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“Polish Baseball Power”

by Sig Sakowicz

Sig Sakowicz (1924-2004) was a legendary Chicago TV and radio personality who wore his own Polish heritage on his sleeve. He hosted a show on WGN from 1954 to 1971 and then became a TV celebrity in Las Vegas. This piece – in which Sig recounted every Polish-American to don a baseball uniform, up to the point of this record (1970) – gained such fame that in 1980 the Baseball Hall of Fame requested a copy to be displayed in Cooperstown. It was written by Al Trace and produced by Gordon Wagner for the Mishawaka, IN-based Mishawaka label.

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Baseball Is

by Ernie Harwell

Baseball
is the president tossing out the first ball of the season
and a scrubby schoolboy playing catch with his dad on a Mississippi farm.
A tall, thin old man waving a scorecard from the corner of his dugout.
That’s baseball.

Thanks to the always fascinating Twitter account of Jim Koenigsberger (@jimfrombaseball).

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Ernest Lawrence Thayer

by Michael Ceraolo

Because I signed the work “Phin”,
as I did all my newspaper verse,
over the years it allowed others
to claim credit for the poem,
though I believe I finally succeeded
in establishing my authorship
Later generations
might describe me as a one-hit wonder
as a way to denigrate the work,
but the excellence of the poem
can withstand any criticism