Reflective Essay: The 2016 Saber Baseball Team

About three weeks ago, the Packer Varsity baseball team beat Berkeley Carroll school for the first time in twelve years and in glorious fashion. Tears streamed down my face as our winning run crossed the plate in extra innings, dust flying up as my teammates and I mobbed each other at the plate. Yet a few short days later, our team was blindsided by the news that St. Ann’s had pulled off back to back upsets to squeak their way into the playoffs ahead of us - just as our season seemed to be looking up, it was over.

This is a story of baseball and how it is a team sport. The book relates with the title by showing how this boy named Sandy Comstock that plays on the Grantville Raiders and has a big game coming up. It was against the Newtown Raptors. He wanted to beat them and become one of the best teams. By the time he knew it he ended up on the Newtown Raptors team and he was going to play is old team. It was kind of like a baseball turnaround.

Last year a whole nation came together to cheer on the Toronto Blue Jays as they made their bid to win the World Series. It was a feat that they had not accomplished in over 20 years. The excitement across Canada was unbelievable! People from all over the country were travelling to Toronto and the opponent’s city to show their support for the Jays. Unfortunately, their efforts were cut short in a series loss to the Kansas City Royals who ended up World Series Champions. Now with the 2016 season around the corner, can the Blue Jays make it back to back playoff berths with the changes that have been made in the front office, pitching rotation and player trades?

It had been a long season, many losses, but many learning moments, we were second to last in the league and only had about ten wins. The only thing we had going for us, the playoffs. We had tied the West Kent Hawks and beat two other teams 7-1 and 10-2 to make it here, and there I was. Sitting in the locker room with a blank stare and hands hanging from my chest guard, this is usually what happens before games. I was anxious to get on the ice, but neverous too, because this is how the little caesars playoffs work.

My freshman year we entered playoffs with a hopeful optimism that in our first year in 3A, the largest division, we could make a statement that we were here to stay. In the end, the game didn’t go our way. There were some questionable calls made but in the end, it is what it is: we weren’t good enough to win. A tough reality but often times you learn more from a loss than from a win. Sophomore

The game of baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday, in 1839- 177 years ago from today. Baseball has been, and is still today, known as America’s favorite pastime; additionally, due to its extensive history and partaking it monumental events, it can as well serve as a great topic to use in a story or poem. Poet Dale Ritterbusch, uses the game of baseball along with metaphors in his poem as a vehicle to write about a more substantial subject in poetry, the Vietnam War. His poem, “Behind the Plate”, can be simply over-looked to one as just a poem about an overweight catcher; nonetheless, when closely examined, it has a deeper meaning. Authors Michael Cocchiarale and Scott Emmert, both agree with the statement that baseball is a great outlet for further analysis of a more important subject: “Writers have seen sports, particularly baseball, as a useful vehicle for cultural and epistemological analysis” (Cocchiarale).

The Houston Astros have been making deals to improve their team, and avoid another collapse like the one they had last season. Their bullpen could not finish the year strong after being one of the best in baseball throughout the season. The bullpen, also, collapsed in game four of the ALCS against the eventual champions. The Royals could not hit Lance McCullers, but once he was removed with one out in the seventh inning, Kansas City 's offense got it going.

You don't hear everyday a high school team winning state championships that often, but at Archbishop Wood it's sort of common. I proudly can say I am one of the few that has not one, but two state championship rings under my belt. As a sophomore AND a junior in high school, my basketball team accomplished being State Champions two years in a row. The first year we won was one of the best experiences of being apart of a team. After losing in the state championship the year before, we knew we had to somehow get back the next year and make sure we'd come out with the trophy. As the new season began in  November of 2016, we played in the Nike tournament of champions in Arizona. The trip was one of the most memorable trips ever with the best group of girls. We had a blast,

When asked to describe a baseball the first word generally voiced is white, and before April 15, 1947 that is exactly what the game of baseball was, white. “There is no law against Negroes playing with white teams, or whites with colored clubs, but neither has invited the other for the obvious reason they prefer to draw their talent from their own ranks” (‘42’). These were the feelings of people living in 1947, that blacks and whites were not meant to play baseball together. Then, why decades earlier, had there been an African American in the league? In 1887, an African American Pitcher, George Stovey, was expected to pitch a game with Chicago, however, the first baseman, Cap Anson, would not play as long as Stovey was on the field. Other

1. Briefly, what are the major developments in the history of the labor-management relationship within Major League Baseball?

From the sandlot to stadiums seating over fifty thousand people, the game of baseball has provided people of all ages with a

In 2016, more than ever, the team was committed to and had one goal of winning. One of our biggest rivals was St. John’s College High School (SJCHS). My doubles partner and I played the last match of the WCAC championships against SJCHS. During the season, SJCHS was one of the hardest competitors we faced but walking onto the court on the final day of championships, my partner and I knew we would fight and win. After 45 minutes, I hit an ace and we won the match that put us in the lead to win the championships. October 30, 2016 was the single most exciting and overwhelming day for the team all season. Everyone’s hard work paid off.

The beginning of baseball has had it twist on who started the game and who made the rules to the game. The sport we know as baseball was original name stickball before it became an organized sport. Baseball was a game that many just played as part of their moderate exercise for recreational purpose or time and they used the game to stay in shape. It was usually a middle class white -collar worker who played the game.

The team wasn’t too great, we won about as many times as we lost, but that was fine. I struggled beyond belief, leading the team in strikeouts at the plate. One night we were in a tied up game heading into the bottom of the sixth inning. We managed to get a runner to third, but with two outs I couldn’t bunt. Once I had watched the first two pitches go by for strikes I knew I had to be looking to swing and come through. I had a feeling that everyone assumed I was about to strike out once again. But once I saw the pitch leave the pitcher’s hand, I knew it was all mine and connected on a line drive to left-center field. Hearing all of my teammates and the parents yell for me felt amazing. The ball landed landed deep in the outfield and as soon as I reached first base I realized I has just hit my first walk-off ever as the run crossed home to score the winning run. Soon my teammates ran out to bash my helmet and congratulate me on my feat. I’ll always carry that moment as my favorite sports memory of all time and I will never forget

Professional sports are a competition between the greatest athletes in the world. And when I go to a game, that’s exactly what I expect to see. Sports are entertainment. There is no room for purity and respecting the limits that athletes had in the past. Modern athletes should utilize all the resources that they have available to them. This includes steroids, which enhance an athlete’s performance. After all, performance is what really matters.