Big Baseball Inspiration from a Little Boy

This is hands down the most inspirational thing I have ever watched dealing with baseball. 


My friends on the Oregon State Baseball team showed me this video after they watched it. It is 13 minutes long but it is very worth it your time. This little boy Josiah has the disease progeria, which is very rare and makes him age prematurely. 

Josiah playing baseball

His heart and passion for this game is contagious. If every person had this amount of passion about anything the world would be a much better place. If baseball players had this passion, there would be no need for performance enhancing drugs, because every player would personally want to strive to get better and not take the easy way out by using drugs. 


It is so inspiring. As showed in the video, he has touched so many peoples lives with his love for the game. He has not only inspired the people personally close to him but everyone who watches this video. He makes us not want to take things for granted. He is in a much worse position than we all are. Yet, he never complains,  all he does is want to play baseball. Anyone who loves baseball will love this video. It doesn't only want to make you better player, it makes you want to become a better person. I  not only recommend watching this but also sharing this with the ball player in your life.

News Reporting in a Multimedia World

In the past few weeks In my reporting class at Oregon State University, we have been having guest speakers which I find very helpful and interesting. This week Matt Neznanski spoke in front of my class. He received his Master's Degree from Iowa State University in 2007. He is currently the Director of Communications at Brass Media. 

Brass Media is a socially driven media and technology driven company dedicated to helping young adults understand money. Brass Media is located in Corvallis, Oregon. 

But before that he was a reporter at Gazette times. During in speech in my class he explained the importance of journalism and continued to give tips to us amateur reporters. He explained that online journalism isn't any different from old school journalism in the sense that, you still can't plagiarize and have to be honest, and tell the truth.

He really emphasized the importance of social media. He told us that we should get connected everywhere whether this be in real life or online. He recommended that we should have accounts with twitter, blogs, and facebook. 

“That story starts with your work.” Neznanski said.

Your story is just the beginning, Online stories have a long tail, meaning they never really die, you can continue reporting and updating your original story.

Neznanski is a very reliable person to be getting pointers from. He has been a reporter for a awhile and now works with a company which greatly appreciates social media. He really stresses the importance to be connected and network. All these tips I will take to heart and will hopefully make me a better journalist.

RIP MLB Slugger Harmon Killebrew

The news of the passing of a great baseball slugger Harmon Killebrew is all around the world. Killebrew passed away from esophageal cancer at age 74. After his outstanding 22 year career he was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame.

This website truly talks greatly about Killebrew's skill. He represents everything baseball should be. He is being compared to A-rod and Barry Bonds and the article says that they are nowhere close to Killebrew's skill.

 It makes sense though, back in the day when there was a good player, they were naturally gifted, not saying that players now aren't. But there are playing enhanced drugs circulating the MLB and a lot of training and players spend a lot of money to play for travel teams and be seen. All those components go into making players outstanding. As from back in the day I feel like skill, hardwork, and motivation made a MLB star.

Harmon Killebrew has been the inspiration behind the MLB logo. I just thought it was a random picture drew by an artist. But after comparing the two, they are indeed very similar, almost too similar. Killebrew was very modest and humble and for the longest time would never admit being the model, but more than one person believes that they are too similar to not be the same.

Killebrew's famous uppercut swing

Jack of All Trades

Major League Baseball transactions are changes made to the roster of a major league team during or after the season. They include waiving, releasing, and trading players, as well as assigning players to minor league teams. Trades are a big part of all professional sports, especially baseball.

As this shows there are many transactions a day However, we barely hear about any of these. We only hear about the big players getting traded from a team they’ve played on for so long, or the trades requiring big money. Some of these are players getting called up from triple A, some are getting taken down to triple A. 

Teams may trade only players currently under contract, except those players who have been drafted in the last year. From the end of the previous World Series through July, trades between two or more major league teams may freely occur at any time.

Trades are very confusing, so I found this website that explains a so called waiver. Any player under contract can be placed on waivers at any time. If a player is waived, any team can claim him. If more than one team claims the player from waivers, the team with the weakest record in the player's league gets first preference. If no team in the player's league claims him, the claiming team with the weakest record in the other league then gets preference. 

If a player placed on Major League waivers is not claimed by another team during the three business days after waivers have been requested, then the players is said to have "cleared waivers," and the team has secured waivers for the remainder of the waiver period.

And what does that mean? This generally means one of three things:

(1) They can send him to the minors

(2) They can release him, which makes the player a free agent and thus available to sign with any team.

(3) They can trade him to another team, even if the so-called "trading deadline" has passed. Any trades made after July 31 may only involve players who have cleared waivers.

Waivers just might be the most complicated single aspect of the rules. It is a very confusing process not only for fans but also for the players and teams getting traded. It is very stressful and most trades come about because of money issues not necessarily players performances.

The Los Angeles Dodgers aren't good at "dodging" financial troubles.

It is all around the news. the fact that the LA Dodgers owner Frank McCourt does not have the funds to pay the teams payroll this month. According to LA Times, “McCourt received a $30-million loan from Fox last month, which provided funding for the Dodgers' two April payrolls and is expected to carry them through the first May payroll The second May payroll, due at month's end, is the one that appears problematic at this time." 

The reason for this lack of funding is due to his bitter divorce to his long time wife, Jamie McCourt. Since he cannot pay this months payroll. So what will happen?  If I was a player on this team I would be worried but the LA Dodgers aren't worried about who will be signing their paychecks since the MLB has taken over the franchise. MLB graciously decided to take over the dodgers funding for the rest of the year. It is really sad that a professional baseball team is suffering due to personal problems of the owner. 

He should have dealt with his personal life or had some sort of agreement that if worse does come to worse in his marriage that the team won’t be affected. Since the MLB would take over and help pay the payrolls, they could have the option at the end of the season to make him sell his franchise. 

This problem could be resolved if commissioner Bud Selig approved a contract for 30 million dollars from FOX but that is very unlikely at this point. It is no surprise to me that this is happening we are in recession and finances are difficult for everyone. But usually when finances are in trouble it only affects close relatives and family. But in this case it is affecting not only McCourt’s family, but also the dodgers, MLB in general and also the fans of the dodgers.

Barry Bonds, Sinner or Saint?

News of Barry Bond’s conviction of obstruction to justice has been sweeping the country. The jury had no problem making that clear, however, they could not come up with a verdict on whether or not the baseball slugger committed perjury.

 On December 2003, jurors convicted Bonds of an evasive testimony and obstruction when he gave a rambling answer that had nothing to do with the question asked, which was if his trainer ever gave him a substance that required an injection. His attorney is somewhat pleasant with the outcome but he wants to clear Barry Bonds’ record-breaking name in this entire mess. “Appeals are hard," said Vermont Law School professor Michael McCann, who specializes in sports law. to read more about this click here! 

Barry Bonds watching one of his many home run hits

Being a Sacramento Native, I pretty much had two routes when it came to baseball. Either root for the Oakland A’s on one side of the bay bridge or cheer on the San Francisco Giants on the other. If I chose the A’s my family would probably have disowned me. So i continued the family tradition of being Die-Hard Giants fans. So needless to say I have been a Giants fan my whole life. 

I grew up watching Barry Bonds play whether it was on TV or at Pac Bell park which is now known as AT&T Park. I remember always wanting to sit in the outfield so I can hopefully catch one of his home run balls. I thought his splash hits were amazing,  it boggled my mind how someone can hit it that far. The feeling I got when I heard this news about his obstruction to justice was the same feeling I felt when I found out Santa Claus wasn’t real, very upsetting.  Barry Bonds hit 762 home runs, and you are telling me some of those might have not happened because he was using steroids?!? And that Hank Aaron could still hold the record for most career home runs at 755. Only time will tell what the future holds for this home run slugger and his title.

Money is Everything

It is no surprise to us that professional baseball players make a lot of money, especially the superstars. I’ve always been curious to see how much they make. But I think what would surprise us the most (it surprised me) was how much they actually do make.  

But lets go through the past and see what kind of money baseball players made in 1967. I found this really good website about baseball salaries throughout the years. In 1967, the average player payroll was $19,000. The minimum was $6,000. Every year the average player payroll had a steady increase, it never decreased or flat lined. The pattern seemed to me, was the later the years the larger the increase. Once it hit the new millennium the average player payroll was $1,895,630 and the minimum was $200,000. Now in 2011, the average payroll for a single player is $3, 305,393. The minimum is $400,000 and has stayed at that number since 2009.

It is also no surprise that the the team with the highest pay roll is the New York Yankees. They are almost always a power house in the MLB. Because they can pay the best players what they want so they stay. According to USA Today , their 2011 total team payroll is $202,689,028 and the average is $6,756,300. The  MLB team with the least payroll is the Kansas City Royals. Their payroll comes in at $36,126,000 and the average being $1,338,000. 

According to CBS Sports's top 50 highest paid baseball player list. The number one highest paid player is New York Yankee, Alex Rodriguez. No surprise there. Rodriguez's 2011 salary comes in at a whopping $32,000,000. That means he makes almost as much as the Kansas City Royals combined. Just $4,126,000 short to be exact.

New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez

32 million dollars...that is outrageous. Any normal person would be lucky to even see a million. I love baseball and the entertainment it provides for me. However, I don't think players' salaries should be this high. There are millions of firefighters and policemen risking their lives day in and day out who don't make anything near that amount of money. But that is just how our society is. Entertainers, whether it be in sports, movies, or music are paid a lot more by entertaining than everyday heroes are. I don't agree with it, but that is how it is. But until there is a solution I will continue to watch these millionaires hit home runs and making outstanding plays...'cause that is what they are paid for, right?

Are Die-Hard Fans Going too Hard?

If you aren't a die-hard fan, you most likely know one. Someone who wins and loses with their team even if they have never made it to the playoffs let alone won a World Series. However, recently in the news it seems as if these fans are getting out of control. 
Even if you do not follow baseball you probably have some knowledge about the on-going, never ending rivalry between the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Not only does this rivalry exist on the diamond, but also in the stands. At the season opener on March 31, Dodgers came away with a 2 to 1 win over the Giants. Apparently, not being pleased enough with that great win, a couple of bald-headed Dodgers fans began "taunting and swearing" at Bryan Stow and two other people sporting Giants gear. According to Foxnews.com, "Stow was punched in the back of the head. He fell down, bashing is head on the pavement, and was kicked before the attackers ran off." The victim, Stow, is sadly showing signs of brain damage and is currently in critical condition due to this horrible act of violence. 
This is honestly outrageous, I do not understand how something like this can happen. I completely understand being a die-hard fan and occasionally talking some smack. But to hurt another individual just cause he is wearing the opponents jersey, sounds completely idiotic. San Francisco and their fans lose with class and win with class. Other teams and cities should start taking notes. These people that yell and fight other fans are the kids who never made it on their little league all star teams and take it out on innocent people. John Stow in the article states, "We would like to use this as a rallying cry to stop unnecessary violence in our greatest pastime and all other sports, not only here but abroad." To read the full story you can go read it here:  
http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2011/04/05/san-francisco-giants-fan-beaten-dodger-game-brain-damage/#ixzz1JQg1zWLf

Another act of violence in the baseball world, came from PNC Park with an altercation between a pair of cops and a drunken Pittsburgh Pirates fan. Scott Ashley, 41, was asked to leave during the game for using foul language and did not cooperate so the police were called to help. 
Ashley struck one of the stadium employees for no reason. According to FoxSports.com, "When Ashley refused, Rende and another officer forcibly subdued by using a Taser and clubbing him with their nightsticks." Some people are saying that the police used an inappropriate amount of abuse on the rowdy fan. Luckily for us, this scuffle was captured on video. 
When I first saw this video I was taken aback by how quick and much the police will bashing him. Ashley did not look like he was about to attack them so I felt like it was an inappropriate way to handle the situation. We did not see or hear everything and I am sure there were some choice words Ashley shared with the police. Here is the video.  Take a look at tell me what you think.