The Best Baseball Players ever!

1. I think that we did the blogging activity so that we could see how we write and to get used to it. Another reason that we may have done the blogs is that we all could use some work on a part of our writing. For example, I needed to work on sentence structure and comma usage, but know I don’t need all of the work on those topics anymore. I think that by doing the blogs all of the students have really become better writers and that they know what they like to write about and how they like to write it.

2. I think that I’ve learned a lot about what I need to work on as a writer, and how I write essays. For example in the beginning of the blogging I had just copied and pasted someoneelse’s work without giving them the credit that they deserve for doing the work. I also had a lot of run-on sentences when I wrote, but I think that is all behind me. I also noticed that I like to write my essays all in one paragraph instead of four separate ones. I also feel that I can do better than what I’m doing right now. I feel that what I’m doing now is just to get me through the year instead of excelling. 

3. The key concepts that I’ve learned by blogging is that research is one of the most important things to do before you write any type of post or paper. What I’ve learned about doing research before writing on my blog is that you need to search past the fist of the websites if you use google. Another thing is that you shouldn’t rely on wikipedia for all of your research because you have people that aren’t always reliable adding information to the site. I’ve learned that if you want reliable information than you should go tho the source of it. For example, when I did my posts on Joe Mauer and Albert Pujols I went directly to a sort of biography for both of the players.

4. Since our requirements would change every week I had to focus more on the topics that were assigned to where I made sure that all of the requirements were done when I needed them to be. I also made sure that they were done correctly by re reading all of the instructions that were given to us by the teacher when it was assigned. For example, when I had done the posts on Albert Pujols and Derek Jeter I had to find what sentence types that I was using in my writing, and I found out that I use a lot of simple sentences instead of the compound variety. By doing this I’ve taught myself to start using compound sentences more often to where I don’t always have these very short and choppy sentences that make the paper seem boring. Another one of the strategies that helped me was when we had to use correct comma usage or our grade would drop, but at this time I had become proficient in using commas in my writing. Since I was proficient I had no trouble doing any of the comma work that was assigned.

5. What I’ve learned while writing all of my posts is that there are amny aspects that could be carried on into all of my years in high school and college. What I’ve ;earned here will also be something taht I will need to remember because teachers may touch on it in the future. What I learned that will help me in the future is that sentence structure of your paper is sort of where teachers focus the most besides grammatical errors. For example, I had to take writing enrichment at the beginning of the year since my previous teacher didn’t think that my writing was good enough to get me through the entire 8th grade year. So, when I finished writing enrichment I found out that I was having problems with my writing, but it wasn’t with grammer issues it was my sentence structure. When I started writing papers for Language Arts I found that I still had a little work that needed to be done to complete my papers, so when I started doing the blogs where we had to write compound, compound-complex,and complex sentences I struggled a little but after taht I was fine. I think that by becoming proficient in my sentence structure I will be able to do better work in the future.

Alright many people around the world have been wondering did Barry Bonds actually use performance enhancing drugs? Some people think that Bonds only beat Hank Aaron’s home run record because he used steroids. Now it is true that Bonds has been in a case with BALCO since 2007, but they still don’t know if he used steroids or not. Unlike Mark McGwire Barry bonds didn’t just come out and say that he actually used performance enhancing drugs. That means we still don’t know if he has been lying to the public all these years or if he is really telling the truth. Some people will never believe him because of what he looked like when he was with the Pittsburgh Pirates and then what he looked like when he went to the San Francisco Giants. People say this because it looks like he put on a few pounds in the off season, but they don’t know if it was him working out or if he did use performance enhancing drugs at that time. Either way Bonds has gone down in history for his number of home runs in a single season (73) and his career (762). Bonds also set records for the most walks (2,558) and intentional walks (688). Bonds also holds the record for the most hoe runs after turning 40 with 74. Barry Bonds has also had the most MVP awards (7) and his closest competetors trail by 3. Bonds also holds the record for the oldest player (38) to win a National League batting title for the first time in 2002. We may never know if Bonds did use performance enhancing drugs until his trial, that has run from 2007 to this day, but all I can say is that if he is lying to the federal grand jury he needs to tell the truth.

Henry “Hank” Aaron was born under the name of Henry Louis Aaron in 1934 in Mobile, Alabama. Hank Aaron used to be the holder of baseball’s hardest award to achieve, the most home runs in a career.Aaron played 23 years as an outfielder for the Milwaukee (later Atlanta) Braves and Milwaukee Brewers (1954–76). He holds many of baseball’s most distinguished records, including runs batted in (2,297), extra base hits (1,477), total bases (6,856) and most years with 30 or more home runs (15). He is also in the top five for career hits and runs. Aaron also had the record for most career home runs (755) until Barry Bonds broke it with his 756th home run on August 7, 2007, in San Francisco.(source: http://www.biography.com/articles/Hank-Aaron-9173497)  Aaron was born into a poor family that soon moved to the middle class. Where he lived in Alabama was considered the “poor black section of Mobile called “Down The Bay,” Aaron and his family moved to the middle class Toulminville neighborhood when he was a young boy. When he got to high school, Aaron played shortstop and third base on his school’s team. Aaron, perhaps sensing he had a bigger future ahead of him, quit school in 1951 to play in the Negro Leagues for the Indianapolis Clowns.” Source: http://www.biography.com/articles/Hank-Aaron-9173497   From 1957-1975 Hank Aaron was on the MLB All-star team. The All-star team is two teams the National and American. These two teams are the best players from each section of the MLB (American League and National League) that face off every year at the MLB All-Star game. In 1970 Hank Aaron was awarded the ML Lou Gehrig Memorial award. The ML Lou Gehrig award is given to the play that best examplifies the integrity of Lou Gehrig on and off the feild. Hank Aaron also won the batting title in 1956 and 1959. The batting title is given to the player that has the best batting average for that year.Hank Aaron never won the award for on-base percentage, but he finished in second in 1959 and 1963. Even though he didn’t win the on-base percentage every allhe made for it in slugging percentage. He won the title for highest slugging percentage in 1956, 1963, 1967, and 1971. In 1961 he won the title for the most games played in a single season, 155. The number of games that he played that season was his fourthlowest number of games and playing 161 in the following year was the most games he had ever played. In his long career he never won the title for doubles, triples, singles, or bases on balls. Even though he didn’ win the title for these spots he still won the title for most home runs in a single season in 1957, 1963, 1966, and 1967. He won in 1957 with 44 home runs, 44 in 1963, 44 in 1966, and 39 in 1967. Hank Aaron won the home run title for career home runs at the end of his career, but Bary Bonds broke that record 33 years later by hitting his 756th off of the Washington Nationals in 2007. In total Bonds hit 762 career homeruns, and he set the record for single-season home runs with 73. Even though it is said that Bonds broke the record there has been a lot of controversy over him using steroids.

Joe Mauer: he has the tools to be the best catcher in the MLB's history

Do you know what player has the ‘Swing that sings’? If you don’t know who he is he’s Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins. “Joseph Patrick Mauer was born April 19, 1983 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Joe was the youngest of three brothers. Jake III and Billy are his older siblings. All had baseball in their genes”(source: http://www.jockbio.com/Bios/Mauer/Mauer_bio.html).”To Joe’s parents, Teresa and Jake Jr., it seemed that all three of their sons were destined to star on the diamond. Jake was a baseball coach by profession. his dad and three uncleshad played professionally. Joe’s grandfather, Jake Sr., had also played pro ball. He was most similar to Joe in terms of skills and makeup.Among Joe’s earliest memories was being handed a toy baseball bat by his dad and swinging it. The family joke was that he had a major-league stroke while he was still in diapers, and it’s not far from the truth. There is actually videotape of Joe—diapers visibly peeking out of his shorts—at the opening of some local batting cages.Naturally, Joe grew up a Twins fan. In 1987, his father got three tickets to a World Series game against the St. Louis Cardinals. He took his two oldest sons and told the four-year-old he had to stay home. Joe locked himself in a closet until the two Jakes and Billy returned. He went wild when Minnesota won it all that season, and then did again in 1991.”(source:http://www.jockbio.com/Bios/Mauer/Mauer_bio.html ) 

As said by Kelli Anderson, ” He has the tools to be the best catcher ever.” I would have to agree with Kelli on that  because Mauer has a very splendid swing and that he has every tool that you would want from a young catcher. Mauer has the arm to gun down any runner that tries to steal on him or his team. He has proven that a catcher can hit by smashing a career high of 28 home runs in 2009. Mauer has also had a career high batting average of .365. Even though Mauer had all of these accomplishments he also had some rough time at the plate. For example, in 2009 he almost tied his career high number of strikeouts in a single season(64). In 2009 he had 63 strikeouts.Sure he had a hard time at the plate a few games, but Mauer still showed the country that he can win. In 2009 Mauer and the Twins were going into the playoffs. This was the first time since 2006 that the Twins were in the Playoffs, but they lost to the Yankees 3 games to none. Despite all this the Twins are looking forward to this years playoffs because they think they will win it all. With this in mind the Twins also need to worry about Mauer. The reason that they need to worry about the hometown favorite is that his contract will end at the end of this season. His contract does end this season, but the Twins have already worked out an 8 year $184million extension for the 2009 AL MVP. I expect to see the name Joe Mauer in the Hall of Fame in years to come thanks to his superb skill and athleticism.

The greatest players play in the fall

 so they can go into the hall.

During this time you can see the white light

as the player tries to better himself for the fight

that just might be the  toughest of his life.

While he practices he leaves his wife

for something that he loves in the fall

That thing is the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Some people play in the fall

so they can get the call.

This call could be for college or the pro’s

no one really knows.

If he does well

he will excell.

When he retires one fall

his name may be in the hall.

Home run

The CRACK of the bat

that ball is over the wall,

that is a HOME RUN!

Great Catch

The ball sails to right

the fielder is on the move,

he dove for the out.

Albert Pujols

Jose Alberto Pujols Alcantara is better known in the MLB as Albert Pujols. Pujols is from the Dominican Republic, and he has played for the St. Louis Cardinals since 2001. There are many reasons why Pujols is on this site. One is that he is from the Dominican Republic where Sano and Juan Carlos are from. In the Dominican Republic Pujols didn’t live a normal life growing up because his father, Bienvenido, wasn’t always around, so most of the time his grandmother, America, took over for his father when he wasn’t there. Even though Pujols had 10 aunts and uncles they seemed more like brothers and sisters to him. Pujols may be rich and famous now, but if you look at his life as a kid he and his family were dirt poor. They lived in a “communal setting which resembled a camp site. The family would not have survived had it not been for government assistance programs.”(Source: http://www.jockbio.com/Bios/Pujols/Pujols_bio.html) Even though Pujols lived in a scant area he still grew up to be a very happy person. Since Albert could walk he amazed people with his baseball talent, and he still amazes people today. Through his nine year span in the MLB Pujols has hit 366 home runs, 1071 runs, 1717 hits, 1112 RBI’s ( Runs Batted In), a batting average of .334, an on base percentage of .427, a slugging percentage of .628, and an on base percentage plus slugging of 1.055. As you can see Pujols is a machine with a bat in his hands, but is he any good with a glove? Well of course he is! Pujols has won the Gold Glove award in 2006 which proves that he has a terric glove. Pujols has also been named an all-star eight times (the only time he missed the all-star game was in 2002), he has also been named MVP (Most Valuable Player) three times, and has won silver slugger five times. As you can see Pujols has been one of the best players in the history of baseball because of how great his stats are. When he goes in the Hall of Fame, no one will forget about him

Did you know that Derek Jeter is one of the best baseball players of all time? One of the reasons that he is one of the best baseball players of all time is that he’s a five way tool. His five tools are being able to jump, catch, hit, run, and throw better than most shortstops in the MLB. One of his five tools is jumping because he will jump to try and make plays that most people wouldn’t even attempt to do. For example, on July 2, 2009 Jeter showed off his amazing hang time, but the all-star couldn’t make the catch. What I mean by saying that Jeter can catch is that he rarely lets balls get past that he can get to. Because of his ability to catch, most batters don’t want to hit the ball his way. A way that you can tell Jeter has an amazing glove is to see how many times he has won a gold glove title, 4 times.  Another thing that Jeter can do is hit for a high average. For example, in the “2009 ALDS Jeter batted exactly .400 and he ended the World Series with a .407 batting average. With 10 of his 28 post season series ending with a .400 batting average Jeter is now a .313 lifetime hitter in postseason games” source:(Sports Illustrated Kids December 2009). Another way that you can tell Jeter is an amazing hitter is that he has won the Hank Aaron award two times. The Hank Aaron Award is given to the top hitter in each league. You can also tell of how good Jeter is with the lumber by seeing how many times he won the Silver Slugger Award. The Silver Slugger award is given to the best hitter of each position. During his time with the Yankees Jeter has won five World Series rings along with teammates Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, and Andy Pettitte. I think that Jeter also shows great sportsmanship and what the sport is really about every time he sets foot on the field. For example, Jeter won the Roberto Clement Award which is given to the player that best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement, and the individuals contribution to his team, as voted on by baseball fans. When other people won awards, they didn’t give a speech. Even though other people didn’t give a speech Jeter did.

Definitions of awards from (http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/community/clemente.jsp, http://www.slugger.com/silverslugger/index.html, http://www.baseball-almanac.com/awards/aw_ha.shtml, http://www.rawlingsgoldglove.com/history )

Have you ever wondered what it’s like for the kids that come up from the Dominican Republic to the MLB? Well, if you have this is the perfect post for you. In the Dominican Republic there is a group of film makers creating a movie called Pelotero. Pelotero means baseball player in spainish. The kids that are featured in this movie are kids that want to be in the Major Leagues. In Spanish entradors which means trainers. The two big name trainers from the Dominican Republic is Astin Jacobo Jr. and Vasilio Herrera Tejeda. Astin Jacobo Jr. runs a baseball feild right next to Moreno. Vasilio Herrera Tejada, better known as Moreno, who has been a trainer for 17 years. Among those who have played on his field is New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano.One of the most featured kids in this movie is Miguel Angel Sano. Sano is attracting a lot of attention in the movie and in real life, since it is a documentary. The 16-year-old shortstop has all five tools, power, contact, speed, a good arm, and a good glove. What impresses most of the scouts is his exceptional speed for someone so tall(6’3″). ” All of my life, I ask God for a baseall player like [Sano],” says Moreno, Sano’s trainer. Sao is expcted to be on of the highest paid highest-paid prospectsthis year, and he is well aware waht his signing bonus will mean for his family. ” [Our] way of living will change,” he says. ” I am [going] crazy because July 2 is comng. I am anxious for it to arrive.” Most of the players on Moreno’s feild are dressed in ragged and mismathced baseball uniforms. But Sano look like a pro, in a matching St. Louis Cardinals hat and shirt, and a brand-new pair of spikes. When his U.S.agent, Rob Plummer, comes to town on an April day to check up on his client, his presence sets off a frenzy of activity. Eleven kids feild balls, all trying to impress him and improve their chances to make it to the Show. Listening to adults like Plummer talk, it is easy to forget that Sano and the other prospects are still just kids, many of whom have never been away from their families. “Miguel Angel is improving his life. It’s necessary that he makes it,” says his stepfather Fransisco Soriano. “But sometimes [I feel] nostalgic because I know that a day is coming when he’s  going to have to leave us, and it’s just a little fast at times.” Another on of the kids featured is Jean Carlos Batista, a 16-year-old switch-hitting shortstop whom Jacobo compares to a young Carlos Beltran. Despite his age, Batista deals with with some adult pressure. His familyis depending on him to make it in baseball. Says Martin, “When you ask himwhat he wants out of baseball,he says he wants to make it to the big leagues. Ask him what he’s going to do with the money he gets, he says, ‘Buy a house for my mom.’ ” Batista grew up about 45 minutes away in a towncalled La Romana. His father died when he was 10. In order to buy his first glove, he had to collect and turn in bottles for money.” They are not competing for baseball they are competing for their lives,” Jacobo says. ” You ask Jean Carlos to jump off a plane to become a baseball player,he’s going to do it. I think that these two kids will make it to the bigs leagues since they are bothe very talented and devoted. So, if either of you are reading this keep up the good work.

source: Sports Illustrated Teen: Feild of Dreams

Do you know why there is a number 42 in all baseball stadiums in the United States? The reason that the stadiums feature this number is that the man wearing it was a legend in the game of baseball. That person is hard to live up to for any one even the best to this date. Because of this person being so good, they retired his number across all teams. He was also the first African American Player to ever break the baseball color barrier. This player went by Jackie Robinson who was one the best there has ever been and will be. “Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia in 1919 to a family of sharecroppers.”(Source: http://www.jackierobinson.com/about/bio.html) Jackie’s mother, Mallie Robinson, single-handedly raised him and his four other siblings. Jackie’s family was the only black family on the entire block, so the prejudice they encountered only strengthened their bond. Jackie grew up in a large family with only one mom, so he decided to do his best in all sports and he made them his life. Later Robinson attended UCLA and became the first person to win varsity letters in four sports: baseball, basketball, football, and track and field. Robinson was on the 1941 All-American football team, but thanks to a financial crisis he had to leave college early. Since he had to leave college early he decided to enlist into the U.S army. After his army career ended two years later he decided to go back to sports. In 1945 Robinson played for a Negro League team called the Kansas City Monarchs. “In 1947, Brooklyn Dodgers president Branch Rickey approached Jackie about joining the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Major Leagues had not had an African-American player since 1889, when baseball became segregated.” (Source: http://www.jackierobinson.com/about/bio.html) When Robinson first donned a Dodgers uniform he pioneered the integration of professional sports in America. “At the end of Robinson’s rookie season with the Brooklyn Dodgers, he had become National League Rookie of the Year with 12 homers, a league-leading 29 steals, and a .297 average. In 1949, he was selected as the NL’s Most Valuable player of the Year and also won the batting title with a .342 average that same year. As a result of his great success, Jackie was eventually inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.” (Source: http://www.jackierobinson.com/about/bio.html)  In his years of baseball Jackie made it to the World Series a total of six times, but five of those six times they were beaten. The team that they lost to was the New York Yankees and the Yankees were the team that they beat the one year they won the World Series. During the post season the Monarchs didn’t do very well except in 1955 where they beat the New York Yankees. In that post season Jackie Robinson’s batting average was .182, which was the lowest that he ever had in a post season. Even though he didn’t have very much success hitting the ball that year in all of the post season attempts he hit for an average of .335. Overall Jackie was the best player because he broke the color barrier of baseball and pretty much the rest of the sports.