How Did You Get Started?

[John Balkabella]

Love this game.

 

Watched it on TV long before I played it. Early sixties.

 

Dad knew I loved it so tossed me in a league in Ottawa. I was the worst player ever. Hoped for walks. Now, you must understand, I was first generation Irish, and nobody coached back then. Sink or swim. I sank.

 

Not til I got back to Nova Scotia and the best athlete in town took pity on me and showed me how to hold the bat and where to put my feet in the batter’s box.

 

That seemed to work.

 

Didn’t do so bad after that. Quite well, actually.

 

Any stories on how you guys got started?

[Spanky99]

That was great of said players, I remember my first slump vividly, there was my assistant coach and his son my catcher that worked me through it, they were great.. extra BP etc... until I started crushing balls again. Many tears were drawn at the time.

[BigCecil]

Love this game.

 

Watched it on TV long before I played it. Early sixties.

 

Dad knew I loved it so tossed me in a league in Ottawa. I was the worst player ever. Hoped for walks. Now, you must understand, I was first generation Irish, and nobody coached back then. Sink or swim. I sank.

 

Not til I got back to Nova Scotia and the best athlete in town took pity on me and showed me how to hold the bat and where to put my feet in the batter’s box.

 

That seemed to work.

 

Didn’t do so bad after that. Quite well, actually.

 

Any stories on how you guys got started?

 

Small town NS in early 70's, my Grandfather was in hospital with leukemia. I used to go see him there and we would walk slowly together down to the "TV Room" at the hospital where he would smoke his pipe and watch the World Series on a black and white TV. That got me into baseball and little league.

[BTS]

We had like 8 channels when I was a kid, and I caught the odd weekend Jays CBC broadcast. Brian Williams was the first voice of the Blue Jays for me.

[Sammy225]

I feel mine is generational my grandpa was a huge baseball fan. Especially in his late years when he could not get out much. If there was a game on it was in the TV, that went to my father then to me. God bless my dad he drove all around manitoba in the summer taking me to baseball but he seemed to love it.

 

Now my 5 year old is loving baseball. Got a ways to go but loves going to the back yard to practice.

[dineke]

I watched a game randomly on tv in 2004. All I remember was the pitcher for the Blue Jays was a guy named Justin Miller and he walked a bunch of batters I think.

[Jays24]

Grew up playing and watching baseball in mississauga since my family are huge fans and was a pretty damn good CFer if you don't mind the gloating lol. Then i moved to brampton and switched to basketball because none of my friends liked baseball so it was always tough to play/talk about it.

 

I always followed baseball since it was always popular within the family but only recently rekindled my love for playing the sport with softball (it's close enough). Now I just gotta find a competitive team to play with to keep that love going lol.

Edited May 16, 2021 by Jays24

[Sammy225]

Turned 35 with bad knees because the only position I played was catcher and now just play orthodox beer league..... all I need

[Spanky99]

We had like 8 channels when I was a kid, and I caught the odd weekend Jays CBC broadcast. Brian Williams was the first voice of the Blue Jays for me.

 

lol... Brian Williams, I remember that.

[Spanky99]

We had like 8 channels when I was a kid, and I caught the odd weekend Jays CBC broadcast. Brian Williams was the first voice of the Blue Jays for me.

 

Did you ever play the game?

[Spanky99]

Turned 35 with bad knees because the only position I played was catcher and now just play orthodox beer league..... all I need

 

Loved my catchers... +1

[Spanky99]

I feel mine is generational my grandpa was a huge baseball fan. Especially in his late years when he could not get out much. If there was a game on it was in the TV, that went to my father then to me. God bless my dad he drove all around manitoba in the summer taking me to baseball but he seemed to love it.

 

Now my 5 year old is loving baseball. Got a ways to go but loves going to the back yard to practice.

 

Love it, my pops was an assistant coach, and we'd pick up a ton of guys at the local park in travel ball, good times.

The ole econoline van... what a beaut!!!

[John Balkabella]

Spank, I remember when we ran out of catchers in midget.

 

Donned the tools of ignorance for the first time.

 

I admit, couldn’t stop closing my eyes when the guy swung. We got through it for the win.

[Spanky99]

Spank, I remember when we ran out of catchers in midget.

 

Donned the tools of ignorance for the first time.

 

I admit, couldn’t stop closing my eyes when the guy swung. We got through it for the win.

 

All catchers close there eyes when a batter swings, it's natural. Even in the bigs, you're not alone. lol

[Sammy225]

Love it, my pops was an assistant coach, and we'd pick up a ton of guys at the local park in travel ball, good times.

The ole econoline van... what a beaut!!!

 

Well I was a s*** infielder and had 3 gazelles in the outfield so I knew where my strengths were lol

[Spanky99]

Well I was a s*** infielder and had 3 gazelles in the outfield so I knew where my strengths were lol

 

Hey buddy, catching is the hardest position in ball, you were doing something right, unless you were a shitshow back there, lol.

[Spanky99]

King is and was the water boy.

[Deadpool]

In grade school, one of my classmates had a dad who coached, so he was really into it, and organized games at recess w/ a tennis ball and basically whatever we could pull together (This is like grade 4). From there I joined a softball league, and then started playing hardball at Bond Park, where my nickname was "showboat" (which was a popular musical at the time) because of a thing I did with my bat at the plate between pitches.

 

I had probably the worst arm in the history of baseball, but I could play anywhere in the infield pretty well, and really loved 1B. I was in shape at the time, and could get down into the side splits to pick balls outta the dirt, but they always preferred lefty 1Bs.

[Grant77]

My earliest memory (in life, not just baseball) is watching Mike Timlin toss it to Joe Carter in the living room as a 4 year old. I've been in love with the game ever since.

 

I wanted to be a catcher, but I towered over my peers so the coach put me at third base. I still have a great arm and won our league's equivalent of a gold glove a few times, but I have never been much of a hitter. I can't wait to play again after this lockdown is over

[Jimcanuck]

Big Red Machine 1975. I was 10 yrs old and Johnny Bench became my hero. Baseball was almost an everyday childhood thing for me after that.

 

It was a big deal when Street & Smith's came out with their annual. I still have those.

[bendera3]

My dad was fairly athletic growing up in a small town in northern Pennsylvania where all the boys had to play sports because there were only like 30 boys in the high school. When I was like 4 or 5 my dad started me playing by just playing catch or hitting. He said that he would try to teach me to hit right handed and I kept just going back to hitting lefty. When I got to be 12 I signed up for our rec league (didn't have Little League in our area) and I got assigned to the Yellow team who was coached by Chuck. He was so awesome because he just wanted us to have fun. Winning didn't matter to him he just wanted to teach us how to play and let us enjoy ourselves. If you stepped away from a pitch while swinging or let a ball go through your legs it was 10 pushups. I played 2 years total. Catcher, 2nd base, and center the first year and my second year I was the fattest shortstop in the league (5'5" 194 lb). Looking back on it I was the most un-stereotypical player ever. In the field I got to everything but with a relatively noodle arm and in the batters box I was a fat slap singles lead off guy who always got a piece of it. I miss playing.

[Grant77]

Spank, I remember when we ran out of catchers in midget.

 

Donned the tools of ignorance for the first time.

 

I admit, couldn’t stop closing my eyes when the guy swung. We got through it for the win.

 

I expected you to be a backstop since your name appears to be a reference to a former Expos catcher.

[John Balkabella]

I expected you to be a backstop since your name appears to be a reference to a former Expos catcher.

 

 

Only the only.

 

By that I mean that old Expos stadium announcer.

 

No walk up music required for that guy.

 

Forget my French, but when he said “Le numero whatever, the catcher, John BOCCaBELLa.

 

The crowd would always go nuts.

 

Yes, small thing are important.

[Spanky99]

My dad was fairly athletic growing up in a small town in northern Pennsylvania where all the boys had to play sports because there were only like 30 boys in the high school. When I was like 4 or 5 my dad started me playing by just playing catch or hitting. He said that he would try to teach me to hit right handed and I kept just going back to hitting lefty. When I got to be 12 I signed up for our rec league (didn't have Little League in our area) and I got assigned to the Yellow team who was coached by Chuck. He was so awesome because he just wanted us to have fun. Winning didn't matter to him he just wanted to teach us how to play and let us enjoy ourselves. If you stepped away from a pitch while swinging or let a ball go through your legs it was 10 pushups. I played 2 years total. Catcher, 2nd base, and center the first year and my second year I was the fattest shortstop in the league (5'5" 194 lb). Looking back on it I was the most un-stereotypical player ever. In the field I got to everything but with a relatively noodle arm and in the batters box I was a fat slap singles lead off guy who always got a piece of it. I miss playing.

 

Hah... the coach I was referring to earlier, his name was Chuck, Chuck Gallagher. He was a great coach. My uncle played fastball with him at the time. RIP to both of them. Lots of rails and beers with both of them 10 years later, lol.

[Spanky99]

I liked baseball for as long as I can remember. For some reason, I never played organized ball until I was 8. I was always crap. I stopped playing 6 or 7 years ago. I miss it. But I can’t throw the ball anymore without pain in my rotator cuff.

 

I went with my buddies, Rich/Rob/Paul and Ken to a tryout for the Indy team here in the T dot for the Leafs, I blew my arm out that spring, it's still messed as I tried Senior Ball later, nothing there, unfortunately. Just Pain! Couldn't hit worth a lick, who knew after 10 years of no ball, lol. Those guys all made it, obviously.

[DigitalRock]

My Father was a big Jays fan, often had games on, plus I played and he taught me to throw hit, etc..when I was very young, my fave sport honestly. Been watching since I was very young. Vividly remember some of the big moments in the late 80's, and of course the Championships..yes I am old.

[Brownie19]

I grew up on a farm and we only got like 8 channels until my Dad bought us one of those huge satellite dishes and suddenly I was able to get WGN. My first memories was watching afternoon Cubs games on WGN. Cubs games started at 2:20 and by the time I got home from school the game would be the 6th or 7th inning and I'd watch the end of it. Ryne Sandberg, Shawn Dunston, Mark Grace, Greg Maddux, Andre Dawson - those were the days. I'd watch the end of it and then go outside to throw balls against the back of the garage - emulating the pitchers I saw that day.

 

I quickly fell in love with the stats - I loved reading box scores from the paper. My Dad also played slo pitch, so I'd watched him play - although, as a farmer, he worked so often that he never had time to teach me the game - we barely had time to play catch. 1992/93 was perfect timing for me. I was 11-12 years old and it was f***ing glorious to go see the new Skydome in person and watch the Jays win B2B. It solidified my passion and love for the game.

 

I went to play baseball at about age 7 or 8, even though all my friends were playing soccer. I didn't care. I joined the NDBL as a 14 year old, playing junior baseball and then joined the senior team when I was 19. I finally called it quits at the end of the 2019 season after 20 years playing senior baseball. It was an amazing ride. We won the league title 5 or 6 times and finally won what proved to be a very illusive OBA Championship (AA level) in 2015. We hosted an annual tournament on the August long weekend, went to Ottawa every year for a tournament and had several other exhibition weekends v. Welland, Niagara Falls, etc. Anything for a weekend away with the boys. We got into all kinds of shenanigans and created several lifelong friendships.

 

My focus now is coaching my 3 sons. My oldest plays AAA in Barrie and I absolutely love coaching kids.

[John Balkabella]

My Father was a big Jays fan, often had games on, plus I played and he taught me to throw hit, etc..when I was very young, my fave sport honestly. Been watching since I was very young. Vividly remember some of the big moments in the late 80's, and of course the Championships..yes I am old.

 

No, no you are not.

 

Suppose it is relative.

[Spanky99]

I’m turning 28 this year and feel kind of old. Still annoyed that I missed out on perpetually competitive Blue Jays ball from 83-93, but I’m holding out hope we’ve entered a multi year run of high 80 win ball being the minimum!

 

f***, I have 20 years on you, lol.

 

I feel the Gillick vibe in Shatkins, not so much as Labatt's vs Rogers' though.

 

ETA: Baseball died soon after, it really hasn't recovered, if they do it again. God help us.

Edited May 17, 2021 by Spanky99

[Spanky99]

Sorry to hear that, re pain.

 

The Leafs were loaded a decade or two ago, IIRC. I’ve played competitive and high school ball with a couple players in that league who played for our local intercounty team (London). They were never close to being at the level of a handful of ex major leaguers and ex pro players that played in that league for fun, obviously.

 

Interesting that an IBL team recently signed 38 year old Alberto Callaspo. Lol.

 

Yeah, my buddies were the Butler bros and Paul Spojaric, lol. I love county ball, I was so sad to see it go here in the 'Shwa.