Great thread. I grew up a Kansas City Royals fan. Spent 20 years watching one of the greatest hitters the game has ever known, George Brett.
Then in the late 70's my family got cable TV, and thanks to the WGN TV station I got hooked on a lousy team that played in Chicago - the Cubs. In the mid 80's I worked for a hotel and they had an affiliation with the Drake Hotel in Chicago. Me and a couple buddies would fly up for 2-3 days, stay for free at the Drake, and take the train up to Wrigley Field. Spent many sunny afternoons sitting in the bleachers, singing along with Harry at the 7th inning stretch, and watching Ron Cey, Gary Matthews, Leon Durham, Jody Davis, and Rick Sutcliffe. They also had this young, slick-fielding secondbaseman named Ryne Sandberg, who became one of my favorite players.
Then, in 1985, something crazy happened - the Royals won the World Series. Oh, the feeling when your hometown team wins it all. :lol1:
Then came the strike of '94. They actually cancelled the last half of the season, along with the play-offs AND the World Series. All because of greedy players and owners.
Now I'll catch a few games here and there (I was banging my head against a wall when Steve Bartman wrestled that foul fly away from Moisus Alou), but because of the greed and corruption, the game has never been the same for me.
I still love "the game" of baseball, just not the current condition of MLB.