Entering The Batters Box: These Guys Are A Hit

Baseball is the United States’ sport. It gives us the our summer heros. While it has had its ups and downs, it has never left us. It is part of the American family, like an adored brother who is sometimes the villain, often embraced, 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 many memorable moments. Here is a short summary 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 inaugural National League game was officially played on April 1st, 1876. Boston faced Philadelphia and triumphed. In 1900, on February 2nd the American league emerged. It was made up of six teams. These teams were Boston, Baltimore, Detroit, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Chicago. In April of 1923 Babe Ruth hits his first home run That hit was the Yankee Stadiums first homerun. Less then a decade later in 1931 on a muggy August day Babe Ruth hits his 600th homerun.

On May 15th, 1941 the astonishing streak of Joe DiMaggio starts. He get on base with a 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 knocks 61 pitches out of the park giving him the record for most home runs in a season. Mark McGwire hits 62 in 1998. Five days latter Sammy Sosa grabs number 61 and 62 in the same game in September. Barry Bonds claims the title by knocking 73 balls out of the park in 2001.

April 8th 1974, Hank Aaron slams a ball over the fence and hits his 715th home run, bettering Babe Ruth 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 across the Pacific Ocean in Japan. Sadaharu Oh has claimed his 756th homer. Mr. October, Reggie Jackson comes to the plate 3 times on October 8th, 1977 and claims three homers. He hits them on three consecutive pitches and takes the Yankees to their 21st world series championship.

On September 11th 1985, Mr. Hustle, Pete Rose gets his 4,192 hit beating out Ty Cobb. Four year later he would be banned from baseball for his gambling offenses. He finished his batting legacy with 4,256 hits. These are all athletes that knew how to take a pitch. There are many other famous players that were great at the plate and in the field. Shoeless Joe Jackson, Lou Gehrig, 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 can touch these great moments in baseball history.