What Sport Teams were You a Fan of as a Child?

I was far more interested in participating in sports than in being a spectator.

My grandfather, Thomas was a fan of the Green Bay Packers and sat in front of his 17-inch black/white television cross legged, tuning out the world, turning up his hearing aid, watching an entire game without moving.

My dad was a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers. He remained a fan even after they moved to Los Angeles on May 28, 1957. I recall he often could be found on the back-porch, alone, listening to their games, smoking, into the evening with an ice tea or a soda at his side. Considering baseball teams played 162 games a year, that resulted in many games played under the lights. I would guess his connection with the Dodgers developed when serving in the US Navy while stationed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Growing up, for me, watching games on TV seemed like a waste of time, with few exceptions still does. Also, should note most of my childhood we only had three channels, and those went off the air by 10:30 pm after the news.

What loyalty I posed was to the New York Yankees. I knew the key players i.e., Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Mel Stottlemyre, Jim Bouton, Al Downing, Elston Howard, Joe Pepitone, and so forth. I owned a stack of baseball cards where, at random, I attached one to the spokes that sounded like a ‘motor’ as I peddled around the neighborhood. A Mickey Mantle rookie card, which I likely owned several, recently sold at auction for 5.2 million dollars. Roger Maris, about five-hundred dollars.

Now athletes earn millions to sit on a bench to play a game, over time lost interest. Multi-million dollars contracts feel like an ‘insult’ as many of my colleagues earn much less working as teachers.

I only really follow PAC-12 college basketball, football, and girls’ softball. To create some background noise, I sometimes listen to a major tennis event or the Golf Channel. I’m guaranteed a good night’s sleep.

To my grandchildren and/or great-grandchildren I bequeath my basketball cards. Perhaps some day they will be worth millions.