Who Inspires You

While I was out walking on Monday
the word inspiration came to my mind.
So who over your life has inspired you.

In our early life it is either our mother

or father who inspire us. Outside of

them my favorite sport figure as a

youngster was Willie Mays the best

baseball player ever lived or at least

in my lifetime anyway.

Boy could Willie hit with power and

run like the wind. Speaking of wind

he likely would have had more home

runs then Babe Ruth because he lost

some while playing in Candlestick

Park in San Francisco.

What excited me most was watching

Willie play defense. Oh did he take

away hits with his basket catch. The

only player who did it.  Often Willie

would run after balls by turning around

and catch the ball. He didn't always 

turn back around again either. Willie

knew where  the ball was at all time.

Willie inspired me to be the best I

could be. As a youngster I wasn't

a very good reader, however, I 

read a book about my hero Willie

Mays. The best part were the photos

in the book. The book talked about

Willie being a black man and how

he came from a very poor family

in the south. What a guy in my

book.

Living in the Seattle  area I was fortunate

to see Ken Griffey Jr. play for the Mariners.

He came the closest to being like Willie.

Junior as he was called did many of the

same things as Willie except not the basket

catch.

Enjoying other sports there were players

that I admired and inspired me as well.

I am sure you can look back at those who

inspired you too.