Roberto Clemente: A Bad Baseball Player

I, Babe Ruth, had a major contribution to society, mainly the game of baseball. As I was becoming more recognized as more of a hitter than a pitcher while the “dead-ball era” was happening. I hit many home runs and broke records. My fans loved it; they paid attention to my full-swing hitting. With the style of hitting I had, it contributed to the revolution of baseball and now the “live-ball era.”

1955 to 1972. Roberto played in two World Series, batting .310 in 1960 and .414 in

In addition, Babe Ruth is inspiring in many different ways. Primary, he teaches us that if we follow our dreams anything is possible. Ruth shows that our lives can change tremendously, because he transitioned from a poor, bad life to living in the riches and having a great life just because he followed his dream of becoming an incredible baseball player. He also inspires others by how he plays; he plays not only for himself, but he plays for others. He dedicated himself to baseball because that’s what he loved to do. He thought that you shouldn’t do anything you don’t love, do things that you love to

man that guy is an absolute legend in the baseball world. This matters to my topic because it

"Pitching is the art of instilling fear" (Sandy Koufax). These are the words Sanford ¨Sandy¨ Koufax believed in, and strived towards throughout his entire Hall of Fame baseball career. Through his impeccable talents on and off the field, Sandy was able to engraft the characteristics of trust, loyalty, and determination into all of the hearts of those who watched him. Sandy Koufax was the most influential baseball player of the 1960s, because he had a lot of experience with the game of baseball since he was young, he had a great impact on the people who watched him because of his actions, and he helped pave the way for the game of baseball to become even better.

Oscar Taveras could have been one of the greatest hitters of all time. In his first major league season he had a batting average of .239 in his first eighty games. Many said he was on track to be a phenomenal hitter. “Taveras was potentially a franchise defining talent.” Taveras died an untimely death in 2014 when he returned to his home of the Dominican Republic. He suffered catastrophic injuries in a car accident. Taveras showed leadership threw his ability to use his raw talent for the greater good of baseball. Some people classified his swing as “Powerful and smooth.” And “A balanced stroke.” But, sadly we will never know just how good he could have been.

The game of baseball evolved immensely during the 1900’s. There were new rules and rule changes, new teams in new states, and then there was Jackie Robinson. Jackie Robinson was a true legend from the day he was born in 1919. Baseball had it all in the first half of the 1900’s, fans filled the stadiums day after day, even during the war times. There was a big-name player on almost every team, children and adults admired these professional baseball players. The only thing professional baseball didn’t have during these times were African American players. Learning about the hardships that he had to overcome as a young boy, and the accomplishments he made from his college days at UCLA, to becoming the first African American professional baseball player, Jackie made it known that he was an American hero.

Jackie Robinson once said “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives”. True heroes, living among ordinary people, have paved the roads of today's world. One person who has exactly done this and not received nearly enough credit is Jackie Robinson. When people think of Jackie Robinson they think of the man who stole second base continuously, when in reality he did more, Jackie Robinson opened the gate for African American’s to play major league baseball. Born in 1919 Jackie was brought up in a society that was characterized by racial segregation and inequality, He fought through the era and made himself known all around the world for being the first African American to play major league baseball. Jackie

Yadier Molina is and always will be one of the greatest catcher to ever play the game of baseball. With Yadi coming into the league at such a young age, he has had more of an opportunity to prove himself and the stats and awards he has won can really back it up. Not just is he one of the greatest to play the game at that position, he is one of the best “on the field managers” as they say as far as controlling the tempo of the game and how it is played. With all of the accomplishments Molina has had in his career, it proves why he is one of the best to ever play the game at the catching position.

Jackie Robinson earned countless rewards during his career and was one of the highest ranked baseball players in the league over all. His all-time batting average of .410 is ranked 25th on the all-time list for the MLB. He is one of 15 players to ever win rookie of the year and the MVP award. Jackie stole home a total of 19 times in his career. Then finally in 1962 he made it into the hall of fame.

This moved Aaron into third place on the career home run list. At the end of the 1969 season, Aaron again finished third in the MVP voting.

He was an MVP and 12x batting title. He had one of the best batting averages ever. He could pitch play center field and almost every other position. He had an overall batting average was a .366. His best one was a .420, which still holds records today.(BR)

     Joe DiMaggio was one of the best baseball players of all time. He set many records, including the longest wining streak in Major League Baseball history, it lasted 56 games. He came to America as the son of poor Italian immigrants, but grew up to be an American Icon.

Jackie Robinson will forever be remembered for changing the face of baseball and ending segregation in professional sports; however, he was more than a baseball player. He played an intricate role in the advancement of racial equality in America. In April of 1997, Ken Burns told LIFE magazine, “Heroes are people who struggle and do more than what is asked of them and their particular set of skill. You are really looking for that which will make a deposit in the sum of human progress, and Jackie Robinson certainly does,” (Stephens). Not only did Jackie Robinson conquer the expectations of his critics, he overcame a multitude of obstacles as a professional African-American baseball player and rose as an inspiration both on the field and through

While he may seem he couldn’t have been any better on the field, he was just as great off the field. Clemente knew that leadership and social responsibility in the Latino world was also a part of his career (Regalado 679). In fact, he stated, “Lots of kids will try to imitate me, and maybe I will have the chance to do some good for people,” in an interview with the New York Times (Regalado 679). Clemente’s presence on and off the field challenged the misconceptions about Latino players, especially those from Puerto Rico, by the typical American at the time. Driven by the need to succeed, he emerged as a symbol for not only Latino recognition but also Puerto Rican (Regalado 683).