Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Introduction

This is my first attempt at blogging, and what better topic than my beloved Dbacks!

A little biographical fan history. My love of the game did not begin with the usual introduction of the sport from my dad. You see, my family came to America from South Korea back in 1984, along with many other Korean families. However, unlike many other Koreans, we didn't end up in Los Angeles, San Francisco, or New York. We ended up in Denver, not exactly what you would call the mecca of baseball in the 80's.

I was six, then, and had no interest in professional sports. The only things that interested me were G.I. Joe's and Transformers, and it was a treat whenever one of my friends would give me their used toys as my parents weren't able to buy me any. Our family moved around for a few years between the various suburban towns surrounding Denver, but eventually ended up in El Centro, CA (town motto, "Where the Sun Spends the Winter") in 1989. Located about 2 hours drive east of San Diego, again, not what you would call the mecca of baseball, either.

During this time, around age 11, is when I discovered baseball. As mentioned earlier, I was not introduced to baseball in the conventional way that other boys discovered the sport, which I would assume is usually through their father's. My parents at the time made money by selling socks at an outdoor swap meet in Calexico, a town next to the US/Mexico border. My parents were gone when I woke up each morning at 6:30AM and my mom would come home around 7PM to make dinner for my sister and I and my dad would come home around 9:30PM or so after closing up shop. Not too much father/son bonding time, but I was introduced to baseball shortly after moving to California.

My introduction to baseball came the way of a book series called "Childhood of Famous Americans". The first book I read from that series was of Lou Gehrig, and his immigrant upbringing, eventual baseball success, and the tragic nature of his death fascinated me. Around the same time, my father became frustrated that the TV antenna wasn't able to pick up any reception, so we finally got cable, and my love of baseball began.

I couldn't get enough of Baseball Tonight and Peter Gammons. Like a lot of kids in California at the time, I was enamored with baseball cards, the Bash Brothers, and Little League. I moved away to another small town border town in 1991, but in Arizona. However, my love of baseball did not waiver, but instead only grew while watching moments like Joe Carter hitting the World Series winning home run off of Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams.

As a freshmen in college in 1996, I discovered something that changed my life and view of baseball... I grew up like any other kid, reading the back of baseball cards and looking at the box scores for batting average, home runs, and RBI's. I watched eagerly of the Triple Crown that Gary Sheffield pursued in his hey day with the Padres. However, that all changed when I began reading Rob Neyer.

What frustrated me throughout the years, however, was why others could not, or would not, be open to the new discoveries taking place in this great game. I realized even further, when I had a chance to travel around the country and watch a game in every ballpark in 2006, how clueless the average fan was. My hope with this blog is that I will be able to instill some knowledge, yet also discuss the current state of the Dbacks along with where I see the team headed. Any and all thoughts and suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

Andrew

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