Back in the Day.

Then you got older, discovered "beaver", and thus ended your wiffleball career.

and went on to hit another 10,000 HR!!! I did hit a HR in my first AB as a Beaver! (more like a 4 base double)

Is that where your user name came from?

Nope -- my user name came from my bizarre and senseless love for Jose Mesa.

The first PRO game that I remember (I went to some Reds games as a 3-4 year old) was in October 1983 at old Veterans Stadium for a playoff gmae vs. the hated Dodgers I DO remember how freekin' GREEN the astroturf was!!! How steep the steps were in the 700 section and what it sounded like when 60,000+ people chanted "BEAT L.A.!" in unison. Gary Matthews (Sr) went yard, the Phillies won and people were chanting BEAT L.A. and beeping their horns in unison in the parking lot - it was unbelievable... Of course, Philly still hasn't won a Championship since I went to that game - Oh shit! Maybe I'M the Curse!!!!

KD, at least you can say saw Mickey Mantle play... (first base!)

probably would have been a HR after 1975 eh? Or if he wasn't hung over?

Man, you need to do a piece on him. These young bucks don't know what the Mick was all about.

My freeking Dad (who doesn't know the horsehide from a horses ass) still tries every so often to "educate me" on how good #7 was... (Willie Mays was his favorite). My Dad knows boxing (up until Ali retired) and a little bit of football before the merger (he grew up living next shack to former All-Pro Cleveland Browns flanker Gary Collins in the coal mining hills in PA)

And if my Pop (who didn't want me to go to a tryout for the Milwaukee Brewers until I proved to him that they didn't actually make beer and that even Hamk Aaron played for them once) knew who Mantle was then he was really that good...

My Mom on the other hand can name baseball players from the 50's through today. Of course, bring up the name Mantle to her and she'll tell you how many of his baseball cards she had (she's the one who got ME into baseball cards). And all the other cards she had and how she didn't ruin them like the other slob kids and how one day her Mom (who is 102 and STILL kicking violently) threw them all away...

I'm going to go puke...

LOL! I bet the ump was afraid of you too, TB!

Right on, TB!!

But seriously, my favorite baseball memory so far is when I got to travel as a member of the Kuwait National team of Saudi Arabia. I was 10 years old, and there were 6 teams who went to an invitational. Our team ended up getting 2nd place overall.

The thing that I loved about it the most was the fact that were able to show Saudi Arabia that we are the real deal when we put our minds to something. We had to play double headers, and we ended up playing Saudi Arabia and got CRUSHED! CRUSHED! I think the score was about 32-0. Two days later, we ended up playing them in the finals. Even though we lost, it was a really good game. I believe the final score was 6-2, but we showed Saudi Arabia that we have the talent to face them without getting embarrassed, unlike the rest of the teams.

That was actually the first time (out of 2) where I was able to travel as a member of the Kuwait National team of Baseball. Last year, I was co-captain of the team. Good times!

WOW! NICE! This may sound awkward, but I still haven't watched my jersey from last year, when I was co-captain of the national team. I miss the memories where you can remember them like it was yesterday.