Introduction to MLB

I started watching baseball around 1985 as a child. I got hooked on the Mets because that's the team my dad was watching at the time. Most of my friends were also Mets fans. They were especially fun to watch in 1986, but after the breakup of the championship team, the Mets got worse year by year. I was a huge baseball fan during this period of my life. Although I mostly followed the Mets, I watched every televised game and pretty much knew all players on all teams thanks to the baseball card culture.

I was still a Mets fan in the late 80's, but was also following teams that had former Mets, especially the Phillies and Lenny Dykstra. He was one of my favorite Mets players because of his amazing diving catches. By 1990 I started following the Phillies more than the Mets. I was a Phillies fan through thick and thin as I watched them finish in last place in 1991. they climbed to 4th place in 1992 with a strong finish in the last few games. Then they made the world series in 1993.

The strike in 1994 had a huge impact on me. I really missed baseball at first, but got used to not watching it. When play resumed, many teams were reconfigured and hard to follow. I just wasn't into it and didn't watch baseball for many years... until the homerun race of 1998. MLB did a great job of marketing Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa during their assault on Roger Maris' record. I started following the Cubs and Cardinals games, but also started watching the local Yankees who were dominating everyone.

I started to follow the Yankees more and more each year. They were a team without stars at the time. I enjoyed watching them for the teamwork and the culture that Joe Torre imposed on the players. The Yankees were and still are a close-knit team. They're for the most part low-key, sportsman-like and professional. I'm a Yankees fan primarily because of the personality makeup of the team and not because they're made up of future hall of famers. My return to baseball might have in part been responsible by the retirement of Michael Jordan as well. Something about Derek Jeter of the Yankees made it feel like watching Michael Jordan. Although his numbers aren't as dominant as Jordan's stats in his sport, the spirit was there. Like Jordan, Jeter is an all-around good guy that leads his team by example. He also seems to have that mysterious gene that boosts all athletic abilities in the wake of pressure.

So for the purpose of this blog, my baseball posts in this section will primarily be following the New York Yankees.