30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Little League and The Bird

I love this video...



It stirs up childhood memories of playing little league baseball.

2001 Topps American Pie Rookie Reprint Relics #BBRRMF
2006 SP Legendary Cuts Chronology Materials #MF

Back in an era where me and my buddies wore polyester uniforms with belts and stirrups that matched the color of our hats.

2003 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites Archives Autograph #MF

When we ran out onto the field... it was as if the stars were aligned and everything in the world was perfect.  We all worked together, played together, and had a lot of fun together.

1977 Topps Cloth Stickers #15

It didn't matter if I was the quiet, shy, oddball at school... because everyone on the team knew me as the short, chubby, Japanese guy who was really good at fielding ground balls.  And out there, I was a functioning member of a team who was having the time of his life.

1977 Hostess #46

But as crazy as this might sound, my favorite part of playing little league baseball was grabbing my juice box, orange wedges, and Hostess Twinkies and sitting in the dugout with my buddies after the game.

1977 Pepsi-Cola Glove Discs #30

Seriously.  It was perfect.  A PSA 10 moment from my childhood.

Thanks for the memories Mr. Fidrych.  We miss you!  Happy Sunday and sayonara!

12 comments:

Dennis said...

The Bird! Awesome stuff, Fuji.

Nick said...

Any post featuring "The Bird" is a great post.

comatoad said...

GreatBird post. Who can forget him inserting his cup onthe pitchers mound. Great memories indeed.

Zippy Zappy said...

How dare you flip us the bird!

Just kidding, awesome post and awesome cards man :).

The Lost Collector said...

One guy I wish I saw live!

night owl said...

I saw him play. It was a great year. Great cards.

Tony L. said...

The Bird was a ton of fun to watch. I enjoyed watching him talking to the ball on the mound -- always a treat for me as a 6 year-old.

Commishbob said...

The Bird was such a phenomenon. Nice post Fuji. Little League was a great time in my life, too.

Mark Hoyle said...

Saw the bird pitch in one of his last games for the Pawsox. Put on a show

BobWalkthePlank said...

Great cards Fuji! Little League was a blast for me as well.

NPB Card Guy said...

There's a great song by The Baseball Project called "1976" about the Bird.

Man said...

I wish I coulda seen more Al games growing up, ah pre cable days. thanks for sharing the Bird