Baseball: sport, game, my passion. It is now beyond American and is beloved in many corners of the world. This is one fan's perspective on my love for the sport that started in childhood and continues to this day.
I started following baseball before I even played my first little league game. I am fortunate enough to have been born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska which has been the home of the College World Series for decades. As a youth in the 1970's I attended many CWS games with family and friends to enjoy the game at its purest level. That sparked my interest to start playing at the school yard and later entered my first year of little league. I was an average kid with a little talent and developed into a good catcher and passable first baseman. Eventually I played those positions in high school but that was the extent of my playing.
While in grade school I gained an appreciation for the local AAA team the Omaha Royals and enjoyed attending many games. Seeing some of those players advance to the parent club I also became a fan of the Kansas City Royals. Obviously those were the golden years for the Royals but I have remained a loyal fan to this day.
My other sports passion is football and about ten years ago a group of friends invited me to join their fantasy football league. After winning the league three consecutive years the league disbanded rather than allow me an attempt to continue my reign, I later won two more football championships in different leagues when I got an invitation to join a fantasy baseball league. Over the years I had heard of rotisserie baseball but never actually knew anyone that played in one.
My love affair with baseball went to a new level.
I'll admit that my teams struggled those first two years and lived in the league basement. Many of those in the league have played for years and knew the ins and outs of strategy and much of what I did in fantasy football did not translate over. Ours is an auction draft 12 team keeper league where we can sign players to a five year max contract. The roster has a forty player limit plus we can have ten farm players. In the first five years of our league the same team has won it every year. This is the year of hope because many of their top players' contracts have expired although they are still very deep due to drafting well for need each year.
After that first year I took note on how the championship team constructed their roster and went into the second year draft with that as my template. I wasn't drafting for that year and it was soon apparent at the draft that I was stockpiling young players for the future. I was content to play in the basement that second year but rose to sixth place in the third year and a shocking second place in the fourth year. I fell off to fifth place last season because the contracts of so many of my stars from the previous season expired and it was cost prohibitive to get them back at the draft the following year.
I now enjoy fantasy baseball far more than fantasy football. The primary reason is the constant craving that it satisfies due to the frequency of the games. Football currently has a 16 game season per team played over 17 weeks with games played 3 times a week max if Thursday is included. In baseball teams play a 162 game season which is spread over about 180 days. Except for the dreaded All-Star game week there are games played every day!
I am a huge fan of the MLB network and often tune in off season. During the season I am often in search of the sports ticker for updates of that days games. Maybe that's the definition of a sports junkie but I certainly enjoy it.
In the coming weeks and months I hope to express my views on baseball as they relate to players and teams in both college and the pros. When it comes to the Royals I hope to have more positive than negative to offer. I'll also try to provide some insights on players I'll be following for fantasy baseball. One day I hope this blog becomes a go to baseball resource.
I hope you tune in later.
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