Rubric: Bulls-eye Statements by Famous Baseball Players

For more than three decades, he has been the face of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

And after more than sixty years in the Dodgers’ organization, Tommy Lasorda remains the embodiment of Dodger Blue.

Lasorda, who managed the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1976-1996, was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997 by the Veterans Committee following a career where he won 1,599 games, two World Series and two more National League pennants – all with the Dodgers.

In 1948, Lasorda made a record-making return to the baseball scene with the Schenectady Blue Jays as he authored a 25-strikeout performance. In 1949, the Dodgers drafted him from the Phillies, and he made a new home pitching for the Greenville Spinners and the Montreal Royals. During his time with the Royals, Lasorda led his team to four minor league championships.

Lasorda made his major league debut on Aug. 5, 1954 with the Dodgers. He played for the Dodgers for two seasons before being traded to the Kansas City Athletics, where he pitched for one season.

By 1978, he had led the Dodgers to two straight National League championships, and became the first NL manager to win pennants in their first two seasons. After losing to the Yankees in both the 1977 and 1978 World Series, the Dodgers went on to win the World Series over the Yankees in 1981.

 “Guys ask me, don't I get burned out?” Lasorda said. “How can you get burned out doing something you love?”

You gotta be a man to play baseball for a living...

...but you gotta have a lot of little boy in you, too

The US military played baseball against local pupils

American paratroopers held a special master-class in baseball for pupils of the local school. Sports and leisure event was organized nearby the building of Estonian Parliament in the Old part of the city.

American soldiers of the 173 Airborne Brigade, which is based in the Estonian territory, decided to organize a baseball game in Tallinn.

As the press-service of the US Embassy in Tallinn informed, military decided to share their skills. For this purpose they invited the pupils of local Jacob Vestholm School. Workshop was organized on the 20^th October in Khirve Park.  It`s located in two-minute’ walk from the Estonian House of Parliament.

“Our newly minted baseball stars did not have proper sport equipment. They were hitting baseballs with tennis rackets. Anyway, their enthusiasm was rather strong. And one can say for certain, they had a great time!”, - say in the US Embassy. 

http://baseballua.com/en/2016/10/21/the-us-military-played-baseball-against-local-pupils/

VI International Baseball Tournament “Cup of Brest-2016″

29 September – 2 October 2016 in the city of Brest was held VI International Baseball Tournament U-12  (2004 and younger) at the Brest City Executive Committee Chairman of the prizes’ Cup Brest 2016 “. The competition was attended by over 200 young baseball players from Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Pridnestrovie. 12 teams in a bitter struggle disputed title of the best and fight for the main trophy of the tournament – the Cup of Brest.

Competitors were welcomed by Head of Sports and Tourism of the Brest Oblast Executive Committee Nikolai Gluchenja,  Director of the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus in Brest region Elena Belokonenko, Section Head of Sports and Tourism of the Brest City Executive Committee Olesya Okrug, consul-adviser of the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in the city of Brest Ruslan Boychuk, honorary Consul of the Czech Republic in the city of Brest and Brest region Vladimir Mikulic, bronze medalist of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta for rowing, honored master of sports of the Republic of Belarus Yaroslava Pavlovich.

     Traditionally Brest land greeted visitors with bread and salt and Belarusian folk dance. And at Brest stadiums within four days it took 36 baseball games.

    The winner of the competition became the “North Star” (Moscow), silver medals as the Russian team “Tigers” (Balashikha, Moscow region), the bronze medal was taken away to Lithuania baseball team “Vilnius”.

    Final standings:

1 “North Star” (Moscow,  Russia)

2 “Tigers”  (Balashikha,  Russia)

3 “Vilnius”  (Vilnius,  Lithuania)

4 “Darnizkie Tigers”  (Kiev, Ukraine)

5 “Moscow Cardinals’ ( Moscow, Russia)

6 “Sharks” (Moscow,  Russia)

7 “Brest Zubrs”  (Brest, Belarus)

8 “Moskvich”  (Moscow, Russia)

9 “Bulldogs”  (Tiraspol,  Moldova)

10 “Bears”  (Balashikha,  Russia)

11 “Sugar storm”   (Skidel, Belarus)

12 «Minsk»  (Minsk, Belarus)

All participants of the competition were awarded with cups, medals, diplomas and sweet prizes.  For young athletes was organized by the cultural program: the team were able to visit the Brest Hero Fortress and visit visiting Santa Claus in the Bialowieza Forest.

http://baseballua.com/en/2016/10/06/vi-international-baseball-tournament-cup-of-brest-2016%E2%80%B3/

Rubric: Bulls-eye Statements by Famous Baseball Players

Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra  was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and coach who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) (1946–63, 1965) (all but the last for the New York Yankees), and an 18-time All-Star and 10-time World Series champion as a player. Berra had a career batting average of .285, while compiling 358 home runs and 1,430 runs batted in. He is one of only five players to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award three times. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest catchers in baseball history, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972.

Berra was a native of St. Louis, and signed with the Yankees in 1943 before serving in the U.S. Navy in World War II, making his major-league debut in 1946. He was a mainstay in the Yankees' lineup during the team's championship years in the 1940s and 1950s. Despite his short stature, Berra was a power hitter and strong defensive catcher. He caught Don Larsen's perfect game in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series, the only perfect game in MLB postseason history.

After playing 18 seasons with the Yankees, Berra retired following the 1963 season. He spent one season as their manager, then joined the New York Mets in 1965 as coach (and briefly a player again). Berra remained with the Mets for the next decade, serving the last four years as their manager. He returned to the Yankees in 1976, coaching them for eight seasons and managing for two, before coaching the Houston Astros. He was one of seven managers to lead both American and National League teams to the World Series. He appeared in 21 World Series as a player, coach, or manager and won 13 of them.

The Yankees retired his uniform number 8 in 1972; in an unusual twist, Bill Dickey also wore number 8, and both catchers had this number retired by the Yankees. The club honored him with a plaque in Monument Park in 1988. Berra was named to the MLB All-Century Team in a vote by fans in 1999. For the remainder of his life, he was closely involved with the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center which he opened on the campus of Montclair State University in 1998.

No game in the world is as tidy and dramatically neat as baseball, with cause and effect, crime and punishment, motive and result, so cleanly defined.

No matter how good you are, you're going to lose one-third of your games

No matter how bad you are you're going to win one-third of your games. It's the other third that makes the difference.