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BigPoppa
08-18-2009, 02:19 AM
This is the first new thread I get to start, and I'm wondering how you guys came to be Reds fans.

I'm sure many of you became Reds fans due to geographical reasoning, and probably a lot of you were drawn to the BRM and then just hung on afterwards.

As for me, my Dad was a big BRM fan (Bench in particular) and we used to go down for Reds Spring Training a lot. Somwehere there's lots of pictures of a little me with Morgan, Concepcion, Bench, Foster, Sparky, etc. I was away from baseball for a while, but recently got back involved and keeping an eye on the Reds.

So, what's your story ? What first attracted you to the Reds ? Why did you pick the Reds to be your team ?

Sean_CaseyRules
08-18-2009, 02:25 AM
I was born into it. My dad has been a fan since the BRM era, and when I got into baseball I met Sean Casey, and he just made that experience of my first baseball game unbelievable and ever since then he's been my favorite player, and this has been my team. And I don't believe that anything will ever happen to change that.

cr_redsfan
08-18-2009, 07:41 AM
I was in grade school in the mid-70s during the BRM years. How could a kid not be a fan of Bench, Rose, Morgan, Foster, Concepcion, Griffey, Perez, etc.?

BLEEDS
08-18-2009, 08:21 AM
I was in grade school in the mid-70s during the BRM years. How could a kid not be a fan of Bench, Rose, Morgan, Foster, Concepcion, Griffey, Perez, etc.?

Me too, in Cincinnati Ohio. Got Pete Rose's autograph outside the stadium, when he was getting in his white corvette stingray with the HUGE humps. Ever since I've loved corvettes, Pete Rose, and the Cincinnati Reds for life.

PEACE

-BLEEDS

topsyt
08-18-2009, 08:23 AM
Raised to be a fan in early 60s by grandfather and then the pinnacle- cheering the BRM. However, the good will built up is fading as the past years have been a trainwreck and certainly not worth supporting or following. The future appears to be more of the same. Nationally, we are a joke.

Boston Red
08-18-2009, 09:18 AM
Grew up in Louisville listening to Marty and Joe. Loved Mario Soto. When I was six or seven years old, I would always watch the few games that were on channel 41 in Louisville. When Soto was pitching, I'd watch the Reds on defense, and go outside and play or do something else when they were on offense. Soto was tons of fun to watch, but those teams really stunk.

Newman4
08-18-2009, 10:01 AM
I was born into it as well. Growing up, we only got 4 channels on TV and one of them (Channel 11 out of Hurricane WV) showed Reds games luckily. I really started getting into the Reds when Pete was chasing down Ty Cobb when I was about 8 yrs. old. It was the cool thing to be in little league and wear #14, run out all the walks and slide head first - even though it was against the safety rules. Then the 1990 World Series upset of the A's made it permanent to be a Reds fan. Ah...the good old days lol.

Boston Red
08-18-2009, 10:06 AM
The Ty Cobb chase was awesome. My birthday is September 13th, so I was actually hoping Pete would hold off a couple more days. Of course, it's just Pete's luck that he got that hit on September 11th.

bounty37h
08-18-2009, 10:07 AM
My dad introduced me to the game as a kid in 1981/82-he was a Tigers fan-and got me collecting baseball cards. He would show me his old cards to teach me the history of the game and collect current cards to catch up and take an interest in the game today. My dad told me I should pick a favorite team, and I had already latched on to Johnny Bench as my fav player, as I thought catching was cool (prob just liked that they got to wear equipment the rest didn't). I am born and raised in NC, but my parents were from Ohio, so it seemed like a natural fit to root for the Reds, so it has stuck with me since. Many think I should be a Braves fan since they are/were the closest MLB team and the Durham Bulls were Braves affiliate my childhood, where I went to many games.

Ohioballplayer
08-18-2009, 12:15 PM
Man, grade school in the 70's, grew up in price hill, big fan of the Reds, collected baseball cards, went to games, loved every minute of it. I bleed Red, but I am tired of bleeding for teams that we have had for the past ten seasons. Grew up bowling at Del-Fair Lanes, lil Pete bowled in the same saturday morning league for one season, it was a great time to be a Reds fan.

carmack42
08-18-2009, 03:01 PM
Third generation Reds fan. My pops celebrated his 50th birthday at Crosley. My dad and I celebrated his 60th and my 30th at Reds spring training a while back.

My mom and dad partly credit the BRM with their decision to become parents, so thanks guys! I'm thinking that it technically wasn't a decision, more like excessive celebration, but I'll take it.

As I grew up, Reds baseball gave my dad and I something to talk about other than his health. For that alone, I am eternally grateful.

mlh1981
08-18-2009, 03:33 PM
I honestly don't know. Geographical, perhaps. Noone else in my family could care less about baseball. I actually went to alot more Indians games as a kid than Reds games, and I remember also being a Chicago White Sox fans when I was like 10-12 years old, but I gravitated towards the Reds. I really liked their history, guys like Larkin/Sabo, etc, and my interest just took off from there.

GBC Red
08-18-2009, 03:48 PM
I'm the same as most on here. My father was a big fan, so I grew up with the Reds on tv and even going to a game or two every year. Just never imagined following anyone else.

will5979
08-18-2009, 03:52 PM
1. Come from a whole family of Reds fans, and I also married into a family of Reds fans. :beerme:
2. Reds country, Southern WV is Reds country, and listening to MArty and Joe was great. Fox 11 also showed the Reds.
3. Pete Rose breaking Cobb's record was my first baseball memory. I was only 6 but I still remember watchign that game like it was yesterday, and I have it on tape on BetaMax!
4. The 1990 World Series. Still remember the last out and cheering with my Mammaw and Pappaw and their couch when the Reds were on tope of the world.
5. Barry Larkin.

Ghosts of 1990
08-18-2009, 05:00 PM
I thought this thread would be about why our prospects always get hurt or don't reach expectations, why most of our starting 9 at the beginning of the season end the season on the DL, why we always finish in 5th; and so forth.

Why the Reds for me? I don't know. 1990 with my grandmother in downtown Cincinnati was a heck of a memory. Other then that I don't know anymore.

jfleur87
08-18-2009, 05:01 PM
I got caught up in the season of 1999 back when I was 11 or 12. They quickly became my favorite team, then when KGJ (my fav. player at the time) became a Red, I was hooked. I've been waiting for that magical feeling ever since.

flash
08-18-2009, 05:41 PM
I guess I was born into it. I was 4 years old when the Reds won the pennant in 1961. I don't know if that had anything to do with it, but I always loved baseball. I do know that Johnny Edwards lived near our house. Saw Sammy Ellis beat the Astros in the first game I attended.

I really started paying attention in 67. That was a really great year in that you began to see the roots of the Big Reds Machine. Rose was moved to the outfield from second. Helms went to second from third and Perez was moved to third to make way for May. An 18 year old named Gary Nolan and although he did expereince arm troubles he had a very successful career. Bench made his appearance late in 67 surplanting Edwards immediately. It was a very young team with Perez and May starting for the first time. I do remember two things in particular from that year. Gary Nolan went up against Juan Marachail and struck out 15 giants in something like six innings. Mays, 4 straight times. Then May hit a home run over the scoreboard in Crosley Field against the Dodgers. I can't remeber if it was Jim Macintyre or Joe Nuxhall who called it over the radio. I remember crying at the end of both of those games because the Reds lost them both. It just didn't seem like it was right to lose after such performances.

Something I really did not know about at the time was the other newcomer to the club. Bob Howsam became the General Manager.

sivman17
08-18-2009, 06:59 PM
Born and raised in Cincinnati. Was a kid during the 1990 WS, parents were huge fans of the BRM, been a Reds fan my whole life.

Nati Nole
08-18-2009, 10:55 PM
Born and raised here in Cincy, only team I've ever known to root for. Grew up rooting for a bunch of 2nd place teams in the mid to late 80's, then 90 was amazing. I could never see myself rooting for another team, the thought of that makes me want to drink, heavily. My oh my, what happened to this once proud franchise. My poor sons (5 & 6) may never see a winner.

BRM13
08-18-2009, 10:58 PM
I grew up in SW Ohio (Dayton and Cincinnati mostly) in the BRM era. My parents were baseball fans, but not Reds fans at the time (Dad-Red Sox, Mom-Cardinals). They met and lived in NYC in the 1960s and became Mets fans. They were fans from the awful, awful beginning of the 1962 Mets, so they felt like the 1969 Amazing Mets were some sort of reward for all that suffering :D.

I can vividly recall walking home from school one fine October day in 1969 (probably 1st grade) and seeing a big bed sheet hanging from the garage that read Go Mets! . My mom was beside herself with joy that the Mets were winning the WS. Watching the WS after school each day with my Mom that fall exposed me to the emotion and joy of being a fanatic. So, the next year I quickly got into those great Reds teams of the 70s. After that I was hooked. A team that good when you are that age never leaves your blood. So, it came down to geography and perfect timing.

By 1973 I had converted my family to the Reds--mostly by listening to just about every game on the radio. I remember getting off the bus (we'd moved by then) and hearing the driver's radio reporting on some sort of fight involving Pete Rose. I ran home to catch the replays of Rose and Harrelson tussling at 2nd base. 1972 and 1973 ended very disappointingly of course, but that just made 1975 and 1976 more magical.

As you might guess I was big Concepcion fan (I loved all the Reds of that era, but I fancied myself a shortstop and my birthday was on the 13th, so I felt a connection to Davey). I even got his autograph--long since lost--in the parking garage of Riverfront one time.

50YrRedsFan
08-19-2009, 12:19 AM
I have lived in southern California all my life. Was a Dodger fan until Koufax and Drysdale retired. The Dodgers just didn't seem the same without them. I discovered the Reds with exciting young players like Rose, Tolan, Bench, Helms, Perez, May, Nolan, Simpson, etc. and I've been a Reds fan since. Great times through the 70's. Then the lean 80's. 1990 a big surprise, and except for '99, very lean since. Why do I stay? I don't know. Hoping for a miracle like 1990 again, I guess.

will5979
08-19-2009, 01:59 PM
This is the first new thread I get to start, and I'm wondering how you guys came to be Reds fans.

So, what's your story ? What first attracted you to the Reds ? Why did you pick the Reds to be your team ?

Well, huh, might as, might as well ask why is a tree good? Why is the sunset good? Why are boobs good? Man, firecrackers, ya stick 'em in mailboxes, you drop 'em in toilets, shove 'em up bullfrogs asses.

OR

How exactly is a rainbow made? How exactly does the sun set? How exactly does a pos-attract rearend on a plymouth work? IT JUST DOES!!!!

bounty37h
08-19-2009, 02:44 PM
1. Come from a whole family of Reds fans, and I also married into a family of Reds fans. :beerme:
2. Reds country, Southern WV is Reds country, and listening to MArty and Joe was great. Fox 11 also showed the Reds.
3. Pete Rose breaking Cobb's record was my first baseball memory. I was only 6 but I still remember watchign that game like it was yesterday, and I have it on tape on BetaMax!4. The 1990 World Series. Still remember the last out and cheering with my Mammaw and Pappaw and their couch when the Reds were on tope of the world.
5. Barry Larkin.

Wow, BetaMax??? I was still a kid at that point in time as well, but we had loooooooong moved past betamax. I really dont even remember betamax other then having heard vhs or betamax when I was little (when you still had to rent vcrs to watch movies you rented).

will5979
08-19-2009, 04:35 PM
BetaMax stopped working long ago, but I still have that tape somewhere, maybe eventually I can have it converted to DVD.

winks
08-19-2009, 06:04 PM
When I started playing baseball I asked my Dad who the best players were and he said Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan etc. (my Dad for all intents and purposes is not a sports fan). So at the time Rose played for the Phillies, Morgan went to Houston and Bench was at the end of his career. But on the back of all their ball cards said the same team Cin so I just started following the Reds. Pete finally came back and set the record. And as with all the most important moments in my life I remember where I was 9/11/85.

BlastFurnace
08-19-2009, 07:06 PM
Grew up in Centerville, Ohio in the 70's. I was 8 when I saw my first Reds game and became a huge fan of Joe Morgan and Pete Rose.

mroby85
08-19-2009, 11:57 PM
Ironically, I've been asking myself this question quite frequently lately :D

Kingspoint
08-20-2009, 05:34 PM
I was a Catcher. It was 1970. I hated the Yankees and didn't care for the Dodgers. I loved Bob Gibson and I liked the Giants. But, Johnny Bench was something else. It was an easy call to make. Also became a Bengals fan later that Winter.

TheBigLebowski
08-20-2009, 09:04 PM
I made a bet with Pete Rose that we'd win another World Series by 2020.

ScottyJ
08-21-2009, 03:06 PM
Grew up in Charleston, WV and the only baseball we got on a daily basis was "Reds on Radio". My earliest baseball memories were of listening to Marty & Joe giving us The Big Red Machine.

As a family, we rarely took traditional vacations. Not many 2-week excursions to Myrtle Beach and the like. We'd take 2, 3, or 4 extended weekend or holiday trips to Cincinnati every year. Stayed at the Holidome in Sharonville, went to a few Reds games, Kings Island and the zoo every once in a while.

Got to meet several players outside the clubhouse over the years including my all time favorite, Johnny Bench.

How can I not still root for the Reds?? :thumbup: