My very first baseball team was the Atlanta Braves, 1994. I received a Braves hat as a gift that year, then realized that I could watch just about every one of their games on TBS. This was before I knew about their annual overachieving/post-season under achieving and just had fun watching a really good team play baseball. When the strike struck, I was one of the few people I knew who didn't give up on the game...I was just naive. When the '95 season started back up, I watched the Braves all year. Go figure that would be their year to win the World Series! Chipper Jones became my favorite player and I fell in love with guys like David Justice, Fred McGriff (7 homers from 500, somebody give this guy a chance!!!), Ryan Klesko (who I think took himself off the juice last season), Marquis Grissom, Javy Lopez, Mark Wohlers and the awesome pitching staff that included Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz.
I also fell in love with the Braves history starting with their beginnings in Boston (as the Beaneaters) and moving on to Milwaukee and finally settling in Atlanta. Eddie Mathews continues to be my all-time favorite player even though my love for the Braves has waned over the years.
I've grown a little more cynical of the game, though I still love it. I now have my own loveable losers to cheer for in the Kansas City Royals. Though Rafael Palmeiro of the Orioles is my favorite player (for his sake, I truly hope Jose Canseco is full of bologna). This should be an interesting season considering all the focus on steroids. Hopefully we'll see some drastic changes made and the game can get back to what made it the National Pastime.