Personal Essay: An Autobiography Of A Ball Player

When I was younger, sports were the activity that changed my life. I showed interest in sports around the age of five. Baseball was my favorite sports at this time of my life. The only sports I watched when I was younger was baseball. . I fell in love with baseball before any other sport because it involved catching, running and throwing. I took every baseball opportunity I had and ran with it. Baseball was a way for me to express my creativity and develop my social skills. I was a kid who was shy and timid around others.

Ever since I could remember, I have always had a great interest and love for the game of baseball. As a kid, I would spend countless hours in the backyard with my grandfather, or even by myself, tossing, hitting and fielding a baseball. When I wasn't in the yard pretending to be Nomar Garciaparra I would watch the Boston Red Sox games on TV with my Grandfather.  Even in my early adolescence, as impatient as most are, I had the patience to sit there and watch the Sox.With my eyes glued to the screen with a look of anticipation fixed on my face ready to mimic my grandfather with the excitement of a home run hit or the frustration of Mo-Vaughn striking out. Call me crazy, but I was addicted, even as a young boy, to Boston Red Sox baseball.

As soon as I made my very first varsity baseball appearance, I knew that I had to be the very best I could be or there was never going to be a chance of ever putting on that white and maroon crisp cleaned dri-fit Russel number 18 jersey. My heart was beating beyond faster than it should be at my first at bat because I had always heard “Just wait you haven't seen nothing yet, wait till you face them varsity pitchers.” Players older than me had constantly been saying that throughout my freshman season and it kept repeating over and over in my head like a broken record. Although I had studied the pitcher and had seen with my very own eyes, he wasn’t as good as everyone talked him up to be. I was still overawed and very nervous about messing up.

A young kid growing up with a burning desire to be a great ball player. My greatest love of things has always been baseball. Baseball taught me determination. Baseball taught me the greatness of having a hard work ethic. Discipline, manners, and staying positive all shaped from baseball. It is greater than just a game. Without baseball I don't believe I would be who I am today.

CRACK!!! I send the ball out into right field. I hit it in the best spot possible, the runner on third scored, we won, because of my walkoff! Last year. I will never forget that year. For me (for the 2016 season), began at like field one (at the Kenosha Sports Complex), became a field of luck for me, both good and bad. Late March/Early April and it feels like I have finally got a good start on the baseball season, for once. My team plays another team with both a good coach and players, Firefighters. Eventually, I get up to the plate. The pitcher winds up and throws the ball, right where I like it, up in the strike zone and a little bit inside. I swing, and SMACK!!! I send the ball deep, so far that the outfielder just watched the ball sail

So what made baseball be the event that made me who I am today. Well I’m about to tell you. First it was the very first baseball game I played, then it was the first game I won, after that it was the first tournament I won, last it was the first World Series I won.

It was the last games of the baseball season. We had are worse pitcher pitching for our team. And they had an ok pitcher pitching. We got to the semi finals and our coach was going nuts. I was in the locker room getting ready for the game and my teammates Austin and Tevan were right next to me also getting ready they were one of the best players on the team.

Lights blaring into my eyes, the crack of the bat, the shouting of the overly-devoted parents, the salty aroma arising off of the freshly roasted peanuts, all came together to create the overwhelming presence of a little league baseball game. This was a place where I spent most of my time on week day afternoons, in the spring, watching my brother succeed at America’s pastime. He was really quite good at this sport called baseball; he had just been granted the position of starting pitcher for the team. Sometimes things that have occurred in my life, and stuff I have received, that I may not have necessarily deserve, can be taken for granted. However, after what was about to take place my eyes are given a new perspective.

I am from the sound of my heart racing, bum bum, bum bum, bum bum… while dribbling the ball from eighteen to eighteen and giving it my all.

It was a chilly Monday night as I finished putting on my baseball uniform. I was nervous because it was the championship game. We were playing our rival team, the Yankees. My close friend Tom was their pitcher, and he struck out a lot of people. Tonight, I was going to get a hit off of him. At least I hoped so. I heard a beep in the driveway and realized it was my mom who was ready to go. ¨ Coming Mom!¨ I shouted through the garage door. As I jogged to the car, I could not stop thinking about getting a hit off of Tom.

It was a good day to play baseball. Sun in the sky, cool breeze in the air. Nothing that could stop me from playing, or messing around. It was the Brentwood Pony All-Star game and I was fired up to play. Since I had the coolest Coach ever and my team just recently won the championship, my coach let us slack of a little bit just because, why not? It was about four o’clock in the afternoon and I was up on deck taking my practice swings, lefty! I was using a batting sleeve to weigh down the bat to make the illusion of it feeling lighter. But as I was watching on deck I realized something, the pitcher was throwing some serious heat. Even though I was experienced hitter, I was just a beginner lefty. I take a deep breath and walk to the plate, one of my teammates walks back to the dugout in deep despair as I go to the plate. As I start walking I hear my mom screaming my name and cheering for me as she always does, and I look back to see my sister laughing so I then let out a quiet giggle.

We were in the streets of the neighborhood, Ann Elizabeth to be exact. We had just began to play a game of baseball with my brothers new metal bat. Mom had already left for work and my dad was getting ready to leave as well. He was running sort of late. My brother and I were about to start the game, we check around us to make sure no one was near us to play a safe game. We saw our little sister and brother at the front doors neighbor's house playing with their daughter last time we checked. As my brother threw the baseball, I was getting ready to swing then bam! Before I knew it the bat had already crashed into my little brother's head. Let me remind you that this was a metal bat. A metal bat had ran cross my little brother's head. I was so terrified. My little brother was only 4 at that time. I did not know what to do. I held him in my arms. He was still conscious. I was holding my hand over his open wound. He bled a lot. My other brother had ran to let my dad know. My dad came rushing outside,

The varsity baseball team had just finished a long day of practicing base running, hitting and fielding. It was very hot out and the sun was making us even more tired. Sweat soaked my shirt and dripped off the brim of my hat. I had been up since 6:30, spent all day at school, and practiced baseball for 2 hours. I was so exhausted that I just wanted to go home, take a shower and go to bed. Then my coach called me over and said “Hey Kevin can you help me with the field?”, The last thing I wanted to do was stay after practice to hose down the field and fix the hole in the pitcher's mound.

As the crowd boos, you hear the New York Yankee commentator say “coming up to bat after a long year of suspension it’s the third basemen for the New York Yankees, Alex Rodriguez”. I grew up in awe watching great Yankee third basemen Alex Rodriguez. I remember playing baseball and trying to do everything he did, like how he chewed his gum, and how he wore his baseball socks. I would also imitate his batting stance as played. But all of a sudden the player I once looked up to tested positive for steroids.

I still remember the day it all happened. It was my freshman year of high school and baseball was right around the corner. Playing varsity baseball as a freshman was almost impossible to do. As coach called me into his office, the anxiety set in. I knew the varsity team lacked a starting pitcher but i never would have thought i would have the opportunity to get pulled up to play that year.