...America and Baseball: If You Want to Know America, Then you better Know Baseball Sean R. Golob Western Governors University If You Want to Know America, Then you better Know Baseball Baseball hits a home run when it comes to comparing it to the American identity. Both baseball and the American identity have three aspects that are exactly the same; both are very diverse, both are rather competitive, and both are driven by business and money. America is a diverse country, according to US Census Bureau (2013) quickfacts reference page, “Caucasians alone total 77.7%, Hispanic and Latino alone 17.1%, and African American alone 13.2%”. However, America has races from every inhabitable continent; we have a large number of Asians, mass amounts of Europeans, and growing amounts of Latinos and African ethnicities. These aspects all put together combine to make a huge part of the definition of American identity. Along with diversity, another aspect that is used in the definition of American identity is business and corporations. Corporate America is one of the largest and wealthiest forms of business in the world. Wall Street deals with billions of dollars daily, corporations throughout the country grow in size and significance. Lastly, competition is the last big part of the definition because of the international trade, emphasize on sports and athletics, and between other rivalries between other countries. The same is with baseball in America;...
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...Baseball America’s Past-time Author: Dane A Smith SO103 JAN 18, 2015 Baseball as we know it today began as a folk game in many civilizations throughout the world, but can be traced back most closely to England. Several alternate versions were played in Colonial America, including stoolball, cricket, and other "bat and ball" games. References to "baseball" can be traced back to 1791, but modern day baseball first came to light, according to many, when Abner Doubleday wrote the rules for the game in 1939 in Cooperstown, New York. Another version of the rules, this time written by Alexander Cartright in 1845, came about for the first official baseball team, the New York Knickerbockers. By 1857, adult baseball clubs came together and created the National Association of Base Ball Players, forming the first official Baseball League. The National League of American Baseball Players would evolve to the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs in 1875. Until the 1880s, African American, "Indian", Southern and Central Americans, played in these baseball clubs, including players Fleet and Welday Walker. However, these players would be demoted out of the Major Leagues in the 1880s, and Major League Baseball would remain a "White Only" sport until 1947 with the signing of Jackie Robinson to the...
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...Daniel Ochefu Baseball, Justice and the American Dream Final Paper Due: 5/1/2015 I ‘Like’ Baseball Before taking this course baseball was one of my least favorite things to do in any way simply because I did not know about the sport and the impact it has on many people’s lives to respect the time that the players spend preparing to perform. I was always critical of the amount of work that was put in physically for baseball compared to other sports like basketball, football, hockey and others. I always thought it was not that much because there are almost no physical collisions in games and that was all I really needed to know after I was told that on average games are three plus hours. From everything I have learnt about baseball in this course, there is a respect that I now have for it that I definitely did not have for it before. Being America’s pastime, baseball has been the one constant in America because of its deep history that it promotes and the pride that the fans exhibit. Even during unfortunate events that shake the whole country, baseball finds a way to bring the country together. The most recent one that stood out to me being how the Boston Red Sox brought together a whole city after the terrible Boston Marathon Bombings of 2013 by winning the World Series and using that to help strengthen a city that had been hurt badly by a terrible event. The World Series celebration is normally extravagant and well televised but this one brought all Americans together...
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...This paper reviews the importance of sports in America during the 1920’s. The 1920’s was a time of amusement in America. People used their hard earned money to watch the world’s greatest athletes. Some of the athletes reviewed in this essay include: Babe Ruth, Benny Leonard, and Harold Osborn. The 1920’s portrayed the importance of sports in the public eye. The authors analyzed in this essay include: Biography Editors, International Olympic Committee, Allen Barra, Jim Sumner, and James B Roberts & and Alexander G. Skutt. The International Olympic Committee, or IOC, has compiled thousands of Olympic athletic accomplishments. Every athlete from the first to most recent Olympics has been compiled into very detailed accounts. The staff at the International...
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...Instant Replay in Baseball As of now, the only use of instant replay in baseball is to decide whether what appears to be a homerun is indeed a homerun. However, recent talks have began to arise on the expansion of this so called tool. These talks began after a controversial call that occurred a couple months ago between the Detroit Tigers and the Cleveland Indians. The Tigers pitcher, Armando Galarraga, had a perfect game going into the ninth until the first base umpire made a close call resulting in a hit. After a slow motion replay on T.V, it was clear that the umpire missed the call causing an uproar of critics, claiming baseball needs instant replay to save this from happening again. To prevent a once in a life time perfect game from being taken away due to a missed call. I disagree with this immediate request. Further use of instant replay in baseball would ruin the game America has enjoyed for a century. The main argument for instant replay is so that bad calls by umpires can be over turned. It would eliminate the need for raging manager arguments and ejections. It would make the league mistake free. I believe these mistakes are actually good for the game. Baseball fans enjoy watching the managers scream into the umpires' faces while vigorously throwing his arms up in the air. It adds a surge of energy through those in the crowd and those watching at home. It also gives his team motivation to play hard because they know that their coach has their back...
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...The Rise of Professional Sports 5 November 2015 Abstract Sports became a professional phenomenon during the Gilded Age of America, which consisted of a period of unprecedented success for Americans in regard to wealth and long-term business enterprises. During the Gilded Age period, the country was consumed by the belief that every man had an opportunity to become wealthy, and those who were wealthy actually were able to spend their leisure time consumed with spending this wealth on lavish pursuits. ("Why Sports History Is American History | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History," n.d.) It was during this era that the rise of professional sports began to emerge as a way for the wealthy to entertain themselves during their leisure time. It was also during this time that immigrants were coming into the country in the millions, and the use of sports was an opportunity for these recent newcomers to become “Americanized” wherein the use of sports was an avenue to identify with their new country. This became an important way for these immigrants to mark their progress within the American society. Coupled with the political machines of that time, sports became a way to elicit support from large groups of people that were in support of specific geographic areas wherein the politicians who used sports for leisure also saw the importance of using them to garner support from immigrants. These were seen as community building institutions, and they are still used as...
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...BASEBALL Baseball is a bat and ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The goal is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond. Players on one team (the batting team) take turns hitting against the pitcher of the other team (the fielding team), which tries to stop them from scoring runs by getting hitters out in any of several ways. A player on the batting team can stop at any of the bases and later advance via a teammate's hit or other means. The teams switch between batting and fielding whenever the fielding team records three outs. One turn at bat for each team constitutes an inning and nine innings make up a professional game. The team with the most runs at the end of the game wins. Evolving from older bat-and-ball games, an early form of baseball was being played in England by the mid-eighteenth century. This game and the related rounders were brought by British and Irish immigrants to North America, where the modern version of baseball developed. By the late nineteenth century, baseball was widely recognized as the national sport of the United States. Baseball on the professional, amateur, and youth levels is now popular in North America, parts of Central and South America and the Caribbean, and parts of East Asia. The game is sometimes referred to as hardball, in contrast to the derivative game of softball.In North America, professional Major...
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...I chose to further examine the film Hoosiers from week 13 of class. After reviewing the film I will compare it with chapter 13 of Major Problems. Hoosiers really caught my interest as a great underdog story and that is why I chose to further study the 1986 classic. I always had heard people talk about this movie but I had never seen it. In this paper I will discuss the historical period Hoosiers is set in, compare and contrast major themes from the week, and evaluate the film based on its effectiveness. Hoosiers is a fictional movie that is actually based on real events in a small town in Indiana. It is based on a true story but does change some of the truths, as evidenced by the ESPN article. The message I gathered from the film was that anything is possible if you can work hard and accept change. The little town of Hickory was very set in its ways and uncooperative of the new basketball coach. Once the town and players learned to accept something different, the team flourished. The argument the film presents is to never count someone out. No matter how small a school or town is, hard work can trump talent and compete with the big boys. The message of acceptance resonates with the viewer and is most likely why Hoosiers is so highly regarded as a sports movie. The historical period that Hoosiers is set in is 1952 rural Indiana. In this time period, people are more centralized around common goals and the entire town knows when someone moves in. There are no...
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...Does Steroids Provide An Unfair Advantage In Baseball or Does It Even The Playing Field? Baseball has been an American pastime for centuries and will be for centuries to come. Adults have been taking their children to baseball games since the Major Leagues first came about in the late 1800s. From the Philadelphia Phillies' great Astrodome to their current Citizens Bank Park or the Atlanta Braves' Fulton County Stadium to their more modern Turner Field baseball has been loved in America. Although the game is as old as it is, baseball has not changed even though the players continue to get better and better. Many fans first take is the use of steroids in baseball. But did steroids really help Barry Bonds become home run king? Because Hank Aaron had the record generations before and he reportedly never injected steroids. Every year it seems like a new player gets brought into the league that is going to be faster, stronger, and an overall better player; except the ones that have the records broken that is. Although steroids are supposed to make athletes bigger, faster, and stronger,; are steroids really making athlete's statistics better or simply bridging the gap between decent athletes and great ones? There are many aspects in hitting a baseball that coaches teach athletes at a young age. Seeing the ball well, swinging with your hips and not just your arms, being disciplined and not swinging at a ball out of the strike zone, these are all examples of what it takes to be a good...
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...Michael Capobianco November 2, 2011 Philosophy 108 Moral and Social Problems Essay Topic #3-Distributive Justice “Unjustified Wealth” By: Michael Capobianco Michael Capobianco Philosophy 108 November 2, 2011 Unjustified Wealth In many ways it seems unjust about how wealth and money are distributed in modern America, but there are many cases in which people with excess money have to earn every penny with hard work. In certain cases, people are born with certain talents and abilities that supply vast opportunities of which others may not have. A prime example of this would be Alex Rodriguez, who is considered one of the most talented and highly paid baseball players in the Major Leagues. Due to his talents on the baseball field, Alex Rodriguez is currently making 27.5 million dollars a year to play the sport he was born to play. The public views Alex Rodriguez as an idol for everyone who strives to be the best at what they do. As a college baseball player at Umass Boston I have seen some of the hardest working athletes imaginable, but for most of them being as successful as Alex Rodriguez is completely unreachable. Each and every one of us is born different with different talents and abilities, and the best we can do is maximize our potential. The only way to accomplish this is with hard work. Every person is created different and will have more potential at certain things, which is why I feel that money should solely be earned on the hard work...
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...Hayden Liljenquist ENG 102 Dr. Pegram July 31, 2012 Team Effort: The Communities Created Through Sports Introduction Within today’s society, a number of small, unique communities exist. Communities can range from social, to religious, to occupational. In order to be considered a separate and distinct “community,” the group needs to share common characteristics or interests and be perceived as distinct from the larger society as a whole. Sports teams provide a particularly good example of a community. They separate themselves by the games they play, even by the name they call themselves. The entire world of sports itself can seem confusing to someone who doesn’t understand the rules. Behind each game is a complex realm of jargon, hierarchy, and guidelines. In order to play, you need to learn. And hopeful members work to earn their spot on the team. Through personal participation, as well as observation, one can witness for themselves just how the community created by a team functions. The team experience resonates with a lot of people, and has attracted film makers with stories of motivation, hope, and overcoming the odds. Many of the most well-known sports movies are often even inspired by true stories. In all of these films, similar themes can be found, demonstrating just how much the feeling of community within teams is shared throughout all areas of sports. Teams have a goal, face a challenger, and overcome obstacles, all in the hope of...
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...be important to the novel – Luke and his family's love of baseball. 2) Pappy's money woes and the hope the cotton will provide enough money to pay the workers and at least break even in costs. 3) The first conflict with the hill people, who camp in the front yard instead of the back, which sets the stage for further conflicts to come. 4) The introduction of Luke's father, Jesse Chandler, and his dream to own forty acres of land. 5) Introduces the Korean War, and Ricky, Jesse's brother who is fighting in Korea. This indicates the importance of the war to the family, and how close to home it is every night through the nightly news radio broadcasts of Edward R. Murrow. The radio broadcasts of news and their "beloved" Cardinal baseball team are their tenuous hold on the outside world, otherwise their world is insulated and far removed from the widespread prosperity sweeping America. 6) The picking in the cotton fields, the division between the Mexicans and the others, and the backbreaking labor of picking. 7) Introduces the budding relationship between Tally and Cowboy. 8) The hatred of the Spruills for the Chandlers, and the growing animosity between them and the others. 9) The murder of Jerry Sisco by Hank Spruill. 10) Luke's lie to protect Hank, something a seven-year-old should not have to experience. 11) The continuing violence of Hank, and his hatred of the Mexicans, shown during the baseball game. 12) More secrets for young Luke to keep to himself, including...
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...how many cars they drive or the size of their wallets, rather the size of their heart. The American dream is the hope to achieve the pursuit of happiness, one thing this country may never lose. The true feeling of doing what you love is what it feels like to have happiness. Whether its providing for your family so your offspring has a bright future or having a career in which you are satisfied. Satisfaction. Thats the problem… Todays society has become so consumed with advancing, making more money, and gaining influence they don’t take the time to look up and see the beauty around them. When individuals place promotions ahead of family they lose sight of what the ‘Dream’ is. Take Oscar Carlos Acosta as example, he was a stud baseball pitcher who let his obsession get the better of him, leading to the loss of his family and pitching career. He let his obsession with making it to the majors destroy him. But all was not lost. The American Dream is a hope of a second chance, a new start. And in the end Acosta reconciled with his wife and children and went on to become a major league pitching coach for the Chicago Cubs. “There is no typical American and no typical American Dream. For some, the Dream is one of freedom; for others it is fortune or family or service to one's fellows” Dan Rather continues and states, “ But however we define it, it defines us as a people.” We all have the right to a better future and a better life. Our individual...
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...turning into a religious based film. The movie develops a fantasy when farmer Ray understands the voice wants him to build a baseball field in the middle of his corn crops so Shoeless Joe Jackson (deceased) can materialize out of the Corfield and come play there. The movie prudently does not try to explain the strange events that happen after the field is built, it depends on a poetic vision to make its point. A specific speech in the movie describes baseball in a simple and true way, which ultimately describes the goal of the players who emerge from the cornfield, which is to simply play they game they love. The believable relationship created by the young couple Ray and Annie develops the theme that love means sharing your loved one’s dreams. Field of Dreams will not appeal to realists, it is made up of fantasies but stays true to what the plot promises, “if you build it, he will come.” Shoeless Joe Jackson does not return from the dead to save the world, but to answer the cry of a baseball legend. Based on the article published in the New York Times written by Nina Easton (Easton, 1989) Despite Universal Pictures attempt to hide it, it is evident Field of Dreams is a baseball movie. The famous Shoeless Joe Jackson returns to life in the film when a farmer in Iowa demolishes his cornfield to build a baseball diamond. The movie is not solely about baseball, it establishes lost dreams,...
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... The first recorded history of games played with round objects was known as Ōllamaliztli, or simply as, “The Ball Game.” This game had ritualistic associations and has been dated back to 1,400 B.C. Many cultures grew to involve this game into it’s culture and ritualistic lives but the great civilization of the Mayans was the prominent exerciser. “As best as is now known from archaeological and iconographical sources as well as the structure of the sport courts, this was a very physically taxing and important part of Mayan culture.” (Blümchen). Although the exact rules of the game are unknown to this day, historians have made certain hypothesis as too how it was played. The game was played in large courts found all over Central America and as far north as Arizona. Diagonally arched balls surrounded the court with rings at the top of each wall. “Evidence suggests that different types of games, all played with a rubber ball, existed in ancient Mesoamerica, but the most widespread was the "hip game". This was played by two opposing teams, with a variable number of players. The aim of the game was to put the ball into the opponent's end zone without using hands or feet: but only hips could touch the ball.” (Nicoletta). The simplicity of the game was easily...
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