Originally Posted by dragmerc
Yes the play-by-play announcers can make a difference.
Went to Louisville, KY to visit my aunt. My uncle by marriage took me and my older cousin to the ballpark to watch Dizzy Pitch. That must have been back in the late 1950's or early 1960's. I was old enough to have heard about Dizzy. That was the only part of the game that got me excited. My cousin was a pitcher in HS and college and had a wicked curve ball even when he was in HS. I used to play pitch and catch with him and his curve ball really had some movement to it. I was a pitcher in civic league. I also played First Base or third base. Sometimes I would play shortstop. Never played much in the outfield. I got tired of the heat and dust when playing baseball. I was a swimmer ever since I was a young boy. I could swim on the surface when I was only 3 years old. I grew up around the water. Dad was a lifeguard when he was younger, so we went to the lake to swim and recreate all the time. I found that it was a lot more fun to be in and around the lake that out on the baseball field watching hornets dig holes in the dirt. So I stopped playing Baseball when all the kids in my neighborhood got older and went our separate ways. I think one of the kid's played baseball on the HS team. He was the one that was a fan of the Braves. I ended up hanging around the swimming pool and learning to do trick dives off the high dive. I got more adrenaline doing double gainers off the high dive that standing around on the diamond eating dust. I ended up taking lifeguard training and working as a lifeguard for about 9 years or so. I also trained to be a Water Safety instructor. Then I got into scuba diving and spent more time under the water than above. The world under water was much more exciting than above. I loved to watch the fish while scuba diving and learning how they act while under water. But I only could stay underwater for less than an hour each day. And I affected the fish's behavior, so I didn't really get to see them doing their thing without me affecting their behavior.
Once while diving at Cerulean Springs, I watched some 5 lb. LM Bass swimming in and out of a building that was flooded and in the bottom of a rock quarry. That was pretty cool. I was able to swim down the stairway in the building and in and out the windows of the building while watching the LM bass do the same thing.
And at the swimming pool there was a lot more girls in tiny swimsuits than at the ballpark. That had its advantages too. Maybe that was why I quit going to the ball field.
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