This essay was submitted to us by Jake's mother, Amy, she wanted to let everyone at the Baseball Factory know the impact that we were making on the lives of the players that came through the program not only from a baseball perspective but also on a personal perspective. Jake submitted this Essay for one of his college applications. Essay Questions: Where are you from? It was always the first question that everyone asked: Where are you from? Whether I was in Vero Beach, Tucson, Omaha or on Cape Cod, wherever I went for a baseball tournament with the Baseball Factory it was the question that was always sure to break the ice among all of us strangers: Where are you from? We were a diverse group and had come from all corners of the country and beyond with one purpose: we were there to play baseball. At first it seemed as though baseball was the only thing we had in common. Our cultural, social, religious and ethnic differences seemed to divide us more than baseball united us. The kids from Puerto Rico and Miami and the kids whose families were originally from Mexico spoke in Spanish with each other. There were kids whose fathers were doctors, others whose fathers were farm workers. One kid spent his summer vacation mending fences on his family’s cattle ranch in Idaho. Another lived in a high rise in the middle of New York City. Several kids had lost their homes in Hurricane Katrina. One kid from Texas went to a high school with five thousand kids. Another kid lived in a town of six hundred people. There were jokesters, jugglers, break-dancers and book-worms. There were always one or two kids whose brother or cousin was living our dream: they were playing Major League Baseball. We were white, African-American, Hispanic, Asian, Jewish and Mormon. We all had different regional accents, dialects and tastes. The Southern kids could not stop talking about biscuits, gravy and grits. The New England kids said that something was “wicked good.” The kids from out west said it was “hellah good.” Everyone could always tell I was from Boston and of course they would ask me where I had “pahked my cah” and if I liked “burgas.” They would joke about how there was probably still snow on the field during baseball season and ask if I ever had to shovel the base paths. They all had a favorite Red Sox player and they couldn’t believe that I was actually a Yankees fan. Yet, despite our differences, something special always happened at those tournaments. After being randomly placed on a roster, we strangers, from so many different life experiences would, over the next few days, become a team that would work together for a common purpose. We had the chance to understand each other on and off the field in ways we would not have had otherwise. In no time at all it seemed that we had been playing together and had known each other for years. What I learned from playing with them on the baseball field and getting to know them off the field is that there is more that unites people than divides them. What I also realized was that those tournaments were never only about baseball. What those tournaments did for me, and probably for many of the others, even more than providing an opportunity to improve my offensive and defensive skills and to test myself against some of the best competition in the country, was to make me aware of how I was thinking and behaving, what my responsibilities were to a team and teammates. Those tournaments provided me with life skills, with situations that tested my preparation, discipline, adaptability, my sense of fair play and cooperation, my willingness to sacrifice. They allowed me to find the unique way that I could contribute to the team. I realized that everyone’s individual talent, playing style and instincts are what come together to make a team a dynamic whole. I think of Babe Ruth’s quote: “The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world but if they don’t play together the club won’t be worth a dime.” I’ve often heard people say that “baseball is life” and having now played this great game for ten years I have to agree that baseball really is a metaphor for life. So much of what one learns on the field are the lessons that can be applied to our life, to the company we will some day work for, the community where we will live, the organizations which we will join. My high school has many initiatives across the curriculum to promote global awareness, including trips abroad, cultural concerts, lectures and sponsorships of overseas programs, initiatives that encourage us to think and go beyond what is familiar, our own suburban high school experience. I would not have thought that playing summer baseball around the United States could also be a part of this global awareness, but it is. By playing and living with kids from all over I have gained a better understanding of the diverse world we live in. The baseball team – especially professional baseball – is really a microcosm of the global village in which my generation is growing up. Jake McGuiggan Baseball Factory Fan