Welcome to I Love Baseball! Please Introduce Yourselves!

Hall of famer: Nolan Ryan
Current players: Jeff Bagwell, Lance Berkman
Non-hall of famer: Larry Andersen (traded for Jeff Bagwell and a certified flake with one of the best sliders of the 80s)
Manager: Larry Dierker
Book: Does the Bible count? (In the big inning... Gen 1:1)
Writers: Rob Neyer, Peter Gammons
Movie: Night Games, Starring Roy Scheider. Set in Houston. A cop tracking a serial killer finds a connection between the killings and the performance of an Astro relief pitcher. This might have gone straight to video.
Favorite announcers: Milo Hamilton, Vin Scully, Larry Dierker
Ballpark: Astrodome
Playing Experience: Little League, Pony League, two years sub-varsity in High School
Positions Played: Outfield, 3B
Ball Parks Visited: Astrodome, Minute Maid Park, the old Arlington Stadium, The Ballpark in Arlington, Busch Stadium, Wrigley Field, Dodger Stadium (no game), Fenway Park (no game).
Best Game attended: June of 94, Padres vs. Astros. Bagwell hits 3 home runs, including two in one inning. The guy in front of me caught the second one on the fly. Also, I was at the final MLB game played at the Astrodome. Kevin Spacey threw out the first pitch.
Best Offensive Player: Alber Pujols
Best Defensive Player: Richard Hidalgo
Best Current Pitcher: Mark Prior (w/ healthy achilles), Roy Oswalt
Favorite outfield ever: Billy Hatcher, Gerald Young, Kevin Bass
Areas of Interest (baseball): The abolition of the DH

http://www.counterpoint-music.com/specialties/volume1.html

The guy distributing it had legal problems a couple years ago, I can't vouch for your mail order.

I've never heard the "Baseball is like church..." quote attributed to anybody but Wes Westrum!

I truly despise the Yankees, I have a soft spot for the Red Sox -- imagine that -- and I'm always happy to see the Braves get set down 27 in a row by the likes of Randy Johnson. Oh, hey, that happened last night, didn't it? What do you know?

I no longer attend major league games due to price and general distaste, but in cheerful hypocrisy I regularly patronize the Brooklyn Cyclones and Staten Island Yankees, even though the revenues end up in the same pockets. I believe the SI Yankees stadium is one of the greatest places I've ever seen a baseball game, if not the greatest.

Favorite live baseball experience: attending El Duque's last rehab start for the SI Yankees in 2001, sitting about 100 feet from the mound, and finally understanding what a serious, hardcore major-league curveball looks like.

Favorite books: Fireside Book of Baseball (original), Ball Four.

My ILB name is Garrett Martin. I'm 28, have been in Boston for two years now, but was born and raised in and around Atlanta. Ergo Braves first, Red Sox way far down in second. My brother was a bat-boy for the White Sox during spring training in Sarasota back in '82 and '83, and they were my main AL team before moving to Boston. Also I won my fantasy league this year, and am still waiting for my $500 check, dammit.

Hall of famer: Hank Aaron
Current players: Brian Giles, Marcus Giles, Johan Santana
Minor leaguer: Andy Marte. Godspeed, little doodle.
Non-hall of famer: Dale Murphy
Manager: Bobby Cox
Website: Baseball Prospectus
Writers: Rob Neyer, Bill James
Movie: Major League
Favorite announcers: Pete Van Wieren and Skip Caray
Ballpark: Fenway
Playing Experience: one week of tee-ball when I was four
Positions Played: third right-fielder
Ball Parks Visited: Turner Field, Atlanta Fulton County Stadium, Fenway, Wrigley, Durham Athletic Park, whatever the Lookouts' place is called
Best Game attended: Atlanta vs. Pittsburgh, Game Seven of the NLCS, October 14, 1992. Just total fuckin' amazement. This annoying Iranian kid from my high school left this game after the eighth. What a dick.
Best Offensive Player: Albert Pujols
Best Defensive Player: Andruw Jones
Best Current Pitcher: Johan Santana
Favorite outfield ever: Ron Gant, Otis Nixon, David Justice

Favorites:

Hall of famer: Roberto Clemente, Ricky Henderson.
Current players: Ichiro, Dontrelle Willis
Minor leaguer: ?
Non-hall of famer: Dick Allen
Manager: Ozzie Guillen (he cracks me up, sorry guys)
Book: Ball Four
Website: Athleticsnation.com
Writers: Eh
Movie: The Bad News Bears, probably
Favorite announcers: Bill King
Ballpark: PacBell Park
Playing Experience: Zip
Positions Played: None
Ball Parks Visited: The new-ish Seattle one, Wrigley, Fenway, Busch Stadium, Candlestick, Oakland Coliseum, Pac Bell Park
Best Game attended: A's vs. Yankees, regular season 2000? 2001?, pitching battle between Mulder and Mussina. Giambi ended it with a three run homer.
Best Offensive Player: Albert Pujols (would be Bonds if healthy)
Best Defensive Player: Jim Edmonds, maybe.
Best Current Pitcher: Johan Santana
Favorite outfield ever: Ricky Henderson, Dave Henderson, Jose Canseco.
Areas of Interest (baseball): the A's, arguing about the Hall of Fame and player valuation.

Hall of Famer: Tony Gwynn
Non-Hall of Famer: Shoeless Joe Jackson

Current players: Khalil Greene, Manny Ramirez, Torii Hunter, Vlad Guerrero, Ichiro, Dave Ortiz, Jake Peavy, Pedro Martinez, Barry Zito, Greg Maddux, Huston Street

Minor leaguer: Pretty much any "AAAA player"

Manager: Bobby Cox, Bobby Valentine

Book: Moneyball is literally the only book about baseball I've ever read apart from like the Historical Baseball Abstract. Both are cool. Oh, I guess the first part of Underworld.

Website: Fire Joe Morgan, Baseball Musings

Writers: Eh

Movie: The Bad News Bears, easily.

Favorite announcers: Bill King, Vin Scully

Ballpark: Edwards Stadium at Cal

Playing Experience: Little League, street ball

Positions Played: Everything but pitcher and catcher.

Ball Parks Visited: Jack Murphy, Candlestick, Oakland Coliseum, Pac Bell Park

Best Game attended: Unfortunately, the game where Jeter made "the play" against the A's in the playoffs.

Best Offensive Player: Albert Pujols (would be Bonds if healthy)

Best Defensive Player: Andruw Jones I guess.

Best Current Pitcher: Johan Santana

Favorite outfield ever: Tony Gwynn, Marvell Wynne, Carmelo Martinez

Areas of Interest (baseball): the Padres, the A's, the NL West, arguing.

Hated teams: Sportswriters; Ex-Athlete Announcers/Columnists; The Dodgers; The other NL West teams; The Sox & Yanks; The '90s Braves; The Angels

I also have a mediocre Padres blog: metalsupply.blogspot.com.

Favorites:

Hall of famer: Ted Williams
Current players: Albert Pujols
Minor leaguer: anyone in the independent leagues
Non-hall of famer: Al 'The Mad Hungarian' Hrabosky
Manager: Bobby Valentine
Book: Ball Four
Website: BP and/or Neyer's Insider column
Writers: Rob Neyer
Movie: When It Was A Game
Favorite announcers: Eric Nadel and Mark Holtz (old Rangers radio announcers, I think Holtz died of cancer)
Ballpark:
old: Baker Bowl, Philly
contemporary: Fenway
new: PacBell
Playing Experience: none at all, I have no depth perception
Positions Played: I was a terrible shortstop in pickup games
Ball Parks Visited: Arlington Stadium, The Ballpark in Arlington
Best Game attended: Nolan Ryan's seventh no-hitter against the Blue Jays. First row, just past the third-base dugout, got Roberto Alomar's autograph before the game (last K of the night).
Best Offensive Player: Albert Pujols
Best Defensive Player: no clue
Best Current Pitcher: Roger Clemens
Favorite outfield ever: Ted Williams, Dom DiMaggio, any of the rotating left-fielders
Areas of Interest (baseball): hating Tom Hicks, history, aesthetics, rotisserie/gambling

Hall of famer: Ted Williams, Whitey Ford, Catfish Hunter (on the basis of having written very entertaining autobiographies. Performance-wise, Hunter is a borderline HOF'er at best)
Current players: Roy Halladay, Carlos Delgado, Barry Zito, Mo Rivera
Minor leaguer: ...
Non-hall of famer:
Manager: Cito Gaston ... for me to poop on!
Book: "Baseball Anecdotes" by Okrent and Wulf has been amusing me for 15 years
Website: BP, Yard Work, Baseball Reference, Retrosheet
Writers: Sheehan, Neyer, Paul Daugherty (writes about gen. sports incl. baseball)
Movie: ... haven't seen many ... can't pick one.
Favorite announcers: Tom Cheek (RIP), Dan Shulman, Vin Scully
Ballpark: Whatever they're calling the SF Giants' park these days
Playing Experience: pick-up games in junior high, many a softball tournament since
Positions Played: 3B, RF (I have a great arm, but have never been good at shagging flies, unfortunately)
Ball Parks Visited: Big O (not for a baseball game though), Exhibition Stadium, Skydome/Rogers Centre, Oakland Mausoleum, Dodger Stadium, PacBell/SBC/whatever it's called now, Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium
Best Game attended: vs Atlanta, it was 18-07-99, I sat in a luxury box with a bunch of friends (we won a contest), everyone got FUCKING BLITZED because the alcohol and food were free, the utterly worthless Joey Hamilton beat a very good Kevin Millwood on HANK AARON DAY at the ballpark (Hank was there, pregame ceremony, the works).

Either that or 04-09-92 vs Minnesota. The Jays set a record by getting ten consecutive hits in an inning (and won 16-5), the crowd was jacked because Dave Winfield had been talking smack in the papers about Toronto crowds not being loud enough.

Best Offensive Player: Bonds
Best Defensive Player: tough to give a first-hand opinion unless they play for your home team, so I'll pick Orlando Hudson at 2B. Non-home team player: Jim Edmonds seems to be a human highlight reel in CF.
Best Current Pitcher: Halladay (I'm biased)
Favorite outfield ever: I grew up with Bell, Moseby, Barfield, so I'll just say that. I swear I once saw Barfield throw out Rickey Henderson at home on a sac fly attempt ... from the warning track. Maybe my brain is distorting the truth since I was like 11 at the time, but I'm sticking to my story until proven otherwise (and maybe even then).
Areas of Interest (baseball): rotisserie, yelling at the TV during broadcasts, the usual

Anyway...

Hall-of-Famer: Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax

Non-Hall-of-Famer: Ron LeFlore, Frank Tanana

Manager: Jim Leyland, Ozzie Guillen

Current players: Dontrelle Willis, Johan Santana, anyone who can steal over 40 bases on a yearly basis

Book: Can't remember the title -- it was mostly in-action shots of pitchers, likely published in the early '80s. Otherwise, anything with lots of numbers.

Website: ESPN

Writers: Peter Gammons, Bill James, Michael Rosenberg

Movie: The Bad News Bears

Favorite announcers: Worshipped Ernie Harwell, loved George Kell/Al Kaline, love Mario Impemba/Rod Allen, had a soft spot for Paciorek/Harrelson.

Ballpark: Tiger Stadium

Playing experience: Through high school, including little league (minor, major, senior) and summer travel teams in Koufax and Mack leagues, as well as fall leagues. 20-4 during high school seasons, CG wins against two top-ten ranked teams in the state my senior year, first-team all-conference. (Almost certain I once played against D3r3k Low3.) Recruited to play for a handful of very small colleges and could've walked on at the MAC school in my back yard but I had so much fun my last year that I didn't want to spend a couple years sitting or getting shelled. I wouldn't have made it past college, despite being left-handed, since I was 5'7"/150 and could only hit 85 with a well-timed gust of wind at my back. Besides, I had a year of music retail under my belt and I sure as hell wasn't going to mess with my path to great riches.

Positions played: P, OF, C. I loved running around outfields so much, even when there were broken bottles and railroad tracks running through them.

Ballparks visited: Tiger Stadium, Comiskey Park II, Wrigley Field, Dodger Stadium, Edison Field.

First game: Tiger Stadium, 1983. Purchased an Expos batting helmet.

Best game attended: The last game at Tiger Stadium

Best offensive player: Ryan Howard

Best defensive player: Ichiro Suzuki

Best current pitcher: Johan Santana

Favorite outfield ever: Andre Dawson, Tim Raines, Warren Cromartie

Areas of interest: Triples, bunts, delayed steals on AJ Pierzynski

Favorite quote: "90% of the game is half-mental" (or whatever)

Playing experience: Little league. I wasn't a very good player to say the least!

Favorite announcer: Gary Cohen

Favorite quote: "How did they do it? Mirrors."

stence are you a mets fan now?

Favorites:

Hall of famer: Robin Youth, Richie Ashburn
Current players: Hideki Matsui, Carl Crawford, any funky sidearm/submariner reliever (Bradford, Fuentes, etc)
Minor leaguer: don't really pay attention anymore
Non-hall of famer: Kent Tekulve, Jim Eisenreich, Chris Bosio, Todd Frohwirth
Manager: Jim Fregosi, especially when liquored up
Book: Nine Innings
Website: Baseball Prospectus
Writers: Jayson Stark was an excellent Philly writer while I was growing up
Movie: The Natural
Favorite announcers: Jerry Remy, that play-by-play guy in Seattle who just retired
Ballpark: Detroit (Comerica), Pittsburgh (PNC) are the best of the new bunch
Playing Experience: plenty o' whiffle ball
Positions Played: scorekeeper
Ball Parks Visited: almost all of them ... Fenway, Yankee, Skydome, Camden Yards & Memorial, Tropicana, Tigers & Comerica, Metrodome, US Cellular, Jacobs & Cleveland, Kauffman, Angels, Ameriquest, Safeco, Shea, Vets & Citizens Bank, Fulton County, Dolphins, Olympic & RFK, new & old Busch, Minute Maid, Riverfront, County & Miller, Three Rivers & PNC, Wrigley, Qualcomm, Dodgers, PacBell, Chase, Coors plus a bunch of minor league parks as well.
Best Game attended: How about memories ... scaring youngsters at Fenway by repeatedly claiming "I love Rafael Bournigal," sneaking into Yankee stadium with my sister, Skydome closing during a game, Toronto fan getting ejected from Tigers Stadium bleachers (the rowdiest crowd ever), the racket the wooden seats made in Cleveland, huge lighting storm in KC, Ichiro blasting one off the restaurant after I told Lisa he was a singles hitter, Jamaicans on 1st base side in the 700's at the Vet, the lovely usherettes at Olympic, farm day cow milking competition at Riverfront, hard liquor brought to your seat in Milwaukee, the frigid wind at Wrigley, strange WC fan vibe at Qualcomm, cross-sectional taunting at Chase (neither group a Snakes fan either), the musical taunting of Sox fans at Coors.
Best Defensive Player: not objective, but I enjoy those Torii Hunter moments.
Best Current Pitcher: objectively, Santana. not objectively, Papelbon.
Favorite outfield ever: Lenny Dykstra / Jim Eisenreich / Pete Incaviglia
Areas of Interest (baseball): 2nd baseman fielding the ball from the catcher after the warm-up throws
Favorite Quote (baseball): "With the Cardinals everybody would be reading the business section to see what their stocks were doing. You get to this locker room (Pirates) in the morning and everybody is looking at the sports page to see if Hulk Hogan won." -Andy Van Slyke

My ILB name is hstencil. I'm 31, I live in New York CityBrooklyn and I root for the Cubs and White Sox (or whomever is playing against the Yankees, Braves or MetsTwins or A's).

Favorites:

Hall of famer: Willie Mays or Ted Williams
Current players: Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Beltran, Jermaine Dye, David Wright, Jose Reyes, Paul Konerko
Minor leaguer: Rickey Henderson, heh
Non-hall of famer: Shoeless Joe Jackson (they could never prove he took the money)
Manager: Earl Weaver
Book: Eight Men Out, Crash: The Dick Allen Story
Website: espn.com, cantstopthebleeding.com
Writers: anybody who's not on the Tribune payroll
Movie: Major League (so bad it's good)
Favorite announcers: Steve Stone or anyone without Caray as a last name
Ballpark: Wrigley Field for ambiance, ComiskeyUS Cellular for fans (the non-psychotic field chargin' ones), Keyspan Park because its at Coney Island
Playing Experience: N/A
Positions Played: I was a soda/peanut vendor at Wrigley Field at the end of the '98 season, usually upper deck.
Ball Parks Visited: Wrigley Field, Comiskey (I have not been since it's been renamed), Fenway, Yankee Stadium, Fulton County Stadium (RIP), Memorial Stadium (RIP), whatever the old one in Cincy was called (RIP), and I've driven by the Jake, old Tiger Stadium, and the old stadium in Milwaukee (RIP).
Best Game attended: probably Mike Cameron's 4-homer game, Mariners vs. White Sox, sometime in '02. or Pedro's 12 strikeout game against the Astros last year.
Best Offensive Player: Barry BondsAlbert Pujols
Best Defensive Player: dunno who I'd pickAaron Rowand Faceplant
Best Current Pitcher: Esteban Loaizanot Johan
Areas of Interest (baseball): all
Favorite Quote (baseball): "I did not bet on baseball" -Pete Rose.

My ilxor name is Van Horn Street. I'm 25 and live in Montreal. Root for the Giants and the France National Baseball team (I think their might be one).

Favorites:

Hall of famer: Willie Mays, Christy Mathewson.
Current players: Buster Posey, Tim Lincecum, Max Scherzer, Andrew McCutchen, Josh Donaldson.
Non-hall of famer: Barry Bonds.
Manager: Leyland, Bochy, Stengel.
Book: Mickey and Willie: Mantle and Mays, the Parallel Lives of Baseball's Golden Age
Writers: Joe Posnanski, Jonah Keri, Rob Neyer, Grant Brisbree, and the great duo of clemenza and Dr. Morbius.
Movie: Baseball by Ken Burns. Moneyball. The Battered Bastards of Baseball.
Favorite announcers: Kruk and Kuip. I've been enjoying the Mets' trio as well.
Ballpark: The Big O.
Playing Experience: Very little.
Ball Parks Visited: The Big O. Rogers Centre.
Best Game attended: One game in 1998 in which Guerrero scored a home run, the only I've seen. I can't even remember who it was against.
Best Offensive Player: Mike Trout, Yasiel Puig.
Best Defensive Player: Jason Heyward, Josh Donaldson.
Best Current Pitcher: Felix Hernandez, Chris Sale.
Areas of Interest (baseball): Reading Bee OK's comment when the Giants are losing. History. Statistics. Understanding America.
Favorite Quote (baseball): It ain't the heat, it's the humility. - Berra.
Baseball dream: Build a little baseball field somewhere in Dordogne.

Hello all! I'm Larry, 45, and live in Austin. I post as UrbanShocker on Fangraphs.

Hall of famer: Greg Maddux
Current players: Puig?
Minor leaguer: Joc Pederson
Non-hall of famer: Andruw Jones
Manager: Earl Weaver
Book: Baseball When The Grass Was Real
Website: NotGraphs
Writers: Jonah Keri
Movie: Bull Durham
Favorite announcers: Orel
Ballpark: PacBell Park
Playing Experience: Little League. I made up for being slow by not being able to hit.
Positions Played: Outfield.
Ball Parks Visited: Dodger Stadium, Safeco, Angel Stadium, Oakland Coliseum, Pac Bell, Coors Field, The Ballpark Arlington, Minute Maid, The Ted, and going to Wrigley at the end of the month!
Best Game attended: Braves v Indians, Game 6!
Best Offensive Player: Miguel
Best Defensive Player: Simmons
Best Current Pitcher: Clayton
Favorite outfield ever: Chipper, Andruw and Sheff
Areas of Interest (baseball): Sabermetrics*
Favorite Quote (baseball): "Ninety percent I'll spend on good times, women and Irish whiskey, The other 10 percent I'll probably waste." Tug McGraw

*I am skeptical of some Sabermetric stats.

serious lols at this: Areas of Interest (baseball): Reading Bee OK's comment when the Giants are losing.

Thanks, VHS. Believe it or not, I just now figured out your display name. (Not the VHS acronym--I was going to say you'd have to know the Expos, but I see now that VH is still around. Had no idea.)

Found Andy K's playing background really interesting. I won't fill out the whole questionnaire, but I would like to make it a matter of public record that I was league MVP--well, tied with Jim Peardon, actually--when I was 13. And then, as Jim Bouton says, the big kids got out of school.

i would like jim in glasgow to answer these questions!

also:

Best offensive player: Ryan Howard

― Andy_K (Andy_K), Tuesday, October 3, 2006 8:01 AM (9 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

2006!

^^^ andy amaro

http://image.mlive.com/home/mlive-media/width620/img/cutoffman/photo/021510-dave-dombrowskijpg-1626b49e2d55ee8e.jpg

Quote this tweet with the VERY FIRST baseball player mannerism you copied as a kid.

— Brandon Warne (@Brandon_Warne) November 14, 2017

1. willie stargell's 'wind-up' while waiting for a pitch
2. probably john candelaria's delivery

even though both those dudes were left-handed and i am not

my brother and i would play wiffle ball in our backyard (a home run was one that landed on the roof of the house or went over the fence parallel to the house) and we'd play as teams, but only the teams we were familiar with. he defaulted to the cubs, i'd wind up as whatever opponent they'd play. lots of Cubs vs Expos and Pirates games. not because those teams were our favorite opponents but because we had two plastic helmets in addition to the Cubs one, and those were the two teams.

I'm pretty certain that the first stance I copied was Tim Raines (only his right-handed stance, til i learned to bat from the left side as well a couple years later.)

pitching-wise, i can't remember who i copied.

our six-yr old currently copies Kris Bryant's stance pretty damn well.

I don't know if I ever did so in actual games, but when I still played at 12 or 13, I'd imitate Carew's batting stance and Tiant's motion.