When was baseball best for you?

[Stradling]

I think it was the 80’s as well. The game seemed simple and athletic. AstroTurf was awful, but seeing the Cardinals and Royals use it to their advantage both offensively and defensively was something I enjoyed.  There were gappers that turned into triples.  There were stolen bases.  No one cared how much a player was making, you were just happy he was on your team.  We cared about batting average, home runs, RBI, stolen bases.  Guys like Tim Foli and Bob Boone would get a run in from 3rd with one out it felt like every single time.  Now those guys would be ridiculed for not being able to hit and drive the ball.  Also baseball was just more special at least as an Angel fan because it was scarce, it wasn’t on TV every single day. We didn’t have the internet to bitch about the team everyday.  It also felt like there were more personalities that played then as well.  You had hot heads like Mario Soto and Joaquin Andujar that would throw inside and that was just how it was.  You had Reggie being Reggie and being the Don King of himself.  I think that is one of the reason’s I went from a fan to a fanatic during the Scioscia time because they ran the bases aggressively and had a good pen for a number of years.  It was just fun baseball.  

Thank you for watching my Ted Talk.

[EDinTUSTIN]

14 hours ago, Stradling said:

I think it was the 80’s as well. The game seemed simple and athletic. AstroTurf was awful, but seeing the Cardinals and Royals use it to their advantage both offensively and defensively was something I enjoyed.  There were gappers that turned into triples.  There were stolen bases.  No one cared how much a player was making, you were just happy he was on your team.  We cared about batting average, home runs, RBI, stolen bases.  Guys like Tim Foli and Bob Boone would get a run in from 3rd with one out it felt like every single time.  Now those guys would be ridiculed for not being able to hit and drive the ball.  Also baseball was just more special at least as an Angel fan because it was scarce, it wasn’t on TV every single day. We didn’t have the internet to bitch about the team everyday.  It also felt like there were more personalities that played then as well.  You had hot heads like Mario Soto and Joaquin Andujar that would throw inside and that was just how it was.  You had Reggie being Reggie and being the Don King of himself.  I think that is one of the reason’s I went from a fan to a fanatic during the Scioscia time because they ran the bases aggressively and had a good pen for a number of years.  It was just fun baseball.  

Thank you for watching my Ted Talk.

You sound nostalgic there, Strad. LOL   But you also bring back good memories. I enjoyed all of that as well.

[Halo in Chicago]

1980s for me as well. My first real Angel's memories are losing to the Brewers being up 2-0 in the 3 game series. I think I was 10... Being 1 strike away a few years later... Frustrating, but I loved it. Watching the games on KCal 9 (I think), beating my dad to the paper or at least the sports page and going straight to the box scores... Real life got in the way for me and I missed a lot of the Angels seasons where they were actually good - most of the post WS series run I only really saw a few playoff games on TV. Now life has slowed down and I can watch a lot of the games, try to go to a road game every year and we suck again, but I still love it. 

[HaloNArizona]

Late 70's

Mark Cresse long time Dodgers BP coach used to live in my neighborhood.  He would take the cracked bats, saw off the barrels and give handles to us kids in the neighborhood.  We would play whiffle ball with bats used by Bill Russell, Steve Yeager, Ron Cey etc....Also would go to the local park and he would be working with his son Brad.  The started my love for Major League Baseball. 

[Jeremiah]

I loved the 80’s style of play. I loved the emphasis on speed and defense. It may not have been the most efficient way to play, but it was easily the most entertaining to watch. I miss that kind of baseball.

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

1980s.  
 

I had to write an argumentative essay in HS and wrote about the best players at each position for the 80s.  

Edited February 15 by The Ghost of Bob Starr

[AvsBroncosAngels05]

I was born in 1986 so my catalog of memories isn't as extensive as the rest of you fine folks but I really enjoyed the early 2000's. The Angels championship team of course speaks for itself and that's when I really got into baseball. I have very fond memories of 2014 as well between the Angels division title, flying out to Anaheim and getting to witness the 19 inning marathon game against the Red Sox in person. And yes I stayed for the whole thing and I'll definitely never forget it. I actually redid the scorebook for that game last night as something to do. That was a really wild game. 2014 was also the last season before Manfred took over so that was a good year for me as a baseball fan in that regard too. Not like Selig was a saint but with Selig at least I felt like the game year by year was going to be the same on the field. I'm worried what changes are ahead the rest of Manfred's tenure. 

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

1960 little league

[tdawg87]

Honestly, when I wasn't following the Angels. That's not a "Angels suck" thing, it was just more fun when I was playing little league.  Hitting dingers and pitching no-hitters and being disappointed when practice would get canceled. Didn't care about pro baseball. 

That was also before my depression and anxiety took over my life. 

Simpler times.

[fan_since79]

On 2/9/2024 at 3:34 PM, Jay said:

When I was a kid.

Same here.

Mays, McCovey, Mantle, Maris, Koufax, Seaver, Aaron, and many others.

If I still had those baseball cards...

[Chuck]

Today

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

On 2/17/2024 at 2:47 AM, Ace-Of-Diamonds said:

1960 little league

I considered it more of a job...

[Lhalo]

[Tank]

morganna was awesome.

[No Roles]

In the 80's when I was a kid and my family had season tickets to the Angels ! Then in the 2000's when I was of drinking age and could stay up late drinking to the end of games and never got hangovers...

[angelsfan100]

I'm only 30 so I have a rather small sample size. However for me it was really before social media really took hold on sports. So probably anytime before 2018 really. And I understand social media already took off by then. However compared to now it was fairly tame. Now it's nothing but terrible takes. Ex. "Angels are holding Trout captive narrative" I keep seeing now. I could kind of understand Politics turning people into d-bags on social media. But seeing it in sports has really rubbed me the wrong way. In fact this is one of the reasons why I stay off Social media for the most part now. 

I remember I used to watch Angels games on 'pirated'' streaming sites. And it was pretty fun chatting with other viewers. Now those chats are filled with teenagers who are either Dodger fans, or Yankee fans. And will shit on you for being an actual fan and not a bandwagon fan. For some reason a lot "fans" on social media cannot comprehend someone being loyal to their team. Instead it's more about the optics, and wanting to always be cheering for the winning team. 

My point being is talking sports on social media has become incredibly toxic. No matter how reasonable and respectful you are. Angels Win is a huge exception to this though. 

[EdmontonAngelsFan]

I'm 40. Baseball was best for me in the 90's, especially the summer time.

We very rarely got Angels games on up here in Canada (always Blue Jays or Expos), so when Sunday Night Baseball was shown on TSN up here, I would tape any Angels games that were on. Well I'd be at summer camp for two weeks and there always seemed to be an Angels game on when I was away. So I would get my Dad to tape the game for me and when I came home from camp, I'd sit and watch the whole game, even though by that time I knew who won. 

And the "dog days of summer" always felt that way as a young kid and a baseball fan. 

God I miss those days.