"I Dreamed a Dream"

One of the things I especially like about baseball is the dreams part of it. Kids growing up dreaming of playing ball, baseball or softball. It is true is for all sports, but sometimes it seems particularly true with baseball. And everybody’s dream can be different. Sometimes it is in Little League. Other times it is high school or college or maybe even the minor leagues. For the luckiest few it is the majors, sometimes a Hall of Fame career, other times a single game.

There are stories like this every year. This year’s story for the Cubs (as I mentioned here) is Koyie Hill. In the fall of 2007 he had a horrific accident involving his throwing hand and a table saw. But he came back, played in Iowa last year, and made team in spring training.

There was another story back in 2006. On Tuesday, August 15, 2006, the Cubs played an 18-inning night game in Houston, which they won. But in the process they used every player on their roster, all 25 of them. (It appears to be the only time in major league history, at least since they went to 25-man rosters, that a team used every single one of its players.) The problem, of course, was that they had another game the next afternoon, and they did not have any pitchers left. But the Iowa Cubs, the Cubs’ top farm team, was playing in Round Rock, Texas, about 165 miles from Houston. So, at 6:00 a.m. the trainer for the Iowa Cubs was knocking on Ryan O’Malley’s door. Ryan had been in the Cubs’ organization for almost five years, but he had never made the big leagues. But Wednesday was his day to pitch, and so, instead of pitching for the Iowa Cubs in Round Rock, Texas, he pitched for the Chicago Cubs in Houston, Texas. He threw eight innings of shutout ball, Michael Barrett hit a home run in the sixth, and Bobby Howrey closed out the Astros in the ninth. Ryan O’Malley won a 1 to 0 shutout in his major league debut. Unfortunately, he hurt his arm a little in his next start, and he did never get back to the Cubs. But he did have that one moment. It isn’t as much as he wanted, but when he is older hopefully he will see it as awfully good.

Which brings me to another story, that of Susan Boyle. Some of you may have already heard of her (the story has been out for ten days), but I only read about it yesterday.

Susan Boyle is 47 years old. She lives in England and is unemployed. For a long time, she cared for her mother, who died in 2007 at the age of 91. Susan always wanted to be a professional singer, so after her mother died, Susan auditioned for a show called "Britain’s Got Talent". The name of the show, plus the fact that Simon Cowell is one of the judges (I mention that for "American Idol" fans), gives you some idea of what the show is about.

In any case, please click on this link for the You Tube video of Susan’s appearance on "Britain’s Got Talent." It’s seven minutes, but watch it. You will be glad you did.

-------------
Note: For more information on what has happened since Susan’s appearance, see here.