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Baseball:
America's Greatest Pastime. |
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Today if someone were to ask the
question “What is America’s favorite pastime?” most people would say football.
It has moved to the forefront of the sports spotlight. Baseball reigned for the
longest time as America’s favorite pastime. Football is a very great sport and
is very interesting, but baseball is a greater test of human athleticism in that
it takes much more skill to accomplish something in baseball than it does in
football. Many people do not like baseball because they say it is boring. It is
true that there is not constant action going on, such as several batters being
walked one after another is not very exciting. However, when great moments
happen in baseball games, they are something people will remember forever.
Baseball started the pull of international players to professional sports in
America. Its rich diversity is unmatched by any other sport. Baseball lost many
fans during the strike in the mid-1990’s. The Mark McGwire and
Barry
Bond’s home run
chases are credited with giving it some life back, but for me baseball has
always been America’s favorite pastime.
The human mind and body
are capable of wonderful things. When a pitcher places his hand in a certain way
on a ball, he can do some amazing things. Some pitchers are very powerful and
some are skilled, getting the ball to make different movements rather that just
go fast. Randy Johnson is a power pitcher. He once nailed a
bird
flying across home plate
and the birds feathers exploded. Greg Maddux is a skill-pitcher. He has never
been able to throw really hard, but his pitches vary with so much movement that
it can make a batter stand motionless. Andruw Jones is a center fielder and has
a strong arm. He can grab a ball against the outfield wall and hurl it into the
infield within seconds. These are only a few of the things some of the players
can do.
Many spectacular
moments in baseball are remembered forever, mainly from the playoffs and the
World Series because of the significance of their result. The Arizona
Diamondbacks won the World Series in 2001. The game-winning hit was a little
blooper over the infield by Luis Gonzalez. After the Diamondbacks fought through
seven games with the powerful New York Yankees, they win the whole series on a
little drop in the outfield. The Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 2004.
The last time the Red Sox had won a world series was 1918. Coincidently the
numbers of the center and right fielders of the 2004 team, 19 was Johnny Damon’s
number and 18 was Gabe Kapler’s. The Red Sox also defeated their bitter rival
the Yankees.
Many other
countries also love baseball, such as the Dominican Republic and Japan. Many
players have come to America to play professionally. Just a few of these players
are Ichiro Suzuki, Albert Pujols, Sammy Sosa, Ivan Rodriguez, and Chan Ho Park.
Many players go back to their home countries and help the communities with the
money they earn. Baseball continues to scout talent from other countries. There
is at least one player who gains the spot-light in the preseason every year. A
bidding war starts and whomever wins the bid gets to offer the player a
contract.
No other sport
compares to the richness of baseball. Baseball, basketball, and football are my
favorite sports, but baseball means more to me than any other sport. Whether it
is the loud pop of a Randy Johnson pitch, the all-star game-winning homerun by
Michael Young or the speed of Ichiro Suzuki, baseball will never cease to amaze
me.
America’s favorite pastime
lives on.