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Post by monson on Oct 25, 2010 1:40:45 GMT -5
I live 3 miles from the Ballpark. I'd give my left uhhh leg for a couple of tickets to the World Series!!!
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Post by Paul Sylvain on Oct 25, 2010 5:23:47 GMT -5
Cool! I was living in Euless, about eight miles away. I went to quite a few games while we lived there, including one with the Yankees and three with the Red Sox this past August. I can't imagine how much they're selling those World Series tickets for (and at this late date, I imagine the ballpark is sold out.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Oct 25, 2010 8:03:37 GMT -5
Believe it or not, it wasn't that hard to get Series tix in the 70s and 80s. If you ordered immediately, you were very likely to get them, and they cost a song compared to what they must be charging today. I saw all the Orioles home playoff and Series games in 1979 and 1983, and the stadium was sold out for ever game (don't recall if they allowed standing room). Ironically, the Os lost 4 of the 6 games I saw in those Series, but it was still a real thrill to be there. They were nosebleed seats and, at one point in 1979, it was actually snowing some flurries. A very cold, wet Series and the Os blew a 3-1 lead to lose to the Pirates. They breezed through the Phils in 1983 though.
Somehow, baseball was a lot more fun then. I'll never forget the many days and nights at old Memorial Stadium, Earl Weaver and that great Orioles team.
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Post by Paul Sylvain on Oct 25, 2010 17:56:16 GMT -5
Holy Crapahola ... I remember watching that '79 series on TV and seeing the snow. Ot was might cold, indeed. Didn't they even have a snow-out in Pittsburgh? It was cold all over that area that October, as I recall.
I saw the Birds play many games in Boston back then, and saw Weaver many times.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Oct 25, 2010 22:04:14 GMT -5
Yeah, Paul; that was REAL snow! Great baseball weather!!
I hope you got to see one of Earl's classic performances arguing with umps. He was a real character. Once he put on an incredible show during a game with the Yankees -- it was during those 1970s-80s seasons when the battled the Yankees for the pennant. Earl had a real caniption fit one day, marched all over the field, kicked dirt on the ump's shoe, and was tossed out. But, he refused to leave and marched out to second base, stood on it, folded his arms, and wouldn't leave! It was a sell-out crowd and he got one of the biggest ovations I ever saw! Even the Yankee players were all on the top dugout step watching the action. Later, some of the players called Earl's performance his best ever -- "A 10," as one said. One Oriole (I forget who, but probably Palmer) said "I only gave him a 9; he didn't use his hands enough."
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Post by Paul Sylvain on Oct 26, 2010 5:24:30 GMT -5
Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha ,,,,,,,
Yep, that's the Earl I remember. Didn't he also get tossed one time, where he went stoprming back to the dug out, then proceeded to throw every bat on the rack out onto the field?
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Post by Allen Wiener on Oct 26, 2010 8:35:28 GMT -5
Yes! Can't recall when that happened, or where, but the image is fixed in what's left of my mind.
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Post by jesswald on Oct 26, 2010 10:14:04 GMT -5
I was born in Brooklyn and learned to hate the Yankees, who were busy beating our Bums in the 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1953 World Series. Then the Dodgers turned the tables in 1955, only to give it right back in 1956. I have hated the Yankees ever since, and I agree that it is the rare true baseball fan who can root for both the Mets and the Yankees. Then again, I root for the Jets and the Giants both. I always thought that Buckner got a bum rap in 1986. He was a very good player who is remembered for a single miscue. Name another such----Fred Merkle? Mickey Owens? Luis Castillo? Anyway, the key play in the tenth inning of game 6 of the 1986 series was not Mookie's hit through Buckner's legs. The Mets had already risen from the dead and tied the game. It was Stanley's wild pitch (and Mookie's brilliance in not allowing himself to get hit with the pitch, which would have resulted in a dead ball) that allowed the tying run to score. That was the play of the game. Once that happened the Sox were finished. Assuming Buckner, or an appropriate defensive replacement, had made that play, there is some question whether Wilson would have beaten it out anyway. (Frankly, I doubt it.) But even assuming the inning had ended then, and gone to the eleventh, is there anyone in his right mind that thinks the Red Sox were going to score again that night? I don't care who wins the series this year. I am a NL fan, but it's hard to turn around and root against the team that brought down the hated Yanks. Jesse Waldinger
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Post by Allen Wiener on Oct 26, 2010 11:43:05 GMT -5
The first game I ever attended was in Ebbets Field, around 1952 or 53; Reds vs. Dodgers. Don't remember who won, but I was totally in awe of the colors, the green of the grass, the blue of the Dodgers home uniforms, the energy of the crowd. I've seen hundreds of games since then in many stadiums, but that one still stands out somehow; I was hooked for life.
Jesse - VERY interesting recap of that 1986 Series game; I had forgotten the entire scenario, as I'm sure most of us have, and recalled only the Buckner incident. I think you are right; the momentum had shifted to the Mets and I sensed some of the old 1969 Mets magic emerging. I was neutral at the time as I had morphed into an Orioles fan long before, but had a soft spot for the Sox, largely through one of my friends who was a long-suffering Sox fan. I wanted to see them finally win it and get past that curse stuff, but it would be another 18 years before that happened.
It's been a long time since I lived in the NY area, but as I recall that 1960s-early 70s period, you were either a Yankee or Mets fan, and the Met fans were former Dodger (and a few Giants) fans, hungry for NL baseball. Although I was a Yankees fan as a kid (Rizzuto was my hero, but so was Pee Wee Reece), I took to the Mets and stuck with them until I moved to Maryland and took up with Earl Weaver. I, too, grew to hate the Yankees and their domination of the sport for so many decades. The AL pennant race was a bore year after year and everyone knew the Yanks would go to the Series.
Gary has a point about spending the money if you've got it, and the rich teams in the more lucrative media markets (New York, Boston) will always have an edge over the smaller markets (Pittsburgh, etc.). But money only gets you so far. Gene Autry probably spent as much as Steinbrenner, if not more, and never won a title. Lower payroll teams have won (what's Texas' payroll this year? Or the Marlins and DBacks when they each beat the Yanks in the Series? Or Tampa Bay, which has had good success). A successful team needs a savvy baseball organization that knows how to judge talent, get the right player(s) it needs to put together a contender, and then you need luck. Look at what 3 or 4 key injuries did to the Red Sox this year. I continue to be a Yankee hater and I think it's good for the game; they don't actually win that many times anymore and its a major part of the AL season each year. Things just wouldn't be the same without the Yankees, dang them.
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Post by Paul Sylvain on Oct 26, 2010 19:02:20 GMT -5
First game? The Red Sox against ....
... the Washington Senators!
That was a long time ago. I forget the year, but I was pretty young -- first season after Teddy Ballgame retired from the Sox.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Oct 26, 2010 19:27:31 GMT -5
That's going back a ways, too, Paul. Not that much later, Teddy would be managing the second edition of the Washington Senators, who were as hapless as the originals (who had moved to Minnesota). The second Senators franchise moved away, too, and became . . . The TEXAS RANGERS!!!
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Post by Paul Sylvain on Oct 27, 2010 5:04:44 GMT -5
That fact has not escaped me, Allen.
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