Donnie Baseball holds the record for most HRs hit in a 8 game HR streak stretch ever – with big flies in July of 1987. The Yankees 1B also would establish a record for 6 grandslams in one year that campaign, (since tied by Travis Hafner in 2006. Mattingly knocked in 23 RBI with those 10 HRs.

Confessions Of A Ball Park Chaser – 2015 Edition Part 2: Why I will See 220+ MLB Games in 2015

 Confessions Of A Ball Park Chaser – 2015 Edition Part 3: Why I Will See 220+ Games In 2015

When I was a kid I wanted to be baseball player for the New York Yankees.  Don Mattingly was my favorite hitter.  Funny saying this as a Canadian, where our national pastime is hockey.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved that sport too..  Just not as much as baseball.

My mom was talking me to my dad’s fastball league games when I was in a stroller in the late 1970’s.

By the time I was 3, my 2 older brothers were already playing baseball and I was hooked.  It wasn’t too long after that I was joining them in practice.

For the next 16 years I ate, lived and breathed the sport.  Some real life issues popped up, and I never recovered from injuries sustained growing up.  I still can’t play recreational baseball because of a deep concussion history.  I turned my back on the sport live in late 1996, never coming back until 2005.  Now I am about to go my 4th epic journey to all 30 MLB Parks in the last 7 years. 

This season, I will be live for a game every day all year.  So how does one come to this lifestyle and crazy fandomness?  We must go back in time…..

Quick Blurbs:

From Ages 10 – 15, I  would hit baseballs to my dog every day.  He was an English Springer Spaniel named Patches, and he was the quickest outfielder of ALL-Time, and handy when no one else wanted to play ball in the rainy winter months in Vancouver B.C, Canada.  All I had to do was to bring a towel to wipe the slobber off of the baseballs.

I caught for 10 years, and loved the position as I could lead from the backstop of the diamond. At 9 years old, I began to umpire baseball games like my father. Read the rest of this entry →