Book Review on Jackie Robinson's I Never Had It Made

This is a first for my blog but I think it will become a regular. I have recently become a reader, not that I couldn’t read but I have learned to enjoy it. Mostly I am a fan of baseball biographies and history of the game. I thought I would take a few minutes to do kind of a book review on the latest book I finished. I just finished Jackie Robinson’s autobiography titled I Never Had it Made.

I Never Had it Made tells the life story of Jackie Robinson from his time at UCLA playing football up until around the time of his death when he was involved with politics. I learned so much about the man I never knew. I always knew Jackie Robinson was a great player and that it was great that he was the first player to break the color barrier in baseball but I never knew what all went into it for him. The book discusses what Robinson called “The Noble Experiment” which tells the story of his journey’s through the minor leagues and into the majors. How Branch Rickey knew that the breaking of the color barer was what was best for baseball.

He goes into his life after baseball which I knew nothing about. Robinson was a business man and as well as a politician. He discusses his journey campaigning for different candidates which he believed could help improve the lives of black citizens and improve civil rights. I can respect this because I am also involved in politics and believe in supporting candidates who I feel have the best values.

Robinson also goes into the heart breaking story of the journey his son Jackie Robinson Jr. took from his youth, into his service in the army and drug addiction. He tells the story of recovery and how Jackie battled back up until his early death.

I bought this book as a baseball fan of Jackie Robinson but I come out of this book a fan of the man Jackie Robinson. The journeys he went through in life to make things better for all people especially members of the African American community. I encourage all baseball fans to pick up a copy of this book and even if you’re not a fan of the game to read this it is a very moving read.

Garza Makes No-Hit History

If you are a fan of pitching then you must love the 2010 season. Pitchers have dominated both leagues as we have saw two perfect game, an imperfect game and with tonight’s no-hitter by Matt Garza three no-hitters. Garza became the Tampa Bay Ray to perform this act in the franchise short existence in a 5-0 win over the Tigers. This game was truly a pitcher duel as there was no hit in the game until the sixth inning when Matt Joyce comes up to the plate with bases loaded and hits a grand slam, to break up a no hitter for Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer. Garza also got help from outfield Carl Crawford when he hit a solo homerun in the eighth inning. Garza made his way in to history with six strike outs and one walk that came in the second inning. Garza had a lot of help from the defense of the team to lead him in to the history books from the outfield with two great plays. The Rays feel great that they are on the winning side of a no-hitter as they have been on the losing side twice this season. Now that the Rays have got the no-no under their belt, it leaves two teams without this joy and those teams are the New York Mets and the San Diego Padres. I look forward to seeing what else this 2010 season has to bring and see if it continues to be the Year of the Pitcher.

Shipping up to Boston

It is good to be a Boston sports fan right now, with two of the teams in the play-offs and you have the Red Sox finally winning a few games. You have the Celtics being really hot going 3-0 so far against the Heat, with the possibility of a sweep. The Bruins are 3-2 over Buffalo, so they are still in the mix for a chance at the Stanley Cup. Then you have the Sox who are off to a slow start with a 7-10 start but they have won a few walk off wins in the past week. So there is a lot of great stuff for Boston sports fan to look forward with these great series going on.

The Boston Celtics are on a hot streak and they are on their way to a first round sweep over Dewayne Wade and his Miami Heat team. The Celtics won game one was a close one but the C’s pull out a win in a very heated game as veteran leader Kevin Garnett out ejected from the game for throwing an elbow which lead to a game to suspension during Game two of the play offs. The Celtics was lead during that game Paul Pierce with 16 points in an 85-76 win. Game two was a different story the Celtics come out ready to play without Garnett with Glen “big baby” Davis filling his spot on the floor. Ray Allen and cast came out to play as they lead the last three quarters of the game as they walked away with a 106-77 win. Allen had 25 points to lead the team in points. Then you get to last night battle which was the heats best chance at winning as the C’s only won by two points with a 100-98 last second victory made possible by Pierce who made a 21-foot shot to win the game. Pierce was the leading scorer again in game three with 32 points. So the Celtics hope to wrap up the series on Sunday and start to prepare for round two of the NBA play-offs.

The Boston Bruins are looking to make it farther in the quest for the Stanley Cup. The Bruins lost game one to the Sabres 2-1, the Sabres scored one of their two goals in the first period and one in the second period but the B’s scored a goal in the second trying to come back but come up short. The Bruins came back in game two to win 5-3, the Bruins started off slow as they gave up two goals in the first period and one in the second but that would be all that they allow. The B’s went to score two goals in the second and three in the third. The B’s won game three 2-1 putting up one goal in both the first and third period to win. Game four was the long one as it went in to double overtime as Boston pulled a come from behind to tie the game 2-2 in the third period and it took two long overtimes to pull off the win. Game five was lost by the Bruins as the Sabres outscored Boston 4-1. This has been an exciting series and the Bruins get another chance to look up a second round spot with a win on Monday.

The Red Sox have had a poor start this season with the injury of not one but two out fielders and poor pitching and defense. Which is what GM Theo Epstein said would be what lead the team this season. With two injured players it gave a chance to call up two outfielders from the Paw Sox, one of those players was Josh Reddick and Darnell McDonald. At the start of the Texas series people was asking who the heck is McDonald, well they found out in a big way as he hit a home run in his first at bat as a member of the Red Sox and also hit the game winning RBI in the ninth. McDonalds bat was a much needed thing for the Sox as it seemed to be a rebirth of the team for the season. In game two J.D. hit a grand slam and McDonald hit another home run and the game ended in a walk off by Kevin Youkilis. Then last night against the Orioles David Oritz bat finally decided to wake up after being pitch hit for earlier in the week he got his first home run of the year. We can only hope that this week’s games will be a turnaround point for the rest of the season but the pitching will have to be better for that to happen. The bullpen is losing games for starters and the starters are staying in too long and giving up to many runs. The Red Sox are finally starting to look like the team I know they can be this week.

So Boston Fans enjoy the play offs and the rest of the Red Sox series and hopefully they can end their season in the play offs as well.

Thank You Nomar!

Today is a sad and joyful day for members of Red Sox Nation, as this morning Nomar Garciaparra signed a one day minor league contract with the Boston Red Sox, so that he could retire as a member of the team. Garciaparra was the first round draft pick of the 1994 draft for the Red Sox coming out of Georgia Tech and this began his journey into the major leagues. Nomar played 14 seasons in major league nine of which he played with the sox and he stated late in 2009 that He would like to retire in a Red Sox uniform which he got a chance to do today.

Nomar was the 1997 American League rookie of the year, during that season he had a .306 batting average in 153 games that year he also lead the league in at bats, hits and triples. He is a six time All-star and started in the 1999 All-star game at Fenway Park, He also won two AL batting titles. He was loved by fans in Boston because of his love for the franchise, the team and most importantly the fans. Nomar took time out of his day to sign autographs every chance he got and he says the things that you need to say to be loved by the fans.

The press conference that took place today was a class act as he seat at the same table with the man who sent him out of Boston, Red Sox General Manger Theo Epstein and other members of the staff. He answered a question about how he felt about leaving the Red Sox the same year that they won the first World Series for the franchise in 86 years.

"I felt like I was there," Garciaparra said. "In Boston there's something greater than an individual player winning a World Series. When I was there I realized there's something bigger than us winning a World Series. It's winning a World Series for these people."

He was awarded a World Series ring by the team in a private ceremony; in Chicago from the team because they felt that He was a part of what got them there.

Nomar to me in my younger day was a symbol of what the Red Sox were, just like when you thought about the Bulls in the early 90’s you thought Michael Jordon. He represented the heart of the team and he had the bat to back it up. I’m glad that he had a chance to retire with this organization and hope to still see him around it in the future. I feel that He was good enough to have his number retired because he was such and influential player during his nine years there and probably one of the best short stops the Red Sox have saw in years.

So what is next for Nomar Garciaparra? He says he plays to take a position at ESPN doing baseball tonight and even calling some games for them, so he isn’t quitting baseball all together. He is just moving from player to media, which he will do great in the media as he has auditioned for several different stations with appearances on the MLB Network and Baseball Tonight in the off season. I wish him the best of luck and can’t wait to see him on ESPN on a daily basis.

A video from today's press conference can be found belong from boston.com

2 Out of 3 Ain't Bad

This has been a beautiful spring weekend here in Barbourville, KY and with spring comes the great game of baseball. The Union College Bulldogs played a three game set against Covenant College in AAC play. The bulldogs’ weekend included a nine inning game that took place on Friday and on Saturday there was a twin-bill of seven inning games.

The Friday game was a game that featured Soph. Brandon Hedrick on the mound and his 11 strike outs that he received in the game and he was one away from tying the program record of 12 strike outs in a game which He has done once this season. Hedrick made it seven innings and gave up two earned runs on two hits and a walk to receive his second win of the season. Now the pitching looked good on Friday but the offence I can’t say the same for because as a team they only had five hits. This is not your traditional Bulldog team that scored five plus runs a game. The biggest help to the team was freshman first baseman Tyler Brake who went 2-4 with two RBI to lead to a Union win with a score of 4-2.

So coming off of a close win game one of a day brought on some worries for the team as they was having issues from the start giving up three runs in the top of the first inning you know that can only bring more trouble. In this game the bats was alive but pitching was the down point as Covenant had 11 hits, ten on senior Adam Snyder who pitched five innings and one on junior Koby Hearn. The bats were alive though as Union put up 11 hits and the team was lead by soph. Donnie Popham went 4-4 with two runs. But late in the game the mood of the game changed when junior catcher Mike Adams got injured making a terrific plate blocking play and had to leave the game. He did not return in the game, which lead to a defeat as Covenant went with a game one win of 8-6.

The second game of the double-header brought new life to the Bulldogs after dropping game two of the series and they wanted to win. The team came to life in the bottom of the second as they put five runs on the board to put them ahead. The bulldogs was lead by Hedrick who was manning third who hit 2-3 with one RBI and Brake who went 2-2 with 3 RBI. The Dogs was putting points on the board often but they were lead by some solid pitching as Senior Matt Modlinski and sophomore Drew Chamberlain. Modlinski went four innings giving up six hits, two walks, two strike outs and three runs. Chamberlain pitched four innings giving up three walks and striking out three batters with no hits to be awarded the win. Union won game two of the double with a score of 9-3 in seven innings.

So the Bulldogs finished the three game series with a 2-1 record and since this was the team’s first AAC match up of the season they are 2-1 in AAC play and 7-6 with all play. This is going to be a down year for the Dogs but I can’t wait to see how the rest of the season works out. For more information on the Bulldogs’ Baseball or other sports you can check that out here.