Waldo's preview/earliest memory of fandom

[JimR]

His and MM's comments about the age kids become aware of baseball and start to become fans ft me thinking about me. My earliest memory of reading the sports pages and knowing about MLB was the 1954 season. I know I followed baseball earlier than 1954 because I was a Brooklyn fan already, but I do not have any specific memories of seasons before 1954. I was 8 in the summer of 1954 and liked Cleveland because of the incredible pitching staff. I guess I was 6-7 when I became aware of the Brooklyn Dodgers. I have no memory of the 1951 pennant race or WS, and I was 5 then.

What say you?

[AstroNut]

Think I was around 8 or 9...1966-67

Astros had a New Orleans guy...Rusty Staub.

Followed the Red Sox in 1967...Yaz and the gang...probably because my older brother was a Yankee fresk...still is...thinks Mantle was one of the apostles...says shit like, "why do they call it the World Series when they play it in the Bronx every year....obnoxious...

Always loved Astros baseball on the radio here in New Awlins.

[AstroNut]

Think I was around 8 or 9...1966-67

Astros had a New Orleans guy...Rusty Staub.

Followed the Red Sox in 1967...Yaz and the gang...probably because my older brother was a Yankee fresk...still is...thinks Mantle was one of the apostles...says shit like, "why do they call it the World Series when they play it in the Bronx every year....obnoxious...

Always loved Astros baseball on the radio here in New Awlins.

[Tonywatson]

We moved to Houston in summer of 74. My dad took me to a game in July of 1975 and I was hooked. I was 8. My dad's name was Bob Watson and the other Bob Watson hit a homer in that first game I went to. I was enamored with the dome.


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[juliogotay]

I saw my first Colt .45 game in '63. I would have been 9. It was great and I was hooked. I remember the Reds had a pitcher named Bill Henry that was out in front of the ballpark in his uni signing autographs before the game.  He was a LH reliever journeyman type and I did not know it then but he was from Alice, not far from my hometown. Anyway, Colt Stadium just as easily could have been Yankee Stadium or Wrigley Field to me. It was the big-time and it had a big OF and a very well manicured infield. The Reds had a good team, Frank Robinson, Vada Pinson and a rookie named Rose and wore those vest uniforms with white hats. The Colts of course were hand-me-downs from other organizations but they played pretty good ball. They just didn't win a lot. We sat behind the 3rd base dugout and I kept my eyes on Aspromonte throughout the game. My mom said he looked like Tyrone Power (whoever that was). I wanted to play 3rd base from then on and I patterned myself after Aspro, the way he pawed at the dirt in the infield and carried himself. I never could figure out, as a nine year old, why they needed to build a new stadium particularly indoors. Colt Stadium was plenty good enough for me. I think the tickets must have been about $5 for a reserved seat. We stayed over that night at The Surrey House motor lodge on South Main across the street. They had signed photos of a lot of the Colts players including Aspromonte and my favorite pitcher Turk Farrell hanging in the coffee shop.  Several years we stayed at The Surrey House for a weekend to take in a couple of games. When Nellie Fox joined the Colts he actually lived at The Surrey House. I saw him come home from the ballpark one night after the game smoking a cigar. Now, if I could just remember what I had for lunch.

[Fredia]

oddly mine started witb going to the dome and seeing jim neighbors. I knew I had to go back to see that shinning goddess and found it contained baseball and that was it there has never been another team for me

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

I went to a few Colt 45s games in 62 and 63 but have pretty hazy memories. I remember watching the Astrodome being built and following the team in 1964. My favorite player that year was Walt Bond. The season began with the passing of Jim Umbricht from cancer, sadly, Walt Bond would die from leukemia just a few years later. I remember the team had really good pitching but couldn't score. The next year they moved into the Astrodome and Morgan and Wynn became my favorites. I was hooked by the time I was 10 in 1966 and I still remember every player on that team.

[Waldo]

MM wrote the preview, by the way.

I was born in '82 and I think my earliest distinct baseball memory was the 1989 World Series.  If I watched any baseball on TV before that I don't remember it.  Dad didn't watch a lot of regular season baseball and doesn't have any solid pro sports allegiances beyond the Cowboys, and both Texas teams were nothing to get excited about back then.  But he always watched the playoffs, and that year was the first year I remember watching it with him.  He was watching the pregame coverage for Game 3 when the earthquake hit, and when the cameras started shaking and they put up the "technical difficulties" screen I asked Dad if it was for real.  That was an enthralling night of television for a kid about to turn 7.

Dad didn't take me to my first live baseball game until around 1992 when I was in little league.  Astros and Pirates at the Dome, don't remember who won.  That was the first time I felt like a fan of a team.  He tried to take me to one Astros and one Rangers game every year after that, but I always liked the Astros a little more, and by late middle school I asked him if we could do two Astros games a year instead of the annual pilgrimage to Arlington.

[austro]

My first memories of baseball are of a couple of things. I don't remember anything about baseball before about 2nd grade, but at that time we had moved back to Grand Junction, CO, and at that time they still had a semi-pro team whose games we would go see (my folks were friends with a couple of the guys on the team, and my dad had pitched in college, so he worked out with them occasionally). We would also listen to the Cardinals games at night (Dad had grown up in downstate Illinois and eastern Iowa, so the Cards were his team). I have very fond memories of laying on the floor in the darkened living room listening to those games. To this day, I enjoy listening to games while I'm working on something else that requires some attention.

I think I first started really paying attention to standings, player performance, etc during the '66 season, although I had definitely been playing Little League for a couple of years at that point (I would have been 10 in '66). My friend used to pretend that he was Jim Palmer and I would pretend to be Andy Etchebarren (who knows why?) when we would play catch.

[VirtualBob]

I was 8. Milwaukee and folks like Eddie Matthews, Hank Aaron and Hurricane Hazel n the summer of '58 caught my attention. I was really a Tigers fan, though, and when I got to go to Briggs Stadium the next year to se Kaline & Kuenn and Eddie Yost (in the twighlight of his career) I was hooked. Paul Foytack was the starter in my first ever live game (1959) so he looms larger than life in my memory.

I soon picked up on Dad's love for the pirates and saw a game at Forbes Field started by Bob Friend in 60 or 61 and Mazeroski ended up as one of my favorite players. In some ways those late 50's and early 60's players still seem more "real" to me than the current ones. As an Astro fan, Jimmy Winn still seems to Tower over  Berkman and even Bagwell/Biggio.

[juliogotay]

I was 8. Milwaukee and folks like Eddie Matthews, Hank Aaron and Hurricane Hazel n the summer of '58 caught my attention. I was really a Tigers fan, though, and when I got to go to Briggs Stadium the next year to se Kaline & Kuenn and Eddie Yost (in the twighlight of his career) I was hooked. Paul Foytack was the starter in my first ever live game (1959) so he looms larger than life in my memory.

I soon picked up on Dad's love for the pirates and saw a game at Forbes Field started by Bob Friend in 60 or 61 and Mazeroski ended up as one of my favorite players. In some ways those late 50's and early 60's players still seem more "real" to me than the current ones. As an Astro fan, Jimmy Winn still seems to Tower over  Berkman and even Bagwell/Biggio.

I would have loved to have seen a game at Tiger Stadium and Forbes Field. I loved those old stadiums although I only saw them on TV.
Who was the Tiger pitcher that was the "Yankee Killer" in the late '50s, early '60s? It may have been Foytack but I think it was someone named Lary. All I can think of was the great Lion DB/punter Yale Lary. Maybe Frank Lary?

[JimR]

MM wrote the preview, by the way.

I was born in '82 and I think my earliest distinct baseball memory was the 1989 World Series.  If I watched any baseball on TV before that I don't remember it.  Dad didn't watch a lot of regular season baseball and doesn't have any solid pro sports allegiances beyond the Cowboys, and both Texas teams were nothing to get excited about back then.  But he always watched the playoffs, and that year was the first year I remember watching it with him.  He was watching the pregame coverage for Game 3 when the earthquake hit, and when the cameras started shaking and they put up the "technical difficulties" screen I asked Dad if it was for real.  That was an enthralling night of television for a kid about to turn 7.

Dad didn't take me to my first live baseball game until around 1992 when I was in little league.  Astros and Pirates at the Dome, don't remember who won.  That was the first time I felt like a fan of a team.  He tried to take me to one Astros and one Rangers game every year after that, but I always liked the Astros a little more, and by late middle school I asked him if we could do two Astros games a year instead of the annual pilgrimage to Arlington.

Sorry MM!

[doyce7]

I'm probably the youngest one here on this site. My earliest baseball memories are of me playing teeball. It was the spring of 98 and my parents wanted to put me in sports. I didn't want to do it, I had no interest, but then they informed me my best friend was playing. So I played, I had about as much fun as a 6 year old could. I was hooked on playing baseball, it's all I wanted to do. I had been to games at the dome but don't remember anything beyond playing for the first time. My first Astros memories are from the 99 season on, so sadly I have very few memories of the astrodome. The killer B's to me have always been Biggio, Bagwell, Berkman.


Despite my age I have always been one to study history both of the world and baseball. The Astros I wish I would have been able to witness the most are JR Richard, Jimmy Winn, and Mike Scott.

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[Duman]

Growing up in LA (Lower Alabama) we got the Braves on the local AM station.  I remember my dad listening to those games.  My first real memories though are in 1974 (6 almost 7) watching Hank Aaron hit 714 on TV.  Later that year, we went to my first pro game in ATL.  It was a Hank Aaron poster day.  I got a great poster of Aaron hitting 714 that was tacked above my bed the rest of the summer. 

[Mr. Happy]

My earliest baseball memory has to be staying awake after I'd been put to bed listening to New York Yankees baseball games through the attic fan. My dad listened every night, and I'd get to hear it in my room courtesy of the attic fan. That had to have been 1966-67. The first team I followed was the 1969 Astros, because I had received a portable transistor radio that was tuned into Gene Elston and Loell Passe. I've been hooked ever since.

[moriartp]

I'm probably the youngest one here on this site.

You're not too much younger than I am. My first baseball memory is announcing that Steve Finley was my favorite player while playing catch with my dad on our lawn. That would've been '94, probably.

I also remember sitting down with my older brother before the '95 ASG as he wrote out the starting lineups with predictions of how each hitter would fare (3 for 3, 0 for 4, etc.). I predicted one hitter would go 5 for 4. I had no idea what the numbers meant; I was just playing along. I felt so dumb when he explained it to me. There are days I think I haven't learned a thing since then.

[jwhudson]

World Series 1958, I was 5 years old and Spann vs Ford.  My dad was telling me things to look for while we watched the game on TV in north Houston.  I was amazed at how much he knew.  He said, "Watch this son, outside corner at the knees."  That is exactly where Whitey threw the ball.  After that I didn't watch much baseball, except for the pickup games we played, or dad playing in the city league ball.  Inside was not where I was allowed except for meal times; baseball games filled my summers.

[Bench]

My earliest memory of watching baseball was the 1985 World Series (I was 7, about to turn 8 ) and the '86 Astros season is the first one I can remember from beginning to end.  I certainly watched the Astros and was a fan in the preceding years, but those are the earliest memories I specifically summon based on my own observations. 

[das]

Great topic.  A couple of you may have heard this already but here’s my story.  I was visiting my dad in Ft. Hood for the summer of ’78 since he was stationed there.  It was my first time in Texas and I was enthralled.  The Killeen/Ft. Hood, TX area fit every stereotype on my 10-year old mind and I loved it.

 I figured out a few key things that summer:

-   I learned that there was this great place called the Astrodome in the nearby big city. 
-   a 5hp Sears minibike (https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/da/50/3b/da503b4384e9599c4f4f082d41afd7c7.jpg) is slower than a jackrabbit, even when you mod the throttle to take the Briggs & Stratton lawnmower engine way past “redline”
-   When your dad is a Lt. Col., you can get away with most anything on base.  Especially if he is the lead program manager on the first delivery of pre-operational XM1 Abrams experimental main battle tanks to the 1st Cavalry Division. 
-   I learned to value the sight of cutoff jeans and cowboy(girl?) boots on the female form
-   I was sure that, when I squinted really hard, I could see antlers on the heads of the jackrabbits as they bounded across the prairie
-   Rodeos are a big deal in Texas
-   Guns are a big deal in Texas
-   BBQ is a big deal in Texas
-   Infantry manning the ceremonial cannons on the parade grounds regularly leave the paper sleeves of gunpowder used to fire off said ceremonial cannons for any kid to just take and use as he sees fit.
-   Wildfires can start in a flash in the dry summer Texas prairie
-   Jackrabbits are slower than a .22, especially when you are on a minibike.
-   German german shepherds do understand German but don’t understand English.

There was not much for my brother, sister and I to do on base while my dad was working 12-15 hour days besides get in trouble and stay one step ahead of the MP’s.  The BOQ was small and the openness of the base out the window as large and inviting.  That world of arcades, bowling alleys, mess halls, minibike rides and playing with gunpowder got a bit monotonous until my dad announced that we were going to a rodeo one Saturday.  I was mildly interested until I heard that the (halftime?) act was Donny & MARIE.  I really liked Marie.  As we drove up to the venue, I could not believe my eyes when I saw the Dome for the first time or that the vast expanse of parking lots were filled with so many cars.  Once we got inside and I saw the Dome in all its glory, I exclaimed to my Dad that I could not believe they made such a place for rodeos.  He laughed and said they used it for football and baseball too.  I spent most of my time, except when MARIE & Donny were performing, walking around the Dome and talking to the people that worked there about the Astros and Oilers.  The place made a large and lasting impression on me and I did not get a single whiff of cat piss.

Fast forward 9 months and I made a new best friend back in Virginia.  Being a military brat, I never made location-based allegiances to any team so I was not really connected to watching or following sports, just playing them.  He was nuts about baseball and, when he asked me who my favorite team was, I blurted out the Astros since they were the only team I knew.  That summer, we would start each day pouring through the results page of the paper, looking at the box scores, recaps, standings and leaders boards.  Summer of ’79 was a great time to be an Astros fan with Cruz, Puhl, Cedeno, Richard and Forsch putting up numbers that showed well in a newspaper results page a thousand miles from Houston.  It helped that my new friend was a Dodgers fan so it made the morning ritual that much better.  That’s all it took.  ’80 cemented my fascination with the team and, it was a great year if I was able to watch one or two regular season games.  I did not see my first live Astros game until I was 16 years old and drove up to Philly to see the Astros (Niekro threw a CG 6-hitter for a huge win, 10+ runs or something) in July of ’84.  So, my first memory is of reading thru papers and getting to know the team through stats.

[Knoxbanedoodle]

These are great.

My dad was in a rotisserie league that celebrated every year by getting together for one of the World Series games and pouring a bottle of Yoohoo over the champion's head. Why Yoohoo? Beats me. Eight years old; Gibson homers to win Game 1 off Eckersley; a strange man is Yoohoo'd...I'm all in.

First Astros memory is being at the opening game when Eric Anthony hit two homers, though I'm sure we went to the Dome before that. I remember yelling "Cruuuuuuuuuz". He was my dad's favorite Astro. He convinced me, absurdly, that he owned Jose Cruz's hat--that this was Cruz's hat. (I reminded him of this recently and he cracked up. He'd told my sister that he used to date Linda Rondstadt--"before she was famous.")

I know that his first me-related-baseball memory is watching J.R. Richard take a no-hitter into the ninth a few days after I was born. He said I slept through it. 

[BUWebguy]

Grew up in Houston going to the occasional Astros game here and there, but for some reason, baseball clicked with me about 5th grade (1989 season). I have vivid memories of their hot streak that summer and watching the '89 all-star game (Bo Jackson and Wade Boggs going back-to-back in the 1st inning). I remember that in late September, the Astros were something like 7 games out with 7 to go, and I was sure they were going to make a run and win the division. When they lost and were eliminated (despite not really being in the race), I cried.

My one Astros memory from earlier than that: Riding with a bunch of my baseball teammates to a game at the Dome in a dad's panel van. No seats; just all us kids sitting on the carpeted floor. Me reading old Dennis the Menace books on the way there. And there was a giveaway -- an unbelievably thin, white, plastic/vinyl Fingers Furniture Astros jacket. I think it was raining that day, too. That was probably around third grade or so.

[hostros7]

My first clear Astros memory is one that is hard to forget, the Mike Scott Game. I was four years old in '86, and my dad took me to the game. I don't think it was my first Astros game. My parents lugged me around to all sorts of sporting events, plays, concerts. Somehow I slept through most of Phi Slamma Jamma's games at Hoffeinz and a Jackson 5 reunion concert. The dome was packed, and I remember walking around with my dad in mildly heightened state of alert. The crowd walking through the concourse is basically a constant stream blue jeans and shorts to a kid that stands only a few feet high, and I left like at any moment my dad could fade off in that anonymous pants world and I wouldn't be able to find him.

I remember sitting through he game very interested in what was going on. My dad told me that Mike Scott was working on a no hitter and explained to me how rare that was (in retrospect, I'm somewhat disappointed my dad jeopardized the no-no by speaking of it mid-game, but I will forgive him given that his intent to explain the game to a young kid and create another Astros fan wasn't misguided).  Therefore, in my attempts to understand the import of the game and the building tension among the fans at the Dome, I only understood it through the no hitter context; the chance to clinch the division with a win was beyond my level of comprehension. And, the memory is so visceral for me because after the final out at first, I remember the streams of toilet paper and clumps of confetti floating through the air. The celebration among the fans was unlike anything I'd witnessed in person. I was incredibly impressed that all these revelers were dedicated enough to always pack toilet paper and confetti on the off chance the home team starting pitcher might throw a no hitter. An appropriate feeling of stupidity washed over me when the division clinching element dawned on me years later.

[juliogotay]

My first clear Astros memory is one that is hard to forget, the Mike Scott Game. I was four years old in '86, and my dad took me to the game. I don't think it was my first Astros game. My parents lugged me around to all sorts of sporting events, plays, concerts. Somehow I slept through most of Phi Slamma Jamma's games at Hoffeinz and a Jackson 5 reunion concert. The dome was packed, and I remember walking around with my dad in mildly heightened state of alert. The crowd walking through the concourse is basically a constant stream blue jeans and shorts to a kid that stands only a few feet high, and I left like at any moment my dad could fade off in that anonymous pants world and I wouldn't be able to find him.

I remember sitting through he game very interested in what was going on. My dad told me that Mike Scott was working on a no hitter and explained to me how rare that was (in retrospect, I'm somewhat disappointed my dad jeopardized the no-no by speaking of it mid-game, but I will forgive him given that his intent to explain the game to a young kid and create another Astros fan wasn't misguided).  Therefore, in my attempts to understand the import of the game and the building tension among the fans at the Dome, I only understood it through the no hitter context; the chance to clinch the division with a win was beyond my level of comprehension. And, the memory is so visceral for me because after the final out at first, I remember the streams of toilet paper and clumps of confetti floating through the air. The celebration among the fans was unlike anything I'd witnessed in person. I was incredibly impressed that all these revelers were dedicated enough to always pack toilet paper and confetti on the off chance the home team starting pitcher might throw a no hitter. An appropriate feeling of stupidity washed over me when the division clinching element dawned on me years later.

I was at the Scott no-hitter on 9/25/86 and one of the things I remember,  too, was that a ton of fans were still in their seats 15 or so minutes after the last out. Alot of the players came out on  the field and waved to the crowd. There was alot of excitement   
and anticipation from the fans about that club. And remember, the Scott game came after some gems thrown by Deshaies and Ryan.

[drew corleone]

My dad was an Astros fan from the time of the Colt 45s, having been a Yankees fan prior (his dad was also a Yankees fan). He pretty much raised me from to love the Astros and the Longhorns, and I have vague memories of checking out the Temple Telegram each day as a young child (6? 7?) so that I could look at the box score/standings. I don't remember if we had cable at the time, but I don't think the Astros were ever on tv in the mid-80s, anyway. At least not on channels we had then. It probably wasn’t until the early 90s, when we finally got HSE, or whatever variation it was in the pre-Fox Sports regional era,  that I regularly watched games.

I think I may have gone to the Dome as a young kid, but I’m not completely sure. My aunt lived in Spring and we would visit them during summer vacation some years, because they were rich and had a huge house with a pool, and it was like going to a resort for us. Dad claimed that my uncle’s company had built Craig Reynolds’ house, but I have no idea if that was true. Dad had a penchant for hyperbole when we wasn’t making things up altogether. If anyone knows Craig Reynolds I’d love to get a confirmation one way or the other. Anyway, it wasn’t until the summer before my senior year of HS (1994) that I remember actually going to the Dome. We either saw them play the Cubs or the Giants - the other was the following summer before I started college. We sat in the nosebleeds, of course, but what a sight the Astrodome was to behold.

That 1986 season was much like the 1983 Longhorns season for me – vivid memories, no doubt colored by stories I would read and highlights I would watch at a later date. I can tell you a lot about that team and lament the near miss, but I have no idea how much nine year-old me actually witnessed at the time. I do remember trying to recreate them on the Nintendo game Baseball Stars a few years later and infuriating my buddy Rick by giving Glenn Davis a max power rating. “He’s the Big Bopper,” I argued.

The 90s really cemented my fandom. I was able to really watch games on tv, and 1400 in Temple carried them on the radio as well, so on non-tv nights dad and I would huddle around the radio some evenings to listen to Milo hand out blue stars and advertise for Ruggles. Astros baseball and Longhorn football were one of the few things I had in common with my dad, and in his later years those two topics were about the only thing we ever talked about. Should that day we’re waiting for ever actually come, I look forward to laying a “world champions” hat on his grave and telling him about how our boys finally won a World Series.

[Knoxbanedoodle]

My dad was an Astros fan from the time of the Colt 45s, having been a Yankees fan prior (his dad was also a Yankees fan). He pretty much raised me from to love the Astros and the Longhorns, and I have vague memories of checking out the Temple Telegram each day as a young child (6? 7?) so that I could look at the box score/standings. I don't remember if we had cable at the time, but I don't think the Astros were ever on tv in the mid-80s, anyway. At least not on channels we had then. It probably wasn’t until the early 90s, when we finally got HSE, or whatever variation it was in the pre-Fox Sports regional era,  that I regularly watched games.

I think I may have gone to the Dome as a young kid, but I’m not completely sure. My aunt lived in Spring and we would visit them during summer vacation some years, because they were rich and had a huge house with a pool, and it was like going to a resort for us. Dad claimed that my uncle’s company had built Craig Reynolds’ house, but I have no idea if that was true. Dad had a penchant for hyperbole when we wasn’t making things up altogether. If anyone knows Craig Reynolds I’d love to get a confirmation one way or the other. Anyway, it wasn’t until the summer before my senior year of HS (1994) that I remember actually going to the Dome. We either saw them play the Cubs or the Giants - the other was the following summer before I started college. We sat in the nosebleeds, of course, but what a sight the Astrodome was to behold.

That 1986 season was much like the 1983 Longhorns season for me – vivid memories, no doubt colored by stories I would read and highlights I would watch at a later date. I can tell you a lot about that team and lament the near miss, but I have no idea how much nine year-old me actually witnessed at the time. I do remember trying to recreate them on the Nintendo game Baseball Stars a few years later and infuriating my buddy Rick by giving Glenn Davis a max power rating. “He’s the Big Bopper,” I argued.

The 90s really cemented my fandom. I was able to really watch games on tv, and 1400 in Temple carried them on the radio as well, so on non-tv nights dad and I would huddle around the radio some evenings to listen to Milo hand out blue stars and advertise for Ruggles. Astros baseball and Longhorn football were one of the few things I had in common with my dad, and in his later years those two topics were about the only thing we ever talked about. Should that day we’re waiting for ever actually come, I look forward to laying a “world champions” hat on his grave and telling him about how our boys finally won a World Series.

Nicely said.

Baseball Stars! That game consumed I can't say how many hours of my youth. Did you ever figure out the trick where you could create teams of essentially perfect players? Me, Spiers for Hall of Fame (who used to post here), and his little brother used to play tournaments. For some reason that trick--or the way we figured out to do it--entailed beaning the Lovely Ladies team until they mercy ruled our team in the first. Which doesn't make any sense to me either.

[das]

@Drew, the radio was the only real connection for me prior to TBS coming online in the early 80's. I could catch some horribly static-y games from Philly and Pittsburgh and, on rare occasions, from Atlanta or Cincy if it was 1) after dark, 2) skies were super clear and 3) the games were broadcast on an AM channel in those cities that had no D.C.-area AM channels around the same part of the spectrum. This was with me installing by an uber-Radio Shack AM dish antenna and me going up on the roof before game time and pointing the antenna towards the city in question.

[BlownRanger]

I was born in New Orleans in '57, but the family moved to Houston just a couple of months later.  Some of my earliest memories are of Sunday afternoons in the summer when my dad was always in his recliner nursing a six-pack of Falstaff and watching/listening to the Colt 45s.  I know I went to at least one game at Colt Stadium against the Cubs. I vaguely remember the fans stomping their feet on those old, rickety bleachers.

The family went to the 2nd game played at the Dome - an exhibition game w/ the Orioles.  I distinctly recall that most of the pre-game warmup had coaches and players with fungo bats trying to hit the roof.  My older brother became a fanatical Joe Morgan fan.  I needed a favorite player, and my dad suggested the Toy Cannon.  But there was a Sports Illustrated cover with Morgan and Sonny Jackson ("Baseball's Best Young DP Combo", or something like that) so I adopted Jackson.  Should have listened to the old man.  Eventually I settled on the crazy fucker you see in my avatar.  This is also about the time that my dad promised that if the Astros ever made the World Series, we would be in attendance.

We had moved to Kansas City by the time the Astros became contenders in '69.  While my friends were rooting for Lou Piniella and the surprisingly competitive expansion Royals, I was completely absorbed by my first honest-to-God pennant race (a five-way pennant race, at that).  The team flamed out down the stretch, but the future looked incredibly bright.  As it turned out, there was much more pretending than contending the next decade.

When Nolan Ryan strolled to the mound for the 8th inning of 1980 NLCS Game 5, it looked for all the world like my favorite and 2nd favorite teams would square off in the WS.  No more needs to be said on that.

My wife and I moved to Austin in '83.  Her experience with live baseball had mostly been Sunday afternoon games at Royals Stadium when it was 100 degrees in the shade.  When we strolled into the Dome and she realized it was air-conditioned she said "This is the only way to watch baseball!"  By 2005 my dad was retired and my folks lived in Georgetown.  When I reminded my dad of his World Series ticket promise, he laughed and said something about the statute of limitations.  While I attended every ALCS game played in KC between '76 and '80, I've yet to attend a World Series.

[drew corleone]

Nicely said.

Baseball Stars! That game consumed I can't say how many hours of my youth. Did you ever figure out the trick where you could create teams of essentially perfect players? Me, Spiers for Hall of Fame (who used to post here), and his little brother used to play tournaments. For some reason that trick--or the way we figured out to do it--entailed beaning the Lovely Ladies team until they mercy ruled our team in the first. Which doesn't make any sense to me either.

Yeah, I think Nintendo Power had that little cheat. It's been so many years at this point I don't remember the details so well, but I know we had a rule that no one could be the American Dreams.

[Señor Stan]

First Astros memory was at 8 years old when my family took me to the dome in 1979 to see a game vs. the Padres.  It was free T-Shirt night and I got a replica rainbow gut with the #79 on the back and a "Tony's Square Pan Pizza on the sleeve.  The Astros won that game.  They ended up sweeping the entire weekend series and I was hooked.  Got an autograph from a guy with a funny mustache named Rollie Fingers.

Summer vacations ended up becoming a week long trip to Houston from Brownsville for a dome stand in the summer.  Astroworld by day, ballgame at night.
We didn't get the Astros on TV back home so I spent many a summer's night sitting outside with my Pops listening to the games on the radio. 

It's been fun to see my own kids baseball memories begin to grow.  They weren't old enough for the dome, but have memories of MMP.  They have grown up during the lean years of the post Biggio era.     We were at a game vs the Reds in 2011 after the salary purge had started.  My kids kept asking "who?" as the lineup was announced.  My then 8 year old son remarked "at least they still have Bourgeois."  Lean times indeed.  Makes this year all the sweeter.   

We have since relocated to the DFW area and I took them to the Friday game in Arlington.  We had a blast watching the Astros tear up the hated Rangers.   

[hostros7]

My then 8 year old son remarked "at least they still have Bourgeois." 

Gold.

[juliogotay]

I remember on one of our trips to Houston when the club was still the Colt .45s my dad and I went to the park early for batting practice. Dad had gone to High School with Jim Busby a good-field no-hit CFer who finished his career with the Colts and was put on their coaching staff when his  playing days ended. Dad got Busby to have some of the players sign a ball for me. Good memory.

[Andyzipp]

Fantastic topic!

My father started taking me to Opening Day games when I wasn't quite yet a 1 year old.  I remember going to games from like 4 years old until probably 7, although I can't say I remember much about the games other than my Dad was taking me to games, and we rooted for the Astros.

When I was 8, however, I remember specifically going to a game with my Dad, uncle and cousin.  And my Uncle said something in the car about it being a lucky day because "Richard was pitching".  This was 1979.  I was mesmerized by this giant guy who looked like he threw 50 mph faster than anyone else I had seen.  From that moment on, I was hooked.  Hooked enough I was mad when some bum named Seaver said my Astros would drop like a lead balloon, and hooked enough that I cried when they did.  JR Richard was my favorite player, and then Terry Puhl, and then Billy Doran, and then Ken Caminiti, followed by Bagwell. 

I haven't watched the Astros religiously before this year since 2012, mainly due to life and the CSN fiasco colliding.  But I find myself counting the hours until games each day for the last several weeks.

[VirtualBob]

I would have loved to have seen a game at Tiger Stadium and Forbes Field. I loved those old stadiums although I only saw them on TV.
Who was the Tiger pitcher that was the "Yankee Killer" in the late '50s, early '60s? It may have been Foytack but I think it was someone named Lary. All I can think of was the great Lion DB/punter Yale Lary. Maybe Frank Lary?

There were two ... Hank Aguirre (rhymes with Lary) was a swing man who seemed to kill them, and Frank Lary was the starter ... I always got them mixed up as a kid, especially because Aguirre was essentially a pre-closer along the lines of the more successful Elroy Face.  I loved them both (and still hate the Yankees).