Andrew’s Reviews > Heroes of Baseball: The Men Who Made It America's Favorite Game > Status Update

Addressing yourself as a baseball hero takes a lot of courage and historic feats. Baseball heroes in the past have left their mark long beyond baseball. For example, Jackie Robinson was the first African American baseball player to play in the major leagues. This gave African Americans out there a lot of hope that they could play in the big leagues too. In that sense, all of baseball's heroes give us a dream.

Being a hero in baseball takes a lot of skill and different impacts on the game. Many of the heroes in this game have impacted many people out in the world and motivated them to either start playing baseball or motivated them to start a new chapter in their life. To be a hero you cannot be afraid of failure because in the end, failure makes you better. Many of the heroes of baseball fail until they succeed.

There were many players who came out of foreign countries and were very successful. One player that sticks out to me is the great Ichiro Suzuki. Suzuki was a small guy that hit for average had a monster arm on him. Suzuki made it out of Japan and was a hall of fame talent that dominated the big leagues.

There were many greats to play in the major leagues but one of the players that sticks out to me is Roberto Clemente. Clemente was a great ballplayer from the Dominican Republic that has made a mark in baseball's history. Clemente played 18 seasons in the MLB and 13 of those seasons he batted over .300. When he was 38 he sadly passed trying to give supplies to Puerto Rico,

Sammy Sosa and Mark Mcgwire were both some of the most powerful hitters in the late 90s. In 1997 they both went on a rampage and had one of the most entertaining home run races of all time. In the end, Mcgwire had 70 home runs and Sosa had 66 home runs. Although they were battling it out on the diamond, Sosa and Mcgwire were good friends and when Mcgwire hit his 70th home run Sosa congratulated him.

There were so many great baseball players throughout the late 90s. Some of these players include, Ken Griffey Jr., Mark Mcgwire, Sammy Sosa, etc. These greats had a very big influence on the kids in the late 90s that are playing in the big leagues now.

The arbitration rule stated that if one player played in the MLB for ten years or a player stayed with the same ballclub for five years they were able to turn down any trade for them. Many people liked this rule and many people did not like this rule. For much time MLB commissioners and players went to court to settle whether this would be a rule or not.

Curt Flood was a great African American baseball player that didn't let anyone control his rights. In 1970, he refused to get traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. This sparked a lightbulb in many baseball commissioners minds. Curt Flood changed the game to what the game is nowadays.

In the pages that I read it talked about the great Mickey Mantle. Mantle was a fabulous player that could hit for power and hit for average. He had everything a baseball player dreamed of. In 1961, Mantle was on a chase for Babe Ruth's single season home run record. Unfortunately for Mantle he got hurt during the season and wasn't able to go capture that record like he was planning on doing.