Hello Reds fans. I'm new aboard.
Here is a little tad bit of information about your good friend, Bob.
When I bought a new baseball glove just prior to the '61 season, I noticed some strange letters on it that I didn't understand. I had no idea what VADA PINSON meant but I really loved that glove. It was one of those old six finger models that were popular in the early 60s.
A few weeks later I unwrapped a baseball card and noticed the player was the Red's great centerfielder, Vada Pinson. I had never heard of him but thought it was pretty cool that his name was on my glove. So I made it a point to learn as much as I could about him and watch him play the very few times the Reds were on the Saturday Game of the Week. I specfically remember a game that summer when they were on TV and Pinson hit a grand slam. But I always followed the games, and Pinson, in the box scores each day.
So the Reds became my favorite National League team as a kid. Of course, I was die hard Yankee fan, worshipping guys like Mantle and Maris. But I pulled for the Reds in the NL and still have a vivid memory of that team. And as it turned out, they played my Yankees in the World Series. There was no doubt who I was going to pull for, but I wouldn't have felt half as bad if the Reds had won as I did the year before, when they lost to Pittsburgh. And about a month after the series, catcher Johnny Edwards visited our Boys Club and signed a ball for everyone. I still have mine today.
But when the Braves moved down here in 1966, the aging Yankees and the Reds were both replaced with the team I still pull for today. Most of my memories of the Reds since '66 invovle games with the Braves. Like opening day of '74, listening on the radio when Aaron tied Ruth. Then listening to the rest of the series hoping he wouldn't get 714 until they got back home. And the night in '78 in Atlanta when Gene Garber got Pete Rose out to end his 44 game hitting streak. I'd always liked Pete at that point in time, but I was disappointed to hear him blast Garber in the press for not challenging him.
Another thing I remember about the Reds was the way Nick Esasky used to hit against the Braves, especially at Fulton County Stadium. The numbers he put up there, when projected over a career, would be HOF worthy. I was so happy when the Braves signed him prior to the '90 season. Then he got vertigo and it ended his career after just a handful of games.