So when I last left off on that blog, we were in 1996. I was collecting football cards pretty heavily and dived into baseball collecting some. But, my real collecting of baseball didn't kick off til my love of baseball did. That is when the 1996 World Series Game 4 comes into play.
My father was a die hard NY fan all around and on this cold fall day I was stuck inside with family. That's the easiest way to word it when my mom's side of the family was over. I wasn't a fan as I had nothing in common with them. So I sat there bored to tears until I decided to get up and sit next to my father who was watching baseball.
I had never really watched baseball before that much, just football, but as I sat there I found the game intriguing, but even more so when it came to the 8th inning. That's when a guy named Jim Leyritz hit a three run home run against the Braves to help the Yankees tie the game that they once trailed 6-0 in. Not only did that home run tie the game with the Yankees eventually winning it, but it changed the momentum of the entire series that the Braves led 2 games to 1 as the Yankees went onto be champs. It also gave me the urge to watch more baseball which I did.
If you haven't ever seen the Leyritz home run before, here is your chance. Follow the link to the Youtube video of it. For some reason or another, my blog will not allow me to embed it.
After the World Series ended, I wanted to collect more baseball cards to know the players and learn more about the game. I even started going to my father's softball games. The more I learned, the more I was into it.
The Leyritz home run not only turned me into a baseball fan, but I was a Yankees fan. I guess eventually that was going to be a given. Just like with the NY Giants it was in my blood.
The one surprise was how it led me to be a Ken Griffey Jr fan later on. More on that next time.
So I wanna know, what's your backstory to being baseball fan? Let me know in comments!
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