Fair Game?

by Elliott Harris

Once again, I must report
COVID-19 is like Bob Gibson
Pitching for the Cardinals in ‘68
But with better run support.

A weekend Cubs-Cards confrontation
Has been sidelined by the virus
For some reason, big-league baseball
Believes it somehow can avoid contagion.

There’s one category of which I know
That the Cards lead all of MLB
Truly noteworthy: consecutive games
Cancelled — they have 13 in a row.

That number could change any day now
While Commissioner Rob Manfred
And friends try to figure out
A way to get through this somehow.

It’s enough to make a Cards fan holler
While other teams play contests
In empty stadiums while they can,
As owners pursue TV’s postseason dollar.

I have this terrible sense of dread
That baseball will continue to play on
In its battle with the coronavirus
And will not halt until a player is dead.

Elliott Harris is a lifelong baseball fan old enough to have put 1950s baseball cards in the spokes of his bicycle. Among other things, he was the “Quicks Hits” columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times until 2011, when he was placed on the involuntarily retired list.

 

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