A Tale Of Two Cities (Part 1)

I have lived in two cities in my life. Fortunately for me, both cities are in Major League Baseball (MLB) markets. My hometown and birthplace, Detroit, Michigan - home of the Tigers, and Beaumont, Texas- about an hour's drive away from Houston, home of the Astros.

I moved to Texas in 1998 to start a family, and to start my "adult" life. I refer to my 1990's as a lull period in my baseball fandom. In my growing years of the 1980's, baseball was my lifestyle - but as I grew into my adolescent years, the game took a backseat to the other things I was driving towards in life. I did, however,  always pay attention to baseball news, major trades, and how the Detroit Tigers were doing.

When I moved to Texas, it was a new beginning for me- of sorts. The change of lifestyle took some getting used to, and when it came to baseball, it was completely different. MLB baseball in Texas plays a definite second fiddle to NFL football. Any news about baseball was about the Astros, and there was definitely no news about the Detroit Tigers.

So, I decided to give the Astros a look. Memories of the Astros from when I was a kid were vague. I remembered the awesome, orange rainbow-spectrum uniforms. I knew they had very little success in their franchise history. Some of the players that I remembered were J.R. Richard, Nolan Ryan, Mike Scott and Jose Cruz. I knew that they played their home games in the Astrodome.

 The 1998 Houston Astros had some players that I knew of, Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, and Derek Bell (known as the Killer B's), Moises Alou, along with pitchers Mike Hampton, Billy Wagner, and the eccentric Jose Lima. They were managed by Larry Dierker, a former pitcher for the Astros. They were a good baseball team, having finished in first-place the previous year. I jumped right on the bandwagon, thinking it was awesome to inherit a first-place team as my new "home"town team. I followed along from mid-season on. The 1998 MLB baseball season was a great year to get back into the game. Baseball fans everywhere were a buzz watching the record setting homerun chase between the St. Louis Cardinals' Mark McGwire and the Chicago Cubs' Sammy Sosa. Baseball was creeping back into prime-time television, show casing these sluggers at-bats nightly. And while McGwire and Sosa kept one-upping each other every night, the Astros just kept winning. The Astros acquired pitcher Randy "The Big Unit" Johnson on the last day of the MLB trade deadline, and his 10-1 record after the trade kept the team atop their division and led them into the playoffs.

I was working at a rail-car yard (my first job in Texas), and was able to listen to Game 1 at work on the radio, the Astros vs. San Diego Padres - with the dominant Randy Johnson as starting pitcher. The daytime game was a tight-fought contest, with the Padres winning 2-1, and Johnson taking the loss. The outcome of Game 1 set the tone for the rest of the brief, best-of-five series- tight games in which the Astros offense struggled. The Astros lost the series in four games, and their season was over.

 The 1999 season marked the last year the team was to play their home games at the Astrodome. I took it upon myself to take in a game at the famed Astrodome, and did so that season. It was a new experience for me to watch a game at my new hometown team's field, and was lucky enough to share the game with my newborn son (who was just 6 months old) and my wife. The Astrodome itself was a tough place to watch a game - it seemed dark inside, eerily quiet, and seemed like all the seats were set way back off of the field - a very distant setting for a baseball game. I was glad they were getting a new stadium. The 1999 Astros' season was pretty much like the previous one - 1st place finish, then promptly losing in the divisional series round of the playoffs. They did not resign Randy Johnson, and the '98 trade for him struck me as a "hired gun" acquisition only for that years playoffs - kind of odd, if you ask me, he was just approaching the prime years of his future Hall-Of-Fame career. The season did mark the debut of future Astros' All-Star, Lance Berkman.

The next couple Astros' seasons (2000-2003) were mildly successful. The Astros moved into their new ballpark, Enron Field - later to be re-named Minute Maid Park, after Enron's disgraceful business failures. The familiar players (Biggio, Bagwell, Berkman, Wagner) remained with the Astros, who finished the next 3 seasons without ever advancing past the first round of the playoffs. Manager Larry Dierker was replaced by Jimy Williams after the 2001 season.

The 2004 Astros' season was very intriguing from the start. The MLB All-Star Game was to be held in Houston, providing the chance for the Astros to showcase their new ballpark for fans of the Mid-Summer Classic. Prior to the season's start, the Astros aggressively acquired future Hall-Of-Fame (at the time, at least) pitchers Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens, both coming off very successful stints with the New York Yankees. One move that I questioned though, was the trading of star closing pitcher Billy Wagner (one of my favorite Astros) to the Phillies, a move that would haunt the Astros in years to come. The Astros did however acquire star-player Carlos Beltran via trade in June. Manager Jimy Williams, after the team's mediocre record of 44-44, was replaced by former Astro player, Phil Garner (who, ironic to me, had been relieved of his managerial duties with the Detroit Tigers, after two very unsuccessful seasons). Garner led the team to a 92-70, 2nd place finish that was good enough to win the coveted "Wild-Card" spot in the National League postseason.

The 2004 Astros playoffs were some of the most exciting baseball games I have ever watched. The Astros finally made it past the Divisional round, after beating the Atlanta Braves in a best of five series, 3-2. Carlos Beltran was simply amazing in this series, and I could not recall another position-player that dominated baseball games the way he did. Beltran's speed, power, batting average, fielding and strong throwing arm were on full display - the first time I seen a true five-tool player. Next up for the Astros was the League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. This series played out to be another riveting one, with neither team being able to win a game on the road. Unfortunately for the Astros, the Cards had home-field advantage. This scenario played out until the end of the seven game series, with the Cardinals winning Game 7 at home against the Astros ace starting pitcher, Roger Clemens. Beltran had another unbelievable series, convincing me that the Astros had found their star player that could lead the Astros for years to come.

Despite Carlos Beltran's stellar performance for the Astros in 2004, the team was not able to sign the free-agent and lost a bidding war for him to the New York Mets. The offers from the two ball clubs were very close financially, the only difference between the offers were that the Mets offered Beltran a "no-trade" clause - something the Astros were unwilling to do- despite Beltran professing his love for the city of Houston. This completely baffled me, and could not blame Beltran for wanting the stability of a team through the good and the bad.

Entering the 2005 Astros season, I was skeptical that Astros could make that final step into the World Series. Clemens and Pettitte stayed with the team, pitcher Roy Oswalt had emerged as a star, and the cornerstones of the franchise, Biggio and Bagwell were still there. After a sluggish 15-30 start, the Astros were able to turn things around and ended the season in 2nd place, again earning the wild-card spot in the National League postseason. They finished the season strong and went into the playoffs like a team on a mission. The Astros breezed through the Divisional round, defeating the Atlanta Braves 3-1 in a best of five series (including an 18 inning game). In the League Championship Series, the Astros once again found themselves facing the St. Louis Cardinals in a best of seven games. The Astros played good, winning one of the first two games on the road. The road win put them in a situation to closeout the series at home. Late in Game 5, with the chance to clinch the series, the Astros turned to their new closing pitcher, Brad Lidge. Lidge was one strike away from putting the Astros in the World Series, when the Cardinals were able to put runners on a 1st and 2nd for the intimidating Albert Pujols. Pujols hit a dramatic, towering 3-run home run (one of the hardest hit home runs I've ever seen) and the Cardinals ended up winning the game 5-4, sending the series back to St. Louis. The Astros were able to win again on the road in Game 6, and won the series 4-2, giving the franchise it's first-ever World Series berth.

The Astros would open the World Series against opponent Chicago White Sox on the road. They lost the first two games, with the White Sox beating Astros pitchers, Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte - both who had enjoyed prior World Series success. Game 2 was lost on a walk-off home run given up by Brad Lidge - whose confidence seemed clearly shaken after the Pujols monster home run in the previous series. Game 3 was a 14-inning affair with White Sox emerging from the marathon game as the winner, and the White Sox clearly emerged with almost all the momentum of the Series in their favor. Game 4 was a pitchers duel, with the White Sox being the only team to put a run on the scoreboard- manufacturing a run off of the now-embattled closer Lidge. And that was that, the Astros first World Series was a disaster - swept in four games.

After the 2005 season, I started to think that the Astros franchise was snake bit - full of bad luck and bad decisions. In my brief tenure as a regular fan, I watched as the team lost twice in the first round of the playoffs, got swept in the World Series, and let two star players (Randy Johnson and Carlos Beltran) leave the team in the prime years of their careers. I felt bad that Bagwell and Biggio never would again have a chance to play in the World Series. In the following years, the Astros owner and upper management would turn the franchise slowly back into the obscure team that they used to be.

Over the years, I've went to several games at Minute Maid Park and still continue to do so. The experience at the Astros ball park is always first-class, and have been to several games with my Mom, Dad, Son, Daughter, and Wife. Interleague play allowed me to see my "other" hometown team, the Tigers, whenever they would come to Houston. My family has based entire weekends in Houston to go to ball games, whenever a star player or an intriguing team comes to town. In 2013, the Astros switched to the American League - thus now guaranteeing me that the Tigers will come to Houston at least once a season. Watching the Tigers whenever they came to town sparked an emotion that showed me the difference between an "adopted" hometown team and my "real" hometown team, however...

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Paper Heroes

As a kid growing up in the '80's, collecting and trading baseball cards was one of my main hobbies. Looking back, baseball cards just seemed so much more meaningful back then. There was no internet, no cellphones, and baseball on television was limited. For me, baseball cards were an extension of the players names and statistics that I read in the box scores of the newspaper- and usually with a great photo of the player to go along with it. 

Baseball cards were easily accessible and were sold at most gas stations and convenience stores in my neighborhood. There were also specialized "card" shops, many of which were tied in with book stores and comic book shops- and even coin-dealers. A few times a year, there were baseball card "shows" that were held at area shopping malls and flea markets. At card shows, private collectors and retail sellers of sporting cards set up shop and displayed their collections - most for sale, some for trade. At card shows, I was in baseball heaven. 

Many of my friends also collected and traded baseball cards. Every year we anticipated the release of the freshly designed cards. There were a couple of different brands of baseball cards, including Fleer and Donruss, but the Topps brand was the king. Every year (starting in 1984), my Dad bought the complete set of Topps cards...792 cards in each set. These sets of cards, were not bought from a huge retail chain store, but were purchased from card shops whose owners or employees opened hundreds of packs of the newly released cards and organized the sets by hand. My brother and I were excited every time my Dad brought the new season's card set home. I would go through the whole set, checking card numbers, memorizing players statistics and personal information, and looking at the great pictures. I was usually in awe of the baseball players depicted on the cards - grizzled veterans like George Brett, Cal Ripken Jr., and Rickey Henderson and young phenoms like Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, and Darryl Strawberry. Also each year, new players showed up on their  own, coveted "Rookie" cards. The out-of-market players made baseball more interesting to me, and added to the norm of my hometown Detroit Tigers in games and on local news.

Besides the sets, I also had my own collection of cards. Players I idolized and respected were the only ones allowed into my own, personal collection. Players like Wade Boggs, Tony Gwynn, Lenny Dykstra and Kirby Puckett (who became my favorite player of that era and will blog about later). I paid extra attention to the ball players I collected, seeking out their rookie cards, All-Star cards, highlight cards, insert cards, and off-brand cards- all which were kept in the plastic sleeved pages of my 3-ring binder. That binder became an extension of me, accompanying me to all the shops and shows I would visit. The player cards I acquired  from buying packs of baseball cards that did not make it into my collection were kept in an old shoebox- named the "Hack Box"- available for trading, or just to hang on to if a player caught my eye down the road.

I collected baseball cards and went to card shows very seriously for about 6 or 7 years. Sometime around 1990-91, I stopped collecting and started selling my collection. My Dad also stopped bringing the Topps sets home, by then my brother and I were moving on. All the time it took to acquire the cards seemed like nothing to me. I sold-out my childhood heroes for money that could supplement my part-time job's paycheck. I needed the money to fund my high school lifestyle and to put gas in my tank. The "value" of a card (deemed so by a monthly price guide) and what a card shop dealer would actually pay me for a card was disheartening, but I didn't care. I sold any cards that dealers would buy, only hanging to the complete sets and my Kirby Puckett collection - which by that time was kept in it's own binder and was made up of over 400 different cards.

I actually do not regret selling most of my baseball cards, and have no idea what happened to my Kirby Puckett binder- lost, maybe, in a move from Michigan to Texas. I have always paid attention to MLB baseball, and after the Yankees' David Wells threw his perfect game against the Twins in 1998, I thought to myself  "He would be a great player to collect baseball cards of"...so, I did. Living in Texas now, I thought about how to go about getting some baseball cards. Gone were the card shops and shows. The only baseball cards I could find were at the local Target. So I turned to eBay- I was blown away when I seen how much the hobby had changed! There were several different card companies now, and each produced numerous series of cards. I was able to find a "lot" of 100 different David Wells cards and bought them relatively cheap. When the cards arrived, I was intrigued by the card quality, and the photography- they were much nicer than the cardboard baseball cards of my youth that smelled like the cheap stick of bubble-gum included in the packs. However, something struck me wrong- the cards were just to easy to get! It used to be fun, going to baseball card shops and shows and searching for cards of my favorite baseball players. 

Purchasing baseball cards online didn't get me back into card collecting right away. When buying cards online through eBay and several other baseball card web sites, all I would have to do was find the card I wanted (usually very easy), click "here" to buy and they would show up in my mailbox from all across the country. It all seemed very saturated and null of any excitement. Also, I never could key in on a player like I did with Kirby Puckett. 

Then I had an idea- start another card collection just of my favorite team, the Detroit Tigers. Collect every Topps Tigers Team Set from my birth year (1974), until present. I turned mostly to eBay and a couple of other card websites. I started my collection with the most memorable Tigers team from my youth- 1984, the last time they won the World Series. From there, I just filled in the rest of the years past, up unto the present. Now each year, I have something to look forward to again- the release of the new Topps Tigers cards.

I find it enjoyable that I continue to do something that I loved so much as a kid. I still have the Hack Box up in my attic (couldn't find a baseball card dealer who was interested in buying those) and once again have a 3-ring binder full of some of my favorite "Paper Heroes".

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The newer 3-ring binder:

When I knew...the '82 Brew Crew!

This may catch you off guard, being  a life-long Detroit Tigers fan...but the first team I fell in love with was the 1982 Milwaukee Brewers. What you say? Yep, 1982...I was 7 years old.

The "Brew Crew", aka "Harvey's Wallbangers". The roster comes natural to me: Future Hall of Famers Robin Yount and Paul Molitor, Stormin' Gorman Thomas, Cecil Cooper, Ted Simmons, Ben Oglivie, Jim Gantner and others. A pitching staff made up of guys like Pete Vukovich, Moose Haas (what a great baseball name), Rollie Fingers and Don Sutton- all names I'll forever remember. This group was led by a gritty manager named Harvey Kuenn, whose tobacco wad in his cheek looked like he was chewing ON a baseball. The voice of the team was none other than the hilarious Bob Uecker. I think what struck me most about this team was everything BUT the games they played. The characters and their appearance- Those powder blue uniforms trimmed in bright yellow, the "MB" mitt logo on their hats, the beards, mustaches, long hair, eye-black, high stirrups, and odd batting stances. It was the first time I paid any attention to any of that stuff.

1982 was just like any other baseball season I remember, but towards the latter-half of the season, I started to hear more and more about the Brewers. The baseball season is a grueling 162 games, with many highs and lows, but my favorite part is in August and September when you find out what team is the "IT" team- and that year, for me, it was the Brewers.

Then came October 1982, the MLB postseason. Luckily, baseball was always on tv in my house. These were the days before there were 25 different ESPN channels, and an entire network dedicated to MLB. The MLB playoffs were prime-time television. Playoff baseball put popular network shows on hold, and made local news broadcasts even start behind schedule. Damn, I thought, these are important games! 

Milwaukee Brewers vs. California Angels, 1982 American League Championship Series, 5 games to decide who represents the A.L. in the coveted World Series. The series was a great one, marked by a dramatic comeback by the Brewers, who lost the first two games of the series and were trailing late in the final game. I knew in my heart the Brewers would win the series. By that time, I also knew this team was special to me. This series also made me more familiar with some well known names from the Angels team: Fred Lynn, Tommy John, Bob Boone, Rod Carew, Don Baylor, and former Yankee great Reggie Jackson. The Brewers won the 5 game series 3-2 and were off to the World Series for the first time in franchise history.

Milwaukee Brewers vs. St. Louis Cardinals, 1982 World Series. The Fall Classic. This World Series was aptly named the "Suds Series", because of each home teams association with the beer industry-Milwaukee/Miller Brewing and St. Louis/Anheuser-Busch. Two teams with very contrasting styles of play also. The Brew Crew, who hit for power, contact, and scored alot of runs. The Redbirds, managed by MLB legend Whitey Herzog and featuring the likes of Ozzie Smith, Lonnie Smith, Willie McGee, Kieth Hernandez, and closer Bruce Sutter were a speedy, scratchy team that played great defense. The games themselves were awesome. The series went back-and-forth like a heavyweight fight. With each game, I drew closer to the Brewers- wanting them to win! The players who were supposed to hit home runs, steal bases, make great defensive plays and get hits- did. Baseball the way it should be played, managed, umpired, and broadcasted. In the end, the Brewers came up short- losing on the road in an excellent Game 7.

The Brewers losing did not disappoint me at all. For the first time, I felt what it was like to identify and pull for a team. I had learned how great the game of baseball is, and how entertaining a World Series can be.

As I got older, I idolized different MLB players, rooted for different teams, and aligned myself with my hometown team through thick-and-thin. To me though, whenever I think of when I became a fan of MLB and my favorite World Series, the 1982 Milwaukee Brewers immediately come to mind.

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Play Ball!

Hello, first of all, if your reading this-thanks! I wanted to start this blog to hopefully entertain myself and others with some of my great memories from the game of baseball of years past, but also to give views / thoughts on the game of baseball as a whole. 

To me it's the greatest game in the world. It's raw and pure- it can be played on any grass field, a big parking lot (don't slide!), indoors or outdoors. The needs of the game are also simple- bat, ball, bases, and a glove.

Ever since I was a kid, I was always around baseball. Bat-Boy, Playing baseball, watching baseball, collecting baseball cards, reading scores and stats in newspapers, and listening to my Dad tell stories of old Detroit Tiger players. I've stayed a fan of the game throughout the years (although sometimes straying to pursue adolescent conquests), and still think that MLB baseball is truly America's pastime.

I also think it is truly awesome that my family embraces the game almost as much as I do. We attend baseball games together, watch games on tv together, and talk about baseball all the time. I feel very proud of my son who is an also avid fan of baseball, at a time when media attention is clearly steered to other sports.

Anyways, that is all for now. Thank you for checking me out, and I look forward into diving into my own mind of baseball!

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