Billy Sunday Summary

Tim Green’s book, Football hero, is about a boy named Ty Lewis who loss his parents in a car accident. Due to this, he had to move to New Jersey to live with this Uncle Gus and Aunt Virginia who are not very supportive of his dreams. Ty is passionate about football and is very good at it too. He is the best player on his team and his brother now plays for the New York Jets NFL team. Ty’s speed on the field got him recruited by Coach V but his Uncle Gus will not let him play.

More than any other sports, baseball sits highly on the throne of America. The heroic sport calls for fond memories from stacking tiny baseball figurines to betting large sums of money on the winning player. Behind every swing of the bat lies the recorded scores, broadcasted reports, tales, and legends that all American boys and girls hear. During the 1900s, baseball was everyone's favorite sport and source of entertainment. Films, documentaries and short stories rose to display the magical American love for baseball. In one case, W.P. Kinsella illustrates the prominent theme of love in the baseball fan favorite novel, “Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa” and its film adaption. Ray Kinsella, through his love for baseball and receiving support from his family, is transformed from a mundane farmer into a baseball hero that drives Archibald Wright into discovering a critical passion.

     The protagonist, Billy Budd, is the major force of innocence in the book. Billy is a young man who seems to have everything going for him. He is big, strong, handsome, and he has a personality that draws

Billy a troubled neighborhood boy, effected Jeannette’s childhood. He was constantly trying to mess with her. One day when all the kids were out playing hide and seek Billy hid with Jeannette. He forced himself on her and said he “raped her”.

2. Jackie Robinson’s life changed when he became the first black man to play in the world series and Major League Baseball (MLB) during a time of segregation in America. These life-changing events challenged him because he had to face racially tense crowds and endured threats from teammates, opponents, and bigoted fans. For example in paragraph three, the text states, “Some of my own teammates refused to accept me because I was black.” This quote explains a negative portraying event that comes upon Jackie Robinson. Also in paragraph three the text states, “There were threats against me and my family and even out-and-out attempts and physical harm to me.” This explains how Jackie felt uneasy about how the whites were trying to put Jackie down. Despite the racism he faced, Robinson learned to have pride in his accomplishments and appreciate the courage, support, and love shown by his supporters. For example, in paragraph eleven, the text states, “I don’t think I’ll ever forget that small, shrill voice of a tiny white kid, in the midst of a racially tense atmosphere during an early game in a Dixie town, cried out, “Attaboy, Jackie.” This explains how because of one his supporters was cheering him on he felt he had to succeed even if most people wouldn’t accept him. Jackie’s challenges made him a popular name to remember in the Major Leagues today.

Moments in Billy's life change instantaneously, not giving Billy a clue to where he will end up next. In one moment, he is sitting in his home typing a letter to the local newspaper about his experience with the Tralfamadorians, and in the next he is a lost soldier of World War II running around behind German lines aimlessly without a coat or proper shoes. He then became a child being thrown into a pool by his father and afterwards a forty-one year old man visiting his mother in an old people's home. In the novel, changes in time are made through transitional statements such as, "Billy traveled in time, opened his eyes, found himself staring into the glass eyes of a jade green mechanical owl." p.56 In the movie there is no such thing and different moments in Billy's life happen instantaneously. Because scenes are continuous as times change, the movie better displays the author's attempt to capture in the notion of being "unstuck in time." On the other hand, the novel does help the audience follow these time changes better by setting it up for the next scene, offering a background of Billy's experiences before they begin through these transitional statements.

All through Billy’s life he ran into obstacles that obstructed his free will. As a child Billy’s father lets Billy sink in the deep end of a pool so he could learn how to swim “because his

For a 12-year-old Cuban boy living in the Bronx, baseball is his family's only way out and means a better tomorrow. In the novel, Heat by Mike Lupica, baseball represents a way out and a better tomorrow. He loves baseball and idolizes the Yankees pitcher El Grande, who was also Cuban-born. Michael Arroyo is a young boy who has reasons to distrust the representatives of the state must figure out how to continue life on his own terms while navigating the adult world and avoiding both the well-meaning and the badly-intentioned interference of grown-ups. Michael is also the best baseball pitcher on his South Bronx all-star team. Michael's arm is so good, that a rival Little League coach begins requesting proof that he's only 12 and eligible to play. They ask for his father but, recently, his father took a trip to Florida and had a heart attack, killing him. Michael and his 17-year-old brother Carlos, are trying to avoid Child Protective Services until Carlos turns 18.

Billy Bean was a young athletic kid that came from a military family. He grew to be six foot four inches at the age of eighteen. Billy was tested for his arm strength, speed, hitting, and fielding in front of major league scouts. Billy was not the suitable runner to the major leagues scouts. They looked at him and thought he too tall and lengthy for an outfielder. “He’s probably real slow,” they would say. Billy did not listen to them, he did not have a care in the world besides performing perfectly in front of the scouts and fans. He was then set to run the 60 yard dash. “Gillick drops his hand. Five born athletes lift up and push off. They’re at full tilt after just a few steps. It’s all over inside of seven seconds. Billy Beane has made all the others look slow,” (Lewis 5). Things are not always what they seem to be. Billy was a tall white kid that is not suppose to beat a sprinter who was already signed to UCLA on a football scholarship as a wide receiver. Scouts ask for a re-run, and yet again Billy kills them. Billy was undervalued as a runner and he proved them wrong by killing everyone in the

The novel begins with preseason football in the heat of a Texas summer. The players and coaches practice over 4 hours a day in 100-degree weather. The media is affecting every player pushing for a state championship and college scouts at every practice. The boys who gave completely of themselves for their sport are unique personalities. From dedicated quarterback Mike Winchell to Harvard-bound Brian Chavez to the inscrutable Ivory Christian, the team was full of young men who were singular human beings, each one bringing something special and indefinable to their group. And that's just scratching the very surface.The book recounts the tragic story of Boobie Miles, team’s star running back who had been highly recruited by all of the major programs. He is expected to attend and earn a scholarship to a large state college. The community

Billy Sunday was a professional baseball player from 1883 to 1891 for Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia teams. He was born to William Sunday and Mary Jane Corey on November 19th 1862 and died on November 6th 1935. Growing up his family lived in poverty, but that never let this challenge affect his life. After his father died in 1862 Billy and his family move to go live his grandparents for a few years. Billy and his older brother were sent to live in Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home in Davenport, where they received a decent education and began to improve his athletic skills. When Billy was 14, he wanted to earn money, so he began to work for Colonel John Scott. Before long, he was offered to stay with the Scotts, who made sure that Billy went to

Jackie Robison was the first African- American person to play in the Major League of Baseball in the United States. Jackie Robison was the wake up call of the controversy in American Baseball history. Robison was a hero to many, the one man who stood up to play in the major league, were it was then “a game for white mans only,” according to many. He was constantly receiving threats, been yelled at, throw things at and most importantly constant racism towards him. He became a legacy, not only in baseball, but also in the American life. He fought his civil rights, where he confronted and face others who had nothing but hatred.

While never a defeatist, Billy merely flows through his disjointed life without much heed to the event at hand. Billy realizes that he holds the power to create his own happiness and satisfaction out of life through appreciation of the present moment rather than contemplate the occurrence of past and future. Vonnegut develops Billy Pilgrim as a unique protagonist as a means of forcing the reader to question the application of free will upon society and gain a new perspective on the beauty of the present.

During his stay at mental hospital he would bed next to a former infantry captain, Eliot Rosewater, where Rosewater would introduce him to the science novelist Kilgore Trout. Through the stories by Trout, Billy read about aliens and time traveling. From these ideas, influenced by Trout, Billy was able to make up his own stories and correlate them to his personal war experiences.

One day Billy was walking to his grandparents place when he heard a scream. He ran in the direction of the scream and found miss Mary trapped in a house that was on fire. Billy ran into the house and grabbed miss Mary and drug her out of the burning house. Billy was officially a hero.