In the 1970s, I lived in the Washington, DC, area. I attended a few Washington Senators games at RFK Stadium before that (second) version of the Senators moved to Texas and became the Rangers. Somewhere along the line, I wrote to Walter O'Malley, owner of the Dodgers and a power in major league baseball, urging him to support the return of MLB to the Washington, DC, area. Here's the card I got by return mail (I deleted most of my name and my address). Despite his seeming "optimism," MLB did not return to DC until I was long gone from the area.

After the Dodgers and Giants departed from New York City after the 1957 season, the New York Mets emerged as New York's National League team, starting in 1962. I was at the first game the Mets ever played in NY (at the Polo Grounds) in April 1962. Two years later, in 1964, I attended the first game ever at Shea Stadium. The Mets played the Pirates in both games and lost. Here are the tickets for both games and some other Mets memorabilia. How about $1.30 admission for a major league game? The ticket for the first game at Shea was for a reserved seat and only cost $2.50. Those were very different economic times.

In my years as a baseball fan, I've only attended one World Series game. It was Game 2 of the 1979 World Series between the Pirates and the Orioles (and it snowed). Here's the ticket stub.

Somewhere along the line (I believe it was my 40th birthday), my wife got the idea to write to Tommy Lasorda and ask for an autographed photo. She sent him a check to cover the costs. Tommy sent more than one autographed photo and also returned the check. Here's one of the photos.

And a couple of miscellaneous items. The cover of a Red Sox brochure: as someone who has always disliked the Yankees, I've generally favored the Red Sox in the American League. Here is one of their brochures from a year that they won the pennant. And finally a beautifully designed cover of a scorecard/program of the Springfield (Massachusetts) Cubs from 1951.