by Fred Lovato
Freeman in spotlight
10th inning walk-off grand slam
Hollywood ending
Base Ball
by Walt Whitman
Baseball is the hurrah game of the republic!
That’s beautiful: the hurrah game!
well—it’s our game:
that’s the chief fact in connection with it:
America’s game:
has the snap, go, fling, of the American atmosphere
belongs as much to our institutions,
fits into them as significantly,
as our constitutions, laws:
is just as important
in the sum total of our historic life.
Ex-Cubs Doom Yankees
by James Finn Garner
As savvy statheads will avow,
To one certainty we all must bow:
No team can pocket World Series bank
With 3 or more ex-Cubs in its ranks.
It’s analytics, not cant or mystery,
Proven throughout baseball history.
The prudent Dodgers, reviewing facts,
In August Jason Heyward axed.
Making a close Series even tighter,
The Yankees will field Mark Leiter,
Rizzo, Stroman and LeMahieu–
A daring display of bad juju.
With four ex-Cubbies on their squad,
Gotham thumbs its nose at the baseball gods.
Such hubris likely will not stand.
The crown will return to La-La Land.
For more on this baseball rule, which has proven correct in 1979 and 1981, check out this article by the writer who coined the phrase, Ron Berler.
Fernando Valenzuela, R.I.P.
by Dr. Rajesh C. Oza
Vin on El Toro:
“If you have a sombrero,
Throw it to the sky!”
Broadcast by Vin Scully on Fernando Valenzuela’s no-hitter, June 29, 1990
Undead Ball Era
When Karloff stepped up to the plate
The fear in the grandstand was great
His features alone
Turned Keaton to stone
As spectators grabbed torches and rakes.
Boris Karloff and catcher Buster Keaton have fun at a Hollywood charity game in 1940.