OT: Famous Baseball Players You’ve Seen Play In Person

[alphasigko]

I grew up 20 blocks north of the original Yankees Stadium in the 50s. Got see them all numerous times: Ford, Yogi, Mick, Kubek, Skowron, Marris and Richardson. Sat behind Marris in the right field bleachers. Saw the '69 Mets many times when a Jr at UConn Also when at UConn went to Fenway to see the Sox vs the A' s (Catfish Hunter pitched and Reggie was in the OF) Lived in Dayton in' 75/'76 and got to see the BIG Red Machine numerous times (Bench, Rose, Griffey, Sr., Gullett) When at ASU in' 77 saw Bob Horner on their Nat'l Championship team. Lived in NYC in the mid-80s and went to 8 opening day Met games, the Playoffs in '86 and the WS Game #2 (Doc Gooden lost that game). Saw Gary Carter hit a G-Slam that season. Also saw Willie as a Met strike out 3 time in one game at the end of his career (so sad}. Lived in Houston and saw JR Richard and Nolan Ryan and Tom Seaver and George Foster when the Red's came to play there. Was in Boston on business and saw Pedro Martinez pitch the "Last Game of the Century" there in Sept '99. Was working in Ft Worth in 201 and went to one of the Rangers vs Giants WS games. Worked in Phx in the 00s and saw the BIG Unit, Randy Johnson several times Have lived in Denver since '92, and other than going to the All Star Game here in '98, there is not much to talk about. All of this is very true. I have most of the tickets since the 80s framed behind my bar at home!

 

[Rich]

Frank Thomas
Robin Ventura
Mike Piazza
Mike Mussina
Jason Giambi
Masahiro Tanaka
Francisco Lindor
Jose Ramirez
Rafael Palmeiro

Many many more

 

[Vuce]

I was 9 years old and my grandfather took my brother and I to the 1978 Yanks/Sox one game playoff at Fenway. I was and am a huge Yankees fan and loved Thurman Munson. My grandfather and his friend scalped two tickets outside. Then at the gate he had my brother and I in front of him and paid the ticket taker and said “hey these two boys will sit in our laps” and the guy let us in. Third base side and saw the Yaz pop out right there come down in Nettles glove. I cheered quietly because a Sox fan took one of those plastic Yankees helmets a guy was wearing and smashed it on the concrete. Good times!

Been to Yankee Stadium, Fenway, Royals stadium, metro dome in minny, Cleveland, Shea, Camden Yards, Angel Stadium, Safeco Field, all between years of like 1976 and present day so I have seen most of the great players in that time frame

 

[Pgh2Storrs]

Like others, I'm 34 so my list isn't crazy but I go to 70+ games a year so I've been lucky to get to see a lot of current/recent stars.

- The 2013 Wild Card game was magic. Hands down the greatest game in any sport that I've been able to attend. Two decades of anger, frustration, and sadness got piled on poor Johnny Cueto and the Reds that night.

As for players, taking trips to Toronto as a kid to see Griffey and/or Clemens were special.

My Buccos haven’t provided me with a ton of star power in my years. I was young for the Bonds/Van Slyke years but they were fun (and heartbreaking). The 2013-15 run was special, even though short lived and spectacularly mismanaged. Andrew McCutchen is a great player and a solid dude. I wish he left in a better way, even though that trade looks great for us, but he’ll eventually be honored accordingly. AJ Burnett will forever be my favorite Pirate. Not the “greatest” but his energy and attitude just flipped a switch for the franchise. Its downright criminal what we did with Gerrit Cole.

For opposing players, getting to see Trout was a treat. When Kershaw was in his prime, I never missed one of his starts against us. Our interleague “rival” is Detroit for some reason so we got a lot of Miggy and Verlander. I was at Scherzer’s no hitter against us in DC when Tabata leaned into one with two outs in the B9. Getting to see Springer come to town a few years ago was awesome as I got a thumbs up after a UConn chant.

Just writing this makes me miss it, even as awful as we are. I hope they can get their stuff together soon.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I saw Tyler Olander pitch

At Henry Park?

 

[Zanzman]

Frank Thomas
Robin Ventura
Mike Piazza
Mike Mussina
Jason Giambi
Masahiro Tanaka
Francisco Lindor
Jose Ramirez
Rafael Palmeiro

Many many more

Your a young one

 

[Ozone21]

I was at Tom Seaver’s 300th win. We were in the upper deck and left field line was obstructed. I thought Don Baylor hit a home run to win game, but no! It was Seaver’s Day and on Phil Rizutto Day. I was 10.

 

[Pawsox]

Highs and lows of a minor leaguer-
Highs -
1. Pitched against Fisk, Yaz, Rice, Lynn, basically everyone on the 75 world series team. Rod Carew, Ricky Henderson, Rusty Staub, Omar Moreno, Dale Murphy and a ton others I faced in spring training.
2. Pitched against Righetti, Blyeven, Len Barker, Mahler brothers (Rick and Mickey), Jim Beattie, Ken Clay, Ed Whitson, Al Holland.
3. Won championships in Carolina and International Leagues (Ben Mondors first year as Pawtucket owner - great man.)
4. Johnny Podres was my pitching coach. Ted Williams loved to talk about fishing and hunting.

Lows -
1. Salary stunk. Was making $1,200/month in AAA. Of course, big league minimum in 1977 was $19,000. Only get paid during the season.
2. Bus rides stunk. Our bus in the Carolina League had no AC or bathroom. 10 hour bus rides overnight were not a lot of fun.
3. In those days, the only days off were the major league all star game day and our league all star game. 140 games in basically 142 days. Better conditions now.

Wouldn't trade those years for anything, except maybe a better shoulder.

 

[FatHank]

Man you guys all have some great memories. I wish I could have seen half the stuff you guys have.

A bit off topic here but still related.

A couple cool things for me for legends I have met. Bob Feller signed a ball for me at the Waterbury Indians game as a kid. My Dad knew what he was doing for me that day.

Cal Ripken and a few Orioles came into a watering hole of mine one Friday after work. They wanted a table, grabbed ours (we had our tabs comped), and I mustered up enough courage to go say hi and shake his hand. He's a legend and total class act, IMO. I wished him good luck as I was parting and asked he take it easy on the Yankees in jest as I put my hand on his shoulder (the dude was 40's and hard as a rock), he looks me dead in the eye and says, in all seriousness to me... "we go out on the field looking to win every game we go out out there and play" and then I cowered away with my tail between my legs. Such a great experience. There is likely none better a guy around than he is.

 

[FatHank]

I got into a fairly mild confrontation with Reggie Jackson at Bradley Airport

This sounds interesting! Sounds like a Reggie thing to happen.

 

[Husky40]

Saw many baseball players in the 60's, 70's & 80's.....some of my favorites were Brooks Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Frank Robinson, Cal Ripken, Eddie Murray, Mike Schmidt, Pete Rose, Steve Carlton and Boog Powell

 

[XLCenterFan]

My mom taught AJ Pollock at RAHM. I checked out a game.

 

[Old school]

Saw my first major league game on a bus trip with the Meriden boys club in May of 1959. Saw Ted Williams but that day I became a Rocky Colavito fan. He homered twice that game.

 

[Bezzz]

Not me but my Dad played on a team with Jimmy Piersall. Here's the team, but Jimmy missed the picture. He was off to the Red Sox.

 

[jayfromfla]

I got into a fairly mild confrontation with Reggie Jackson at Bradley Airport

You're lucky it wasn't Billy Martin

 

[Deepster]

Fun fact. I saw John Valentin turn an unassisted triple play in 1994. It was the 10th unassisted triple play ever at the time and there have been 5 more since making it one of the rarest things you can see in a baseball game. More rare than a perfect game.

Additional fun fact. This was also the 1st major league appearance by an 18 yr old Mariners shortstop named Alex Rodriguez. He went 0 for 3 and batted 9th.

 

[AD DB Burner]

Graduated from high school with Matt Harvey and Jesse Hahn. Played numerous youth sports with and against them both.

 

[UofCT]

Not a huge baseball guy and not that old to watch any of the legends but I did attend a Mets vs. Giants game in 2001 while Bonds was chasing history. His at bats were electric. He actually hit one off the fence maybe a few feet from a HR. Everyone at Shea was standing and screaming

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Graduated from high school with Matt Harvey and Jesse Hahn. Played numerous youth sports with and against them both.

You still in the area DB?

 

[60'sfan]

I've been waiting for this category. I saw both Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams play. My dad used to take me to games at Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park. He was a Cleveland Indian fan and hated the Yankees. I was a Red Sox fan mostly because I didn't know what a yankee was. In the game at Fenway where I saw Ted Williams play, they were using the shift against him and he laid down a perfect bunt and laughed all the way to first base. I think they were playing the Tigers that day.

 

[AD DB Burner]

You still in the area DB?

Yup, living in the city of Groton now. Walking distance to Shenny & Par 4.

 

[Peacefrog]

Way too many to list but perhaps more uniquely, I was in attendance at three historical games by chance (as I don’t really go to that many games).

Roger Clemens strikes out 20 Mariners
David Cone pitches a perfect game against the Expos
John Lester no-hits the Royals.

 

[GoDAWGS]

I was at Randy Johnsons 20 strike out game, I was 8, but it was still sweet.

 

[Pawsox]

Two Ted Williams stories you may like.
Sitting in the dugout in spring training and Ted comes and sits beside me. Knew he was a big fisherman like me so I asked him about how they were biting. He went on a rant about tarpon for about 5 minutes. Out of the blue, he asked me what position I played. After I told him I was a lefty pitcher, he gets up and says, "I don't talk to pitchers." Gets up and leaves.

My girlfriend (now wife) comes to Winter Haven, but since there are 5 minor league fields, she has no idea where I am. She finds me and I ask if she had any trouble. She said a nice older man in a uniform asked her if she was lost. She told him that her boyfriend was in AAA, but she didn't know which field, so he offered to help. I asked her who it was, and she said it was that nice older man over there. I laughed and said, "do you know who that is?". She had no idea it was Ted Williams. Her father couldn't believe it when she told him later that night.

 

[HuskyBandDad]

Went to the old Chapel Square Mall in New Haven to see a bunch of the 1969 Mets signing photos.
Including Tom Seaver.