If You Build it They Will Come. . .

Hi, my name is Jesse and I guess I've lived my life marching to the tune of a different drummer. . . living life on my own terms has led to a few triumphs and quite a few heartaches.

Ultimately I feel proud about where I am in my life and how I spend my days.

This is my story.

As a kid, I lived, breathed, ate, and slept baseball.

I've seen A Field of Dreams, The Natural, A League of Their Own, Major League, and Eight Men Out a million and a half times.

I played baseball through the football and basketball seasons (and yes, finding a baseball in the snow is a pain. . . my fingers are still numb!) Neighborhood kids started not wanting to play with me because they knew I only wanted to play baseball.

I was obsessed by the game: I collected and organized the entire 1987, 1988, and 1989 baseball card collections by number twice!

I am also the not-so-proud owner of 136 DIFFERENT Mark McGwire rookie cards.

As a kid, I had a love affair with the game of baseball: the sounds, the rules, the players, and the history.

Between the ages of 9 and 17 there was no bigger dream for me than playing shortstop for the Oakland A's and fielding a grounder and throwing to first base, played by my hero Mark McGwire.

My dream kept me up nights - impatiently waiting and dreaming for the day I would finally play professionally.

But for me, like millions of other kids, big dreams die hard --especially when your goal in life is to play professional sports.

I was simply not quite good enough to play professional ball. . . I had the heart, but not the talent.

You're probably asking yourself right now what does this have to do with the 1920's, this web site, or baseball in general?

With my dream of playing professional baseball gone, as a young adult I had a hard time pursuing a career that fit "who I was."

As I bounced from one job to another, I never felt like I was living up to my potential.

"If you build it they will come. . ."

The 1920's were the golden age of baseball: players like Babe "The Sultan of Swat" Ruth and Lou "The Ironhorse" Gehrig formed the nucleus of the great New York Yankees' "Murderers Row" team.

That 1927 Yankees team was probably the best team ever assembled, Babe Ruth the finest player ever to slurp beer in the dugout, and Gehrig the classiest and most reliable player ever to lace up cleats.

Given the time period, it's no wonder the New York team got their "Murderers Row" nickname thanks in large part to America's reputation as a hub for organized crime and bootlegging.

Ruth hit an unheard of 60 home runs that year and set America's love for baseball and New York on fire. "The Bambino" was the unofficial mayor of New York's Broadway district.

It's also no coincidence all of this came after the Black Sox Scandal of 1919, and the punishments that banned eight men and one of baseball's greats, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, from the game forever.