Baseball's Classic Era: what's that?

The modern golden age, when the game grew up, and so did we

Even if we took the names away from this picture, could you guess the names of all 6 players shown? Maybe Joe Morgan the Houston Astro would through you off, since we remember him primarily as a perennial all-star for the Cincinnati Reds. The guy with the flopping elbow at bat, and the graceful mix of generational skills.

Maybe you’d look at that card in the upper right and try to do that doctor game of “zebra or horse,” and guess that its Norm Cash. Then, you’d regroup and remember that, like many players in the early DH era, hall of fame outfielders like Al Kaline often ended their careers at first base.

Then as now: baseball

If that quick stream of consciousness reminds you of your childhood, and how you followed the game of baseball as it existed then, you already know what we mean by “classic baseball.” It was a time when we were learning how the world worked, what we liked to do, who we liked to hang out with, and how much trouble we wanted to get into. Our parents might have given us our introduction to the game, since they were fans. Or, we figured it out by playing Little League, and thus admiring those big men who did this at a level we could never imagine.

This was the age where if you wanted to know how many hits a player had in yesterday’s game, you read it in the newspaper…that is, unless the game was on the west coast and you were on the east coast, in which case you would not see that box score until the next day, in a part of the sports section that might have well been known as the “afterthought zone.” But hey, it took 2 days to become “old news.” Now it happens from one pitch to the next, right on your phone.

Classic baseball was not always learned in real time. We speak with so many younger fans today that embraced their love of the game and its history by reading and learning about the sport as it was before they were even born. We Baby Boomers totally relate to that! Because the idea is the same, only the players were different.

A younger fan might ask about Reggie Jackson, Hank Aaron or Steve Carlton the way the previous generation asked their elders about Stan Musial, Warren Spahn and Ernie Banks. The game is timeless, no matter how many modern innovations arrive to make it easier to track, watch and enjoy.

Join our community, just for the fun of it…you might get a lot more out of it, too

This is classic baseball: a community of people who are about much more than reminiscing about “the good old days.” This is a launching pad to connect fans of all ages, all backgrounds, and all nations of the world, around the greatest team sport. No game is as rich in history, as tied in with national culture, and as chill as a summer’s day as baseball. We’re here to start the celebration all over again.

We’ll do that with stories, player interviews, virtual and in-person events, and anything else you and we can think of to have a lot of fun, and create meaningful experiences around our common love for the game. Thanks for being the best part of ClassicBaseballWorld.com!