Times Square Gossip: BASEBALL

Showing posts with label BASEBALL. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

DREW GOLDEN'S TALE OF SEGREGATED TOWN

****

TIMES SQUARE GOSSIP BOOKS

****

Drew Golden's Stealing First

The year is 1957; it’s a typically scorching hot July in southern Louisiana and American Legion Baseball is the only game in town. Or is it?

Fiction based on fact, Stealing First (Legacy Publishing) by Drew Golden tells the tale of a racially-segregated small town in Louisiana during the 1950’s. While it is a story set in poverty, corruption and bias, its powerful messages of honor and camaraderie are awe-inspiring.

The Nina Redbirds battle Breaux Bridge’s Bayou Braves for the regional American Legion Baseball Championship and Ronnie LeBlanc, the Redbirds' talented pitcher, believes that winning the regional title is his ticket out of a dead-end job at the local sugar mill.

Saddled by race bias, shabby equipment, and Ronnie’s win-at-all-cost attitude, the Redbirds suffer a series of losses – and Ronnie sees his chance at the big leagues evaporating. When the team’s coach quits, the only one willing to take the job is a former Negro League pitcher who faces being the only African-American in a still-segregated game.

Beaten twice in the week prior to the championship by the ham-fisted Bayou Braves, Ronnie begins to suspect external forces are the cause of his team’s unlucky streak. As he digs for answers, he stumbles upon a secret: Bo Brasseux, the town’s bigoted banker, is scheming to kill the Redbirds’ new coach, throw the championship game, and ruin Ronnie’s family financially.

A scout for the Chicago Cubs, impressed by Ronnie’s talent, could be the answer, but will being tapped by the Cubs be enough to thwart Brasseux’s despicable plans against the coach and Ronnie’s family?

Ronnie’s dream has two strikes against it; his own win-at-all-costs attitude and the biased town fathers who want his team to lose. And when bad luck and bad sportsmanship join forces in the championship game, Ronnie sees his dream ending in a shutout, unless…

Adapted into an award-winning screenplay, Stealing First is Drew Golden's first novel. The author's many articles and short stories have appeared in numerous magazines nationwide. This talented writer holds a degree in broadcast journalism, and teaches writing at the Reuter Center on University of North Carolina's Asheville campus.

For more information, please visit: www.stealingfirst.net.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Reggie Jackson American Baseball Player

Reginald Martinez "Reggie" Jackson (born May 18, 1946), nicknamed "Mr. October" for his clutch hitting in the postseason, is a former American Major League Baseball right fielder. During a 21-year baseball career, he played from 1967-1987 for four different teams. Jackson currently serves as a special advisor to the New York Yankees. He helped win three consecutive World Series titles as a member of the Oakland A's in the early 1970s and also helped win two consecutive titles with the New York Yankees. Jackson was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1993. He now resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.

He was the 2nd overall draft pick in the 1st round, behind catcher Steve Chilcott, who was selected by the New York Mets. According to Jackson, Winkles told him that the Mets didn't select him because he had a white girlfriend. Winkles later denied the story, stating that he didn't know the reason why Jackson wasn't drafted by the Mets. It was later confirmed by Joe McDonald that the Mets drafted Chilcott because of need, yet again the person running the Mets at the time was George Weiss a known racist, so the true motive may never be known.

Jackson hit 47 home runs in 1969, and was briefly ahead of the pace that Roger Maris set when he broke the single-season record for home runs with 61 in 1961, and that of Babe Ruth when he set the previous record of 60 in 1927. Jackson later said that the sportswriters were claiming he was "dating a lady named 'Ruth Maris.'" That off-season, Jackson sought an increase in salary, and A's owner Charlie Finley threatened to send Jackson to the minors.

ackson became a free-agent again once the 1981 season was over. The owner of the California Angels, legendary entertainer Gene Autry, had heard of Jackson's desire to return to California to play, and signed him to a five-year contract.Jackson played 21 seasons and reached the post-season in 11 of them, winning six pennants and five World Series.

His accomplishments include winning both the regular-season and World Series MVP awards in 1973, hitting 563 career home runs (sixth all-time at the time of his retirement), maintaining a .490 career slugging percentage, being named to 14 All-Star teams, and the dubious distinction of being the all-time leader in strikeouts with 2,597. Jackson was the first major leaguer to hit one hundred home runs for three different clubs, having hit over 100 for the Athletics, Yankees, and Angels.

Reggie Jackson Pictures

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Lance Berkman Baseball Player

William Lance Berkman (born February 10, 1976) is an American professional baseball first baseman and outfielder with the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball. He stands at six feet, one inch, and weighs 220 pounds (100 kg). Berkman has spent various seasons of his career as a regular at all three outfield positions. He has played with the Houston Astros, New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals.

Berkman was born in Waco, Texas. He graduated from Canyon High School in New Braunfels, Texas in 1994.

He then attended Rice University playing on the Owls baseball team, where he was named the 1997 National College Player of the Year, playing for the legendary Wayne Graham, as well as named a first team All-America by Collegiate Baseball Magazine, Baseball America and The Sporting News. He was invited to visit the White House and dine with President Clinton along with the rest of the Baseball America honorees.

Throughout college, he batted a collective .385 with 67 home runs and 272 RBI. His 41 home runs in 1997 ranked third-most in NCAA history. That year he also made the all-time record book in RBI (2nd-134), slugging percentage (6th-1.031) and total bases (4th-263) while leading the Rice Owls to their first College World Series appearance.

After the Astros drafted Berkman, the team assigned him to play with their Class A Advanced Florida State League affiliate, Kissimmee. In only 53 games, he hit .293 with 12 HR and 35 RBI. In 1998, his second minor league season, he was promoted to Double-A Jackson. His potential was beginning to show, as he hit .306 and clubbed 24 HR with 89 RBI over 122 games for manager Jim Pankovitz. The Astros granted him a mid-season promotion to Triple-A New Orleans Zephyrs. He played 17 games in New Orleans, and 1998 would prove to be his last full season in the minor leagues. In 1999, Berkman was midway through a great season in New Orleans when he was called up to the parent club, the Houston Astros. Prior to the promotion, he had been hitting .323 with 8 HR and 49 RBI through 64 games.

Berkman and his wife Cara live in Houston with their four daughters. Berkman has been very outspoken about his religious beliefs throughout his career. Berkman uses his position as a professional athlete to discuss his religious beliefs with others. He told The 700 Club in May 2007: "What you’re running after, what you’re trying to find will not provide you with any lasting fulfillment. The only place you can find that is Jesus Christ. It’s in the service of God you’ll find that lasting fulfillment."

He is most popularly known as "Fat Elvis" and "The Big Puma". Before the 2006 season started, in an interview with a local Houston sports radio station, Lance joked "I'm more like a puma so I'm not sure why people call me Fat Elvis." The show's hosts, John Granato and Lance Zierlein, ran with the moniker and Houston fans and media latched onto "The Big Puma." When questioned further, Berkman explained the nickname is simply logical. "Agile, athletic, sleek ... all the things that describe my game," he said, somewhat tongue-in-cheek. With his outstanding start in 2008, this nickname also became known on a national level. That same year, a Lance Berkman fan club calling themselves "The Little Pumas" emerged. During Berkman's long tenure with the Astros, they could be seen wearing puma costumes and foam puma paws at most Astros home games near the Conoco Pump in left-center field. The group became relatively well-known among Astros fans, as they were shown often during Astros broadcasts on Fox Sports Houston.

Berkman was also one of the Astros' "Killer B's" in the mid-2000s, along with Jeff Bagwell, Carlos Beltran, Craig Biggio, Chris Burke, and Brad Ausmus.

Lance Berkman Photos