Good luck to everyone who has a team in the playoffs! I'm really enjoying the extra teams and extra games. I know some people don't think it's very fair, but i thought the last day of the season was way more exciting than normal.
@Cory - were you a Jays or Expos fan? i remember the A's and Jays having some great series' back in those days. i'll never forget Canseco hitting a bomb in the Skydome that hit the hotel and of course Dave Stewart's no hitter.
@Cory - were you a Jays or Expos fan? i remember the A's and Jays having some great series' back in those days. i'll never forget Canseco hitting a bomb in the Skydome that hit the hotel and of course Dave Stewart's no hitter.
Nah, definitely never a Jays fan.
I turned 8 during Canseco's 40-40 season. Baseball was the first sport I got into and got this in 1989. (Which I still have upstairs at my mother's house)
My cousin (nearly 2 years older than I) was an A's fan and bragged up Jose and to a lesser extent Ricky and Big Mac. So I latched onto them and pretty much studied that book. I believe Canseco hit .307, with 42 HR, 124 RBI, and 40 SB. I became fascinated with the power-speed combo (and for the next few years expected him to do that every year).
By the fall of 1992, a lot of adults that never watched baseball were suddenly Jays fans, which made me want NOTHING to do with that. I remember being at a different cousin's house and one of my aunts was watching the ALCS and I saw Alomar's HR off Eck. Yuck, I didn't want anything to do with the Jays after that.
By then I was watching a lot of Braves games on TBS (the only consistent option besides the Jays on CBC/TSN).
I remained an A's fan by default, but being 13, 4 timezones ahead of California, and Canseco having been traded, and Ricky joining Stewart in Toronto, and McGwire seemingly perpetually injured, I gravitated towards the team I could consistently watch. And then towards the NL style.
Then McGwire was mostly healthy in 1996 and hit 5like 58 bombs, and was traded to St. Louis the following trade deadline, joining several former A's players and Tony LaRussa. So I transferred my fandom to the Cardinals a month after my 17th birthday, and aside from a brief flirting with giving up on them once McGwire retired, they've been my team ever since (thank god Pujols came along).
The Expos were a sick team in '94, but for the most part they were just a farm team for the rest of MLB, so they never got higher than my #2 or 3 NL team.
wow @Cory! my brother from another mother!! i became fascinated with MLB too during Canseco's 40/40 season (for the same reasons)! i was 9. at that point baseball was everything to me. watching when i could, card collecting, checking out baseball books at the library, little league and sandlot baseball around the neighborhood. with the A's being the local team it was hard not to love everything about them. the line up from top bottom was for the most part stacked, and the pitching staff was loaded (starters and bullpen). Dodgers cut me deep in '88, suck it Giants in '89, and WTF? the Reds and their racist owner in '90?!
like you i started watching a lot of Braves games on TBS. so when the A's traded Canseco in '92 (he was literally in the on deck circle when the news broke) i was pissed at the A's and started following the Braves for a bit (just a different A on the hat i use to say). to this day the '91 World Series is one of the greatest WS i've ever watched.
i kinda lost some interest in MLB after the strike. then around '99 when Moneyball really started to take off i was sucked back in, and have been loyal to Oakland like i was as kid. a lot of playoff heartbreaks, but a whole lot of regular season moments.
edit: but the Bears were my first sports love. you're still my #1 my Chicago boo!
I forgot to mention I played A LOT of RBI baseball (all 3 games) on NES, and Oakland was my go-to team. Them or the AL All-Stars (they had Ricky, Canseco, and McGwire in 1990).
The next baseball game I got was Ken Griffey presents Major League Baseball on the SNES. That was important because while they had all the real teams and player stats, they had fake names, but you could edit them. So I edited every player on every team that I could. I had a 1995 Baseball almanac based off the 1994 season, and later the 1996 one. I used that to edit nearly all 650 player names. That took me a long time, and I think I had to do it at least twice.
Those almanacs taught me a lot too, particularly about OBP. It never told me how to calculate it, but gave enough hints that I was able to figure it out myself. So when Moneyball came around I was fully onboard.
The other two baseball books I bought were Juiced and Moneyball.
To this day I've never gotten into the NFL though. The NHL by 1990-91, flirted with the NBA through the early/mid-90s, but mostly the Bulls and later the Jazz. The NFL kinda got too big for its britches before I ever got into it.
I forgot to mention I played A LOT of RBI baseball (all 3 games) on NES, and Oakland was my go-to team. Them or the AL All-Stars (they had Ricky, Canseco, and McGwire in 1990).
The next baseball game I got was Ken Griffey presents Major League Baseball on the SNES. That was important because while they had all the real teams and player stats, they had fake names, but you could edit them. So I edited every player on every team that I could. I had a 1995 Baseball almanac based off the 1994 season, and later the 1996 one. I used that to edit nearly all 650 player names. That took me a long time, and I think I had to do it at least twice.
dude! to this day i will always say that Ken Griffey Jr Baseball for the SNES is the greatest throwback console baseball game of all time. i cut school with my best friend to stay home and edit all the rosters. and we did that twice too
as far as NES goes, RBI was def the GOAT for MLB themed baseball games. but Baseball Stars and Baseball Simulator 1.000 were my jam! so many countless hours spent on those 2 classics!
Comments
Hoping the good Yankees show up tonight.
Also fun to see the Twins blow game 1 against Houston.
Actually, kinda seems like 2020 should be their year.
I turned 8 during Canseco's 40-40 season. Baseball was the first sport I got into and got this in 1989. (Which I still have upstairs at my mother's house)
My cousin (nearly 2 years older than I) was an A's fan and bragged up Jose and to a lesser extent Ricky and Big Mac. So I latched onto them and pretty much studied that book. I believe Canseco hit .307, with 42 HR, 124 RBI, and 40 SB. I became fascinated with the power-speed combo (and for the next few years expected him to do that every year).
By the fall of 1992, a lot of adults that never watched baseball were suddenly Jays fans, which made me want NOTHING to do with that. I remember being at a different cousin's house and one of my aunts was watching the ALCS and I saw Alomar's HR off Eck. Yuck, I didn't want anything to do with the Jays after that.
By then I was watching a lot of Braves games on TBS (the only consistent option besides the Jays on CBC/TSN).
I remained an A's fan by default, but being 13, 4 timezones ahead of California, and Canseco having been traded, and Ricky joining Stewart in Toronto, and McGwire seemingly perpetually injured, I gravitated towards the team I could consistently watch. And then towards the NL style.
Then McGwire was mostly healthy in 1996 and hit 5like 58 bombs, and was traded to St. Louis the following trade deadline, joining several former A's players and Tony LaRussa. So I transferred my fandom to the Cardinals a month after my 17th birthday, and aside from a brief flirting with giving up on them once McGwire retired, they've been my team ever since (thank god Pujols came along).
The Expos were a sick team in '94, but for the most part they were just a farm team for the rest of MLB, so they never got higher than my #2 or 3 NL team.
I forgot to mention I played A LOT of RBI baseball (all 3 games) on NES, and Oakland was my go-to team. Them or the AL All-Stars (they had Ricky, Canseco, and McGwire in 1990).
The next baseball game I got was Ken Griffey presents Major League Baseball on the SNES. That was important because while they had all the real teams and player stats, they had fake names, but you could edit them. So I edited every player on every team that I could. I had a 1995 Baseball almanac based off the 1994 season, and later the 1996 one. I used that to edit nearly all 650 player names. That took me a long time, and I think I had to do it at least twice.
Those almanacs taught me a lot too, particularly about OBP. It never told me how to calculate it, but gave enough hints that I was able to figure it out myself. So when Moneyball came around I was fully onboard.
The other two baseball books I bought were Juiced and Moneyball.
To this day I've never gotten into the NFL though. The NHL by 1990-91, flirted with the NBA through the early/mid-90s, but mostly the Bulls and later the Jazz. The NFL kinda got too big for its britches before I ever got into it.
The goofy commentary by Jim Hughson and Buck Martinez. The commercial reads in game. Home Run Derby iin crazy places like a castle.
Fun times.
"A triple play! Hey, that's the name of the game!" Legendary.
Nah. I see what you're trying to do here! Trying to jinx my 'Stros!