Final Post, The Last Best League

Well, this has been a very interesting and exciting end to the book. The Catham A’s, having won their way into the playoffs, are now facing their rival the Brewster Whitecaps. The game was an amazing one, the game went into the tenth inning when the Whitecaps hit a three run blast to put Brewster out 5-2. The A’s slumped on the bench as if they had already lost but the veteran coach, John Schiffner, got the squad up and at ‘em. Schiffner had been in many situations in his life but had never been in one quite like this. Schiffner was a coach that was used to losing, but this specific ball team had something that no other team had, togetherness. They had gone through the tough times and the glorious times as a squad, not individually. Schiffner believed in his squad and in the bottom of the tenth pulled through will small ball and smart strategies. In front of the biggest crowd in Catham Veterans Field history, the Catham A’s won their first playoff game in 5 years. Schiffner was used to losing his players to team USA during the season and abandoning the A’s, but this team had nowhere to go but stay here and win. This book was spectacular and gave me great insight on how the Cape Cod League works. This book ends with commentary on where the players went after the A’s. Most of the players either got drafted and went straight into the majors of went to the AAA teams. A very few of them went on to live successful lives as working citizens, jobs that include doctors, lawyers, architects, entrepreneurs, and so on. I highly recommend this book to any baseball lover who has dreams of making it to the big show, or for that matter anywhere that will get you to the big show.

OR Winter Break #3

In the final chapter I read over winter break the boys arrive in Tampa, Florida where their tournament is being hosted. But first they all needed to check into their hotel room a the AmericInn before they could go exploring before their game tomorrow. All of them had to room with one other guy, some had to go 3 to a room because of the tournament and all the scouts and what not at the event. So all the boys check in and grab some free food from the little buffet area and head down the street walking to the stadium because they definitely dont have the type of money to be spending on 10 cab trips when you can walk there in 15 minutes. Walking into the stadium they see everything from food vendors to merchandise vendors to scouting tents. Some scouts notice the team walking around and talks with a couple of the older players. Everybody knows that when a scout is around you have to be on your best game because one mistake would move you right down the totem poll. This chapter ends with the boys walking home in the dark down a little highway making them a little nervous, but they eventually get home and all go to bed for the big game tomorrow.

OR Winter Break #2

Recently in my book the boys enter a tournament in Tampa, Florida. They play all the teams in their league so I guess its more of an elite showcase rather than an actually tournament. I left off where the boys were going on their trip on the team bus. They all entered the bus and where just jumped to be riding it to their tournament, one player even brought a PS2 with the recent MLB game so that all of his teammates could play and keep their mind on baseball. They are on the bus for 3 hours and decide to take a dinner break at McDonalds where all the guys just pig out because the owner of the Catham A’s is paying and all of these players are very poor. They sit at the McDonalds and converse for about 30 minutes taking up the whole back seating area of McDonalds. This chapter ends with the boys going to bed on the bus, all of them sprawled everywhere from the couches to the beds and even in the chairs.

OR Winter Break #1

I have to be perfectly honest with you and say that during winter break I did not read my book as much as I wanted to. When you have a choice between reading your book indoors or skating at the park outdoors its kind of an easy choice. My book ended off with the boys having dinner with each other and watching the game on ESPN. This section was actually pretty jam packed with baseball. The guys go through a full week of practice before starting a tournament in Tampa, FL. Now usually the boys have to drive their separate ways to every game but the owner, who everyone seems to like a lot, decides to make this tournament a little more fun and gets a team bus for the rides. I only got up to the part where the boys were getting on the bus but this section definitely got me in a mood other than hockey.

Outside Reading 12-16

So far in my book, The Last Best League, the Catham A's have had there first couple of practices and have gotten to know their teammates through team bonding times and team dinners and parties at the owners house. Lately the team had their first scrimmage which got rained out but was still a good test for the A's. This section I read wasn't about baseball as much as it was about the team and all the travel and scouting and new equipment the boys receive while in Cape Cod. This section also talks about the players salaries and how little they get paid for playing in Cape Cod. They get food for free and gas money for free cause they dont even have a private team bus so they all have to drive alone. All the players need to find jobs in the Cape Cod area but most of them just find jobs as grounds crew or working for the owner doing paper work. Also in this section we get to meet the owners family and the rest of the Catham A's employees. At the end of the section I read for this week the team had a big dinner party before their game in Tampa. The boys had basketball games and wiffle ball games. I had no idea older guys still like to play wiffle ball because that was the only thing I did this summer other that real baseball. They all had their steaks and chicken breasts as a team and then watched the Yankees vs. Boston on ESPN. I found it rather funny how all the boys were critiquing every single play and every single movement of some of the greatest players in the game like A-Rod and Jeter. We all know that the boys in this league are good but if they have the guts to critique All-Stars why aren't they in the big leagues too?

Outside Reading, 12/9/08

Now that baseball is completely over I felt I needed to catch up on my baseball and what better thing to do than read my BASEBALL book. In the previous section I read Pauly isn’t man enough to face the competitiveness of the new league but eventually learns to live with it. The whole section I just read was about their first game against the Harwich Mariners. Its just a scrimmage but the team treats every game like a league game. The author gives most of the game in the point of view of Pauly but occasionally gives the point of view to other players in the field. I really like how Jim Collins made the game up beat and exciting because we all know how boring baseball can sometimes get. Anyway, the A’s jump out to a one run lead going into the 5th inning when Pauly gets a bit of a scare from the coach. The coach tells Pauly to get warmed up and Pauly is thinking to himself, "Oh boy, I cant do this, I’m not ready, What should I do?". His fright turns into happiness when the coach told him to go warm up someone else instead of him. There is a big rain delay in the 8th inning and the author gets into the head of Pauly and we learn about his past and what he is going through right now. The game eventually is rained out and we never get to see a game fully finished. This section was deep, yet exciting. Exactly how I like my books.

Annotated Citations - Steroids in Baseball

MLA Style Citation:Bathe, Bill "Baseball and Steroids- The Controversy." Baseball and Steroids- The Controversy. 2 Feb. 2005. EzineArticles.com. 7 Dec 2008 .
http://ezinearticles.com/?Baseball-and-Steroids--The-Controversy&id=12718

Bill Bathe was a player in the majors for a few years and played in the 1989 world series. He was coached by some of the best coaches/players ever including Dusty Baker, Harmon Killebrew, Billy Williams and Eddie Matthews. Bill Bathe now has a website that gives tips, drills, and advice for young and intermediate ball players. Bill Bathe is very serious about the issue of steroids in baseball and this was a great article about the effects of steroids and what steroids do to the game of baseball.

MLA Style Citation:Chuinard, Troy "Steroids in Baseball: Has the Game Been Tarnished?." Steroids in Baseball: Has the Game Been Tarnished?. 23 May. 2007. EzineArticles.com. 7 Dec 2008 .
http://ezinearticles.com/?Steroids-in-Baseball:-Has-the-Game-Been-Tarnished?&id=576907

Troy Chuinard, in this article, gives a deep perspective on steroids and gives examples of the steroid effected things like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Jason Giambi. All of these players were once looked up at by young adults but now are looked down upon because of the use of performance enhancing drugs. He goes on to state that many of those players teammates wouldn’t even select Mark Maguire to the Hall of Fame because of his alleged steroid use. Our records may forever be ruined by the use of performance enhancing drugs.