“Would you like to go to a baseball game?”

That question, posed to me the morning of July 2, 1988, is what began my passion for watching live baseball.

I was six years old and a huge Toronto Blue Jays fan, but I hadn’t yet got the chance to see my team play live. On the weekend in question, my family was assembled at the cottage of my maternal grandparents for Canada Day. I imagine we celebrated the holiday with a barbecue, swimming and maybe even fireworks. And I’m sure I convinced one of the grownups to play catch with me. I don’t remember those details, but I do remember my dad, uncle and grandfather asking me early on that Saturday morning if I wanted to see the Jays play.

It took me all of zero seconds to give me response, and we were soon packed into the minivan for the 90-minute trip from the cottage to Exhibition Stadium. I remember thinking it was pretty cool that I was on a guys’ trip — no girls allowed.

I’ve been thinking about that first game a lot lately, and trying to recall specific moments. I remember a handful of notable moments from that day. I’ve been able to fill in the other details with the help of the day’s box score I found on Baseball-Reference.

The Jays were pounded 11-3 by the Oakland A’s. In those days, the A’s 2-3-4 hitters were Dave Henderson, Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire. That year, the trio smashed 98 home runs and drove in 317 runs. Yikes.

I remember lots of home runs during the game, and the box score confirms there were four. Henderson and Terry Steinbach hit home runs for Oakland, while Cecil Fielder and George Bell hit them for Toronto. I remember being ticked off about the A’s home runs and overjoyed with Toronto’s blasts, as any young Jays fan would be.

I also remember Mike Flanagan getting the start for Toronto and laying a total egg. The box score tells me he went 2.1 innings, surrendering 5 hits and 7 earned runs. Truth be told, I actually remember thinking, “I hate Mike Flanagan” while we were driving back to the cottage after the game. The problems of a six-year-old kid, I guess.

Unfortunately, no family photos from that day seem to exist, nor can I find my old ticket stub. I can clearly remember where we were sitting, though. Exhibition Stadium was originally built for football, and the seating arrangement for baseball games could be best described as awkward. Because of the vast football sidelines, the field-level seats when the stadium was configured for baseball felt like they were a mile away, and the seats down the lines were also ridiculously far from the action. We sat in the upper deck way down the first base line; the Internet tells me the seats were benches and the tickets cost $7, but I don’t recall those details.

I don’t remember what we ate, although I’m sure I had a hot dog or some ice cream. I also seem to recall staying in our seats the entire game — a big-time contrast from how I watch baseball now. The souvenir I took home from the game was the team’s 1988 yearbook. It not only brings back memories to flip through it now, but some of the pictures are absolutely hilarious. I carried this magazine around with me for what seemed like a year. In actuality, it probably was, as I didn’t see my second live ballgame until 1989.

Here’s the cover, which shows its age, despite my obsession with keeping things in their original condition:

You might notice some light pen marks on the letters “YEAR,” which I vaguely recall making before getting cold feet and stopping short of finishing the whole word.

A lot of the player pages take me right back to 1988. Here’s Fred McGriff, who was hands-down my favorite player of the era:

(You can imagine how thrilled I was to meet McGriff last season at Rochester’s Frontier Field during the Pepsi MAX Field of Dreams game.)

Here’s a picture that screams 1980s — Juan Beniquez with a poorly fitting fat, enormous wristbands, super-short sleeves and a gold chain with a home plate-shaped medallion AND a baserunner:

Remember when Cecil Fielder was skinny? If you watched the Jays in the 1980s, that’s the Fielder you remember:

It’s hilarious to note that Fielder is listed at 220 pounds here, and the story about him talks about his good hands “for a big man.” If only they’d had a crystal ball in 1988.

Many of the advertisements are downright hilarious — and I imagine even more so if you’re younger than I am. First of all, there are a bunch of cigarette ads throughout the book, which is something you certainly don’t see anymore.

As far as other ads, here’s a full-page ad of a bank bragging that it has “instant teller” machines that are open … wait for it … 24 hours a day!

There’s also an ad for a state-of-the-art Panasonic VCR. Jealous?

And what self-respecting connoisseur of VCRs would find himself without a 1988 Chevrolet Corsica?

Of course, any man about town might mix business and pleasure by taking his “portable computer” to the ballpark:

(That last ad might be the best of all.)

That 1988 Jays team went 87-75 but didn’t make the playoffs. It did, however, have one of the best rosters the team has ever fielded. The outfield of George Bell, Lloyd Moseby and Jesse Barfield is unquestionably the team’s best outfield trio of all time, and the infield of Kelly Gruber, Tony Fernandez, Manny Lee and Fred McGriff was also pretty solid. Ernie Whitt and Pat Borders split the catching duties, and the starting rotation was Mike Flanagan, Dave Stieb, Jim Clancy, Jimmy Key and Todd Stottlemyre. The set-up man was Duane Ward and the closer was Tom Henke.

It would be another year before the Jays were bound for the playoffs. That year, the Jays moved from Exhibition Stadium to SkyDome, and I went to a few games and have the programs to prove it. Interested in another post like this? Leave me a comment below and let me know!