In 1977 a Los Angeles scout discovered Valenzuela in a Mexican baseball league. In 1981 Fernando Valenzuela pitched his first ever Major League game. His outstanding pitching led the Dodgers to the “World Series” the Dodgers won against the Yankees that year, and Valenzuela won the “CY Young award,” and the “Rookie Of The Year.” He soon burst on the scene, fans increased by 9,000 every time to see Valenzuela pitch. This was known as “Fernando mania” at Dodger Stadium. He was also given the nickname “El Torro,” but that reign would soon end in 1991, when he was released by the Dodgers.
I saw things I couldn’t believe adults would do. I came to the conclusion that there are three different types of softball players; the soon to be pro athlete, the forty year old teenager, and the family guy. The type of people I saw most playing at the softball fields were the “soon to be pro athlete.” These were the ones that would show up in their top notch expensive uniforms for a game of underhand slow pitch softball. They would have ten different types of bats as if there were ten different kinds of pitches. They showed up an hour early to warm up and take batting practice as if it is needed for middle aged slow pitch softball.
How to Play Baseball If you live in the United States, it is probably a good idea that you understand America’s pastime. What is America’s pastime you ask? America’s pastime is the great game of baseball, promptly named after it’s prominence in 19th and 20th century American history, as well as today. The origin of organized baseball can be traced to the early 1840’s, but the first official league was made in 1876. Baseball has been my favorite sport since the age of 5, and even though I no longer play it is still one of my passions and hobbies.
This class has reinforced my belief, and it is great to see the meaning of sports being taught to others. Each class brought me back to the days when I first learned the sport, and how excited I was to play. Sports have always and will always be a part of my life. My first baseball game was at 17 days old. I played soccer, basketball, and baseball for years, but I soon found my passion on the diamond.
[3][4] George Hancock is credited as the game's inventor for his development of ball and an undersized bat in the next week. The Farragut Club soon set rules for the game, which spread quickly to outsiders. Envisioned as a way for baseball players to maintain their skills during the winter, the sport was called "Indoor Baseball". [5] Under the name of "Indoor-Outdoor", the game moved outside in the next year, and the first rules were published in 1889. [5] In 1895 Lewis Rober, Sr. of Minneapolis organized outdoor games as exercise for firefighters; this game was known as kitten ball (after the first team to play it), lemon ball,
The History of Softball This beloved sport that most believe came from America's pastime Baseball, surprisingly is based off of football. In 1887 on Thanksgiving day, several alumni sat in the Chicago, Illinois Farragut Boat Club, anxiously awaiting the outcome of the Yale vs Harvard football game. When Yale was announced as winner, a Yale alumnus playfully threw a boxing glove at a Harvard supporter. The Harvard fan swung at the balled-up glove with a stick, and the rest of the group looked on with interest. George Hancock, a reporter for the Chicago Board of Trade, jokingly called out, “Play ball!” and the first softball game commenced with the football fans using the boxing glove as a ball and a broom handle in place of a bat.
During the trip, in one of the Sao Paulo malls, the modeling scouts liked me and invited me to come to their model agency. I had lived my whole life and I had never thought of becoming a model. I loved to play volleyball and believe that this could be my future; I was very tall and skinny. The rest of the class went to the amusement park while I, after being promised to go there on some other occasion, went with my Mom, who accompanied us on our trip, to the model agency. After the visit, caving in to the insistence of the agency’s staff who said that I had a profile for the modeling business, I had a book of my pictures made and came back home waiting to see what would happen.
Throughout my young life many things has happened and plenty of things that I cherish, I was given the opportunity to do it one things that I cherish a lot is the sport of Baseball. I went from being the starting third baseman in my sophomore year to team captain in my senior year of high school. My history of baseball didn’t start from when I was little playing catch with my dad in the backyard. It all started with a simple question by my History teach in middle school. The sport of baseball was never an interest of mine until I gave it a chance.
He suggested a game of indoor baseball. Using what was available, he tied together the laces of the boxing glove for a ball. Using a piece of chalk, Hancock marked off a home plate, bases, and a pitcher's box inside the Farragut Boat Club gym, with the two groups divided into teams. The final score of the game was 41-40, but what was significant was that Hancock and his friends had invented a sport that would continue to grow in popularity to where today more than 40 million people enjoy playing it each summer, making softball the No. 1 team participant sport in the United States.
From that event George Hancock had an idea to start an indoor version of baseball. Being the first two teams to play a game, the Yale and Harvard Alumni became a part of history. In 1889 Hancock come up with a specific set of rules for this Mid-Winter Indoor Baseball sport and it started to catch on in cities other than Chicago. Softball spread nationally because it became a popular downtime sport for firefighters. The sport soon gained many nicknames such as “Kitten Ball,” “Mush Ball,” “Diamond Ball,” and “Pumpkin Ball.” The early 1900’s is when the term softball finally came about by the Denver YMCA official, Walter Hakanson.