Baseball is America's sport. It brings out the boys of summer. While it has had 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, often embraced, sometimes annoying but never ever turned away. Our children take baseball instruction and baseball hitting drills. We are devoted. Throughout baseballs short history there have been many memorable moments. Here is a quick accounting of a few of those moments brought to you by the heavy hitters.

It was February 2 in 1876, when eight teams became founding members of the National Baseball league. The first National League game was officially played on April 1st, 1876. Boston played Philadelphia and won. On February 2, 1900 the American league was born. It was made up of six teams including: Boston, Baltimore, Detroit, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Chicago. In April of 1923 Babe Ruth hits his first home run. It was the first home run in Yankee Stadium. Eight years later on August 21st of 1931 Babe Ruth hits his 600th home run.

On May 15th, 1941 the amazing hitting streak of Joe DiMaggio begins. He would hit in 56 consecutive games. 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 giving him the record for most home runs in a season. Mark McGwire hits 62 in 1998. Sammy Sosa hits his 61st and 62nd home run five days later on September 13, 1998. Barry Bonds will break the record with 73 home runs in 2001.

In 1974, on April 8th, Hank Aaron smacks the ball out of the park and hits his 715th home run, bettering Babe Ruth and moving into the front position on the list of career home runs. He will have 755 before he lays down his bat in 1976. A year latter, Sadaharu Oh sends a ball out of the park in Japan. It is his 756th home run. On October 8th, 1977 Reggie Jackson, Mr. October, 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 beating out Ty Cobb. Four year later he would be banned from baseball for his gambling offenses. He finished his career with 4,256 hits. These are all players that knew how to swing a bat. There are many other famous players that were great at the plate and in the field. Shoeless Joe Jackson, Lou Gehris, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Duke Snider, Roberto Clemente and many more brought excitement to the game of Baseball. 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 may have grabbed some of the spotlight, but nothing will ever touch these great moments in baseball history.

Connor R. Sullivan ordered copies of DVDs focusing on baseball hitting drills to help some of the junior the kids on his baseball team. He believes that the baseball instruction will really help improve their game.

who was the Yankees greatest center fielder?

Joe DiMaggio
Mickey Mantle
Bernie Williams

Mickey Mantle. He could real shag 'em. And there was no better switch hitter in history. Joe Dimaggio was Ted William's pick for best all round ballplayer, but the Mick simply passed him up. Bernie Williams is one of the most outstanding people who ever played the game, but not the best player.

	1980 Topps #108 Hank Bauer - San Diego Chargers (Football Cards) Sale Price: $0.01
	1980 Topps #108 Hank Bauer - San Diego Chargers (Football Cards)

	Hank Bauer Signed Yankees 8x10 Photo
	Hank Bauer Signed Yankees 8x10 Photo - From a Private Signing. Comes with a COA from Autograph-Sports and Athlon Sports.

	Hank Bauer Signed Major League Baseball - 5x All Star
	Hank Bauer Signed Major League Baseball - 5x All Star - From a Private Signing. Comes with a COA from Autograph-Sports and Athletic Promotional Events.

	2008 Upper Deck Yankee Stadium Legacy Collection #2533 Hank Bauer
	2008 Upper Deck Yankee Stadium Legacy Collection #2533 Hank Bauer

	2008 Upper Deck Yankee Stadium Legacy Collection #2766 Hank Bauer
	2008 Upper Deck Yankee Stadium Legacy Collection #2766 Hank Bauer

	2008 Upper Deck Yankee Stadium Legacy Collection #2536 Hank Bauer
	2008 Upper Deck Yankee Stadium Legacy Collection #2536 Hank Bauer

	2008 Upper Deck Yankee Stadium Legacy Collection #2537 Hank Bauer
	2008 Upper Deck Yankee Stadium Legacy Collection #2537 Hank Bauer

	Hank Bauer Autographed/Hand Signed New York Yankees 8x10 Photo (Deceased)
	Hank Bauer 3x All-Star selection (1952, 1953, 1954), and 8x World Series champion (1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1966), has personally hand signed this 8x10 Photo. This is not a pre-print or copy, but actually autographed by the athlete listed...

	2008 Upper Deck Yankee Stadium Legacy Collection #2664 Hank Bauer
	2008 Upper Deck Yankee Stadium Legacy Collection #2664 Hank Bauer

	Hank Bauer Signed Yankees 8x10 Photo
	Hank Bauer Signed Yankees 8x10 Photo - From a Private Signing. Comes with a COA from Autograph-Sports and Athletic Promotional Events.

In the fourth grade, a boy named Willie McTavish moved from Scotland to Auburn California, which was my home town. Miss Arbortree, our teacher, appointed me to show him around the school grounds, and to make him fell at home. I don't know why I was selected, unless it was the plaid shirt I was wearing that day.

Willie was a very nice boy, but very curious, and with hundreds of questions asked in his thick Scottish brogue, I spent a lot of time stuttering and asking him to repeat the question. It became apparent shortly that he was in love - really in love - with American baseball. Whether he knew of it before he came to the states or not, I never found out. But love it he did, and the balance of my 4th grade year consisted of memorizing batting averages, ERA's, fielding percentages, and the like. Willie was relentless. He knew the figures not only of Joe DiMaggio and the other stars of the day, but also of the utility men whose names were hardly household words. Looking back, I believe I learned more math from Willie than from Miss Arbortree that year, as he required me to compute batting averages not on paper, but in my head (writing averaged is not very practical when you are whispering during music or social studies.)

And speaking of Joe DiMaggio, Willie and I got the chance of a lifetime to see him when the Yankees were on a barnstorming tour, and stopped for a game against the Sacramento Solons of the Tripe-A Pacific Coast League. Sacramento was just 30 miles from Auburn (I understand it is somewhat closer now, thanks to Interstate 80), and we finagled either his parents of mine, I don't remember which, to take us to the game.

It was a thrill to see not only Joltin' Joe in the flesh, but also all the other Yankees, such as Scooter Rizutto, Whitey Ford, Billy Martin, Johnny Mize, Yogi Berra, Hank Bauer, Gene Woodling, and all those names that struck terror into the hearts of the other teams.

The Yankees thumped the Solons real good, much to the delight of us locals. We loved our Solons, of course, but they were bush league compared to the mighty Yankees, with all the tradition of the Babe, the Iron Man, and all those immortals. The highlight of the game came in the 8th inning when Joe jolted one over the left-center field fence. We all went bananas, later immortalized by Paul Simon and his Mrs. Robinson, who would much later haunt our memories about the nature of our heroes.

After the game, Willie and I and a dozen other kids stood in the parking lot by the door we figured the Yankees would emerge from, and after 45 minutes of making our parents wait, we were rewarded by the sight of Yogi, Whitey, and then finally Joe as they exited the clubhouse toward the team bus. (Yes - they traveled by bus and train back in those days.) Virtually all of us kids crowded around Joe, paper and pen in waving hand, hoping for the treasured autograph of baseball's ruling king. Willie and I got ours rather quickly from a weary but friendly DiMaggio, fortunately, then looked around to see which of the other Yankees was still available for autograph signing. By then all the others were in the bus, and the door of the bus was guarded by a stern-looking man in an official looking uniform, so we decided it would be unwise to try to board the bus. There was one kid, however, who looked to be 18 or 19 years old, learning against the side of the bus, waiting for Joe to finish his autographs. We didn't know if he was the batboy or what, but we thought we might as well get his autograph too, so we did - on the same little scrap of paper the immortal Joe DiMaggio had just signed.

When I got home, after showing everyone in Auburn who would look, including show-and-tell at school, I pinned the little paper up on my bedroom wall, right next to a framed copy of Joyce Kilmer's poem entitled "Trees". "I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree." Many nights as I lay in bed, I looked at that little slip of paper, and visualized myself in pinstripes, backhanding a fly ball off the center field wall, throwing a strike to the plate, and hitting homer after homer after glorious homer, surpassing the records of Joe, the Babe, and the Iron Man. Sometimes in my drowsy state the words of the poem right next to my treasured slip would mix in my mind with baseball dreams, and the poem would sometimes read "I think that I shall never see and outfielder as great as Shinn". Terrible and vain poetry, but I would often fall asleep with these daydreams turning into night dreams. But each new morning burst the bubble, and life went on.

That little slip of paper stayed faithfully on my bedroom wall year after year, turning yellow with age. Then one day when I was a freshman in high school - probably 3 or 4 years later, I looked carefully at the slip, and found the signatures of both Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle side by side on the same slip of paper! The kid leaning on the Yankee bus!

"I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree." Or a scrap of paper with two names on it, one of them previously unknown.

Unfortunately, when I was away at college, Mom took all my stuff off the wall and put it in a box. I have spent the rest of my adult life looking for that box, but in vain. I don't miss Kilmer's poem that much, but I sure do miss that little scrap of paper.

Duane Shinn is the author of the popular free 101-week online e-mail newsletter titled "Amazing Secrets Of Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions- Intelligent Piano Lessons For Adults Only! " with over 84,400 current subscribers.

The Battle of the All Time Badass!?

Vote on who would win. Here's the choices:

chuck norris...chuck norris won a staring contest with the sun.

There is absolutely no loss of dignity in working at a theater. Honestly, just be glad you can get a job and pay your bills. Accept the job, but feel free to keep looking on the side.

Baseball injuries usually do not end a player's career. However, any injury can be a setback. With proper care and knowledge beforehand, the player will know what to look for, and will return to normal activities in a shorter amount of time.

The top seven baseball injuries that will plague most baseball players are described below.

1. Shoulder Injury

Throwing or hitting a baseball utilizes the entire physical body. A shoulder injury is normally associated with an arm and shoulder injury of the pitching or throwing arm and shoulder. In medical terminology, a baseball player's common shoulder injury is a torn Rotator Cuff. Pitchers are most prone to suffer from this injury, but anyone who plays baseball can become afflicted with a shoulder injury.

2. Sprained Wrist

A sprained wrist injury demands special attention so that the swelling and pain can subside. A sprained wrist injury rarely lasts for more than a few days since the wrist is so flexible and pliable. Should a player take a tumble or have to chase a fast dropping line drive hit, he could easily suffer from a sprained wrist.

Sometimes when a player is running for a base, he'll slide into the base and sprain his wrist. It hurts and it will swell, but most likely, the wrist will not get broken. Within a few days after cold compresses have been applied, and the wrist is later soaked in warm water, the wrist will be fine, and the baseball player will be ready to participate in his next game.

3. Dislocated or Broken Fingers

When a baseball player's glove webbing is improperly aligned at the moment when a ball impacts the glove, the player's fingers and hands will sting. However, most players will tell you that catching a ball with an ungloved hand can feel like being shot with a high-powered arrow.

Whenever a finger is exposed at any angle other than in an open and flexed state, the player will feel his finger joints getting crunched, dislocated, or broken. Catchers and infielders are the most common players to receive such finger injuries, but it can happen to any player, regardless of the position they're playing.

4. Hyper-extended Knee

When a baseball player grabs a fly ball out of the air, he is most certainly prone to suffering from a hyper-extended knee injury.

Whenever a player's foot lands awkwardly after he has lunged for a fly ball, the knee joint takes the bulk of the landing. Although he may show the other players that he can walk off the immediate hurt, his knee joint will be sore for days.

When that same player pays attention to his knee's soreness, he will recover quickly. However, if the player aggravates the injury by playing several more innings, or another game within a day or two, the injury will worsen and the pain will reappear.

Another way that a player can hyper-extend his knee is when his spikes get jammed into a base that's fixed into place. The knee joint could twist in the wrong direction, thereby causing the knee to hyper extend.

5. Pulled Hamstring

Even the most in-shape and toned baseball player who appears to have strong muscled legs can be prone to suffering from a pulled hamstring when he's running at break-neck speed to catch a ball or run a base.

Mickey Mantle's entire career and Albert Pujols's existing career have been fraught with hamstring muscle pull problem injuries. The injuries are painful, and the player will most likely need to take some time off to heal, but his career will not be ended due to a pulled hamstring.

6. Sore Elbow

Whenever a baseball player throws a ball hard to one of his teammates, he becomes susceptible to a sore elbow injury the same day or the next day. Sore elbows heal fairly rapidly, so there's no need for medical attention, except to remember to reduce the velocity that a player throws the ball the next time he's out on the field. A sore elbow is caused when the player suddenly stops or slows down the fling. That action is known to cause stress at the elbow's bone joint.

7. Bruises on Legs and Hips

When a baseball player does not wear sliding pads, he is quite vulnerable to receiving big bruises and strawberries on his legs and hips from sliding into a base. The painful part comes when a well-meaning attendant tries to apply any medication that contains alcohol or witch hazel in it. You'll be sure to hear the player's screams from many fields away.

Bruises will change colors and are certainly sensitive to the touch, but they're not the most serious injury a player can receive. So, try to remain tough when you look in the mirror after the game and see raw fleshy spots. Within four or five days, the tenderness will be gone, and most likely the color of the bruise will have faded away.

Next, to view a baseball sports card of Mickey Mantle or Albert Pujols when they were not injured, you can take a look at some of their more valuable cards located at this site: http://www.americaspastime.com

Baseball sports cards and memorabilia are collectibles that have become a passion and business for sports enthusiasts and collectors around the world. For the latest in mint condition baseball cards, autographs, ticket stubs, and gifts, be sure to shop at stores that you can trust, such as http://www.americaspastime.com known for their physical store and their online business.

What's on your "Want List?"

holy crap!! those things r rare!! by now thats got 2 be at least 250,000 bucks

Thank goodness the Yankees have him.

Big Daddy, George Steinbrenner, is a Yankee fan's delight. As a Yankee fan I love that so many other fans hate what George has done and continues to do. He gets the players that he needs. He pushes forward to get another championship for his Yankees. I can visualize George sitting in his office making calls to see if the superstar that he so highly touts is close to signing a Yankee contract.

When the Yankees have been in need of a pitcher they get Roger Clemens, or Mike Mussina, or Catfish Hunter, or Randy Johnson. Some of the top pitchers in the game. If it's a slugger they need George brings the best to New York. Reggie Jackson, Dave Winfield, Gary Sheffield, or Alex Rodriguez will don the Yankee pinstripes. Having the best for the Yankees and their fans makes all the difference. We know as fans that our team is doing whatever it can to bring in a championship. And when all is said and done - what more can we ask for?

George is relentless. He wants another World Series ring for the Bronx Bombers. Six is not enough for him. Arriving at the playoffs 14 times is not the name of this game. Winning the World Series is the only game in town. I have to admire that kind of pursuit. I have always felt funny when I see a player or an owner in a TV interview rejoice when his team comes in second. Something feels off. Second place is not a prize worth having At least not with George.

I love his spirit. I love his attitude about winning. I love winning it all in the fall. Has there been another owner in any sport, in the last 25 years that has operated with the same intensity that George has had? In any sport? I think not.

Say what you will about the big guy. He is money hungry, he has an ego problem, he stops at nothing, he plays unfair. I do not think he cares. what others are saying He has a cause and a mission. Bring championships to New York.

So I salute you George Steinbrenner, principal owner of my New York Yankees. Thanks for taking the team on your back and going for it all the time. While I may not agree with all your tactics I am fascinated with your ongoing will to win.

Imagine what it must have been like playing dominoes, or marbles or any other game with George when he was a kid. Do you think he had to win?

If Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, or Yogi Berra were playing on another team other than the Yankees and became available through free agency, do you think George would try and get him? What do you think?

Aron Wallad has been a baseball lover for over 45 years. His passions have included; playing, watching, reading, evaluating, and coaching the game he adores. Do you love inspiring quotes, unusual statistics and most of all, heartwarming baseball stories? If you love baseball you will love his baseball ezine.

Go here right now http://www.baseballsprideandjoy.com/index.php?tag=ezart

Contact Aron at aron@baseballsprideandjoy.com

should the yankees sign jim edmonds or gary sheffield?

so the yankees address their pitching woes by adding oft injured one year wonders cc sabathia and aj burnett. brought back andy pettitte on the cheap, oft-injured phenom joba chamberlain, and playoff choker chien ming wang
but the once imposing lineups look very vulnerable right now. jason giambi is gone, leaving matsui (no power) at dh. career minor leaguer cody ransom is filling in for a-rod at 3rd. brett garnder (who?) is the starter at center field. derek jeter's power is declining. mark texeira is a consistent hitter in the mold of jim thome in his prime (with better defense, slightly less power) but not exactly an impact player in the mold of a-rod, manny, barry bonds, and vladimir guerrero. robinson cano was a bust last year. he's a question mark.
sign jim edmonds to play centerfield or at least split duty with damon. or move damon to centerfield and sign sheffield.

Edmonds would be the more likely of the two, but if they were to sign him by now, it would have happened already. I don't think Jim wants to play for a minor league deal. Maybe if Andruw Jones comes back on the market, they'll give him a chance. I see them giving the spot to Gardner or Melky though, or occasionally using Damon or Swisher in CF. There's no way Gary Sheffield ends up a Yankee though. He couldn't even ended on worst ties with them. At this point, I think Gary wants to play in his native Tampa, where it's warm, and nice and cool playing indoors.

0: Al Oliver
1: Warren Moon
2: Derek Jeter
3: Babe Ruth
4: Lou Gerhig or Brett Favre
5: Joe DiMaggio
6: Bill Russell
7: Mickey Mantle
8: Yogi Berra, Bill Dickey
9: Ted Williams

One side of the baseball has the commissioner of baseball's imprinted signature. A. Bartlett Giomatti was the comissioner of the National League from 1986- April 1989. I was probably in that time period

i would start them at around 5,000

If it was a recent purchase it is worth exactly what you paid for it. You have the honor of setting the market value because it worth no more or no less than what someone is willing to pay. By the way, what did you pay for it?

Where would you look for an answer to old baseball question?

Seems like I remember Mickey Mantle hitting a homerun into the the upper deck Bleachers of Briggs staium (later Tigers Stadium) in the late 50's or early 1960's. Where in the world of baseball trivia would someone find proof of this?

Your best source would probably be the Guinness Book of World Records.
They list Mantle as having hit the longest measured home run in history at 634 feet (!).
It did NOT land in the upper deck bleachers but instead cleared the roof above the right field bleachers. So I'm not sure if this is the home run you are refferring to.
This occurred on September 10, 1960 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. (The name change to "Tiger Stadium" occurred one year later)
Mantle's home run came in the top of the 7th inning with two runners aboard.