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All You Can Be, Learning and Growing Through Sports

This book is pretty much an attempt at a feel-good, you-can-do-it book.  Basically an account of Kerry Wood’s life, growing up in Texas and playing sports, but especially loving baseball.  Nothing in his life was too remarkable.  However, it is unusual for a 17-year-old to be a first round pick in MLB and then playing in the majors after just one game in the minors.  He was successful at a very early age.  But after that burst of success, there was a dark period in which he was injured.  I wish there would have been more detail about this, because I believe there is a link to pitching as much as he did at a young age and becoming injured.  I wonder if he ever regretted the fact that he didn’t go to college and if he would recommend that kids put education first.  I know that many kids take his message of hard work to heart and practice, practice, practice.  But, really, very few people are successful and make it into professional sports.  That same message should apply to school and education, which will open more doors for them.  Wood’s life seems rather one-dimensional–it’s all baseball.  The art is by school students grades four through eight.