The journey of a wandering baseball fan

I love sports.  I love baseball.

In 1969 the Miracle Mets won the World Series and my father bought me my first hat.  I was hooked.  Four years later and mildly coming of age I wanted to make my own decisions.  I decided to look for a team to replace the Mets.

We lived in Buffalo New York so there was no logical team to choose. Toronto did not yet exist as a baseball franchise; Cleveland was the closest in distance.  Of course, the Yankees were from the same state as well as the Mets.

I wanted to be different. In the early 1970s, prior to ESPN, the only source of news for West Coast teams when they played at home was the day after newspaper.  This along with a country still dreaming about California led me to look at the teams on the West Coast.  The one I fell in love with was the California Angels. I always liked pitching, a good reason to stay a Mets fan was Tom Seaver, but now the Angels had the combination of Nolan Ryan and Frank Tanana.  My decision was made.

It took me over two years to find a California Angels hat. However, that did not discourage me from being a loyal fan of the Angels.  When the Yankees became really good in the late 70s, and Reggie Jackson, Ron Guidry, Sparky Lyle and others destroyed my Angels time after time. It was tough to be surrounded by a lot of Yankees fans.  I persisted.

I stayed loyal to the Angels through high school. College took me closer to New York City and Yankees and Mets fans were abundant.  The pull to become a fan of the local team was strong but it still did not take hold in New York.

Then my working career began, a string of cities across the USA. For some reason I chose to start following the local teams.

First stop Los Angeles, not Anaheim.  I was a Los Angeles Dodgers fan for three years.  This included the 1988 World Series win!  A friend offered me to choose tickets for either game one or game two. I chose game two because Orel Hershiser was pitching and had a shutout innings record in progress.  I still regret that I could've been there for that Kirk Gibson homerun.

Next stop. The Southside of Chicago for graduate school.  Let's go White Sox.  Old Comisky stadium was awful but I loved it.

An internship in Detroit for the summer of 1990 so why not become a Tigers fan.

After business school on the Southside of Chicago we did the normal thing of a newly married couple with no children and move to Wrigleyville.  It was impossible not to become a Cubs fan when you could hear Harry Carey singing from our front stoop.  But it was painful.

A new job opportunity in Houston. We now had a three-month-old son when the Astro season began. We took him to the home opener and bought him an Astros hat and I got one for myself as well.

Back to Chicago and back to the Cubs in 1996.  Then in 1998 my career took a turn towards the international world and expat life. What to do while in Italy, New Zealand, and Qatar?

I drifted until I discovered MLB.com radio in 2002.  Baseball became a joy again as I could listen to any game I wanted while enjoying the New Zealand sunshine.  Every game was an afternoon game due to the time zone difference.

While I jumped from broadcast to broadcast I realized I needed to choose a team. But which one?

I still liked good pitching. I also was never big on being a bandwagon fan jumping on a team when they were playing well. So I looked for a team with good upcoming pitching and a losing record.  In 2003 I found the Phillies.  I promised myself I would stick with them for five full years.  They played well, and pitchers like Cole Hamels came up from the minors.  They acquired other great pitching.  They won the World Series on my fifth year as a fan.

Having had such great success with the Phillies I decided to look for another young losing team.  I found the Kansas City Royals.

When the Kansas City Royals traded Zack Greinke my heart fell.  However, I stayed with them and today, even though it is the sixth year of my fandom, the Royals are in the World Series with a 2-1 game lead on the San Francisco Giants.  It has been tremendous watching them grow with the likes of Eric Hosmer, Salvador Perez, Alex Gordon, and others.

Whether the Royals win or lose the Series. Believe me I want them to win! I will start a new project and a new team next year.

Right now my front-runner is to return to my original roots and the New York Mets. Of course the Cubs are another losing team but oh can I do that?

Wait till next year.  The baseball journey continues.