Tinker to Evers to Chance

by Peter Gordon

This second-most-famous baseball poem, by FPA,
Features these three turning double plays

When the game and league were young
“Take Me Out to the Ballgame” unsung

Their wins record in ’06 remains unbroken
Just like their great deeds remain unspoken

On the diamond their choreography
Like Astaire, Rogers and Gene Kelly

You may not know they hated each other
Quarreled worse than spurned lovers

Evers, the Crab, the agitator
Chance, Peerless Leader, peace maker

Tinker’s steady play kept it together
One of the greatest when he flashed leather

They led the Cubs to World Series wins
Not knowing none would come again

Left during the teens without backward waves
Evers 1914 MVP for the Miracle Braves

Chance led the Yankees before they were great
Tinker made a fortune in real estate

Some say they don’t belong in the Hall
I say count their wins: over 1,000 in all.

 

Peter M. Gordon recently published his second poetry book, Let’s Play Two: Poems About Baseball, available on amazon.com. His poems have appeared in Slipstream, 34th Parallel, The Journal of Florida Literature, and several other magazines, anthologies and websites. He currently teaches in Full Sail University’s Film MFA program.

One Reply to “Tinker to Evers to Chance”

  1. Letter to editorPost-Gazette.com

    During the 4th inning of Tuesdays Pirates-Giants game, with the Giants leading 2-0 and the bag full of Bucs, as Alvarez stepped to the plate, the Giants announcer stated, “You couldn’t find three faster runners on base than these three Pirates outfielders” By the end of the at bat, a wild pitch and bases clearing double gave the Bucs the lead, eventually the game. I wrote a poem about it:

    Baseball’s Sad Lexicon: 2015

    The Village Elliott: 6/15

    These are the saddest of possible words:
    Polanco, McCutchen, Marte.
    Trio of Buccaneers fleeter than birds,
    Polanco, McCutchen, Marte.
    Recklessly pricking Jints’ gonfalon bubble,
    Clearing the bases on wild pitch and double-
    Words that are weighty with nothing but trouble:
    Polanco, McCutchen, Marte.

    Elliott Kolker
    Stinson Beach, Ca

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