Glory Days

I found my Game Boy the other day and started to play some games that I had. One of which was Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball.

I started to play and saw the date was 1997, so I went to check the Braves roster and was amazed. On there was every one of my childhood baseball idols.

Now, for a disclaimer, my childhood was recent, as the only manager of the Braves I ever knew was Bobby Cox. So my sample size is smaller, though I'm sure the Hank Aaron and Dale Murphy days were wonderful, as were the Phil Niekro years.

That being said, here's the roster:

Kenny Lofton at CF
Michael Tucker at RF
Chipper Jones at 3B
Fred McGriff at 1B
Ryan Klesko at LF
Javy Lopez at C

Mark Lemke at 2B

Jeff Blauser at SS

that was the starting lineup
with the pitcher hitting 9th.
And here was the rotation:

John Smoltz

Greg Maddux

Tom Glavine

Denny Neagle

Terrell Wade

and closing was Mark Wohlers.

I immediately put it in and started to play. (I lost the directions and don't remember the buttons, so I gave up 11 runs in the first inning, but that's beside the point, haha.) Playing with these greats flashed me back to a wonderful childhood.

One where I had a Ryan Klesko poster. One where we bought a Greg Maddux baseball that showed where to put your fingers to throw different pitches. One where my grandpa taught me how to throw Greg Maddux's "mystery ball," the one he threw and never knew which way it was going, yet still had impeccable command. One where I idolized Chipper Jones so much that even as a senior in college I was so jealous I was speechless when my roommate's girlfriend went to a Mets-Braves game in NY and came back saying Chipper talked with her and her family while he was in the on-deck circle. One where I learned what contacts were because we watched so many games and I wondered why Kenny Lofton was always blinking so much. One where I felt okay to wear glasses becasue I saw Greg Maddux wearing them in the dugout,
I can only encourage you all to reminisce your baseball youth in some way, because I haven't been that happy since the Braves made it back to the playoffs and I went to a Divisional game at Turner.