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I was born in 1958. The mid 60s to mid 70s Os were IT!

Then when we had Eddie Murray and Cal, I got into again, just a bit more jaded though.

Agreed, although I would probably start baseball's last Golden Era a little earlier. Maybe with the 1960 World Series upset win by the Pirates with the first expansion ever the following year. I believe it was the first time since World War II where the Yankees either finished worse than second place and/or lost a world series in back-to-back seasons.

The expansion also helped make baseball more competitive, at least until the mid 1970s. But most of all, players and fans had a real connection with most players often making less than the CEOs of the business for whom you worked.

This was really brought home in 2010 when the Pirates (as good in marketing as they were poor in on-field performance at the time) brought in as many players as they could gather from that 1960 World Champion team.

The team sponsored events and autograph signing sessions, of course, cost a little money to get in to. But while the players were in town, they were also free to organize events of their own. Vernon Law, the Cy Young award winner, had such a free event in the old neighborhood where he used to live around Forbes Field. Thanks to a invitation from a friend of mine, I was able to attend that overflow event.

You wouldn't meet a nicer guy. It was like talking to your grandfather (well, maybe father, in my case). The stories he told about Bill Mazeroski, ElRoy Face and other teammates indicated that there was a genuine connection between fans and players not limited to just him.

I was born in 1958, as well. For some reason, I recall 1969 as being the best year in baseball. It was simply AMAZING ;)