Dellin Betances living the dream of playing for Yankees

Before Dellin Betances was a star reliever for the New York Yankees, he was a superb pitcher while at Grand Street Campus High School in Brooklyn, just over 11 miles away from Yankee Stadium. Like many New Yorkers, Betances grew up wanting to play for the Yankees; however, Betances was one of the few to realize his dream.

Dellin Betances / Topps

As a high school freshman, Betances was already throwing a fastball in the mid 80s, showing professional potential in just his first year. He was also on his high school’s basketball team, but he stopped playing after an elbow to the mouth knocked out a few of his teeth. After that incident, Betances focused his attention towards baseball.

During his high school career, he was selected to play in the prestigious Aflac All-American High School Baseball Classic in the summer before his senior year. By then, Betances had grown to 6’8" and touched 97 MPH on his fastball, drawing the attention of many major league scouts. He was initially projected to be drafted in the first round, but some teams were worried about his consistency and lack of experience.

As a result of these concerns, Betances fell to the eighth round, where he was selected by the Yankees. Betances struggled with his control for a while in the minor leagues, but made his way to the majors in 2011. Betances was selected to the All-Star game twice in his career, and holds the record for most strikeouts in a single season by a Yankee reliever with 135.

Betances’ career is very young, but he is on the path for greatness. With all of the accomplishments that he earned, none may compare to living the dream of playing for his favorite childhood team.

Robinson strives for equality

Jackie Robinson /  Abayomi Azikiwi-Flickr

Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play in Major League Baseball. Robinson began playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 and with his accomplishments he was able to influence many other people. 

Robinson was the only African American playing in the major leagues at the time, therefore he had to prove that he was as good as any other player on the league. Even though, many people did not want him to play and did not support him because of his skin color, he strived to make good plays and help the Dodgers win. As he continued to play, he showed people that he made a lot of contributions to the team and soon his teammates began to accept him as a player. This was the first time that people in baseball that people began to view African Americans in a different way and saw that they had the potential of doing great things.

After Robinson other African Americans were inspired to fight for their rights because they saw that they had a chance to being accepted. People like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr were inspired to protest during the Civil Rights Movement in order to make everyone in society equal. They wanted to break the barrier for people of color in society like Robinson did in baseball.

Robinson’s baseball career encouraged many people to fight for civil rights and they were able to gain new opportunities. His accomplishments in baseball allowed other colored people to play in the major leagues. His charisma and his willingness to fight for the rights of colored men inspired other people to continue to strive for equality in order to make society a place in which white men and black men came together as one.