Sports-+p8

Andrew

In the beginning of the decade major league baseball and college football were popular sports. Near the end of the decade the NFL was what people enjoyed in the fall, and NBA was good for the winter. Big sports players were showing their patriotism and being good role models by serving in the military.

The greatest baseball team at the time was probably the New York Yankees. They were led by Casey Stengle, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, and most notably the great Mickey Mantle. They were the World Series Champions in 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, and 1956. The Yankees had won the World Series in 1949 also, so they had won the World Series a record five straight times.

Jackie Robinson was an African American baseball player who played his first game in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Jackie Robinson was really good and had stopped the color barrier which lasted for more than 60 years. It also had helped with the blacks freedom. He had won six pennates in his ten years playing. He was the national league MVP in 1949. Jackie could hit, run, bunt, and steal. After playing for the Dodgers for ten years he had been traded to the New York Giants. He had retired a month later at age 37. His body had quit on him early and he got diabetes and had heart disease he almost went blind. And at age 53 he died of a heart attack.

In 1956 the World Series was tied with each team tied, between the Dodgers and the Yankees. The Yankees were not sure if they wanted to put in there pitcher Don Larsen to start game five of the world series. Because he was not doing so great. But when they started him they figured out they were wrong. He had pitched the whole game and let no hits and no base runners and the Yankees won two to zero. Mickey mantle was a great player. In 1951 he was playing shortstop,and was batting .383 and had 26 home runs. But on April 17 1953 Mickey hit a home run. It was a record breaking 565 feet. He was a great player in the MLB. =Citation= Hoppel, Joe //Baseball 100 Years of the Modern Era: 1901-2000// St. Louis, MO; The Sporting News Copyright 2001 http://espn/jackierobinson.com