My Complicated Relationship with Mike Zunino , by Bayram Cigerli

My Complicated Relationship with Mike Zunino , by Bayram Cigerli 

My Complicated Relationship with Mike Zunino

Several years ago our Seattle Mariners took a catcher from the University of Florida (his choice of school could have been a clue) with the #3 pick in the draft.  This catcher was going to be special; he could command a pitching staff and had RAW

Of the Seattle Mariners Part - 3 , Baseball has helped fill that void. by Bayram Cigerli

Of the Seattle Mariners  Part - 3 , Baseball has helped fill that void.  by Bayram Cigerli 

Baseball has helped fill that void.  I love baseball.  I don’t think there is a more appropriate way to put it than that; I LOVE BASEBALL.  Everything about it: 10 to 9 games, 1 to nothing pitcher’s duels, how teams are put together, what the stats say about players, nostalgia, and looking ahead.  It’s a game I spent years of my life trying to

What factors prompted the large-scale migration of English men and women to America?

The main factors that prompted the massive English migration to America were economical and religious factors. English peasants looked for economic security, while the puritans tried to escape religious persecution. The rapid population growth, the economic hardship culminating with the Price Revolution, and contrasting the rich new lands with plenty of gold and silver, have determined many English men and women to become settlers in the New World. The Price Revolution consisted of a huge inflation generated by the infusion of capital from the massive influx of gold and silver brought from America. And since economics has consequences on politics, the loss of wealth of the upper class determined the weakening of its influence over their house in the Parliament – the House of Lords, while the House of Commons offered a voice to rich commoners and property-owner yeomen. The Price Revolution affected also the peasants, who were kicked out by owners and dispossessed, being forced to live in poverty. On another hand, the Puritans came to America seeking religious freedom and land. They were anti-catholic and believed the English Church needed to be reformed. Many of them migrated and established churches based on their radical beliefs. The Puritans’ migration started in 1630 with a group of 900 people. Harsh weather was yet another migration cause. England’s weather cooled down around 1600, determining crops loss and prices increase. The well-known ship ‘Mayflower’ has played a significant role in the history of the English migration to America. In 1620 Mayflower was the ship that sailed from England to the rich, resourceful New England with pilgrims in search of a new and better life.

Source: Henretta, James A. and David Brody. America: A Concise History, Volume I: To 1877. 4th ed., Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2010, 26-33

How Britain Came to Rule The Waves During 1588 War with Spain

How Britain Came to Rule The Waves During 1588 War with Spain
The Spanish lost for a simple reason: They were outgunned. The English fleet had one third more fire power, and the English were better able to utilize what they had because they had better trained crews and more efficient gun carriages.

Spanish crews did not even stay at their guns after discharging an initial blast; because of their old fashioned ideas about naval warfare, they were topside to rake the enemy docks with small arms fore, and serve in boarding parties.

The English gunners, by contrast, continued firing round after round. They were said to be there or four times more proficient in firing rate and accuracy.

England’s superiority in armaments was symptomatic of the more fundamental underlying disparity stemming from its more effective naval administration.

But even though the Navy and Ordnance Boards provided the English fleet with superior weapon and ships, its commanders still had to figure out how to make the best use of them. This took time.

The early engagements produced scant result because the effective range of English artillery was much shorter than their gunners realized.

Historian wrote that, “At ranges of three to seven hundreds yards a sixteenth century culverin (firing eighteen pound balls) or demi-culverin (firing nine pounds balls) might fail together to pierce the thick hull of a galleon or stout great-ship, and when it did would only make a small hole quickly caulked by an alert crew.”

It seems likely that Drake first realized the English guns ineffectiveness when he captured the Nuestro Senora del Rosario on August 1 and saw how little she had suffered.

The first close in attack on a Spanish ship took place two days later when an English vessel pounded the Gran Grifon from point blank range.

It is no coincidence that the ship in question was probably Drake’s revenge. This experienced showed the English commanders how to fight the Spanish.

They decided to conserve English shot until they could get close enough to make it count – “to go within musket shot of the enemy before they should discharge any one piece of ordnance.” That opportunity finally arrived in August 9 after the fireships had broken the Armada’s formidable array.

Thus a crucial element of English success was their commanders, ability to learn on the fly, make adjustments and attempt new tactics. The Spanish paid a heavy price for their lack of equal flexibility.
How Britain Came to Rule the Waves during 1588 War with Spain

The English Revolutions

The English Revolutions
In June 1647 soldiers kidnapped the king and demanded that parliament pay their arrears, protect them from legal retribution, and recognize their service to the nation.

Those in Parliament who opposed the army’s intervention were impeached and when London Presbyterians rose up against the army’s show of force, troop move in town occupy the city.

The civil war, which had come so close to resolution in 1647, had now become a military revolution.

Religious and political radicals flocked to the army and encouraged the soldier to support their programs and to resist disbandment.

New fighting broke out in 1648 as King Charles encouraged his supporters to resume war.

But forces under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax (1612 – 71) and Oliver Crompton (1599 – 1658) easily crushed the royalist uprisings in England and Scotland.

The army now demanded that Charles 1 be brought to justice for his treacherous conduct both before and during the war.

When the majority in the Parliament refused, still hoping against hope to reach an accommodation with the king, the soldiers again acted decisively.

In December 1648 army regiments were sent to London to purge the two houses of Parliament of those who opposed the army’s demands.

The remaining members, contemptuously called the Rump Parliament, voted to bring the king to trial for his crimes against the liberty of his subjects.

On 30 January 1649, Charles 1 was executed and England was declared to be Commonwealth.

The monarchy and the House of Lords were abolished and the nation was to be governed by what was left of the membership of the House of Commons.
The English Revolutions