Thursday, October 1, 2009

Swing And A Hit: A Short List Of Some Great Hitting

By Connor Sullivan

Baseball is America's sport. It brings out the boys of summer. While baseball has seen its ups and downs, it has never left us. It is part of the American family, like a brother that sometimes is the hero, sometimes the villain, sometimes a prince, sometimes annoying but never ever turned away. Our children embrace baseball instruction and baseball hitting drills. We are devoted. Throughout During baseballs short history there have been plenty of notable events. Here is a short summary of a few of those moments brought to you by the people at the plate.

In 1876, on February 2nd eight teams became the first members of the National Baseball league. The first National League game took place on April 1st, 1876. Boston played Philadelphia and triumphed. In 1900, on February 2nd the American league was born. It was comprised of of six teams. These teams were Boston, Baltimore, Detroit, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Chicago. On April 18th of 1923 Babe Ruth hits his first home run That hit was the first homerun in Yankee Stadium. Eight years later in 1931 on a muggy August day Babe Ruth hits his 600th homerun.

On May 15th, 1941 the amazing hitting streak of Joe DiMaggio starts. He would hit in 56 consecutive outings. In September of that same year Ted Williams would finish the season with a batting average of .406, making him the only batter to ever hit over .400 for a season. In 1961 Roger Maris sends 61 balls over the fence establishing a "most home runs in a season" record that others would chase. Mark McGwire hits 62 during the '98 season. Sammy Sosa hits his 61st and 62nd home run five days later in September. Barry Bonds will break the record with 73 home runs in 2001.

April 8th 1974, Hank Aaron smacks the ball out of the park and hits his 715th home run, overcoming the Bambinos record and moving into the front position on the list of career homeruns. Aaron will hit before he steps away from the plate in 1976. A year latter, Sadaharu Oh sends a ball out of the park in Japan. Sadaharu Oh has claimed his 756th homerun. Mr. October, Reggie Jackson comes to the plate 3 times on October 8th, 1977 and hits three home runs. He hits them on three consecutive pitches and leads the Yankees to their 21st world series championship.

On September 11th 1985, Mr. Hustle, Pete Rose hits his 4,192 hit besting Ty Cobb. Four year later he would be banned from baseball for gambling on baseball games while he was a manager. He finished his career with 4,256 hits. These are all players that knew how to take a pitch. There are many other famous players that were brilliant at the plate and great in the grass. Shoeless Joe Jackson, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Duke Snider, Roberto Clemente and many more electrified baseball with their talent and charm. While the 50's and 60'a may have been the golden years of baseball, it is still dear to America's heart. Basketball, football and NASCAR has pulled fans away, but nothing can touch these great moments in baseball history.

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