Meet Wayne

About The Casual Fan

Wayne McBrayer

 

I attended my first baseball game in 1972 in San Diego and have been a fan ever since.  I grew up listening to Jerry Coleman and Bob Chandler call the Padres games on the radio.  I would stay up past my bedtime to listen to my Padres play.  Win or lose, I cheered them on.

My early heroes of the game were Randy Jones, Willie McCovey, Dave Winfield, and Dave Freisleben.  I also spent time reading about Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, and any other biography of a baseball player I could get my hands on.

Through the 80’s I continued to watch my Padres, led by new names like Tony Gwynn, Eric Show, Alan Wiggins, Carmelo Martinez and managed by my favorite manager – Dick Williams.  The 90’s brought into my life the names of Cammy, Finley, Brown, and T. Gwynn was still around.  I was there to see Tony Gwynn’s last game as well as Rickey Henderson’s 3000^th hit.  The 2000’s were a sad goodbye to the memories of San Diego Stadium (now called Qualcomm) and hello to the beautiful Petco Park.  Two division titles and sadly, a lot of losing seasons, but I still love my Padres.  Blanks, Forsythe, Stultz, Vincent, and Cabrera are among the new crop I love.  All in all, baseball has been good to me.

I started writing my blog – The Casual Fan – 3 years ago … mostly commenting on players signing (or not signing) autographs and how they interacted with their fans. But that changed in 2011 when I started to write about baseball players’ heroes.  I wanted to know who they loved and grew up watching – who they respected.  I have talked to at least 30 players without a press credential or any help from a team.  Just a baseball and an autograph request … hoping a player will give me a few seconds of their time.  This year I teamed up with my friend and fellow Padres fan, Rebecca Herman, to write about the team I’ve loved as long as I can remember – the San Diego Padres – we are Padres360.

When I’m not writing, I own a housecleaning business that I started on my own 17 years ago and that helps pay the bills.  God has blessed me with family and friends that I love very much.

See you at Petco Park.