Influence

When growing up as a kid, there were many people that have influenced me in my life. I've always looked up to baseball stars and many pro athletes but there is one person in particular that caught my eye. This guy is a four time all-American and is playing major league baseball right now. He goes by the name of Dennis Bigley. He is considered to be one of the top prospects in major league baseball right now and he is unfortunately my eldest brother.

My whole life has been involved around baseball. My dad played major league baseball with the Pittsburgh Pirates and I have had many other relatives that have played some pro sport. When I first started playing baseball, my brother had already won a world series and was ranked nationally in the world. All I could think of was, "how can I be like my brother?" I have two other sisters and another brother who is two years older than me and we are the most competitive family that I have seen. But every time we would go in the front yard and play a game of wiffle ball, all I could look at was my brother Dennis. I wanted to swing like him, catch like him, and even throw like him.

As we were getting older, my brother Dennis and I were fading into our own worlds. He had just finished high school and was headed off to college. On the other hand, I was just starting high school and looking forward to making the varsity baseball team. He was never around when he went to high school because he was always with his friends and never found time to hang out with his little brother. When proceeding through this process without seeing my brother and not talking to him very often, I lost interest in what he was doing and how I looked up to him. Don't get me wrong, I still thought he was the greatest player in the world and would never change my thought about being just like him, but since he never showed interest in helping me, it was like