perfect game into the 7th inning. Had he finished it, we could've spent the next 50 years calling it "the Wedding no-hitter."
16. I've never seen a no-hitter in person, but I did once see a triple play.
17. I've never caught a ball at a game, but have had several close calls.
18. Steroids aren't the biggest deal in the world to me. I think there are many, much better reasons to despise Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez that have nothing to do with PEDs.
19. Best baseball movie: Field of Dreams, followed by Bull Durham and Pride of the Yankees
20. Best baseball books: Ball Four, Moneyball, Summer of '49, Opening Day.
21. I've been to the following ballparks: Metrodome, Citizen's Bank Park, Milwaukee County Stadium, Comiskey Park (old), U.S. Cellular Field, Wrigley Field, Great American Ballpark, Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium (old), Shea Stadium, Camden Yards, RFK Stadium, PNC Park, and AT&T Park.
22. Fenway is the best of the old ones; PNC the best of the new, followed closely by Citizen's Bank and AT&T.
23. I never liked the old Yankee Stadium, and won't miss it. It's ugly, they renovated it in the '70s to make it look more like a cooker-cutter monstrosity, and the upper deck is a mile from the field. And worst of all, the Yankees played there.
24. I shouldn't miss the Metrodome, but I'm going to anyway.
25. "The totals on the board are correct."
A bunch of people will miss the Metrodome when the allure of the new, open air stadium wears off and nobody shows up for an April game in snowy, 28-degree weather.
Posted by: Jeremy at February 18, 2009 05:57 PM