Personal Narrative: Varsity Baseball

One summer’s day in 2014, I borrowed my neighbor’s lawn mower and met my teammates at the batting cage. I began mowing down the weeds, while they raked. Others restretched the netting back across the top of the cage. By the time the afternoon came we had a batting cage and a real sense of pride. From that day forward, we began practicing every day, year round. We talked baseball, walked baseball, lived and breathed the stuff. We shared our equipment and made do with what we had. We turned ourselves from a rag-tag bunch of misfits into a

Thus is the nature of baseball, a fickle game wrought with tradition, the foremost of which is the iron clad law mandating that the game is cruel and will take away as freely as it gives. My father always told me, “Baseball is a game of errors - the best hitters fail seven out of ten times - the key to success is knowing how to deal with the failure.” It is this aspect of the game, its want to frustrate and demoralize the player, that I think has driven most of my

"Baseball as America." Academic Search Premier. Spec. issue of USA Today Magazine 1 Apr. 2002: n. pag. EBSCO. Web. 1 Dec. 2015. The Baseball Hall of Fame is an iconic American landmark, which houses thousands of artifacts from baseball's crude beginnings to its current day glory. This piece is simple, yet it demonstrates what an important aspect of American culture baseball has become. The artifacts demonstrate how far baseball has come, among its highlights are Jackie Robinson's uniform, articles from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, and even "Shoeless" Joe Jackson's cleats. Pictures accompany the article which adds the needed bit of glamour to illustrate how greatly baseball has influenced American

In 1839 Americas soon to be favorite past time was invented right here in New York, Baseball. Baseball whether you like the game or not, has weaved itself deeply into our culture and isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. There are countless movies, articles, songs, playing cards, bobble heads, merchandise and books all made about baseball. The players are often idolized by children and adults alike. Baseball in our country was and still is a huge topic of discussion, whose batting average is higher, which team is better, is someone cheating. Troy Maxson like many American’s knows a lot about baseball like how striking out is bad and homeruns are how you win but there are things about baseball that Troy doesn’t know. The article, Walking Around the Fences: Troy Maxson and the Ideology of “Going Down Swinging”, written by David Letzler. Letzler Delves into the ideology of batting and walks in baseball in explanation of the main character Troy Maxson of August Willison’s play Fences, and his thought process of going down swinging and Troy’s thoughts on some of the major league players of that time.

Baseball has always been an American sport full of merriment for the whole family, but what lies beyond the rooting, peanuts, and crackerjacks, is a bitter memory for the families who resided in the Chavez Ravine. The Chavez Ravine was located a few miles from downtown Los Angeles. This “poverty stricken” place was home to a tight knit Mexican community. Many families were forced out of their homes kicking and screaming others took the couple of dollars given to them to relocate in order to build federally funded public houses. The Chavez Ravine faced many problems from the remove of its inhabitants to subject of McCarthyism, and finally an unhappy memory to those who lost their homes when the Dodger Stadium was built.

When I was a child the atmosphere of baseball was almost intoxicating to me. The scent of freshly cut grass as it tickles your nose, the sound of the ball whooshing through the air from the mound to the catchers’ glove, and the sudden crack of the bat as it knocks the little leather ball hundreds of feet out into the park. All of my senses are in full joyous glee when I am surrounded by that environment. Unfortunately, I only got to enjoy this atmosphere from the bleachers. I was born with many medical issues, one of which being asthma that did not particularly like the freshly cut grass tickling my nose. I would spend my time in the stands watching my half-brothers and cousins who were much healthier than me live my dream of becoming the next

The implications of integration for black baseball players, as well as implications for the larger black communities, should not be overlooked (Baseball-Integration 1).”

Inner city baseball teams, promote a positive environment for children and young adults to help prevent and reduce the rise in city crime rate. In many eyes, the people of America value baseball as the number one sport nationwide. Many Americans live for the crack of a bat when it makes contact with the ball, or for the thrill of predicting on where the balls going to land or if the team player is going to catch the “pop fly”. Baseball is a sport played by some and watched by millions. Baseball is a sport that requires nothing less than high quality team work, hand eye coordination, and chomping on a stick of “big chew gum”. It’s every minor baseball players dream to make it into the major leagues, and to hit a home run or a grand

From the first click of the turnstiles to the last crack of the bat, a baseball game is perhaps the most truly American of anything in the United States” (“Project”). This is how baseball started up and began all over and in Chicago.

It is a game of inches played nearly everywhere by every age. From backyards to little league parks and professional stadiums, by tee-ball playing kindergartners to old-timer leagues, baseball is a game that is considered America’s pastime for a good reason. Baseball, and simply sports in general, help teach many important life lessons such as hard work, sportsmanship and dedication. These qualities, along with many other things, are necessary for success in today’s world. The sport of baseball is very popular in other countries as well, and for many of the youth in these countries, it represents a way out. A way out from the poverty and crime and a way to a better life here in America. Out of all of the opportunities afforded to me

Baseball can be truly seen as metaphor for life in America. As just like it takes certain ingredients to be successful in life those same

With upwards of ten million people participating in the sport of baseball in the United States alone, it is apparent that baseball is one of the world’s most popular sports. Throughout the years, the sport of baseball has evolved from a humble game played on empty sandlots to “America’s national pastime.” The game has come a long way, but how did this game come to be? Everything has its humble beginnings, and baseball is no different. Games that resemble baseball have been around for centuries, and they have led to the development of baseball itself.

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,

Americans love sports. Sports infiltrate culture, music, film, and even history courses in the United States. Even with this immense popularity surrounding a variety of sports in this country, one stands out as the most “American.” Baseball has long been regarded as America’s national pastime and it remains the single sport which mirrors society and pushes it forward more than any other. Football and basketball have risen to great prominence within the United States, but they cannot match baseball for its history, its diversity, and its growth with the nation from coast to coast. Baseball also offers heroism and an everyday working class style that are not present in any other sport. In a nation with many athletic pastimes, baseball

Various aspects of life represent America in different ways. These aspects shape the history of America, at the same time, the history and values America has shaped them. When one talks about baseball, one thing that comes clearly into one’s mind is America. Why? America is the origin of baseball; it puts in more effort to ensure the game advances. Since the development of baseball, other countries across the globe identify and value America based on baseball in different ways. The script utilizes photos to disclose some ways through which baseball characterizes and values America.