Childhood Heroes Contest!!**CONTEST IS OVER! 2 WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

[KCLJ520]

OK friends, this should be an awesome contest, one I have been looking forward to for some time now!

Pick a number 1-100, one guess per member per day.... With your guess, please tell me your childhood hero, sports figure, celebrity, leader, whoever, and a favorite story!

This should be memorable, as we will have 2 winning numbers! The prizes you are playing for are from some of my childhood baseball heroes, Hall of Famer Andre Dawson, along with favorites Jody Davis and Joe Girardi:


and Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg, along with favorites Les Lancaster and Jody Davis.

Let's get this rolling!

God bless!

Kevin

 

[SymphonicMetal]

My childhood heroes in the late 60s were Willie Horton of the Detroit Tigers and Otis Taylor of the Kansas City Chiefs. I had Detroit connections because of my mom and I adopted the Tigers back then despite living in upstate NY. Willie was a home run hitter and considered a guy you did not mess with. Since little boys admire tough guys and Willie was a slugger and a Tiger, he perfectly fit the bill for being my earliest sports hero. To top it off, my first MLB game I attended was in Tiger Stadium in 1968 and he hit a home run so that really sealed the deal for me.

And Otis Taylor was my guy for football. I really preferred the AFL to the NFL as a kid with their flash and dash and I became a big Chiefs fan. Otis Taylor was their star wide receiver and just a tremendous athlete. If you watch his highlights all these decades later he looked like a modern day player with his graceful running style along with his physique. He really looked like a modern day player of the 21st Century while playing in the 1960s and 70s.

He also started that huge brawl 1970 with Ben Davidson that was talked about in your previous contest which gave him even more points for me!

I'll choose Otis Taylor's #89. Thanks for the contest Kevin!

 

[Camsue]

#77

Childhood heroes in the 70s and 80s would have been Nolan Ryan and Al Bumbrey I just remember Mr.Bumbrey taking time everytime we went to the old memorial stadium and spend time shaking hands and signing whatever we had. Always said listen to your parents and stay in school. Nolan Ryan just amazed me to be able to throw that hard and never get seriously injured it was just a feet that wasn't seen that often along with the no hitters and innings pitched etc. Off my topic i can still see my middle brother doing the joe morgan elbow pump everytime he came to bat god the good times

 

[558561]

Childhood hero is Sting the wrestler, my favorite memory is him beating Diamond Dallas Page on Nitro for the WCW Championship. #35

 

[Sportnut08]

#34 for Kirby Puckett. Although his career as cut short, can’t choose anyone other than my namesake. My mom was a HUGE Twins fan along with her mother. Speaking of my mom, she’s the one who got me in to collecting - Thanks Mom!

I was born in between the Twins two most recent World Series titles (1987/1991; born in 1989). Sadly Puckett’s career was cut short way too soon due to serious eye issues. Regardless, I gravitated towards baseball at a young age, and that was my favorite (and best sport) to play.

 

[t.rooster]

#85... I grew up in the outrageous era of the Amazing A's. That '70s dynasty team was rife with potential heroes for an adolescent; so, my pick was strangley with the unlikely hero of the 1972 World Series against the Reds, Gene Tenace "the Menace". His presence was felt so much so during the championship, that Reds fans sent him death threats if he appeared in the series..... mostly, what I love about this, is Tenace was just an average player; however, this shows that an average player can rise to a situation with superstar effects....

 

[KCLJ520]

Numbers taken: 34, 35, 77, 85, 89...GOSH I LOVE THESE THREADS!

So cool to hear favorite stories, and learn about players I never knew about! Jeff, had never heard of Otis Taylor, though I went to the NFL Hall of Fame traveling exhibit in KC in 2015, I still dont recall having seen his photo. Sad that he is in such poor physical condition now, sounds like he is on a ventilator, etc.

Rooster, the Amazing As were just before my time, but those guys were great! 3 consecutive WS wins, 72-73-74, and 3 Hall of Famers, Catfish, Reggie, and Rollie....and some very solid role players too, who achieved superstar results with a great team mentality, like you said.

Kirby Puckett was during my era too (I was born in 1981), and remember what a threat he was at the plate, sad to know of his passing at a young age. GREAT player!

I remember Sting too, wrestling was fun in the 80s, and it has had a major resurgence recently!

And while Al Bumbry was before my time, Nolan Ryan is quite possibly the best pitcher of all time! He was awesome, and still is most assuredly a first tier Hall of Famer, just a dominant pitcher for over 2 decades! Phenomenal!

Based on the cards I am giving away (THANKS to Jeff, Tony, and Rooster for the sales and gifts!) you can see that as a young boy growing up in Chgo area, I was a Cub MEGA FAN! Awesome Dawson and Ryno were my two favorites, but I have to say, I LOVED Shawon Dunston too! It was awesome to see him field a ball, pound the ball into his glove, and throw it at first base as hard as he possibly could! He made Leon Durham and Mark Grace into All Star caliber first basemen, given the contortions they had to go through to catch his throws!

My Grandparents, both deceased, loved baseball, and my Grandfather was a news editor for the Chicago Tribune for years. We watched EVERY game on WGN or listened on the radio. I have such great memories sitting on their front porch in the summer listening to those games, it was awesome. And then, they took me to my first game in 1988, which was the thrill of a lifetime for me! I still remember it, and have Jamie Moyer's signature on my ticket stub, he was the winning pitcher that night!

God Bless,

Kevin

 

[reickholt]

#22
HARMON KILLEBREW Depends on if I was hitting or pitching. When batting (with an old wooden bat) would toss the limestone rock into the air and "crush it" Harmon Killebrew - HR style and hit over the road and into the field. Measuring each one in my mind as to wether it made the upper deck.
or
BERT BLYLEVEN
While listening to the Twins game on WNAX radio, many times I would pace off the 60' 6" from the old storage shed that had a cement wall about 4' high. Had a strike zone painted on the cement and literally spent hours throwing balls into that strike zone and practicing my Bert Blyleven curve ball.

Man, those were the days !!!! : )

 

[KCLJ520]

#22
HARMON KILLEBREW Depends on if I was hitting or pitching. When batting (with an old wooden bat) would toss the limestone rock into the air and "crush it" Harmon Killebrew - HR style and hit over the road and into the field. Measuring each one in my mind as to weather it made the upper deck.
or
BERT BLYLEVEN
While listening to the Twins game on WNAX radio, many times I would pace of the 60' 6" from the old storage shed that had a cement wall about 4' high. Had a strike zone painted on the cement and literally spent hour throwing balls into that strike zone and practicing my Bert Blyleven curve ball.

Man, those were the days !!!! : )

Numbers taken: 22, 34, 35, 77, 85, 89....what an awesome story you have! Harmon and Bert are both HOFers, and rightfully so!

REMEMBER EVERYONE: ONE GUESS PER MEMBER PER DAY! KEEP THEM ROLLING IN!

 

[t.rooster]

I would like to choose #8 today....

 

[KCLJ520]

Numbers taken: 8, 22, 34, 35, 77, 85, 89.....keep those guesses rolling in, closes Sunday night!

 

[K.C._Royals!]

Childhood hero is Sting the wrestler, my favorite memory is him beating Diamond Dallas Page on Nitro for the WCW Championship. #35

Sting was one of my favorites, too! But, my favorite wrestler from my childhood was "THE TOTAL PACKAGE" Lex Luger who was a great babyface for the WCW. Then he went to the WWF and he came THE NARCISSIST! That made me so sad as a lil' 8th grader back when I still sort of believed the kayfabe angles were real! Luckily, he ditched that gimmick and became THE ALL-AMERICAN, but unfortunately never real got over.

oh, yeah.. my number is 88

 

[t.rooster]

Wednesday's guess: #39.... thank you!

 

[reickholt]

I'll try #3 for today

 

[KCLJ520]

Numbers taken: 3, 8, 22, 34, 35, 39, 77, 85, 88, 89.....keep those guesses rolling in, closes Sunday night

 

[SymphonicMetal]

Sting was one of my favorites, too! But, my favorite wrestler from my childhood was "THE TOTAL PACKAGE" Lex Luger who was a great babyface for the WCW. Then he went to the WWF and he came THE NARCISSIST! That made me so sad as a lil' 8th grader back when I still sort of believed the kayfabe angles were real! Luckily, he ditched that gimmick and became THE ALL-AMERICAN, but unfortunately never real got over.

oh, yeah.. my number is 88

I have not watched wrestling since the original ECW went out of business in 2000/2001. For me, nothing will ever top that promotion. That was a company that you either loved or hated and I definitely fell into the former camp. I had watched wrestling to some degree rom the late 70s through the 1990s but ECW was the one that really held my attention and entertained me the most. I really do miss that promotion.

I'll go with 51 for today. Thanks for the fun contest Kevin.

 

[KCLJ520]

Numbers taken: 3, 8, 22, 34, 35, 39, 51, 77, 85, 88, 89.....great stuff, keep the guesses coming!

Jeff, I never heard of ECW, and did some research, they were a wrestling powerhouse!

Also saw you picked 51, my favorite Bear of all time, Dick Butkus' number, what a tough man!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-AJNnXVqiU

 

[Camsue]

#72 please and another child hood hero was Anthony Munoz he would just get things done week in and week out

 

[t.rooster]

#45 for Thursday....

 

[KCLJ520]

Numbers taken: 3, 8, 22, 34, 35, 39, 45, 51, 72, 77, 85, 88, 89. Thanks for the guesses, you all make this a ton of fun!