1. The Montreal Expos because of Mack Jones, John Boccabella and C/SS Ron Brand
2. TB because they do much with little
3. The Washington who?

1. Cincinatti because of the 1990 Reds and Canada's own Joey Votto

2. Detroit because I was born in Windsor and because I was too young to hate in the 1980s

3. They're 1-2 years away from being the NL Tampa Bay Rays, I wish they were still in Montreal desperately, and I'm a big Ryan Zimmerman fan.

Love that discussion too Chuck.  Here's mine

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=198606200TOR

I saw Doug Drabek pitch against the Jays before Kyle was even born. Mind you I was 6

1. Dodgers, largely because of their storied past.
2. nada
3. they'll beat the Globetrotters one of these days.

1958 but still remember vividly

The Cubs are the NL team that I root for the most.  The two main reasons are 1) they were a Lansing affiliate at one time so it was interesting to see the guys come up (I think Marmol and Wells who were both catchers in Lansing and are now pitchers are really the only two that truly remain from those days) and 2) A guy from my high school that was a few years older than me and was drafted by Milwaukee eventually played right field behind Sammy Sosa in the late 90's.

The Tigers are the other AL team I root for.  A few years ago, this would not have been the case, but I grew up with the Tigers and they were always on and Verlander has pretty much become must see TV for me.

1. The Rockies, oddly - they were just too fascinating to follow during the pre-humidor years. I won the only fantasy league I ever played by rotating players through my lineup that were vistiing Colorado (and dropping pitchers).

2. When the Jays were great and I was young, I rooted for the Red Sox. Now though, I guess it's Seattle (I was out west for a few years)...

3. The Nationals are a complete non-entity to me, not even achieving the modest success the Expos managed off and on for years. I hate the Marlins more - they have the owner who went out of his way to kill the Expos, and he remains a remarkably corrupt and despicable figure (currently under investigation in Florida while he spends his ill-gotten money this year). Weirdly though, I don't dislike Marlin players, just the franchise/owner.

1. Before the Blue Jays - Expos

2. Before the Blue Jays - Tigers

3. Don't care.

First game attended - Exhibition Stadium - April 7, 1977 vs. the White Sox

First game attended - Exhibition Stadium - April 7, 1977 vs. the White Sox

MatO's first game. I love the understated field conditions beneath the boxscore: Wet.

I love the understated field conditions beneath the boxscore: Wet.

The snow did melt eventually during the game!  My favourite boxscore part is: Wind 5mph in unknown direction.

If the wind has no direction is there wind?

Just can't come to grips with NL ball. 7 hitters, an automatic walk followed by an automatic out. Baseball? I don't think so!

And yet it was thus for nigh on a century until which time it was only thus half the time.

due to their years in La Belle Provence

As a native of La Belle Province, albeit an anglo, I should advise you that my onetime francophone cohorts might object to your unwitting reference to a region of France, a peoples with whom les Quebecois share no small amount of love loss. Yes, anglos misprounce the French word province as if it were Provence, but we can chalk that up to the quality of this country's public education.

If the wind has no direction is there wind?

And does it make the sound of one hand clapping?

Just can't come to grips with NL ball. 7 hitters, an automatic walk followed by an automatic out. Baseball? I don't think so!

Although I prefer AL ball, this is a pretty big distortion of what happens in the NL.

SF Giants fan since long before the Blue Jays existed.  Started getting interested in baseball when I was about 8 or 9, I guess.  The Giants had a few players I had heard of - Mays, Marichal, McCovey Perry, and I started following them.  Was elated to find that the Giants were moving to Toronto in 1976 (or was it '75?), but then the mayor of SF found a couple of local guys with some cash who would keep the team there, and I was soooo disappointed.  The Jays birth seemed like a pretty poor consolation in 1977.  Didn't really like the AL, as I had always been an NL fan.  However, as they were the local team, I followed them, and they gradually grew to take an equal place with the Giants in my books.  Took about 7 seasons for that to happen.  Now I follow the Jays a little more closely, what with all the local media/games on TV, and much prefer the AL to the NL.

Used to have some minor interest in the Expos, but not in the Nationals.  Don't follow any other AL team, but I do like to see the Yankees and Red Sox lose when they play in the post season, so anybody playing against them becomes somebody to cheer for.

I think it must have been the game of May 19, a Monday I see by BBRef.

Dewey's game. If Moffatt were around, this would definitely warrant a cuttlefish.

Arky Vaughan, who was back from a three-year hiatus, not from fighting in the war, but from retiring to his farm because he wanted to be away from Leo Durocher. Vaughan would die 5 years later at age 40.

Jackie Robinson, in the 27th game of his historic rookie season, at age 28.

Cool. Very, very cool. Must bring back a flood of memories.

I imagine that no matter how old any of us are, the boxscore from our first game brings back memories, not necessarily of the game itself, but of the players who were in our lives whom we can now look back on with a historical perspective.

Dewey's game. Dodgers used 19 guys, but only one separating Robinson and the racist Dixie Walker.

1} Cards...in the mid-50s we'd bike out to the Winnipeg Goldeyes' games...they were a St. Louis affiliate(?)...and we got to watch household names like Julio Gotay, Pedro Cardenal and Bob Sadowski. And Ray Sadecki...briefly. I like tthe Cards again now that TLR's gone.

2) Tigers....Yankees (sorry) as a teenager.

3) Nationals? Nice Park.

I'm not reading too much into the Oliver deal.  I think it is more a case of the time of year and diligence by the newspapers rather than AA trying to hide details of a deal or holding out to complete another one.

Count me as one who doesn't have alot of faith in Rizzo either, but that being said that's about what I would have paid for him.  At this price it is worth the risk for the Cubs.  The Padres should know him better than anyone and MAY have got good value for him... but I doubt it.

1) Cardinals. As a kid, I figured I should at least give an NL team a chance and a Cardinal was just a red blue jay, so I went with them.  I also like teams with history, so the Cards it was.

2) Tigers, despite coming of age as a baseball fan in the '80s. I always liked the Tigers (except in 1987). We used to get the Detroit NBC affilliate and I loved watching the Tigers games with the Al Kaline/George Kell broadcast duo. Plus, Jays/Tigers games always seemed to be slugfests in the '80s, which were always fun to watch.

3) I think the Nats will be good soon, lots of young talent, should make for an exciting ballclub. I still wish they were the Expos but I was never as attached to the Expos as I was to the Jays.

Count me as one who doesn't have alot of faith in Rizzo either,

He may very well turn into nothing, but you have to remember that he's only 22. He spent his age 21 season in AAA.

Many in these parts have been unduly bullish about some of the organization's old first basemen like Ruiz, Dopirak and Cooper. I'd rather roll the dice with someone young for his league.

• They are both owned by media empires
• They both play in a similar sized market
  
• The always have a good farm system, and build around a core of home grown players
• They aren't huge players in the free agent market
• They keep their payroll between the ditches
• They have been to the playoffs 15 times in the past 21 years, with 5 WS appearances