Let’s Play Ball

[Gumbo Man]

Those were back in the hay day of baseball. My dad played semi-pro baseball back in the 50's, so I grew up watching with him on Sunday's in the 60's. Here is a link to the team my dad played for before I was born.


Oak Cliff history: Our neighborhood was home to pro baseball for about 50 years - Oak Cliff (advocatemag.com)

Wow that’s cool.

[Bayouboy]

I enjoyed watching Ricky Henderson on the base path. Ricky could swipe those bases.

[Goldeneagle]

Wow that’s cool.

I think that article has a mistake. In 1966 when they moved to Turnpike Stadium, it was the Dallas Ft.Worth Spurs. Not Rangers. I went to many games in that stadium.

[Gumbo Man]

I enjoyed watching Ricky Henderson on the base path. Ricky could swipe those bases.

Yea those big ole legs would turn into wheels fast.

[Dale Moser]

Rod Carew was a really good hitter that doesn't get the love Tony Gwynn does...Tony was a really likeable guy aside from being a fantastic hitter. Julio Franco was another guy that was really hard to get anything by.

I really loved watching Ken Griffey Jr, and Will Clark swing it from the left side....pure poetry.

Nolan gets all the credit for the big heater, and rightfully so....but that curve ball he followed it with was AWESOME! Roger Clemens was another great power righty, but he was also able to change up his game later in his career when he lost a little velo, and still get outs with control and subtle movement.

[Dale Moser]

I think that article has a mistake. In 1966 when they moved to Turnpike Stadium, it was the Dallas Ft.Worth Spurs. Not Rangers. I went to many games in that stadium.

"The T()rd On The Turnpike"! Lord that was an awful stadium, and the 1st time I walked into it I thought it might as well have been the Colliseum in Rome.

[Goldeneagle]

"The **** On The Turnpike"! Lord that was an awful stadium, and the 1st time I walked into it I thought it might as well have been the Colliseum in Rome.

The first pizza I ever stuck in my mouth was at Turnpike Stadium.

[easeup]

P = Sandy Koufax, he owned the league back then
C = Pudge, he was better than Bench, dont argue with me either
H = Mickey Mantle


side note for the Htown folks, I was there for the very first game in the Astrodome, real grass on the field, and exhibition game with the Yanks. They placed Mantle as the lead off man in the lineup and threw him a gimme on the first pitch so he could notch another trivia milestone I guess.
Now for whatever reason he played left field that day so I had a seat right there above one of the all time greats.

[Gumbo Man]

Nolan gets all the credit for the big heater, and rightfully so....but that curve ball he followed it with was AWESOME! Roger Clemens was another great power righty, but he was also able to change up his game later in his career when he lost a little velo, and still get outs with control and subtle movement.

Nolan developed that curve ball later in his career. And after he perfected it I’ve never seen a better curve than what he could throw. I came home from work one evening and was watching sports on the local news channel and a clip was shown from the night before of Nolan pitching to a rooky. He had 1 strike on him and threw a curve that froze the batter. The batter contested the ball. After the ump came out and checked the ball and gave it it back to Nolan the look on his face said “ rooky if you didn’t like that pitch your gonna hate the next one”. His next pitch looked like it had a 4 foot arc in it and froze the batter for strike 3. The look on Nolans face was priceless as they threw the ball around.

[TX_Kevin]

If it is limited to those big leaguers I saw play in person:

Pitcher: Nolan Ryan
Hitter: Pete Rose / Mark McGuire
Catcher: Johnny Bench

Youth baseball:

Pitcher: Jamison Taillion
Hitter: Randal Grichuk
Catcher: Never saw any that were mind blowing