A Speech On My Dad 's Baseball Cards

June 19th, 1939 one of the New York Yankees and baseball's most famous first baseman, Lou Gehrig, was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis after six days of extensive testing. Fifteen days later on July 4th, 1939 Lou Gehrig flew to Yankee stadium in New York and gave his famous, “Farewell to Baseball” speech. The speech wasn't just for Yankees fans, but for all fans of baseball. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS for short, is a a nervous system disease that weakens muscles and impacts physical function, usually killing the person in two to five years. Gehrig knew he didn't have long. That's why fifteen days after his diagnosis Gehrig was standing at home plate in Yankee stadium telling all baseball fans of his retirement due to illness. In under 300 words, using ethos, logos, and pathos, Gehrig transformed how baseball fans viewed him, not just as a player, but as a person. Gehrig showed the world how strong willed and fearless a person can be in the face of adversity.

The morning was foggy and I could see the front of my school through my window. It was a nice sight to see. I walked into the kitchen to make myself a bowl of cereal and there she was with her head down on the table. I could tell that she arrived a couple of hours ago because the tears hadn’t dried from her cheeks yet. I got myself ready gave her a kiss on her forehead and headed off to school. I had walked into class eager to see what my teacher Mrs. Padron had in store for today. Every single day there was something new to learn and there’s something about that infinite nature of learning that really appealed to me as a child. I cherished those 7 hours I spent in class the most I could and I dreaded the mere thought of having to go home where I would have to face the

I will teach you about history in Baseball and Basketball. There is a lot of history in these sports. In baseball history was made not to long ago about 3 weeks now. I will also teach you about the first black player in baseball. I will talk about Who invented basketball and who was the first black player in NBA.. There is a lot of history between these sports and now I will teach you.

Today is the day, the day I would get the paper I worked so hard on back. It is a chilly fall morning as I walked to my AP Literature classroom. The classroom was full of vibrant colors that match my teacher’s fiery red hair, various pug pictures, and a shelf jam-packed with Mr. Potato heads. Mrs. Grimes, my teacher, is loud, impolite, and to say this nicely, she is an overweight older woman. I hate going to her class every day, nothing I ever do is good enough for her, she hates me all because I am quiet. So, I am very apprehensive about what grade I had received on this paper.

The setting is Meadowlane Elementary and a bashful nine-year-old Lilibeth Martinez was sitting in Ms. Moss’s class preparing for the FCAT Writes. My earliest memories of writing are about when I was in the fourth grade and everyone was preparing to take the FCAT Writes for their first time. I remember sitting all the way in the first row, fourth seat, scribbling furiously on a piece of paper as I jotted down all of my ideas and sentences with my Hannah Montana pencil. I was obsessed with Hannah Montana at the time. Ecstatic at the idea of getting to create a story made of my own imagination, thoughts and opinions. Although my gleeful bubble popped the moment I saw the prompt was about explaining the wonders of wearing uniform the day of the

“Sadie, please. I’m not in the mood to handle your sass.” She said more with body language that made it clear she was exhausted. My aunt Edna or “Edie” and I had been arguing over whether we would go on a trip to Wyoming to visit my aunt Carol. I’m pretty set against it because there are only 2 weeks before exams and I could not afford to miss anything. Edie was insisting that we go visit aunt Carol for no good reason. This argument had been going on for weeks, but neither of us gave in. I avoided her as much as possible.

She stood there, a tall, thin steal gray fluffy haired figure on the top step for a second. And then looked down at the fair-haired children and smiled widely revealing a large gap between her two front teeth. She laughed cheerfully and declared, "Pay no mind to her. She's not so bad once you get to know her." Anna wondered about that. She seemed as if she were pretty good at being furious. "Come on, follow me." The lady said as she opened the door and allowed them to pass, "My name's Miss Margot. Now come along, there's no time to dawdle." She said in her sing-song voice and led them down a long, dark, narrow hallway that was lined with solid wood paneling. As we walked, she tugged at their arms to quicken their pace. Eventually she stopped and pressed on a spot in one of the boards and a door popped open. She and the children hurried into the cold, damp lopsided little basement storage area that was filled with spider webs and smelt dank. Once inside the room Anna noticed that a single light bulb on a long cord swayed from the ceiling and an old broken folding chair and a chamber pot leaned against one of the walls. And that in the back of the room there was a tiny, grimy window that permitted a sliver of evening moonlight to pass through. "That's yours." Miss Margot said and pointed her

The smell of hand sanitizer roamed the classroom and children were running in and out of the maze the desk made. I, on the other hand, remember sitting impatiently in my seat waiting for the teacher to give instruction. I came to the conclusion that the teacher was most likely speaking to the parents and it was going to take awhile for her to get back to us, thence I grabbed the Dr. Seuss book from my overly packed backpack and placed it on my desk and began reading. Suddenly my page grew dark and I felt hot air touch the back of my neck, I turned my head around and there was this tall female figure looking down at me with a colossal smile as white as paper, it was my teacher, Mrs. Hilda. She took ahold of the chair beside me and sat down, I recall she asked me what I was reading and I told her it was my favorite book, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” by Dr. Seuss. Memories of the conversation with Mrs. Hilda aren’t clear, however, I do remember after school everyday while I’d be waiting for my parents to pick me up from school she would snatch a book from the reading section within the classroom and we would read together. I would read one page as she read the other, and we did this everyday until the last week of

With five minutes left before school began, they considerably ignored the speed limit in order to arrive on time. Jeff screamed, “I would rather be late than go 65 miles per hour in a 35 mile per hour area!” With the school in sight, a blaze of red and blue lights flashed around the car. With the music on full volume, Katie was oblivious to the squadron of police cars and helicopters surrounding her vehicle. Knowing she would be incarcerated, Jeff sprinted to the front entrance of the school and lunged for the door handle. Before he could reach it, the principal, Mr. Marley, stepped directly in front of him. “Saturday school it is,” he scoffed while opening the door for Jeff. After arriving in his first period class, his favorite teacher, Mr. Garvey, handed him an assignment. In the top right corner of the page, it read in red ink, “Due at the end of class.” Noticing there were only eight minutes left to finish his in-class essay, he scribbled down whatever crossed his mind. At the end of the day, Mr. Garvey called Jeff into his office. In his left hand, he held the in-class essay he assigned that day. Before passing out onto the ground, Jeff caught a glimpse of a large red ‘F’ stamped on his

Girls are starting to wear short skirts and the principal is making them kneel down. If the skirt doesn’t touch the floor, then it is too short and the girls are sent home. This is a problem because students miss their classes for that day. At Jane’s school, there are designated smoking areas, but no one smokes. The good thing is Jane is aware of detention, but is curious about exactly what it is. The good thing is, Jane has never had to find out. Jane became very focused on her homework and her many research projects. Jane finds herself going to the library more and more as she searches through encyclopedias, dictionaries, or just books that pertain to the subject she is interested in. Janes prized possession was her typewriter. Jane knows that using a typewriter is only for final

The first thing that I got was the football and baseball cards. I finally got my dad respect for them after he saw that I had all of mine in a binder in plastic holders were they had their own very slots. Unlike his where they were in a trash bag getting ruined and losing their value. The day I got them, I put them in my binder. There was at least 200 to 300 cards maybe, more than that. I think maybe that is why he gave them to me so maybe one day they might be worth something. Every Christmas my cousins, uncles, and grandma gave me cards when I was little so yes I kept all of those. One of my cousins was the same age as I was so we would always have a competition to see who had the most cards and the best player at the end of the week of

I begged the secretary to change my classes. She said no, and walked me over the gold, white, and blue tiled floor. I breathed in, noticing the french-fry like smell. She opened the door to reveal an overly-blue room. Mrs. Smith smiled at me and welcomed me. She asked where I was from and I told her Arkansas. She asked me where in Arkansas, and

Our little hands were held tight upon each other, we glanced around with curiosity sparkling in our eyes. Giggling at the thought of what we were about to do, my sister and I glanced around hurriedly making sure no one was close enough to chase after us. Our young minds could not comprehend the idea that we were actually allowed to go back home for lunch. Motivated at the thought of this so called juvenile act, our veins were electrified with confidence as a we scurried across the gravel path. We stopped and attempted to cloak ourselves behind a vendor’s cart, as we peered through the piles of colorful guavas and pomegranates, spying the watchman. As soon as he turned around, we bolted toward to the entrance of the building complex. Running as fast as our little legs could carry us, we jumped into the elevator and rose to the third floor. “Sneaking in” my grandparent's apartment, we were greeted by my grandpa and as we told him of our adventure his laughter warmed the room.

There was a bright light and my eyes hurt, I looked at my twin bell alarm clock and it read five a.m. I must have fallen asleep while studying, I guess. But what happened felt so real. I have been really phony lately, it was probably just a subconscious thing. Then I saw it on my desk. A copy of The Catcher in the Rye, I don’t own a copy of The Catcher in the Rye. I opened it open to the front cover and there was a crash of my dopping the book and accidentally knocking over a vase in the process. Inside was inscribed; “Remember what and who you saw, for this could be your eternity. Signed, J.D.

I looked around me. Off to the right of me there was a whole bunch of games of all sorts. And all of these games were making noises of every kind. There was so many things going on at once it was almost mind blowing. We walked up to the front desk, got our cards, (which were good for a whole day at boondocks), and I walked towards the video games were located. I stood in the middle of the game floor as I thought, “What game should I try first.” I walked over to one and stuck my card into one of the slot. The lights on the sides of the games flashed red. I heard a sound like a mini fire truck was blaring it's siren. The siren sounded like it was set on the modes: fast motion and high pitched, but the game didn't start. I walked over to another game, stuck my card in, but it did the same thing. In fact every game I tried did that exact same thing. I walked over to my dad and told him what as going on. Turned out that you had to either use tickets to play the games we were playing or buy a special (more expensive) card in order to play the games I was trying to play. The reason why all the games I tried to play didn't work is because those were the games that gave off prizes, the games I wanted to play. (Ha ha very funny.) Anyways I picked a game that didn't require prizes, stuck my card in, and the lights flashed green. YAY! After 30 minutes of playing games my dad walked over to me and told me to go play laser tag with my brothers. I got in the line and