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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Winston Salem, NC

    Duke Basketball fans favorite baseball team.

    Since we're in a layoff before Duke's next game, I thought it might be fun to see who DBR folks root for in Major League baseball and how they became fans of their team.

    I'll go first.
    I'm a St. Louis Cardinal fan and I began rooting for the Cards back in the Stan The Man Musial days. The main reason for rooting for them was because the Cardinals had a minor league team in Winston Salem. They were called the Winston Salem Redbirds. I got to see Vinegar Ben Mizell, Curt Flood and several more players that went on to play in the majors.

    Well, I guess we'll see how this goes.

    GoDuke and GoRedbirds!
    ps: I'm looking forward to see how Jim Sumner became a Yankee fan.

  2. #2

    Reds v Red Sox

    Grew up thinking I was kind of an equal fan of the Reds and Red Sox. Then when they played each other in the 76 series....nah, I was all Cincy and the Big Red Machine as it turned out. I think it was that Luis Tiante won game won in Boston...6-1 IIRC...and the Boston fans were insulting to the Reds. Something clicked...and I didn't really like the Sox anymore.

    Of course, in the 80s, after yet another strike... I quit caring altogether.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Winston Salem, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by HereBeforeCoachK View Post
    Grew up thinking I was kind of an equal fan of the Reds and Red Sox. Then when they played each other in the 76 series...nah, I was all Cincy and the Big Red Machine as it turned out. I think it was that Luis Tiante won game won in Boston...6-1 IIRC...and the Boston fans were insulting to the Reds. Something clicked...and I didn't really like the Sox anymore.

    Of course, in the 80s, after yet another strike... I quit caring altogether.
    I love my Cardinals but I love baseball period. I liked the Big Red Machine and the Oakland As back in the day. They along with the Yankees and Cardinals were fun to watch.

    GoDuke!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Steamboat Springs, CO
    Nats fan, here... but why are we having a May-June discussion in the middle of the Duke basketball season?
    Sage Grouse

    ---------------------------------------
    'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Winston Salem, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by sagegrouse View Post
    Nats fan, here... but why are we having a May-June discussion in the middle of the Duke basketball season?
    I thought it would be fun since there's no Duke basketball for several days. Looking at the discussion on Duke vs. Pitt, it looks like it might be ok to do. Ok with you?

    GoDuke!

  6. #6
    Yankees.

    One of my paternal uncles got me interested in baseball at an early age. He was a big Yankees fan and was a particular fan of Thurman Munson. So I basically adopted his team. It was something we bonded over and still discuss to this day.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    Always a good time to talk baseball. I grew up in Durham, loved baseball, played little league and backyard ball every chance I could get, and had hundreds of baseball cards. I had no favorite team. A member of our church was the brother of Roger Craig who was a relief pitcher for the 1964 World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals. He obtained and gave to me a baseball autographed by the entire team - Bob Gibson, Curt Flood, Dick Groat, Tim McCarver, even Bob Uecker who was a reserve catcher.

    I was hooked for life!
    "This is the best of all possible worlds."
    Dr. Pangloss - Candide

  8. #8

    Orioles

    When I was in 2nd grade and we were studying birds, we had a coloring sheet for each bird we studied... Cardinals, Bluejays, Red-Winged Blackbirds, etc. Then we had contests for the best colorers. The last bird we studied was the Baltimore Oriole. By that time all the really good colorers had already won, and eliminated from further competition. I finally won on the Oriole! ... Then I found out they had a player named Jim Palmer... 😲 ...My last name was Palmer... a lifetime fan was born!!!

    My first ever trip to a professional sports venue was to Memorial Stadium... I remember taking photos of the cool orange and black trashcans! Jim Palmer, Frank and Brooks Robinson, Boog Powell, Mark Belanger...❤️

    Thanks for the memories on a DUKE-less Saturday morning.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Forest Hills, NY
    Mets, from 1962 - the first season. Polo Grounds days.

    For those unfamiliar, the Polo Grounds was the stadium of the Giants, before the SF move. Dad was a Dodgers fan. When they moved, he shifted the new NL team, the “Metropolitans”, AKA Mets.

    Cemented when Shea opened in Queens (my borough). Been a fan (and package ticket holder) ever since (including now at CitiField) - 57 years.

    Similarly, have been a Jets fan from the Polo Grounds days as the Titans. Season ticket holder from first year at Shea until the move to the swamplands of NJ. Figured if Hess chose to abandon his lifelong constituency, I didn’t need to drive that far (for a lousy team at that).

  10. #10
    Pirates were my first team - Roberto Clemente, Pops Stargell. Now, I'm a Royals fan since I've been here so long. Ewing Kauffman, the original owner, was a wonderfully generous and ethical businessman who started out of his garage. I will always root for them because of that. If the Royals aren't in the Series, I pull for the National League team - lived in more national league cities growing up and still can't figure out where the DH plays in the field.

  11. #11
    I moved often growing up, so I can claim fandom for a number of teams. Not going to make it easy for the social engineering crooks out there, but suffice it to say, for better or worse (or worst, these days), I'm a Tigers kid first and foremost. My first games attended were in the mid 70s, rooting on a perennial .400 team. Not batting .400 ... winning % of .400.

    Not many teams I hated except the Yankees. Like Duke for many people, it was probably out of envy and the typical "us vs. them" ... a number of my favored teams (Tigers plus former hometowns of mine or a good friend) competed against them, either in the division, ALCS, or WS. The Reggie and Billy and George show was always fun to watch. [But I grudgingly admired some Yankees such as Thurman Munson, and much later, Bernie Williams ... several others, in fact. Who couldn't admire how often Mickey Rivers could beat out a ground ball? But I always rooted against them.]

    As a Tigers guy it felt like a huge lucky break to get Sparky Anderson as a manager. Like, he would deign to bend down low and help us? He promised a WS victory in 5 years, and IIRC, he delivered in 4. I trust he never had to pay for a restaurant meal ever again.

  12. #12
    Started playing little league baseball in 1964 for the Cardinals. Hooked on the Cardinals ever since. Huge Gibson and Brock fan growing up into the 70’s. Loved Whitey ball in the 80’s. Got into baseball cards and memorabilia when I started making some money and have met at autograph shows or games Brock, Gibson, Carlton, Ozzie, Torre, Rolen and Pujols. All were nice, especially Ozzie.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh
    Quote Originally Posted by accfanfrom1970 View Post
    Started playing little league baseball in 1964 for the Cardinals. Hooked on the Cardinals ever since. Huge Gibson and Brock fan growing up into the 70’s. Loved Whitey ball in the 80’s. Got into baseball cards and memorabilia when I started making some money and have met at autograph shows or games Brock, Gibson, Carlton, Ozzie, Torre, Rolen and Pujols. All were nice, especially Ozzie.
    I *assume* you meant this Ozzie:

    220px-Ozzie_Smith_1983.jpg

    [redacted] them and the horses they rode in on.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by devildeac View Post
    I *assume* you meant this Ozzie:

    220px-Ozzie_Smith_1983.jpg

    The Wizard. Also the great Duke connection from the 1964 Cardinals with Dick Groat .

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Asheville, NC
    I'm just waiting for my baseball cards from the late 80s and early 90s to be worth something...I'm still waiting; and probably will be waiting for a while.

    Today, I like the Braves cuz of the Durham connection (born and raised) and the Rays (ditto). I've got family history from Cleveland so I also root for the Indians. October 1995 was tough.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Winston Salem, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by DukieInKansas View Post
    Pirates were my first team - Roberto Clemente, Pops Stargell. Now, I'm a Royals fan since I've been here so long. Ewing Kauffman, the original owner, was a wonderfully generous and ethical businessman who started out of his garage. I will always root for them because of that. If the Royals aren't in the Series, I pull for the National League team - lived in more national league cities growing up and still can't figure out where the DH plays in the field.
    I guess you are rooting for the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. They have a great QB.

    GoDuke!

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Winston Salem, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by PSurprise View Post
    I'm just waiting for my baseball cards from the late 80s and early 90s to be worth something...I'm still waiting; and probably will be waiting for a while.

    Today, I like the Braves cuz of the Durham connection (born and raised) and the Rays (ditto). I've got family history from Cleveland so I also root for the Indians. October 1995 was tough.
    One of my best friends in high school was as big a Yankee fan as anyone I've ever known. We used to have arguments on who was better, Stan Musial or Mickey Mantle. He had baseball cards of all the Yankees of that era. He passed away about 25 years ago and his wife who didn't know anything about sports threw them away. Some of those cards would be worth a lot today.
    GoDuke!

  18. #18
    If you're looking for .240 hitters and 4.65 ERA pitchers, I've got a collection of cards from the mid 70s and early 80s that can't be beat.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by jv001 View Post
    I guess you are rooting for the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. They have a great QB.

    GoDuke!
    We are playing in the Super Bowl? Mahomes is definitely fun to watch - and the whole team seems to be having a good time.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by cspan37421 View Post
    If you're looking for .240 hitters and 4.65 ERA pitchers, I've got a collection of cards from the mid 70s and early 80s that can't be beat.
    I have some great cards, limited editions, only 10,000 made

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