Questioning on when the ball count chant actually started. My recollection is that there was a relatively small group of students that typically congregated right behind the first base dugout area of the student section that started doing it in 97. During the season, at the start of the season it was still the same group but that was the year I noticed it start to spread. By the end of that year, most of the entire student section was joining in, and by the start of the 00 season, the entire stadium joined in.

anyone remember it being a thing before 97?

Most definitely. I was a student there from 87-90 and it was just getting its start then

dixichkn said:

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Most definitely. I was a student there from 87-90 and it was just getting its start then

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This. Really became loud in 89. I think it was cemented that season. We were rowdy as hell!

Grew up going to Aggie baseball games before 97.. Remember the Ball 5 happening ever since I was little. So it's been around awhile.

I was a fish for the 89 season and it was definitely started then. What an incredible team that was and the moments they gave us. Big Johns homer to beat the sips almost caused me to fall off the second deck. Good times!

e=mc2 said:

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dixichkn said:

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Most definitely. I was a student there from 87-90 and it was just getting its start then

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This. Really became loud in 89. I think it was cemented that season. We were rowdy as hell!

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We had a lot to be rowdy about!

Started in the 80s, and has been going too fast ever since

AggieBand2004 said:

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Started in the 80s, and has been going too fast ever since

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I regret that I have only one blue star to give……..
It looks like the FSU Seminole war chant now

dixichkn said:

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Most definitely. I was a student there from 87-90 and it was just getting its start then

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My undergrad years were 89-92. The ball 5 chant, E, "get in the box," " get out of Bill's box," and so much more.

One of the funnier series: we hosted an early season tournament, round robin style, and one year the participants were Old Dominion and Michigan. We welcomed Michigan to the field by playing their fight songs on kazoos. Michigan was not entertained. The Old Dominion coach played along with our ragging, and was hilarious.

We need to break out the kazoos again!

This thread is an annual tradition!

This crowd deserves a banana ball visit.

panhandlefarmer said:

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This thread is an annual tradition!

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Yes, it is. So, I'll repeat the annual answer.

Some kind of recognition of a four pitch walk has been around for a long time. As it pertains to Olsen and the Ball Five chant, I'm going to say that probably became ritualized in '89. We certainly had ragged on pitchers who couldn't throw strikes by keeping count of their futility before that, but it was a lot more free form, and it wasn't originally chanting "Ball Five" after a four pitch walk, but rather, "Ball Four."

AggieBand2004 said:

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Started in the 80s, and has been going too fast ever since

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Definitely preferred it when it was drawaaaaaaannnn oooouuuuuuutttttt.

Absolutely. In the early 00's we at least started slow, and people got faster around ball 7/8. These days, it starts out far too fast

Ball 5 was around in '95 when I was a freshman