Today, we’re going to focus on baseball memories that have lived rent-free in your head for years, even if they weren’t significant.
I’ll go first.
I grew up an Orioles fan, but followed the Pirates a bit as someone living in central PA during the 1990-92 seasons. My grandparents lived in Baltimore, so we would go to games every year when we visited.
One of those games came in 1995. The Orioles had added Andy Van Slyke, which was crazy to me, because I only knew him as one of the biggest names on the Pirates.
In Baltimore, however, the biggest outfield name was Brady Anderson. The 1995 season was a year before Anderson’s steroid-fueled 50 home run season, to add perspective of where this was in his career.
I sat there in the foul section of the outfield in left field. Brady Anderson right in front of me, and Andy Van Slyke behind him/beside him in the distance in center field.
The only thing I’ll remember about that game is Anderson running over and catching a ball right in front of Van Slyke, who could have easily caught the ball himself. That’s the memory. Left fielder Brady Anderson running over and robbing center fielder Andy Van Slyke of a catch.
For 11-year-old me at the time, it was one of those moments that breaks your brain and alerts you to the simulation going on around you. I knew these players as among the most popular on their respective teams, and now they were on the same team, interacting right in front of me, and I wondered if Anderson actually liked Van Slyke, or if he was just joking around.
And that play lived rent-free in my head for the rest of my life. That seemingly simple F7. I’m not sure I would have cared if it wasn’t Brady Anderson robbing Andy Van Slyke of a catch.
What’s an insignificant play in baseball that you’ve remembered your whole life? Leave your answer in the comments.
Daily Links
This Week on Pirates Prospects
**The Pirates Are Implementing an Individualized and Collaborative Player Development System
**Three Examples of Individual Player Development and How They Changed in the Pirates System
**The Players Are Driving the Bus, But the Pirates Development Coaches Are the GPS
**Looking Ahead at the Pirates’ 2022 System: Bradenton Marauders
**The Forgotten Prospect: Cody Bolton Set For A 2022 Revenge Tour
**Electric Jared Jones Ahead Of The Curve In Debut Season
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**PBN Podcasts: Welcome 2022, and Howdy Do to You Alex Stumpf!
**Local Prep Prospect Cole Young: “Some Adam Frazier in this profile”
**This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History: January 7th, Kitty and Ducky
**Card of the Day: 1985 Topps Dick Schofield and Dick Schofield
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Song of the Day
This Week on First Pitch
MONDAY: The Road Ahead
TUESDAY: This Week on Pirates Prospects
WEDNESDAY: The New Pirates Prospects
THURSDAY: IL
FRIDAY: Baseball Memories
SATURDAY: Music – I’ll take a deeper look at Julien Baker’s “Little Oblivions” album, plus my album and songs of the week.
SUNDAY: Pursuit