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Thread: Why do you love baseball?

  1. #1
    2009: Fail Ltlabner's Avatar
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    Why do you love baseball?

    Since everybody is as high as a kite after Dunner's heroic and majestic game winning grandslam last night (with 2 outs), I thought I'd throw this out.

    Why exactly do you love the game of baseball?

    As you know, I like to throw out questions for discussion and see what happens. I've asked the question before, "when did you fall in love with baseball", but never have asked "what is it" that you love about this game.

    I'd be interested to hear your replies.


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    Re: Why do you love baseball?

    The words to "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" are why I love baseball.

    ...I'm lukewarm about MLB though...

    If the Reds were in their usual tailspin at this point, I would have already switched to the Louisville Bats. Minor League ball reminds me how it used to be, and how it should be.

  4. #3
    First Time Caller SunDeck's Avatar
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    Re: Why do you love baseball?

    Four words: Built in beer breaks.
    Next Reds manager, second shooter. --Confirmed on Redszone.

  5. #4
    Just The Big Picture macro's Avatar
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    Re: Why do you love baseball?

    As a kid, baseball season meant school was out. The days were warm and long, and we didn't have to wrap up in layers of clothes to go out. The Reds were on the radio and we listened outside while playing catch or eating hot dogs and ice cream. It seemed that no one was ever sick with colds and flu during baseball season, like they were during the winter.

    The smells of baseball were bubble gum, fresh dirt, newly-cut grass, and leather gloves, unlike the smells of gyms and sweaty locker rooms, which I had just as soon forget. If you fell playing baseball, you landed on that fresh dirt or grass, instead of squeeking across a hardwood floor.

    I loved (and still love, in case no one has noticed ) the baseball uniform, and loved putting one on. This was much better than having to wear a too-revealing jersey and short shorts, which is what basketball players wore in those days. I loved baseball cards and would spend hours lying in the floor studying them.

    And of course, my list of reasons for loving baseball would be incomplete without mentioning the Cincinnati Reds of the 1970s.

    Help stamp out, eliminate, and do away with redundancy.

  6. #5
    Davey BuckWoody's Avatar
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    Re: Why do you love baseball?

    Macro, my thoughts are nearly identical to yours...especially the smells. Every once in a while I'll get a whiff of that combination of dirt, bubble gum, grass, leather, and tobacco (at least where/when I played) and I go right back to the ballparks where I grew up playing. Being an impressionable little kid during the glory days of the Big Red Machine certainly helped fuel my love for the game as well.

    Possibly more than anything else, though, is the Yogi factor; it's never over until it's over. I love football but if you’re down two scores with two minutes left in the game, no time outs, and the bad guys have the ball, the game is over. In baseball you can be down two or more scores, last at bat, two outs, an 0-2 count and all it takes is one swing and the rally is on! I find very few things in sport as exciting as the walk-off game-winning hit.

  7. #6
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    Re: Why do you love baseball?

    because of its unpredictability....the its not over till its over feel of the game.
    The Hunt for a Reds October.

  8. #7
    Registered User Reds1's Avatar
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    Re: Why do you love baseball?

    That's like asking why I like Ice Cream or Candy. Somethings are just so great you just do!

  9. #8
    revengeofSAGET
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    Re: Why do you love baseball?

    A few weeks ago I was at a Brewer game where Geoff Jenkins hit a game-winning double in the bottom of the 9th. I turned to a guy in our group and said something like, "Holy Jesus do I love baseball!"

    I guess it's the "it ain't over till it's over" deal for me.


    Dunn's homer last night was freaky cool too. If I was an Indian's fan I would've committed suicide last night.

  10. #9
    Registered User Reds1's Avatar
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    Re: Why do you love baseball?

    Quote Originally Posted by revengeofSAGET
    A few weeks ago I was at a Brewer game where Geoff Jenkins hit a game-winning double in the bottom of the 9th. I turned to a guy in our group and said something like, "Holy Jesus do I love baseball!"

    I guess it's the "it ain't over till it's over" deal for me.


    Dunn's homer last night was freaky cool too. If I was an Indian's fan I would've committed suicide last night.
    It was nice to be on the other side. It seems our BP has done that to us a few times lately. We even got the joy of the cards losing and now in 1st place. Just a great night. Hope they can follow through tonight. Go Joe Mays.

  11. #10
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    Re: Why do you love baseball?

    Tossing ball in the backyard with Dad, neither of us saying anything. Just the soft plop of ball against mitt.

    No clock, no time limit, just ball and mitt, bat and bases that could go on forever.

    The turn of the 6-4-3, with the second baseman leaping high over a sliding runner.

    The burst of speed from a runner legging out a triple, then sliding headlong into third base.

    The umpire, arbiter of all things fair and just, deciding each pitch.

    The toe, the stretch, the violent explosion requiring pinpoint accuracy.

    The dive and throw from foul ground after a smash down the third base line to just nip the runner.

    Keeping score.

    Being taught how to keep score by your grandfather.

    Listening to the radio late at night, dying with each pitch. agonizing over each out.

    Joe Charboneau and Joe DiMaggio.

    The Iron Horse and Scrap Iron.

    Bill Veeck.

    Rick Monday dashing away with the American flag held high.

    Dick Schofield and Adam Dunn-- both capable of hitting grand slams to win games with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth.

    Stan the Man.

    Jow Morgan's chicken wing.

    The laser beam throw from deep right field to nail a runner trying to scamper home. Or not.

    The dust. The dirt.

    The spit ring around Lenny Dykstra in center field.

    Junior's smile.

    The joy of every young boy who runs across home plate with a run.

    The Clown Prince.

    Minor league stadiums, with adverstisements across the outfield fences.

    Rodney McCray breaking a fence in the pursuit of a fly ball.

    The Say Hey Kid.

    Redemption and the goat, and the surety there's always the next pitch, the next inning, the next game, the next season.

  12. #11
    revengeofSAGET
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    Re: Why do you love baseball?

    Quote Originally Posted by Reds1
    It was nice to be on the other side. It seems our BP has done that to us a few times lately. We even got the joy of the cards losing and now in 1st place. Just a great night. Hope they can follow through tonight. Go Joe Mays.
    Here's to the Cardinals fading fast.

    *Cheers*

  13. #12
    Sprinkles are for winners dougdirt's Avatar
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    Re: Why do you love baseball?

    Why I love baseball? Its not something I can describe. The joy it brings to me, the beauty of the game...the feeling of hitting a ball with a wooden bat or throwing a ball 60 feet 6 inches or gunning one from center to home, the way it makes me feel just cant be described.

  14. #13
    Making sense of it all Matt700wlw's Avatar
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    Re: Why do you love baseball?

    Quote Originally Posted by Ltlabner
    Since everybody is as high as a kite after Dunner's heroic and majestic game winning grandslam last night (with 2 outs), I thought I'd throw this out.

    Why exactly do you love the game of baseball?

    As you know, I like to throw out questions for discussion and see what happens. I've asked the question before, "when did you fall in love with baseball", but never have asked "what is it" that you love about this game.

    I'd be interested to hear your replies.
    My first baseball memory was 4192. I was at my grandma and grandpa's house watching the game with them and my dad.

    I was 5. I didn't quite know the significance of what Pete did at the time, but I remember it like it was yesterday.

  15. #14
    Strategery RFS62's Avatar
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    Re: Why do you love baseball?

    Waking up at daylight and rushing to the window to see if it's raining and if you can play today.

    Bursting out the door right after breakfast, sliding your glove over the handlebars and peddling down the road with your bat on your sholder, heading for the vacant lot.

    Playing catch, pickel, pepper, fantastic catch...... hanging out all day with your buddies talking about baseball.

    The sound of spikes clacking on the concrete or wooden dugout floor. The smell of freshly mown grass. The tactile pleasures of the glove, the catchers gear, the uniform stitching.

    The butterflies of anticipation and sheer joy as the first pitch grows near.

    The laughter of your teammates. The incredible rush when you make a nice play or get a hit.

    Rushing home to catch the game on TV, or listening on the radio out in the front yard. Falling asleep with a transistor radio on. Getting busted in class running an earpiece up your sleeve to catch a day game of the World Series.

    Moving away, and searching USA Today for any nugget of information you can get on your team. Watching other teams in other parks as you travel.

    Finding the internet, and discovering a whole world of information and opportunity to learn more. Making friends you'll likely never meet in such an unlikely venue as RedsZone.

    Watching games on Extra Innings, finally able to see all the players nearly as often as you want, something fans of earlier generations didn't dream of.

    Watching young players grow and develop, helping the ones you have the good fortune to be involved with.

    Passing on your love and whatever knowledge you've gleaned from a lifetime of fascination with the greatest game ever invented.
    We'll go down in history as the first society that wouldn't save itself because it wasn't cost effective ~ Kurt Vonnegut

  16. #15
    2009: Fail Ltlabner's Avatar
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    Re: Why do you love baseball?

    I love baseball for many reasons.

    Sitting at Riverfront with my father catching foul balls in the late 70's.

    A pitcher named Sandy Koufax and names like Bench, Rose, Morgan, Foster, Perez, Griffey, Sparky.

    The beauty of a perfectly thrown sinker. The grace of a long arcing home run. The rush from a no-doubter. Seeing a runner thrown out at 2B. The thrill of seeing a runner score from 1B on a shot to the alley and just barely beating the tag.

    Listening to Marty and Joe late at night on a transistor radio. Baseball is a game you can visualize while listening on the radio. Every word of description of the PBP adds to the picture in your mind. Joe yelling "get out, get out" in the backgroud of a Marty home run call.

    The sound of the crack of a bat. The batter just won the battle against the pitcher, but may loose one against a fielder. A fielder is preparing to due battle with the hit pitch. The announcer is describing the play and the fan is glued to the ball in motion. It all starts with the sound of a ball hitting a wooden bat at 85 to 95mph.

    Come from behind victories. 2 out hits that win games. Extra innings games where the atomosphre gets tenser with every pitch. An afternoon game on a warm summer day. The roar of the crowd on a big play.

    The anticipation as you are walking into the stadium and the thrill of victory as the crown streams out of it. The race to the car to try to hear the "Breneman Report". Eating so much junk at the ballpark that you almost get sick.

    There is order in baseball yet at the same time you have 27 outs of random outcomes.


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