With the news this week of R.E.M’s final retirement, we present a song from The Baseball Project, a labor of love from R.E.M. member Peter Buck and session man Steve Wynn:
For more on The Baseball Project, visit their website.
Rainy Night
By Stuart Shea
Rain pours down
drenching everything.
The season has ten days left.
Why does the fall always try us?
Why must you need to be brave?
If I stay still I will not wake you.
If only the rain would stop,
my thoughts would not try to drown it out
and we could both sleep.
Dream of baseball. Can I?
The Giants and Cardinals are making a late run.
They’re fighting for their lives…
their playoff lives.
“Fighting for their lives.”
Where we’re living,
That sounds so stupid now,
so totally stupid.
Movie Review: “Sugar”
by Doug Fahrendorff
Miguel “Sugar” Santos
Signs a pro baseball contract
Every Dominican boy’s dream
First step to “The Show”
In a small Iowa town
Battling differences
In culture and language
Miguel’s dreams play out
Is baseball
The only road to success
Divergent paths appear
A future reconsidered
Save # 602 For Mariano Rivera
by Stephen Jones
All about his team
The Sandman keeps stats second
He pitches to win
Fans may make raucous noise
But on the mound he’s quiet grace
Humble with history
Genuine in his humility
His smile tells it all as he tips his hat
Sharing the moment with thousands
Mariano Rivera
On the Lack of Any Exciting Division Races
by James Finn Garner
I’ll prob’ly buy some bags of mulch
And mix them in the garden.
Kids’ homework sure could use my touch.
College football’s starting.
The DVDs of “Breaking Bad”,
They won’t watch themselves.
Tomatoes are almost set to can.
The basement needs more shelves.
Cold mornings tell us now it’s fall
But before the snows arrive,
I long for the days when baseball
Lasted six months, not just five.