Your First Major League Baseball Game

[Gil Dobie]

Mine was July 1979, Milwaukee County Stadium, Brewers vs Yankees. Took a fan bus in with family. It was a couple weeks before Thurman Munson's death and he didn't play in that game, which was a disappointment. Billy Martin was manager. I remember a controversial call in LF the irked Lou Piniella. It was fun watching Luis Tiant pitch, although he lost to Larry Sorenson 9-2. Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson, Paul Molitor and Robin Yount all played and Yogi Berra was on the bench as a coach. I couldn't tell you much about most of the games I have been to since, but I remember more about that first game than most.

[darell1976]

1993 Baltimore at Minnesota. I got to see Cal Ripkin Jr against Kirby Puckett. Every long ball hit in the dome I couldn't find. Twins lost but I still had a blast.

[Laker]

Summer of 1965, a loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Safety Patrol day. Cloudy, cool day- I remember how cold I felt after eating ice cream. We were out in left field in the old Met Stadium. Someone hit a home run out our way and I was hoping, but the mass of small humanity quickly pounced on it. Some people didn't like the Met- but it was built for baseball, not football, and I had many more great experiences watching games there. My first NFL game was the 1971 playoff loss to Dallas on Christmas Day, but that is another story.

[superman7515]

June 8, 1993 to watch the Houston Astros defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-3. The Astros had the late Darryl Kile on the mound and Biggio, Bagwell, and Caminiti all played.

This was the year the Phillies lost the World Series to the Blue Jays with the "Macho Row" lineup of John Kruk, Lenny "Nails" Dykstra (also called Dr. Dirt because the Braves had "Mr. Clean" Dale Murphy and Dykstra wasn't a nice guy), Darren "Dutch" Daulton, Kevin Stocker, Pete Incaviglia, Jim "(Jeffrey) Dahmer" Eisenreich, etc and some colorful pitching from Curt Schilling, Tommy Greene, Terry Mullholland, and Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams. Even had some bum of an outfielder named Ruben Amaro Jr.

[Grizalltheway]

Mid-July 1999 at Safeco Field (I believe it was about the 6th or 7th game played there), Mariners vs Oakland As. Was hoping to see Jr. hit a homerun, but had to settle for A-Fraud. All in all it was a great experience.

[Bisonoline]

1965 Milwaukee Braves vs Chicago White Sox exhibition game at County stadium..

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

August 13, 1988, Philadelphia Phillies vs. Pittsburgh Pirates @ Veterans Stadium; Attendance 36,468

We sat in the outfield, lower-level. It was also Mike Schmidt bat day. I still have the bat to this day. The Pirates won 9-8....

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

June 8, 1993 to watch the Houston Astros defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-3. The Astros had the late Darryl Kile on the mound and Biggio, Bagwell, and Caminiti all played.

This was the year the Phillies lost the World Series to the Blue Jays with the "Macho Row" lineup of John Kruk, Lenny "Nails" Dykstra (also called Dr. Dirt because the Braves had "Mr. Clean" Dale Murphy and Dykstra wasn't a nice guy), Darren "Dutch" Daulton, Kevin Stocker, Pete Incaviglia, Jim "(Jeffrey) Dahmer" Eisenreich, etc and some colorful pitching from Curt Schilling, Tommy Greene, Terry Mullholland, and Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams. Even had some bum of an outfielder named Ruben Amaro Jr.

Still my favorite sports team! In fact, in general, no team in Philly sports will be more beloved than the 1993 Phillies, unless the Eagles win the Super Bowl......

Danny Jackson, Milt Thompson, Mariano Duncan, Dave Hollins, David West, Larry Anderson, Todd "Tank" Pratt are some of the other gems from that team....

[NHwildEcat]

October 5, 2003 Oakland at Boston--Game 4 of the ALDS.

My parents were never able to bring me to a game as a child so my first semester into college I paid way too much to attend my first game. I believe I paid $200 to sit in the bleachers at Fenway. This was only the beginning of the Ortiz clutch playoff run that he has shown year after year. He had a 2-RBI double in the 8th that sent the game back to Oakland for Game 5.

Even more memorable for me about that game was the very night before. Game 3 went to extras, had Oakland won my first game would not have been that year as the A's were on the verge of a sweep. But Trot Nixon hit a 2-run walk off HR to get my to my first game.

[superman7515]

Still my favorite sports team! In fact, in general, no team in Philly sports will be more beloved than the 1993 Phillies, unless the Eagles win the Super Bowl......

Danny Jackson, Milt Thompson, Mariano Duncan, Dave Hollins, David West, Larry Anderson, Todd "Tank" Pratt are some of the other gems from that team....

I never liked Pratt, but I was a big fan of Mike Lieberthal. Greatest catcher they ever had and his 1999 season is one of the best by a catcher period. Poor bastard, played his heart out for the Phillies for over a decade, they made the World Series the year before he got there and missed the playoffs every year until the year after he left.

[PaladinFan]

Good question. I used to go to five or six every summer. The earliest one I can remember as a distinct game was July 25, 1992. Hard to forget that one as it was the game Otis Nixon turned in one of the defensive plays of a generation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSHzGtPx8zo

What's neat is that there is a portion of Turner Field that has a replica of that play up against a wall. It was a real treat to take a picture there this summer with my 1 year old, holding him up against the outline of Nixon's famous jump. The two of us only managed to reach up to Nixon's letters.

[MR. CHICKEN]

18756…..AH WAS…EIGHT YEARS OL'…WHEN MAH DAD…TOOK ME & MY COUSIN…..TA CONNIE MACK….IT WAS UH DOUBLE-HEADER….WHIFF SIMMONS/ROBERTS….AGIN' DUH CUBS…...LONG DAY…FO' UH OCTAGONER……..AWK!

[Twentysix]

In the early 90s sometime, Twins Yankees at the HHH. Puckett was playing and the Twins beat the Yankees.

[caribbeanhen]

Circa 1971 at the Vet, took a bus ride up from Seaford with the Cub Scouts, sat in the are in deep upper CF known as the "knot hole" Philles vs Cubs - near the end of Ernie Banks career but he hit a long HR, I want to say Chris Short (Lewes, De) pitched but not sure about that

Edit: I looked the game up and the Ernie Bank HR I "remembered" was hit by Jim Hickman, pretty sure it was in the Upper deck. 2-1 win for the Phils and Short got the win, As for Banks - DNP.

[bri-dog]

Summer of 1965, a loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Safety Patrol day. Cloudy, cool day- I remember how cold I felt after eating ice cream. We were out in left field in the old Met Stadium. .

Mine was also at Met Stadium in the summer of '65, but I don't remember it, because I was only 5. And I'm not sure I even went.

My dad and older brother started heading into the game, and my mom was going to stay in the car because my 1-year-old brother had suddenly gotten sick (we'd driven from North Dakota, so she couldn't just go home). I said I was gonna stay in the car too, but changed my mind. So I ran across the parking lot to catch my dad and older brother. After the game, dad and older brother came back to the car and said "Where's Brian?" Mom said "He caught up with you and went to the game". Dad said "no, he didn't".

They didn't know what to do, so they sat and waited for the parking lot to clear out and I eventually came walking from the other direction. I still don't know what I did for 4 hours or so. Either I got into the game with some strangers (I do have a vague recollection of going to a game sometime around that year), or I just found a pile of dirt to play in. I guess I'll never know...

[TheDancinMonarch]

Ebbets Field. Dodgers hosting the Cardinals. I think it was 1955. I was (expunged) years old.

[superman7515]

Circa 1971 at the Vet, took a bus ride up from Seaford with the Cub Scouts, sat in the are in deep upper CF known as the "knot hole" Philles vs Cubs - near the end of Ernie Banks career but he hit a long HR, I want to say Chris Short (Milford, De) pitched but not sure about that

My dad played ball with him on some small teams in Slower Lower in the late 70's, early 80's with him and Spook Jacobs.

[melloware13]

Mine was a double-header in April 2000, at Shea Stadium for Cubs @ Mets. I remember it being overcast, and from the mezzanine pretending that the pigeons were "dive bombing" Sammy Sosa while he was on the field. I'm pretty sure the Mets won big in both games, but I was only 8 and that was 7 concussions ago.

[superman7515]

Mine was a double-header in April 2000, at Shea Stadium for Cubs @ Mets. I remember it being overcast, and from the mezzanine pretending that the pigeons were "dive bombing" Sammy Sosa while he was on the field. I'm pretty sure the Mets won big in both games, but I was only 8 and that was 7 concussions ago.

They won the first game 8-3 http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN200004221.shtml
And the second game 7-6 http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN200004222.shtml

Just in case you wanted to take a trip down memory lane.

[caribbeanhen]

My dad played ball with him on some small teams in Slower Lower in the late 70's, early 80's with him and Spook Jacobs.

He went to Lewes HS, My uncle knew him as well. Ended up spending lots of time on Lewes Beach drowning in Suds and he died pretty young.

[superman7515]

He went to Lewes HS, My uncle knew him as well. Ended up spending lots of time on Lewes Beach drowning in Suds and he died pretty young.

Yeah, he moved to Jersey and graduated from some military school there. Speaking of drowning, he damn near killed himself in LA one time. Some guys decided to have a contest at the hotel they were staying at to see who could stay underwater the longest, after realizing Chris had been under for waaay too long, Mike Ryan (a mediocre catcher at best) jumped in and pulled him out, unconscious, and they had to do mouth-to-mouth on him.

[AshevilleApp2]

I don't remember the game, but I think it was in 1963. Twins against somebody at Metropolitan Stadium. Harmon Killebrew hit a homerun that I apparently thought was going to hit me.

First game I went to that I remember was at Tiger Stadium in 1966. Couldn't tell you the date or who they played though.

[ngineer]

June 1957 at Connie Mack Stadium for my 5th birthday present to see the Phillies play the Cardinals with my Mom and Dad. I remember being scared of the steep pitch in the stadium's upper deck. One had feeling they'd fall out onto the field. Been a Phillies Phan ever since.

[clenz]

Reds at Twins in 00...or 01 I can't remember.

I'm a HUGE Griffey Jr fan...I have roughly 150 baseball cards of just him (including a couple gem mint 10 rookies and some solid gold ones), a jersey for every team he played for (even a White Sux one and that kills me as a Twins fan), more posters/pictures/bobble heads/pieces of memorabilia than I am proud to admit. He was coming off the DL and was DHing.

My parents took me to two of the three games and it was awesome.

Pissed though. I went to piss between innings and the line took to long and I missed an ab of his in the stadium but saw it on a concourse tv. He hit a foul ball that some douche the row behind mine (same seat) caught. He didn't like baseball and barley knew who Jr was (admitted so). I had my Jr jersey on and instead of being a nice guy and giving the young kid the ball of his favorite player say there and taunted me with it the rest of the game...****er

Sent from my S4 using Tapatalk

[Mr. C]

I never liked Pratt, but I was a big fan of Mike Lieberthal. Greatest catcher they ever had and his 1999 season is one of the best by a catcher period. Poor bastard, played his heart out for the Phillies for over a decade, they made the World Series the year before he got there and missed the playoffs every year until the year after he left.
I covered Mike Lieberthal in high school (Westlake High School) out in Southern California. I had a chance to see some great prep players, who moved on to the Big Leagues.

[Mr. C]

My first game was a Los Angeles Dodgers-San Francisco Giants game on June 3, 1961 (my father's birthday) at the LA Coliseum. A couple of young pitchers named Sandy Koufax and Juan Marichal faced each other for the first of four times. One of the four Major Leaguers who played with my dad on his team in Hawaii in World War II, Gil Hodges, played for the Dodgers at first base that night (ironically, my dad has played first base and Hodges played third base on their WWII team, the Barber's Point Pointers, along with catcher-manager Herman Franks, pitcher Luman Harris and center fielder Gil "Gibby" Brack). The game was tied 3-3 in the bottom of the ninth when Daryl Spencer hit a walk-off homer against Marichal to win the game, 4-3. It is one of my earliest memories of life and had a huge impact on me wanting to become a sportswriter. I was also a Koufax fan for life after that.

Years later, a Delaware professor named Dave Smith, who started a great baseball website called Retrosheet.org (and also was the guy who taped Sandy Koufax's perfect game off the radio), sent me a copy of the box score from that 1961 game.

[TheValleyRaider]

This one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKIHNsf8O_A

Missed David Wells' perfect game by 2 days, had to settle for this instead (May 19, 1998). Heck of a game too. Bernie Williams had just homered off Benitez to give the Yankees the lead after trailing most of the game. First pitch after the brawl, Tim Raines went deep. Place was rocking, especially for a game in mid-May.

[TheRevSFA]

The first game I truly remember was may 1, 1991, Toronto Blue Jays in Arlington facing the Rangers and Nolan Ryan threw his 7th no hitter. I still have the stub in a frame in my den

[NoDak 4 Ever]

Twins and Rangers, 1983. The Metrodome was the most amazing thing I had ever seen.

[caribbeanhen]

Reds at Twins in 00...or 01 I can't remember.

I'm a HUGE Griffey Jr fan...I have roughly 150 baseball cards of just him (including a couple gem mint 10 rookies and some solid gold ones), a jersey for every team he played for (even a White Sux one and that kills me as a Twins fan), more posters/pictures/bobble heads/pieces of memorabilia than I am proud to admit. He was coming off the DL and was DHing.

My parents took me to two of the three games and it was awesome.

Pissed though. I went to piss between innings and the line took to long and I missed an ab of his in the stadium but saw it on a concourse tv. He hit a foul ball that some douche the row behind mine (same seat) caught. He didn't like baseball and barley knew who Jr was (admitted so). I had my Jr jersey on and instead of being a nice guy and giving the young kid the ball of his favorite player say there and taunted me with it the rest of the game...****er

Sent from my S4 using Tapatalk

While living right across the street from the Kingdome up in Seattle in 1987, I spent many of nights watching Mariner games (along with about 8,000 others) They drafted a kid out of Cincinnati #1 that year and assigned him to Class A Bellingham. Made the trip up to Everett (Giants) just to check out this "kid". Was standing right next to him in the concession line (yep, that's the way it is in the Minors) and I sure looked like a shrimp next to him, later he was fooling around standing right outside the dugout and was throwing balls over the CF fence with ease and he was only 17 years old. Lets just say I followed his career very closely. What a talent.

[caribbeanhen]

Good question. I used to go to five or six every summer. The earliest one I can remember as a distinct game was July 25, 1992. Hard to forget that one as it was the game Otis Nixon turned in one of the defensive plays of a generation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSHzGtPx8zo

What's neat is that there is a portion of Turner Field that has a replica of that play up against a wall. It was a real treat to take a picture there this summer with my 1 year old, holding him up against the outline of Nixon's famous jump. The two of us only managed to reach up to Nixon's letters.

Will never forget that catch, Big Braves fan and was tuned in to TBS that night.

[gotts]

First game I can remember was Twins/Angels sometime in 1995 at the Metrodome.

Game I more vividly remember was Cal Ripken's 3000th hit against the Twins in 2000. The certificate saying I was in attendance is somewhere at my parents place.

[caribbeanhen]

seems like lots of Twins and Phillies first gamers

[caribbeanhen]

Yeah, he moved to Jersey and graduated from some military school there. Speaking of drowning, he damn near killed himself in LA one time. Some guys decided to have a contest at the hotel they were staying at to see who could stay underwater the longest, after realizing Chris had been under for waaay too long, Mike Ryan (a mediocre catcher at best) jumped in and pulled him out, unconscious, and they had to do mouth-to-mouth on him.

"Did I win" - read a story today that stated those were his first words after being brought back to life.... nickname was "Styles" mainly for the lack of it

[NoDak 4 Ever]

seems like lots of Twins and Phillies first gamers

I think it was my first ever time on a really "long" road trip. Its was during the summer so I was 10 almost 11. The Dome was brand new.

[superman7515]

"Did I win" - read a story today that stated those were his first words after being brought back to life

Haha. If true, that's both semi-believable and completely ridiculous.

[LeadBolt]

1965 in St. Louis. I think they played the Pirates. Big time for a small town boy from the Valley of Virginia.

[Catatonic]

Summer 1964. Watched Willie Mays amd the Giants beat the Pirates in Candlestick Park. Willie hit a HR. One of the highlights of my life to that point.

[caribbeanhen]

Haha. If true, that's both semi-believable and completely ridiculous.

well this doesn't make it true, but it was in the paper ....

http://articles.philly.com/1991-08-02/sports/25805946_1_phillies-rich-ashburn-friendly-competition

"Mr. Short was a fierce competitor. Once, on a road trip in Los Angeles, he told his teammates he could stay underwater longer than any of them. Mr. Short hopped into a pool at the Wilshire-Hyatt and stayed underwater for a scary length of time. Catcher Mike Ryan finally jumped in and hauled "the half- drowned, unconscious Short out of the pool," Ashburn recalled. After the water was pumped out of him, and he came to, Mr. Short's first words were, ''Did I win?"