I'm a lefty and played 1st base from age 8 until I was a freshman in high school. I made the varsity team as a freshman but we had a big hairy fucking dude, a banger, playing 1st so I was moved to CF. I was kinda small and pretty fast so I did Ok.

AS a kid I really liked Johnny Temple, Reds 2nd basemen - I thought he had a cool name! Later I became a big Frank Robinson fan. I really like the way Robby took no shit from no one and stared down the pitcher, what a great batting stance - I tried to emulate it. He was a soldier in the WAR. After he was traded, I became a Jerry Lynch fan, I was fascinated by his job as a pinch hitter.

I don't have any critical attachments to the positions that my favorite player played.

My best memory as a high school player: I was a lefty who had always batted righty. My HS coach turned me around and taught me to hit lefthanded what a rush. I had 5 hits in a game my freshman year against 4 pitchers. 2 hits rightt hand and 3 hits left handed - all singles.that is dtill a good memory.

My most cherished memory was as the player-manager for the Sensational Wildberry All-Stars (Softball team) in Oxford, Ohio. It was when the umpire would call 'Play Ball' and we'd all stumble out of John Kogge's VW bus in a cloud of herbal smoke and confusion and cautiously make our way to our positions while trying not act weird or spill our beers.

That was  BALL

..with a grand slam home run.

I don't know for sure how old I was but I was young enough that my dad had to explain to me after the game, driving home in our silver Honda Civic wagon with red pleather interior, what it meant to "hit for the cycle."

mostly third base. although i dont think that really means much in the little leagues. i played second base my one year in high school ball, then i broke my arm and had to retire.

favorite player... im not really sure. i remember kinda liking jeff blauser.

Barry Larkin.

I pitched until my junior year of high school. (Struck out 12 batters in one game my freshman on the varisty squad)

I quit my junior year because I was offered the editorship of a literary magazine that published the work of high school students from all over the Southeast. The look on my coach's face when I told him I was quitting baseball to read manuscripts after school was a trip.

I don't know why, but when I was little I was a Rockies fan, despite living in Cincinnati. Andres Galarragga, Larry Walker, and Dante Bichette were my three favorite players, and part of the reason I switched over to the Reds was Dante Bichette playing for them.

Joe Girardi, Big Cat, Eric Young, Walt Weiss, Vinny Castilla, Larry Walker, Quinton McCracken, and Dante Bichette was a badass group of players, let me tell you. (On a related note, Jayhawk Owens, Chattanooga's manager, was a bench player on the mid-90s Rockies teams.)

As far as my own playing, I was always a second baseman, from T-Ball on up. Defensively, I was the man. I was making diving stops as an eight year old. Offensively, I couldn't hit a lick, but I made up for it by taking a lot of walks and running faster than everyone else with my amazing bunting skills (because bunting was cool in little league, dammit). I had three homers in my baseball career, two of them of the inside the park variety and the other a total bomb to left-center (I bat lefty). I don't know where that one came from, but boy was it fun.

My best baseball memory was from the playoffs when I was 10 or 11. Our team was about .500 all the way through the year, and for the beginning of the playoffs, I was on a family vacation in Yellowstone so I assumed my season was over. When I got back, I had a call from my coach, saying that we were in the city quarterfinals (and little league baseball is a big deal here in Hamilton). We ended up making it to the finals against the top team in the league (incidentally called the Reds). It was a close game, going into extra innings, and I ended up having the walkoff RBI...on a hit by pitch. My final line for the game was 0-0, BB, 3 HBP, 2 RBI, 1 R. And their starter threw some heat, man. He was tossing it up there at like 55 as a 10-year-old. But the seam-marks on my body were the best trophies I ever had, and that makes my favorite baseball moment.

...in that public-school kind of way.  

I was pretty athletic as a child, but never interested in organized sports.  Which is just as well, because we didn't have the money for it.  Even scouting was out, because of the cost of the uniform.

So the only time I played baseball (or softball) was in PE in school.  Where everyone had to play.  So we had, like, 15 or 20 outfielders.  My job was to get out of the way if the ball even looked like it was heading in my direction, so someone who knew what they were doing could handle it.

We did occasionally play a bizarre form of baseball on the asphalt basketball court in my apartment complex, but it was more fun to play basketball.  I guess my most memorable baseball moment came in one of those games.  One of my friends threw a baseball at me, and I was late getting the glove up.  The ball hit me right in the face.  My right cheek swelled up like a balloon.  I liked like an extraterrestrial for the next week or so.  

I never watched baseball as a kid.  It used to tick me off when there was baseball instead of cartoons on Saturday morning.  Now, of course, I'm crazy for baseball, the way only a convert can be...  ;-)

I never played baseball as a kid.  I was more into soccer, with an unfortunate stint playing football.  Then, in high school, the baseball team needed warm bodies, and since I'd always been a fan I joined the team.  I pretty much sucked at everything, but I hustled in practice and thus earned a starting spot in the outfield for the opening game.  It was soon revealed that my only true talent lay in getting hit by pitches, so I would spend a good deal of my time sitting on the bench wondering when the coach would make good on his promise to "get you into this game."

I started following the Reds in 1990, and immediately my favorite player was Barry Larkin.  I don't have any real memory of a specific reason for liking him; he was just great.  And as the years went by, he became an institution, the one constant on our team.  Cincinnati shortstops were like Steelers head coaches, just an uninterrupted line.  I remember the feeling of disgust and betrayal when I found out the team was going to replace him with Felipe Lopez.  It seemed like an insult.  I would later find out that FeLo beats the hell out of Royce Clayton.

I'm not sure what my most cherished memory would be.  I certainly don't have any from my "playing days."  I remember the sounds of entering Riverfront Stadium for the very first time.  The roar of the crowd was like nothing I'd ever heard before.  I remember being sent to bed during the World Series games (damn West Coast!), but creeping to the top of the stairs where I could still see the TV.  I remember listening to a game on the radio where Larkin hit three home runs, and running out into the yard to breathlessly tell my mom or dad about each one.  I remember making out Reds lineups in my head, then tossing up a tennis ball and hitting it with a Wiffle bat to simulate a game ("OK, Oliver just got a single, so that moves Hal Morris over to second.  Two outs.")  I always liked to have Greg Swindell pitching for me.  I remember driving home last year, and being able to get WLW on the car radio, as they announced, "You're listening to 700 WLW, home of the FIRST PLACE Cincinnati Reds!" and being so excited.  Then came the West Coast trip...  I remember watching Josh Hamilton throw out the would-be winning run at the plate to preserve the game, and the Reds went on to beat the Indians 1-0 in 14 innings.

I could go on and on...

a catcher/outfielder - good arm, absolutely no speed.

Pete. No doubt about it. I had the Pete Rose haircut, as did a bunch of us in the 70s and loved the hustle -- Pete's hustle. The dance was OK, too, I suppose but that's a whole different topic.

Best memories were winning championships in Little League and breaking up a no-hitter with two outs and two strikes on me in the bottom of the 7th (and final) inning in Senior League. Our team was Hall's Funeral Home and the name was appropriate. Everybody buried us.

I guess I mostly played pitcher, though I think I went through a phase of a few years where I didn't play at all.  Then I tried out for the JV team at Moeller and made it as a pitcher.

The first favorite player I can remember having was Rod Carew.  I was in Minnesota as a small child, so the Twins were my first favorite team.  Carew was the star and, of course, a great player.  Every kid in St. Paul, Minnesota idolized Carew.

As for my best personal moment playing the game, it is forever memoralized in the RedReporter Wiki.  But who am I to pass up another opportunity to brag about it here -- let's see, I think this brings the total to 127 times I've told this story here.  I used my dominating high heater to strike out Griffey Jr. in an intra-squad scrimmage when I was a junior and he was a senior (and soon to be #1 pick in the country).

I played SS, 3B, 1B when I didn't pitch in high school.  Having a Homer Baileyesque frame, I had a 93 mph fastball and probably still do.  I got cut from THE Ohio State University during my freshman year because that Spring Quarter I discovered beer and failed a class.  The pitching coach told me that I had the stuff though.  Man that was embarrassing.  That's when I figured out that failing a class made you ineligible.  I then realized academics needed to be more of a focus and that's when I became a has-been.

Eric Davis was the best centerfielder ever.  At least that's what I thought when I was a wee tike.  He was a five-tool player that the Reds have not seen since his presence a decade and a half ago.  

But Eric Davis struck out alot and that's why I have patience for Adam Dunn at the plate.

But I've always played Shortstop and Pitcher although I'm switching more towards second base instead of short. I am kind of tall and lanky, but can throw pretty hard for my stature... I can probably top out right now around 85 ish...

My favorite player was Barry Larkin... mostly because I was a shortstop, loved the position and decided that since Larkin was the shortstop for the Reds, he was the coolest player ever...

As for my gameplay... I'm a lot like Geki... Stud defensively but pretty weak hitter... I switch hit though and can get pretty hot once I get a few at bats... eye gets better, etc.

Because I was the only guy who could throw the ball all the way across the infield.  Of course my problem with playing third was the same problem that I had with hitting.  I was scared of the ball.  I think I've still got knots on my shins from playing third.

I sucked at hitting, and was a pretty bad fielder.  But I did get to pitch one game.  I threw a complete game, but I gave up a game winning three run homer in the last inning.

What position(s) did you play growing up?  
1B, but had a strong arm and should have pitched but my high school coach wouldn't give me a chance.

Who was the player you most idolized as a child?  
Pete. (Rose not Mackanin)

What was it about that player that most appealed to you?  
His hustle.  (My earliest baseball memory is watching him spike the ball on the Astroturf after 3rd outs in the '83 series)  

Did he make you critical of certain positions?  
I took up 1B because that was Pete's position at the time.  But he played everywhere in his career, so I'm not critical of any positions, but probably respect players more who can play multiple positions.

Most cherished personal experience while playing the game?
Being on a ragtag team in last year of little league that pulled off shocking upset of the star-studded rival to win the championship.

lived, ate, and shat baseball since before I can remember. My dad figured a way to lie about my age so I could play with the 5 year-olds when I was only 4 (not coach pitch or tee-ball, but real walk after walk baseball). The West Side of my youth was still very serious and fertile ground for baseball, all other sports came second. We moved around a lot, but baseball never changed for me.  I was a shortstop out of the womb. Some of the teams I played for were quite bad and others quite good, but I made the all-star team each year.
We moved the Chicago area pre-high school, and I started to get the grand illusions for my first year there I hit 8 HR's in 22 games. My 40 time was 4.42. I called myself the fastest white boy on two legs. After another comparable season as a sophomore on the varsity team, the family made another move to the Atlanta area. Before leaving Chicago, my coach let me know that some scouts had asked him about me and he told them about my move and that they should watch my progression.
In Atl., my new school was only 7 years old and the baseball coach had never actually played ball himself, and made Bob Boone look like a genius. He tried to convince me that a small stride with a closed stance was completely wrong. He had this whole Walt Hriniak meets Jeff Bagwell thing going on, and needless to say, fucked me up pretty good before the season even began. I started out all-right despite the stance impediment, but this  little fucker really did not like my "yankee" ass.  By mid-season, he put this kid who girly-girl short-armed the ball to first at short and moved me to second (I topped out in the low 90's so a good use of arm strength). The kid's dad had donated the money for much of the new stadium and ran the boosters.
By some stroke of luck we got on a roll at the end of the year and won a couple of games in the state playoffs. We traveled to the middle of fucking hickville, Ga. for a game and I go back on a ball,  hear no one call for it-so I'm busting ass- next thing I know, my femur is sticking out the side of my uniform pants. The coach runs out to check, I'm in shock, and he says the obligatory, "You all right?" Now since I was in shock apparently my tongue was a bit more loose, and I was told I said something along the lines of "I suppose you want me to walk this off you little simple minded fuck." The coach knelt down to check on the wound but quickly realized that an ambulance was in order, and as he stood up, he tripped over my leg. (no bullshit) Meanwhile the jack-ass that didn't call me off walks up and has the stones to say "I was gonna call you off but it was too late." (That asshole was drafted as a pitcher by the Braves- never made it, but had less talent than one of my ass pimples).
Needless to say, with an injury like that the rehab turnaround time was so prolonged that my career was effectively over.
So, I discovered books, music, drugs, and booze. And, as maybe the best blessing, I found that I enjoyed life quite a bit more away from other awful baseball joke assholes. The skate punks, and artist types were much more my speed.

Oh, and unrelated to my position, Eric Davis was  like a God to me. It only colors my opinion of how irritating I find Ryan Freel to be.  

mine all dried up and flaked off years ago.

about when my son played Tball and watching him hit a very long home run at the old Owl's Nest Field. He was a very good fielding 2bman but never hit well. So when he got a hold of that pitch it was very cool.

My son always liked Pokey Reese cause Pokey threw a foul ball to us in the stands one game and then turned around a gave my son a big smile and thumbs up for catching the ball. My son was about 9 at the time.

One of my daughters was a celebrity bat girl when when was 10. Got her picture flashed up on the screen at Riverfront, went into the dugout and got to meet her favorite player - Billy Hatcher and got her picture taken with him.
 

growing up i was always smaller than most, but i was quick and could hit pretty well.  i was best at 2B (even as a lefty) but i played pretty much everywhere but C and 3B.  my coaches really wanted me to pitch because i was a lefty, but i could never throw straight.  

my favorite players growing up in the 90s where barry larkin (the best player on my favorite team) and ken griffey jr. (the best player in the universe).  i'll never forget the day i heard griffey was coming to cincy.  besides meeting my fiance, it was the best thing that ever happened to me.

barry never influenced my critique of the position, but he did influence me to turn around and try to hit righty.  im a switch hitter because of larkin (my older brother helped a bit too).

my most memorable experience from little league was a tournament my team played in when i was in 4th grade.  we played a triple-header on the last day, the last 2 against our arch rivals the cubs for the championship. we lost in extra innings in the last game.  when our team posed for a picture with our hard-earned trophies, covered in dirt and sweat from 3 days of baseball in the mid-july heat, we all made sure to cover up the big "2nd place" on our tropies.  my best friend marques even thew his trophy into the dumpster.  his parents grounded him.