What initally "hooked" you on MLB?

Question

for me it was just trying to learn how to really play baseball. I loved playing it, but i really sucked, so I started watching the pro's. That also happened to be when the whole Bash Brothers thing was going on with Canseco and McGwire (HAHA--guess we all know why now huh) and the first series I ever really watched was the earthquake series (89 right?)

What is your story?

Answer 1

As nerdy as it sounds, the history and tradition behind the game.

Answer 2

The moments that I shared with my father, watching the games on TV, or going to the games, or talking about it even in the middle of winter.  We went our separate ways team wise. he with the Yankees, me with the Red Sox,  but we never lost that bond between us.

Answer 3

I moved to Cleveland from another part of Ohio years ago so I already knew the Indians were a terrible team and had been for decades. I remember hearing on the radio how people were lining up for tickets because the Indians had won 10 in a row. They then fell apart and the hoopla ended. Then I remember it being a big deal that the Indians actually finished at .500 Needless to say, I was not impressed and went along with my life WITHOUT baseball UNTIL the Indians made the 1995 World Series. The city lit up like a Christmas tree and it was truly something magical. No one got any sleep that season - we were all up late at night rooting for the Tribe in the playoffs and then in the World Series. They obviously lost in 1995 and in 1997 but the Indians had become COMPETITIVE. They were no longer the doormats of MLB and it was extremely exciting that we could knock out the likes of the Yankees. You can bet that got a lot of people's attention. Plus we had awesome fan friendly players like Omar Vizquel..etc. I got totally hooked and I still am. I never watched an All Star game until Cliff Lee was named the AL starter this year and when I saw him take the field I swear my eyes got misty. I get frustrated, I get mad, hurt, disappointed....etc. but I love my Indians and I could never trade up, including this year. I am......

Cleveland Indians Fan 4-Ever

Answer 4

Every baseball fan that I know talking about how good the Cards are ( I live in Missouri) so I got hooked.

Answer 5

was dragged to a game after watching a couple of double plays , homers and strikeouts I fell in love with the sport ! then started playing and watched more games

Answer 6

the raptors season was over, and i was bored so i was switching through channels and i saw AJ Burnett pitcihng and i was pretty impressed so i started watching the game and toronto had a 9-1 lead that day, but i think the game was nearly over....i had no idea what was going on but it was fun watching burnett pitch(2007) so i kept on watching the game for the next 3-4 days and picked it up....lol i like it more than basketball, the jays are such n00bs and do so many n00by things...

e.g, A-rod vs. Josh towers lolol...

and how A-rod fooled the 3rd baseman subbing in.

Aaron hill steals home vs. posada and pettite.

Russ ADams 0.o hits a grand slam vs. Papelbon and jays comeback to win lol!!

Answer 7

My half-brother had returned home from World War Two and took me to a night game at Ebbets Field in 1946 where the Brooklyn Dodgers were playing the visiting Cincinnati Reds. Based on my experience that night, I never wanted to ever go a ball park ever again. I didn't know it at the time, but I was part of history. The game was a 19-inning scoreless tie! It was suspended because of the curfew rule left over from the war years. But, Cincinnati pitcher Johnny Vandermeer pitched 14 of those 19 innings!

I did go to a few day games that season which didn't become marathons that left me sick from hot dogs, sodas, etc. Next season I was there for the home opener when an African-American player emerged from the dugout to take up his position as the rookie first baseman. I was eight years old and had never heard such nasty racial insults as I heard that day. It was April 15, 1947 and the player was Jackie Robinson and he was playing for the home team!

But, over the next few seasons I really got to love the game. With my Happy Felton Knot Hole Gang membership card I could get a ticket for  any unsold seat at Yankee Stadium, the Polo Grounds or Ebbets Field a half hour before game time for the grand price of fifty cents! I was at Yankee Stadium in 1948 when a man in civilian clothes stepped in front of a field microphone to say his final goodbye to the fans. It was Babe Ruth and he died a few weeks later. I was in  the Polo Grounds in 1951 when Booby Thomson of the Giants git that three run home run off Ralph Branca of the Dodgers to give the Giants the pennant. And I was there when the Dodgers won their one and only World Series in Brooklyn in 1955.

Now, when they play that song on the loudspeakers at a ball park ("Willie, Mickey and the Duke"), it makes me feel really old because I grew up watching all three play. But, I have been happy to be a fan of the true American game ever since my childhood.

Answer 8

mine was always going over to my grandparents house to watch the astros and rangers game with my grandpa. i still do that to this day.

Answer 9

I'm from New York and New York is a baseball city. It was natural that I'd become a fan. Once I saw the Yankee pinstripes on Channel 11, it was as good as over. Yankees fan for life!

Answer 10

2005 world series white sox vs astros yeah thats wen i was really into the mlb and the white sox. i saw people going crazy for the white sox. banners everywhere and parades it was so crazy i found it interseting and fun so i got really into baseball so all of a sudden i want 2 be just like them thats wen i first got interested into the mlb

Answer 11

Seeing a Rangers game in September 2004 while they were in a division race. Been hooked ever since. Then I saw the Red Sox overcome a 3-0 deficit to beat the Yanks and then break the curse. I then became a Sox fan as well as a Rangers fan and have learned all about the history

Answer 12

i was young and everyone in my family loved watching the Yankees game and since I live in New york, its bound to stick.  Especially me and my dad.  Up till this date, we watch all the games as possible together, we share glorious and frustrating moments, and it is so much fun.  I started learning about baseball when I was 5 but I really didn't get it.  I thought it was boring and watching something for 3 hours straight!, it wasn't for me.  Then when I got older, I started to learn the rules and what every acronym meant, it started to click.  I love the Yankees since day one and I always will.  I'm not one of those bandwagon fans who only cared about them from 96-00.  I've been there since and I will always be a Yankees fan

R.I.P. Bobby Murcer.  We miss you so much!

Answer 13

playing baseball for 14 years of my life...im 18 by the way has probably been the biggest influence on me lol

Answer 14

I've been watching my whole life, but I really got hooked by the 1995 ALDS Game 2 between the Yanks and Mariners, when Jim Leyritz hit that 15th inning walkoff in the rain.

Answer 15

When I started playing softball in 6th grade I started watching baseball too because of the similarity in the sports

Answer 16

Playing baseball/wiffleball with my friends, pretending to be at Wrigley Field as one of our favorite players.

Answer 17

Actually playing baseball, and then seeing all these amazing players on TV.

Answer 18

My dad plays baseball and is a huge fan of the MLB. I went to my first baseball game when I was about a month old. So I just grew up watching baseball, and have been hooked ever since.

Answer 19

i always loved to watch David Cone pitch when i was younger. he got me hooked, i would never miss a game he started.

I am a Cone Head

Answer 20

(okay so I 'm a girl)... I loved Pudge when he first came around.  So I watched every TX game.. ( I'm not even from TX).

Then I met my husband who loves the sport, plays it and works at a stadium!

I watch more baseball than he does.  I never miss a night, I change plans to watch my home team! I have 3 fantasy baseball teams and I think I know more than many (not all of course) nay sayers who think they know baseball!