------------ BASEBALL TEAMS I FOLLOWED -------------------- :::::::::: VAGUELY: Brooklyn Dodgers (I heard of them when I was a kid and saw parts of some of their games on TV but I didnt bother to read about them in the newspapers or turn on the TV just to see them) Brooklyn Dodgers from early 1950s to when they left after the 1957 season. I also heard of the Yankees and how much they won but didnt realy think about them until about 1957 when the Dodgers were leaving or had left. But I wasn't a fan. In 1959 we moved to Astoria which was close to the South Bronx and there were more Yankee fans there. I think Jimmy was the main one. In 1959 I very vaguely followed the now Los Angeles Dodgers. But I didnt even know who Wally Moon was until I got his baseball card and other kids wanted it. He came to the Dodgers during the season from the Cardinals and helped them win the pennant. I DID read some articles about the Yankees that year as they had fallen into last place on July 4, 1959. I VERY MUCH follwed the 1959 World Series as I wanted the Dodgers to beat the Whitesox. That was the FIRST time I very much followed any major league baseball. In 1960 I very vaguely followed the Yankees. But I VERY MUCH followed the 1960 World Series between the Yanks and the Pirates. In 1961 I followed the Mantle Maris homerun race like every one else and i sometimes looked things up in the paper but I didnt really follow the team itself. MORE INTEREST: In 1962 my father was an usher (maybe alos in 1961, I forget). But in 62 I started going to a lot of Mets and Yankee games with him and I'd study all the info on the scorecards for the Mets and Yankees and visiting teams. In 1963 I went to even more games and read more about both teams. I was VERY INTERESTED in the 1963 World Series and expected and wanted the Yankees to win. They didnt. SUDDEN FANATICISM: In 1964 I suddenly became a fanatic light years ahead of 1963. I now read everything I could get my hands on about baseball. Not just scorecards but daily papers and everything I could find in the libraries on the history. The AL had a fantastic race between NY, Chicago and Baltimore from the very beginning. In 1965 I was equally fanatical BUT there was no huge pennat race in both leagues. The AL had none at all and all the best players got hurt. The NL players had good years and there was a pennant race but not a great one. In late 1965 I shovelled the snow for my neighbors and bought a StratoMatic baseball game based on probability and statistics. Now I REALLY went nuts. I loved MATH and I loved BASEBALL and the two things came together. I was trying to break the codes and make my own cards. I think the first one I made was a 1949 Ralph Kiner card. So now I really hoped for good stats each year. But 1966 was a poor year for baseball, the Orioles ran off with the pennant and in the NL the stats were down and the pennant race was a little weaker than 1965 (which was much weaker than 1964). In 1967 was that fantastic AL pennant race I followed every day and I went to Shea to watch the Cards (El Birdos), who were running off with it, play the Mets. I taped the World Series in Bloomington, Indiana. In 1968 neither league had a pennant race and the stats were terrible BUT Denny McLain was going for 30 wins. And I'd follow that every day, even buying extra papers. The 1968 Series was great. And of course 1969 was the Miracle Met year. And they beat the Orioles...... So during the 1950s and 1960s we had: Vaguely rooting for the Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1950s. Vaguely following the Yankees of 1958, 1959, 1960. Rooting for the 1959 Dodgers to win the Series. Following the Mantle/Maris race to a point while vaguely knowing of the Yankees. A sudden surge of interest in the 1962Mets and Yanks. The same level of interest in the 1963 Mets and Yanks. Then a huge support for the 1964 Mets and Cardinals whom I wanted to win the pennant. I also liked the 1964 Whitesox better than the Yankees and I liked the 1964 Orioles about equal to them. I liked Cincinnati second to StLouis for the pennant. Because I liked Jim Maloney. In 1965 I rooted for the Mets and Whitesox and Cards. In 1966 I rooted for the Mets to get out of last place and the Whitesox and Cards. In 1967 I rooted for the Mets and for either the Whitesox or the Tigers to win the pennant but neither did but I still like Yastrzemski. I wanted the Cards to win in the NL and they did. (mets fans had to have 'second choices' as the Mets never came close. As much as I liked the Cards I wanted Yaz to win the series. In 1968 I wanted the Tigers to go all the way. Especially since the Whitesox collapsed immediately. In 1969 I wanted the Mets and although I wanted the Tigers to repeat I was glad the Mets beat the Orioles. ....................... In 1970 there was a hell of a three way race in the NL East between the Mets, Cards and Pirates but the Mets dropped something like the last six games and collapsed. I had noone else to root for that year. I did follow the Yanks and they had a good year but the Orioles ran away with it. In 1971 I rooted for the Mets and yanks and Tigers. They went nowhere. In 1972 I rooted for the Mets and Yanks and Tigers and Kaline led them to a division championship. In 1973 was another Met Miracle year......... My baseball fanaticism was at its height 1964 to 1969. Then it waned until a resurge in 1973. Then it slowly deteriorated to a 'regular fandom' and not a fanatical one.