Longest time as a fan?

[coxfan]

I look forward to others' memories. Here's some more: Our principal called the entire 7th grade to the auditorium so we could finish watching the thrilling game seven of the 1960 world series. (The 7th grade was the highest grade at my elementary school, as there were no middle schools then in Georgia. The 8th grade started high school for us.) I thought that was unusual, but I read that that occurred in schools all over the US. There were no night WS games then, so few students could have seen that game seven if the principals hadn't obliged.

I also recall Pee Wee Reese asking Dizzy Dean to sing a few bars of the "Wabash Cannibal" on the Game of the Week. Reese then couldn't get Dizzy to shut up, (though he tried) as he bleated the whole song for the whole half-inning. Back then Ruth's 714 was 180 HR's ahead of second place (Foxx with 534), which is why it seemed so impossibly high until Mays hit his 535th.

[sox83cubs84]

I have a few more memories from my youth to detail:

My first 2 Cubs games ever, in July of 1964, with the Cubs beating the Dodgers and the Mets. My Dad introduced me to Cubs lefty Dick Ellsworth, who used to sometimes ride his city bus. Ellsworth offered me a signed baseball, and I told him "not until you win 20 games again". (I was 5 at the time, what the hell did I know?) He did sign my scorecard, though.

1969: My first White Sox game at Comiskey Park, against Oakland. Gail Hopkins got a single in the first inning, and that was the only hit A's starter Chuck Dobson allowed in a complete game victory over the Pale Hose.

The 'red shirt game" at home: I was watching a home White Sox game against the Senators with my now-estranged brother. As a little kid, I would sometimes re-enact the game action in our living room with my whiffle bat and ball. I ran around the room throughout the game, and, when later family gathering would hear the tale, my brother would say, "Every time there was an exciting play on the field, a red shirt would appear on the screen." That, of course, was me, wearing a red shirt, blocking the TV while re-enacting what I saw on TV.

Dave Miedema

[Buccaneer Madden]

I was 9 in 1979 living in Albuquerque, NM and I watched the 1979 NFC Championship game on tv. First time I had ever seen the Buccaneers play (we only got Dallas and Denver games.) I was a Steelers fan then (just because they won all the time.. heck I was a kid) but I saw Buccaneer Bruce and the creamsicle uniforms and I really liked them. The Bucs ended up losing 9-0 and I saw a player on the sidelines crying and I felt really sorry for him so I decided I would become a Bucs fan from then on. Little did I know that just a couple years later they would start a streak of 10 consecutive seasons with 10+ loses. I heard every joke you could imagine as a kid but I stuck with them... 35+ years and going.

[TigersCubs84]

My first game was in Detroit against the Senators in 1969. Went on a school bus with scouts. Sat in LF Upper deck and saw Willie Horton hit a grand slam. Frank Howard hit a HR as well. Then around 1970 my Grandpa took me into a Sears store where I saw the Cubs on all the TV's. An ivy covered wall, in color no less. Santo, Billy Williams, the rest is history. First time I had seen color TV. Awesome!

[NEFAN]

It was 1965, I was 5, My father was stationed in Maryland. He took me to a Red Sox\Orioles game at Memorial Stadium with a bunch of his Army Buddies. It was late in a close game with a critical at bat for the Sox. (can't remember who).

I asked my Dad in a loud voice, "What would happen if a monster came out of home plate and ate all the players?"

Needless to say that was the last game he took me to for a while, but I became a Red Sox fan that day!