For baseball fans, there is no better time. The start of a new season. A time in which all teams are in first place, players and fans are excited and the anticipation of the new season is at its peak.
It always brings back memories for me, of being a kid where baseball was everything. While I am no old fart, I am 35, growing up without internet and the present-version of ESPN left many baseball fans longing for more information. Waking early to read through boxscores in the paper before school….so I would have fresh ammunition for any lunch-time baseball card trades. (don’t laugh, it one time helped broker a Moose Haas for Pete Rose card trade!)
Being a fan, as a kid, was more than just interest in what was happening in the major leagues. We played all the time, whether it be a neighborhood whiffle ball game, hardball, “Indian Ball” or just throwing the ball, it didn’t matter. It was fun, we loved it…..and I for one still do.
Baseball Cards
While I no longer collect, I still have box after box from days in which I did. Every once in awhile, I will pull out a box and shuffle through a stack. Pete Rose, JR Richard, Nolan Ryan, Reggie, Bench….to Rafael Ramirez, Paul Splitorff and Dane Iorg. I remember those guys, I read there stats…traded their cards and chewed the nasty gum that came with them.
It was always fun getting together with friends, and trading baseball cards. I am often reminded of it by the fantasy trade offers I receive, and send. Speculation, personal bias, trying to one-up.
I remember in the mid-80’s (6th grade or so) a buddy of mine was given a shoebox full of cards from an old family friend. One that had been in an attic for years. We rifled through that box, and every card we pulled out was like finding the hope-diamond. Having read a great deal about baseball, and having a father that was a long-time Yankee fan…it was crazy to be holding a REAL Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford card.
We found old Yaz cards, Maris, Mantle, Berra, Reese, Snider, Clemente, Mays…..going back to cards from 1959. I will never forget the fun we had in doing that. My friend was a huge Reds fan, and I had happened to pick up a number of autographs from a Reds game, and we made some trades, autographs and loads of Reds cards for a handful of history. I still have a number of those, and framed a 1960 Mantle and gave to my father a number of years ago for Christmas.
It is amazing how devalued cards are now. I saw some prices on rookie Mike Schmidt, George Brett cards recently and was a bit shocked. Might be time to start buying some, just for the memories and fun.
Fantasy Baseball
So for many folks like me, fantasy baseball is just another outlet to have some fun with a game that we already love. There are some that play that were never baseball fans, just in it to play “another fantasy” game. Strange, but to each their own.
However to me, fantasy baseball has served to bring together a group of folks, from all around the globe, that love the game…and have a little fun with it by playing fantasy. From my first years playing roto in college with fraternity brothers, to playing with a group now whose homes dot the globe….I have had fun with them all.
So, as we await the first round of games, I’m excited. Excited to watch games, excited to play fantasy baseball with friends.
Crack a beer, have a hot dog….and if you’re interested in Moose Haas offers, let me know.
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