Favorite Reds Memories/Why are you a Reds fan?

I will start this thread by saying that I hope it gets alot of feedback, as I am one that is really into nostalgia, 'moments', and sports happenings/memories. Many people are fans of teams from a certain city, for a certain reason (usually b/c they are from there - or nearby). Other fans are fans b/c when they started watching, that team happened to be winning in that era. I'm kind of a hybrid fan - and have very valid reasons for all of my allegiences. Cincinnati Reds, Dallas Cowboys, Alabama Crimson Tide Football, Memphis Tiger Basketball.

As far as favorite Reds memories, I have several, of course, and will eventually get to all of them. But will start with the one that MADE me a Reds fans. I grew up in Memphis, TN, and my father, who didn't do a ton of things right, DID do some things right. He took me to st. louis in the mid-late '70s to watch the Big Red Machine. Not only that, we went to the hotel, where as a little boy I got to meet many members of that team - Rose, Bench, Morgan, Seaver, among others. We went to dinner at a horrible place called Mont Eagle (my sister's burger was so bad she tried to hide it on the seat so my dad would think she ate it), and then to the game, where George Foster hit a towering home run, and 'this one belongs to the Reds'. I was hooked, and have been ever since.

As i said, I have many many more, but that's where it started for me. I hope many of you read and choose to share yours as well. Go Reds!

Wow great topic, I guess for me there isn't one moment in particular that made me a reds fan, I guess I was just born that way, sometimes I think I take it too serious because my day depends on if the reds win or lose. Growing up I loved Larkin , Davis, sabo, rijo the nasty boys and then into Griffey, Casey and now votto, Bruce, Phillips . But I can remember coming over the bridge and seeing riverfront stadium it was awesome, then scalping tickets, waiting up til almost first pitch so my dad could save 2$ a ticket..lol...but just the smell of hot dogs and beer and watching the home run balls disappear over the fence was awesome.. I love great American ballpark, but riverfront will always b my favorite. Go reds..

My dad worked for a company that had a annual Reds "excursion" bus trip for their customers etc. He brought a 1970 yearbook ($1) back and that led to me being a fan. Good time to become a fan by the way. My favorite player was Lee May...was crushed when he was traded but obviously worked out pretty good with little Joe.

Good stuff, keep it comin' guys!

Dusty Baker was my favorite player as a kid (I am 48) and as Dusty goes I follow his team

Die hard Reds fan from Germany here. How i became a Reds fan is a bit of a longer story though.

In 1990, the year of my graduation, a lot of friends of mine from my school and me plus a lot of other people from a rival school (we were all friends though) used to meet every sunday in a park, did some picnic and barbecue stuff, drank 1-2 cases of beer (yep we didn´t need to wait till we are 21 in order to gulp down a bottle of beer ;)) and had a fun time. On some sunday a couple of dudes brought some baseball gloves with them. And thats were it all started. We started to play bal. Tbh it was more or less the variation of what we thought baseball would be like. We had no idea. Baseball is still unfortunately not know very well over here. Anyway. Around 10 guys including me got completely hooked to the sport of baseball, met every sunday to play. On one day i stepped into a hole on the grass, completely tilted my right ankle, tearing almost every tendon. Since i couldn´t do anything else plus recently having graduated and was thinking about to what university to go, i basically could stay up all night. I had nothing to do anyway. Due to our park sessions i got completely hooked up to the sport of baseball.

And then there it was. On TV. At 2:00 am in the morning. World Series. The highly favored Oakland A´s against the underdog Cincinnati Reds. And what else do i have to say? I completely fell in love with the way the guys in red played there hearts out and swept their American League opponent. Never will forget the way Rijo pitched, how the "Nasty Boys" relieved and especially how a dude named Chris Sabo played. (Still my favourite all-time Red). That was just awesome. And from that moment on i knew to what MLB team my heart belongs to. Forever!

Btw. The dudes from the park that got hooked to baseball and me founded a real baseball club a year later. That club had its 20th birthday 2 years ago, is playing in the highest German league (plus a couple of other teams in lower and junior/kids leagues) and coincidentally happens to be one of the clubs our very own Donald Lutz played for.

Wow, REALLY cool story Dwarftree! Hopefully, you're able to watch alot of Reds games over there. If not, try mlb's gameday audio (I'm old school and grew up listening to baseball - love it on the radio). It's not expensive at all, and you get every team's games with whatever team's announcers you want. It's awesome. Again, great story.

Side note - I found it really ironic that Donald Lutz got his 1st Major League hit on an at-bat that he shouldn't have. It was obvious that he WAS hit by that pitch on the ankle and should have been awarded 1st base then.

Why a Reds fan? Pete Rose & the BRM! I loved the way Rose played the game and modeled myself after him.

Of course '75, '76 & '90 are epic seasons.

But, unfortunately, a strong memory for me didn't end well. I was living outside of St. Louis (Belleville, Ill) as a kid. My grade school gave away Cardinals tickets for making honor roll. And it was too good to be true that one of the games was a Reds game. I was actually going to get to see my favorite team play in person!

Well, Reds had the lead until a young Keith Hernandez pulled a home run over the right field wall (right in my area!) to give the Cards the lead in the bottom of the 8th. But, alas, the Reds loaded the bases in the top of the 9th with no one out! But the Mad Hungarian shattered my night by striking out the side...a tough task indeed against a powerful team like the Reds. Definitely not a big Cards fan! Ha.

Grew up in Cincy and was taken to my first baseball in game 1995 by my dad. I think it was the summer of 99 that got me fully on board as a Reds fan...nothing will ever beat the magic of that team. And being so young, I remember treating every game like I do football now...I was really pissed when our 10 game winning streak ended haha. And I definitely cried during the one game playoff. Stupid Al Leiter!

Obviously it was downhill and fast after that for the team, and for my fandom as well. Every year I paid attention less and less, throughout high school and college (01-08). However once I graduated and moved to Blue Ash in 2009, I've gotten back into it and started going to a ton of games, up to 25 last year! I'm definitely happy that the Reds have turned it around now that I can pay attention more haha.

Some of my favorite moments:

-Pokey Reese's 13th inning walkoff HR to beat the Cards in late September '99. I was at this game and it might be the best baseball game I've ever seen in person
-Deion Sanders making a comeback and hitting a HR
-Jose Rijo making a comeback
-Griffey hitting the walkoff inside the park HR against the Cards
-Ramon Hernandez walkoff HR on Opening Day in 2011

-And of course, my greatest sports memory of all-time, is the Jay Bruce walkoff HR to clinch the division in 2010. I was there and the city went NUTS! It was the best

Favorite Reds memory. Hmmm.

Maybe when Jimmy Edmonds had back-to-back nights at GAMB stealing Gary Bennett homers? I think that's probably it. ;)

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

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Originally Posted by DavidMemphis

I will start this thread by saying that I hope it gets alot of feedback, as I am one that is really into nostalgia, 'moments', and sports happenings/memories. Many people are fans of teams from a certain city, for a certain reason (usually b/c they are from there - or nearby). Other fans are fans b/c when they started watching, that team happened to be winning in that era. I'm kind of a hybrid fan - and have very valid reasons for all of my allegiences. Cincinnati Reds, Dallas Cowboys, Alabama Crimson Tide Football, Memphis Tiger Basketball.

As far as favorite Reds memories, I have several, of course, and will eventually get to all of them. But will start with the one that MADE me a Reds fans. I grew up in Memphis, TN, and my father, who didn't do a ton of things right, DID do some things right. He took me to st. louis in the mid-late '70s to watch the Big Red Machine. Not only that, we went to the hotel, where as a little boy I got to meet many members of that team - Rose, Bench, Morgan, Seaver, among others. We went to dinner at a horrible place called Mont Eagle (my sister's burger was so bad she tried to hide it on the seat so my dad would think she ate it), and then to the game, where George Foster hit a towering home run, and 'this one belongs to the Reds'. I was hooked, and have been ever since.

As i said, I have many many more, but that's where it started for me. I hope many of you read and choose to share yours as well. Go Reds!

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By the way, very surprised that a family in Memphis isn't Cardinals fan and instead Reds fans. I don't mean that to be offensive by any means... but I always considered it part of Cardinals country. I know there are TON of Cards fans down there, probably even moreso now with the AAA Redbirds there.

My root to fandom began in '64. I was growing up in Queens, N.Y. and my Mom, recently divorced, began dating a man (whom she married) from the midwest. Although he was raised in Woodsfield, Ohio (even went to Ohio St. before he enlisted 2 days after his birthday, Dec. 7).

However, his relatives were from Mo. and Ark., so he grew up a Cardinal fan. I was 6 yrs. old and a tad anti social, so the Cardinals seemed a logical choice. That didn't go over well with my Yankee schoolmates and I have the scars to prove it. I did get pretty good with a knife (yes, 6 yr. olds carried knives in Queens back in the 60s).

I naturally gravitated to the football Cardinals (who I still follow in the desert) and the Blues. St.Louis didn't have a basketball team, so I chose whichever team won the rights to this guy I saw play at Power Memorial High School, whose name was Lew Alcindor. Been a Bucks fan (sigh) ever since.

As for my best moment, it's a tough call. I am a sports fan first, a team fan second. I've been fortunate to be at a lot of prolific games, not all involving my favorite teams.

As good as Super Bowl XIII was, the best ever as far as I'm concerned (Pittsburgh 35 Dallas 31), I have to go with the Buckner game in the '86 World Series.

A bunch of us (6) took a limo to the game, 4 Met fans, 1 Sox fan and me. The seats were split 4-2, so I sat with the Sox fan, who was a professional boxer, albeit not a good one.

The best part of the night was, obviously, the last couple innings. My Met buddies got dejected, and left the stadium in the 7th inning to drain the bar in the limo. When the Mets started their comeback and made it close, my pals rushed back to the stadium to get back in, but were denied re-entry.

As bad as I felt for the Sox fan I was with, I have never failed to let the Mets guys forget that they stood outside and missed one of the most historic moments in baseball history.

I was at game 6 of the NLCS against the Mets, but missed the historic game 7 because I gave my tickets to a friend who was a Met fan, as was his kid, who had never been to a game.

Anyway, it's great to read stories from passionate fans, despite the team affiliation. We are all truly blessed to live in a country where we can embrace sports as a significant part of our lives.

@DavidMemphis: I have mlb.tv on my XBOX 360. Though i hardly watch the 7.00 pm games cause its like 1:00 am in the morning here and i gotta get up early to work :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dwarftree

@DavidMemphis: I have mlb.tv on my XBOX 360. Though i hardly watch the 7.00 pm games cause its like 1:00 am in the morning here and i gotta get up early to work :)

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Gotcha. That's another cool thing about the MLB Gameday Audio - you can listen to the game at any time. For instance, if the Reds play a day game (while i'm working), I'll just not keep up with it and avoid seeing or hearing the score, get off work, grab a 12 pack, fire up the grill, and listen to the game that night. One of my favorite pasttimes. Is awesome.

:beerme:

Really could make two separate threads from this topic.

My favorite memory is Johnny Bench's HR in the 72 playoffs against the Pirates. Nothing can beat that for sheer excitement. Of course Geronimo catching the last out of the 75 World Series is the culmination of being a fan. I think I leaped with joy when Geronimo did after that final out.
Eric Davis HR in the 1st inning of Game 1 of the 1990 World Series. Set the tone of that series and the last great moments for the Reds until recently anyway.
Just too many good ones for someone who has been a fan for over 40 years. Lots of great personal memories of going to games when I was young and with my dad.

My dad, like many of us, lead me to being a fan. He always liked baseball. He would play baseball with me in my Grannys big front yard. One day my great uncle stopped by and told us about the Reds being on the radio via WSGS in Hazard, Kentucky. My dad got the radio out and tuned to the station for me. I was hooked for life.