Big John going yard in '89 vs the sips

The Birth of Olsen Magic

Love the uniforms in that game.

Olsen sounded LOUD. People don't go nuts like they used to. The whole damn stadium was jumping up and down for 10 minutes.

It was that season, but Olsen Magic started much earlier. It was during the tournament we hosted the first part of Spring Break. Byington had a game winning hit early in the tourney and then we had one or two more late comebacks. It snowballed from there.

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It was that season, but Olsen Magic started much earlier.

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I always assumed that Olsen Magic was a manifestation of Divine Providence and God's natural affinity for we Aggies, and thus would have no discrete origin. Shows what I know!

I was there. Best sports moment of my life. Double headers, walk off home runs, on first pitch swings, by the same guy, to our rival, and on national tv! The feeling that day was like what America felt with the 80s USA hockey team.

Damn I hate LSU, but I'm glad to play them regularly now.

Notice the amount of fans in the outfield, on the tracks, and the lack of a Rec Center.

Good times. Good bull. BTHOtcu!

"The Shack on the Tracks"

I dig it!

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Olsen sounded LOUD. People don't go nuts like they used to. The whole damn stadium was jumping up and down for 10 minutes.

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This was part of the era of finally beating the teasips and winning conference championships

I remember that scoreboard.

And poooooor tsips.

People at sports venues were louder in the 80s and 90s.

People back then didn't care what the people around them thought about them. Also, no cell phones...

Fans were creative and free flowing. It was like the 60's only without the weird hippies.

I go to church with John Byington. Super nice guy.

I was at that game. I still don't care what people think and I'm in my 50's.. I was pleasantly surprised at the games over the weekend, not too many people were on their phones!

All "New Kyle/Old Kyle/Back in my day" jokes aside, it was so ****ing loud back then.

Wow. Memories.

Random thoughts:

- I love, LOVE the Texas Aggies (script) logo. Forward this to Jason Cook or Adidas or whomever, those need to be resurrected.

- I really like stirrups over socks.

- Do we still score plays? That was fun.

- I missed the first game because of work and listened on the radio - still remember Dave's call (he is the voice of Aggieland because of memories like that). Thought I'd missed all the excitement ... until the second game!

- What a fun team. This years team is probably the first time since 1989 that I've had as much fun watching Aggie baseball.

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I always assumed that Olsen Magic was a manifestation of Divine Providence and God's natural affinity for we Aggies, and thus would have no discrete origin.

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Should be "us Aggies", as the object of a preposition.

People watching on the railroad tracks, in the days of yore when "safety" meant simply moving off the tracks when needed

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People watching on the railroad tracks, in the days of yore when "safety" meant simply moving off the tracks when needed

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You can't do anything fun anymore these days. Pussification of America.

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I always assumed that Olsen Magic was a manifestation of Divine Providence and God's natural affinity for we Aggies, and thus would have no discrete origin.

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Should be "us Aggies", as the object of a preposition.

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Sir or Madame (or in-between): your critique is just the type of arrant pedantry up with which the baseball forum shall not put.

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- I missed the first game because of work and listened on the radio - still remember Dave's call (he is the voice of Aggieland because of memories like that). Thought I'd missed all the excitement ... until the second game!

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Funny how time fades memories. Dave South didn't call that game. He didn't call any A&M baseball games in '89. Dave had given up his A&M play-by-play job at the end of the '88 season because he was promoted to general manager of the Waco radio station that was his day job. Russ Roberts (KBTX anchor and former baseball player) did the first half of the season, until he got a better TV gig in Little Rock, then the got Bill Schoening, who was working at KSAM in Huntsville, to finish the season. You listened to Schoening's call. Oddly, I'd bet money that his call from that game was part of his audition tape when he was hired the next year to do t.u. baseball and basketball (and eventually, football, before he went to work for the Spurs). John David Crow was AD, and didn't notice that we were lacking a radio play-by-play voice for basketball (Chuck Cooperstein did that) and baseball, but he noticed when the next football season rolled around. One season with Duke Frye was enough to get JDC to create a full-time job in the AD for Dave in order to get him to leave Waco and come back to A&M radio.

"Texas Aggies" on the jersey. Solid block T on the sleeve & cap. Those uniforms are sharp!

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People at sports venues were louder in the 80s and 90s.

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Nah.

The volume had everything to do with the opponent. Beating the hated horns - in dramatic fashion - is a beautiful feeling.

I love being in the SEC, but the emotion was amazing back in the SWC days when our slate was filled with tu, TT, BU, UH, Arkie, TCU, SMU, Rice.

Made every home game in 89'.

Dang, I'm old.

Wow. Never seen those clips before. And never seen an Aggie baseball game with fans going that crazy!

Will never, EVER forget that day. My dad was in town and we were playing golf out on the campus course during the first game. The crescendo built throughout the game, and when Big John hit that home run you could just hear the place explode all the way from the golf course. It was simply awesome. And then the nightcap on ESPN, in a day when ESPN really didn't do a whole ton of regular season college baseball........definitely a top 5 all time Aggie sports day

And yes......yes it WAS louder back then. Without a doubt.

Now get off my lawn.

Nah it was definitely louder back then. Nba games, mlb, nfl. People were wild back then. Only dudes that have the same volume nowadays is soccer in other countries

That was my first college baseball game. Spoiled immediately.

Olsen was louder then than it is now, but it was probably loudest in the late 90s, with the RF bleachers. Post-remodel Olsen will never be quite as loud since the armchair seats were changed from metal to plastic. Also, back in the 80s, the entire upper deck, except for the center section, was general admission, so we could pack more people into the grandstand (although that didn't happen often until '89).

That highlight is from the season highlight tape. It's really good, but doesn't quite convey how great the end of the first game of the t.u. doubleheader was. It took 4.5 hours to play, and we went from 7 up to 7 down, then down five in the 9th, we tied it up with a 2-RBI single up the middle by Terry Taylor (number 2 in the lineup), leaving runners on the corners and one out. Despite the fact that Chuck Knoblauch had been ejected (leaving freshman Jason Marshall in his spot), everyone felt that the game was over, it was just a matter of exactly how the ending would be written. Gus stalled for time, taking about four minutes to walk Marshall (they didn't just waive him down to first, as you could do in those days, but they weren't going to let him put it in play, and wanted to load the bases to put the double play in order), then changing pitchers, then, in order to buy more time after Dressendorfer had completed his warm up tosses, by changing left fielders (who was also given time for warm up tosses). It must have been something like 8-10 minutes between Taylor tying it up and Byington ending it (all he needed was a sac fly, which is why the crowd was going nuts before the ball cleared the wall), and it was a great feeling watching the sips twist in the wind awaiting their certain fate.

I might be wrong but I thought back then ga also had a section on the third base line? So more students in the stadium than we have now

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I might be wrong but I thought back then ga also had a section on the third base line? So more students in the stadium than we have now

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Yes, the only reserved seats were downstairs and the armchair section right in front of the press box.

I was there, along with 3 other friends, on the front row upper deck behind first base for both games. With only 4 of us, we were limited in options for trying to show our support via t-shirts. So we took a can of maroon spray paint and painted "tu S U X" on 4 shirts. I think we had to draw straws to decide who were the "tu" shirt.

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People watching on the railroad tracks, in the days of yore when "safety" meant simply moving off the tracks when needed

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You can't do anything fun anymore these days. Pussification of America.

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Hardly. Someone jumped on a moving train and Union Pacific for some strange reason had a real problem with that. A phone call from them to the University put a stop to people watching the games from the tracks. You do not mess about with the railroad folks. They have considerable clout in this state.