Essay about The Batter: Short Story

Ray’s love for baseball begins with his father repeating that Joe Jackson was an innocent man. As an amateur baseball player, Ray’s father idolizes Joe Jackson as a hero and mentor. The real test of Ray’s love for baseball occurs when he hears the voice, “If you build it, he will come” (Kinsella, 1). Immediately, he “envisioned the finish product I was being asked to conceive… a baseball field” (Kinsella 1) and begins clearing a portion of the cornfield. To Ray, “it” is the baseball field and “he” is Joe Jackson. By building a baseball field, Joe Jackson will come. However, building and

A mistake, there must have been a mistake it's not real it can't be happening. I raised my head to look at one of my best friends shock on his face second only to mine. Coach apologized to those who hadn’t made the team and offered, if anyone wanted to know why they had been cut they could come speak to him and the assistant coach privately. What did I have to lose? So I went. It would have taken a real man to be able to look a coach in the face immediately after his dreams had been crushed, I am not embarrassed to admit that there were tears in my eyes as i conversed with the two of them. The news of being cut stung, but the reasons that followed pierced my soul; being told that with my skill level i should consider playing a different sport. Life stood still, i told them i would come back the next year and improve and prove myself to them; they had no idea that i had no intention on keeping this promise. Baseball was over, as i tried to gather up the last reserves of my pride i looked across the gym to my friends and lifted my hand in farewell but couldn't stop the tears from streaming down my cheeks. As I walked through the front door of my home i collapsed right in the doorway and finally felt safe enough to truly let my emotions show; I cried for a long time and only paused for a moment when my mother arrived home and looked at me expressing her sorrow through the way she looked at me. If I

Since the age of four my father has trained me to be the best baseball player I can be. Every single day my dad would practice with me. He would make me do drills and plays until I got them right. Due to my father’s commitment of making me a great baseball player, we won three championships: two in Little

Camden Selig’s road to success in college athletics hasn’t been a traditional one. He started off at Washington and Lee University majoring in psychology. He tried out for the baseball team but sadly got cut. During his time there he was a sports photographer for the yearbook and dabbled around sports on a small scale. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree and went on to Ohio University to get his masters in sports management. After he graduated, he didn’t quite know what he wanted to do. At first he thought he wanted to get into baseball. He had a passion for it and enjoyed the thought of having

After a long silence Ken Griffey grinned and said, “However I will tell you this. If a few years go by and you decide that nothing else can take the place of baseball in your life-- well, then, sir I’m afraid that you will have no other choice, but to return to the sport you once loved… and

“I saw you face down Erik and those other guys, and I also saw Arthur Bauer Hit you with a blackjack’’, Page 227. Erik and Arthur had had chosen to hit Luis because Luis was getting back at them for hitting his brother , a 7th Grader and then Arthur him back. This Affected Paul by Luis later dying of a blood clot to his head and Paul was deeply sad and later found out that Erik and Arthur are

He was bombarded with death threats for who he was. He was punched so hard he was left with a bloody seven inch gash on the side of his face. Even his teammates did not want to be associated with him anymore. Through this unbearable torture, he still did not shed a single tear. This story belongs to Jackie Robinson, a home run hero.Jackie Robinson, number forty-two, is looked back on as a hero that was an immense part of baseball;Robinson was known for the incredible heroism he showed in baseball and in his community through his fifty-three years of life. Using information from, “What is Heroism,” and, “How Jackie Robinson Changed Baseball,” The reader learns that Jackie Robinson’s heroism is shown from his fight against the social norms of an era filled with discrimination, his courage when people tried to hurt him spiritually and physically, and his personal and his professional sacrifices to be part of baseball.

This helped Paul gain more confidence. Paul was in class and Ms.Alvarez read the announcement that boys and girls soccer tryouts were that day. On page 46,Paul writes "I felt like I was full of new energy I hefted my gym bag and headed off to soccer tryouts." This is where Paul first gains a sense of community and starts to bond with others and have the courage to go up against the best people on the team right away. On page 49, Paul lines up in the goalie box and is ready to save the ball and even potentially embarrass himself in front of the rest of the team and lose his spot on the bus. This decision not only landed him “on the bus” but he also gained a new friend inGino, which added to his list of friends and also built up his

Paul is a rising star on the sports field. He has been working exceedingly hard on and off the field to get to where he is today, the starting position. Some of his team mates,

Coach Barnes and his assistant tony who had one 4 titles and led the team in central to 5 straight finals appearances. The team didn't know what to expect after the news that was just revealed to them , they didn't know wether to be happy or sad because they were going to loose there loving coach or to be happy that they were going to have a division 1 coach . The offseason had just begun and the team was happy with how coach Barnes had refurbished their locker room got them New Jerseys and hooked them up with some special juice that helped them “gain” muscles in a short period of time . The team didn't know what was in those shakes so they tought every thing was going to be fine but little did they know what was in those shakes . Little did they know how much steroids was put into those shakes . Suddenly Michaels best friend Caleb was beginning to learn about steroids in health class and he started wondering if maybe there was a possibility that there might be steroids in those shakes but he never said anything. The biggest reason why coach Barnes was hooking these poor athletes up with drugs was to be noticed then go to the big leagues such as the NFL and the only way to be noticed was to make these kids stronger and to make these kids play division

Chris Givens was a middle school boy and he loved to play baseball. Chris lived and breathed baseball. He would watch every game he could. Also, the only sport he played was baseball so he was the best at it. However, there was one problem for Chris. He was not one the most popular kids. Only the most popular kids were picked onto the school's baseball team. Chris had tried to act cool and even hang out with cool kids, but it never worked out. Even though Chris was not like everyone on the baseball team he is determined to be the first kid to make the baseball who wasn’t popular.

John Smoltz, a Cy Young Award winner and World Series title holder writes the book starting and closing describing the struggles, “career ending” injuries and hard work that it took over his 14 years in the Major leagues to earn the title of being one of the greatest pitchers to ever step foot on the mound. At 7 years old Smoltz decided that he was going to play baseball in the Major leagues for the Detroit Tigers. In 1985 Smoltz was drafted by his dream team only to be traded to the Atlanta Braves in 1987. In Chapter One Smoltz talks about the kind of person he is and what he had to do to further his career as a major league baseball player after many injuries that should have destroyed his career. The reader of Starting and

“I went to UB to play baseball,” he said. “[I’m going to] keep playing. Keep playing for the Copperheads right now”.

A lifelong dream of Paul occurs when he makes the trip to New York City. The trip to New York City gives Paul the opportunity to live the life he always dreamed of. After being forced to leave his job as an usher at Carnegie Hall Paul gets a job working at Denny and Carson’s office firm. He gets the money to go to New York City by taking the money

As we pulled into the parking lot, Andy Dunst ran up to our truck and said, “Black is losing in the sixth!”