Your first MLB game

Saw a similar PIF thread from about 2009 and thought I would start one in the Clubhouse. It was fun reading the stories of folks going to games with the fathers or friends as young kids.

My first game was at what was then called the Skydome in Toronto. Baltimore Orioles vs the Blue Jays. 2001. I was 20 years old and not particularly interested in baseball other than watching highlights on the sports news shows. Couple friends and I bought seats up in the outfield nose bleeds. Other than the obligatory hot dog, and handful of beers, I don't recall much other than that I thought it was cool to be able to see Cal Ripken Jr during his retirement year. If you can call it seeing from so high up and so far back. I had the opportunity to go back to now Rogers Centre about a month a go while in Toronto for business and catch another Jays game. First time back since 2001. I forgot just how massive the place was and how high up the seats went. I cheaped out and got nose bleeds again

Since that first game, I have become more than just a catch the highlights kind of fan. I still don't follow the league religiously but try to watch as many games on TV when I can. I also try to get to a handful of Seattle Mariners games each year, and to any games I can while traveling. Hoping to get to a Giants game later this summer.

I was between 10-12 years old and a big baseball fan at that time. Went to Fenway Park with my Dad. Don't know who the Red Sox played. I remember walking into the stadium and being amazed at how green and perfect the grass was.

My Dad took me to see the Mariners & Yankees at Yankee Stadium think it was like 1985. Yankees won that day

My first game was in 2007 the Reds vs the Astros in Cincy. Got to see Griffey Jr. play in a game (one of my favorite players). Was given free tickets and went with some friends from church. Loved the game, with the exception the Reds lost (

I went to a game about two years ago. Pirates vs Cardinals at PNC Park. The experience of being there was amazing, but the game itself was...boring. The Pirates didn't even show up. Cards won 13-0.

Braves vs. Pirates. 1968. I was nine years old. We drove 4 hours to Atlanta from NC, stayed at a Holiday Inn, went to Six Flags for two days, and took in Braves game. Great experience.

My first game was in Yankee stadium in 1952. My uncle took his son and me to the game and we had a blast. The Yankees played the White Sox. The Yankees were a team loaded with incredible talent: Mantle, Reynolds, Raschi, Rizzuto, and Berra were some of my favorite players. My other uncle was a Giants fan and we went to see the Giants when they played the Dodgers. However, back then I was a Yankee fan.

I was 15 in 1999 and went to see the Chicago Cubs with 4 other kids my age. I was the sympathy invite because I had just moved back in town and knew the two girls since we were in diapers. They had tickets and invited 2 dudes they knew and somehow I got asked to go also. I didn't know the two dudes at all. So I was the 5th wheel, felt really out of place.

So there we are 5 kids 15-17 years old taking the train from Aurora to Chicago. Somehow we get lost and ask a city bus driver for directions who was completely oblivious to rush hour traffic and was more than accommodating to stop in the middle of the street and help us out. Cars were going bonkers behind him. My first trip to Chicago..I was tightening my shoe laces anticipating having to run for my life.

Finally we make it to the game and have decent seats, behind home plate. The lovely couples chit chat amongst themselves while I'm sitting next to strangers a row above them. Funny, just couldn't get 5 seats together I guess. Every once in a while one of the girls I know turns around and says something to me, I think just to make sure I'm still there.

No idea who the Cubs played, no idea if they even won. It wasn't exactly a great experience but it was an experience I haven't forgotten.

Cut to a year or so later I go see a White Sox game with my older brother and his friends. My 2nd ever baseball game. Tailgate in the parking lot with booze and food, once inside some friendly "cubs suck" ribbing to some cubs fans (no matter who the Sox play there always seems to be cubs fans there) leads to fisticuffs and I'm pulling my brother off a dude while his friends are making their way to the exit. In the van on the way home I'm asking when the next game is.

And that's how I became a White Sox fan

1960 I think - Cleveland Municipal Stadium, saw my Tribe play Boston, recall some cat named Williams hit one into the left field bleachers, over a dude named Francona ..

A Cardinals game when I was probably 8 or 9. Ozzie Smith was playing then.

My first game was back in 1954 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.

I saw the great Roberto Clemente get a hit to defeat the Reds.

ackvil said:

My first game was in Yankee stadium in 1952. My uncle took his son and me to the game and we had a blast. The Yankees played the White Sox. The Yankees were a team loaded with incredible talent: Mantle, Reynolds, Raschi, Rizzuto, and Berra were two of my favorite players. My other uncle was a Giants fan and we went to see the Giants when they played the Dodgers. However, back then I was a Yankee fan.

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Great post and response!

Mine was a game at old Comiskey my dad took me to. Carlton Fisk was catching and hit a homer to win the game...crowd went nuts, there were fireworks...dad had one too many beers and was shouting to the heavens...it was a memory for a lifetime. I still remember vividly him standing on the bleachers to try and catch a foul ball coming our way. I was probably 8 years old or so..

Mariners & Athletics at Safeco field in 2008. I would have been 27. I've been an Athletics fan since I was a kid. SWMBO and I were living in Calgary, and made a five day trip through the mountains, Vancouver and Seattle just for the heck of it. Neither of us had ever been to Seattle or to a game before, so it was nice to see something new.

Oakland won, but it was a pretty lackluster game. I think the final score was 3-1, with the runs coming in dribs and drabs. We sat on the right field wall, and wore my Oakland colors proudly. The only other things that I really recall from the game are plastic beer bottles, and garlic fries. Funny how that works.

I used to spend a couple of weeks with my father's parents in Cincinnati every summer. I guess he was't a big fan because my grandfather never took me to a Reds game. But he gave me an autographed baseball signed by Ted Kluzewski aka 'Big Klu' and I still have that somewhere. The first game I attended was to see the Reds was as an adult because that was the closest ball park to where I attended college. Great memories of Burger beer, peanuts, bratwurst, and Ibold cigars.

Billski said:

My first game was back in 1954 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. I saw the great Roberto Clemente get a hit to defeat the Reds.

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I'm envious you went to Crosley; I was alive when it was still in operation but my first Reds game game was in Riverfront Stadium. But the upside is I was going when the "Big Red Machine" was still playing; Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, George Foster, Pedro Concepcion, (coached by Sparky Anderson) and that bunch.

Not one of my first games but a nice one nevertheless. This spring we had my wife's nephew, Tim, and his friend as house guests for spring training. Tim is a strength and conditioning coach for the White Sox organization and his friend is a trainer. My youngest grandson, Gavin, is 8 years old and loves all sorts of sports. My wife and I decided to take him to a spring baseball game. The night before the game Tim gave Gavin an official major league baseball and Gavin was all set to get some autographs. On the day in question there was to be a friends and family picnic run by the White Sox. Well Gavin is standing by the first base line and my wife is helping him get autographs. One player from the minors, Courtney Hawkins, had been invited to the major league. Hawkins signed Gavin's ball and gave him a hitrgh five. Needless to say Gavin was thrilled and even more thrilled when Hawkins hit two home runs during the game including the winning run. After the game we went to the picnic and sitting next to us was Courtney Hawkins. Gavin went up to him and asked for another autograph and Hawkins obliged. Here is a photo of the two.



In addition, Tim took Gavin to the club house where Gavin met a number of players and was treated to various goodies - swag as he called it - from the White Sox , including a backpack that was almost as big as he is (it has become his school backpack).

Well, Gavin went from being a Royals fan to a White Sox fan that day. I'm sure that day at the game will stay with him forever. He now follows baseball rather closely and is counting the days until spring training next year.

Unfortunately, I don't remember my first. My father took my brothers and I to a lot of minor league games but our first big league game would have been somewhere in the mid 80's at Veteran's statium. We went to a couple games in Baltimore during the innaugural season for Camden Yards. For the life of me, I can't recall being in any other pro stadiums, though we did see a load of games in Atlanta during the '96 olympics.

I was 4 when my family took me to their first season at the Olympic Stadium (called the Big "O" by the locals) to see the Montreal Expos, I think they played the Phillies that day because I disliked the Phillies ever since. I clearly remember Gary Carter and Steve Parrish, I also recall Steve Rogers but I don't think he pitched that day.

I also remember a young Andre Dawson warming up before the game, I thought he and Rodney Scott were amazing, they were so fast!

I attended many games in Toronto at that horrible concrete bowl, but my greatest MLB memories were in Detroit at old Tiger Stadium. I lived in Windsor, after work a quick trip over the border and a $4 "bleacher creature" ticket got a great baseball experience. There was so much atmosphere in those old stadiums and the surrounding area.

Once I was sitting along the 3rd base line and caught a foul ball. After the game the players walked out of a door in the side of the stadium, across the sidewalk and onto the team buses. It was fantastic for fans, and many of the more mature players seemed to enjoy it to. They would talk to the fans, sign autographs, generally hanging around until the bus was almost ready to go.

I got Frank Thomas to sign my ball, this was while he was with the White Sox the first time. Harold Baines was the other autograph I got on that foul ball, such a nice person to talk to and very humble. How he hasn't made the Hall Of Fame is beyond me.

I lost interest in MLB shortly after that. Tiger Stadium was gone, player strikes, so many problems with the sport behind the scenes which is a shame.

Every few years I watch Ken Burns Baseball documentary to remind me what baseball used to be all about.

Musikmann said:

I'm envious you went to Crosley; I was alive when it was still in operation but my first Reds game game was in Riverfront Stadium. But the upside is I was going when the "Big Red Machine" was still playing; Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, George Foster, Pedro Concepcion, (coached by Sparky Anderson) and that bunch.

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That was when baseball was still baseball, and Sparky was the best.

Billski said:

My first game was back in 1954 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.

I saw the great Roberto Clemente get a hit to defeat the Reds.

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What a terrific memory.

My first ballgame was the Pirates versus the Giants at Three Rivers Stadium in 1993. Barry Bonds had won the NL MVP playing for the Pirates the year before and had signed with the Giants as a free agent during the offseason. Needless to say there was a lot of booing.