For the Love of the Game Essay

The poem, â€Å"Black Hair by Gary Soto describes a boy who had and probably still has a love and passion for baseball. Many images throughout this poem support this fact. For example, â€Å"In the bleachers I was brilliant with my body, waving players in and stomping my feet,† â€Å"His crouch the one I assumed before an alter of worn baseball cards in my room,† and â€Å"Â…in my mind I rounded the bases with him, my face flared, my hair lifting/Beautifully,† show how much he loves the game of baseball by putting himself, through imagination, into the game as if he was a player or coach himself. The first image, â€Å"In the bleachers I was brilliant with my body, waving players in and stomping my feet† shows how the boy tries to put himself right there in the game with the players. It makes me believe he is a true fan who really gets into the game. He was probably one of those annoying fans who jump up right in front of you just as someone is running for home plate and you miss it because they block your view through all their excitement. During those moments he probably forgets about everyone around him and feels at that moment he is the only one there. The second image, â€Å"His crouch the one I assumed before an alter of worn baseball cards in my room† to me shows he has been a collector for a while. Some of his baseball cards could have also been his Father’s that may have been handed down to him, which in that case are also old and worn. It makes me think he frequently thumbs through them. I am imagining them to be kept in an old shoebox not really in any type of order. After a game he probably gets them out and pulls out the best players from that game. The third image, â€Å"Â…in my mind I rounded the bases with him, my face flared, my hair lifting/Beautifully† again as in the first image shows me how he really puts himself in the game. He feels like a team player and maybe dreams of one day being a professional himself like Hector Moreno. The way he describes himself by the face flaring and hair lifting makes me believe he can see himself in slow motion heading for home plate and everyone watching and cheering him on as he approaches each base. Each image I have described supports my theory about his love of baseball and his dream of one day being a professional player himself. I think with the loss of his Father, baseball has taken up a big part of his life to maybe fill the void of his loss. He has definitely picked Hector out as a big role model for him and wants to one day be as successful as Hector. He wants to big an important person that people will look up to.