Reviving the Art of Baseball Doggerel
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
In statement to press
Shohei states he never bets
Japan believes him
Who’d’ve bet on this: That on the Second of August
in the Monkeypox year, instead of young Juan Soto,
the rising star wearing the mantle of Mickey,
we’d end the day focused on a 94-year-old
who always looked at home in a suit and tie
by the name of Scully? Vin made sports poetry;
his voice, a singularity of euphonic tones; his iconic prose
turned handheld Made-in-Japan radios into conduits
of prolific knowledge. He was able to share stories
that made men mythic—from Hammerin’ Hank Aaron
breaking the Babe’s record, his 715th hit to left, out of the park,
even football’s “Catch” from “Joe Cool” to Dwight Clark,
and he did it with wit, the way Shakespeare viewed it.
Now the Dodgers embark on the next stage of place;
they’ve lost their last connection to Brooklyn.
Everywhere, fans wept, feeling no disgrace.
A former New Yorker, Bill Cushing lives and writes in Los Angeles as a Dodger fan (by order of his wife!). His latest collection, Just a Little Cage of Bone (Southern Arizona Press), contains this and other sports-related poems.
In passing, they have words
that ruffle feathers.
Yogi, Whitey, and Mickey don’t like
Tennessee’s looks,
his Chesterfield smoldering in a holder,
the carnation in his lapel.
Tennessee’s no fan of home plate,
the outfield,
the mound Whitey’s cleats kick dirt from
before the curve leaves his hand.
Will it be low and side,
a strike?
The three Yankees have been on the air.
Jack Parr
asked good questions.
Tennessee’s about to go on,
but here’s this scuffle
with players
who know nothing of his Blanche,
the always
of her famous line
about kindness. Go to blazes, he says.
They walk away, thinking him good
with words, not worth their time.
Peter Mladinic’s most recent book of poems, Voices from the Past, is available from Better Than Starbucks Publications. An animal rights advocate, he lives in Hobbs, New Mexico.
Baltimore Orioles
July: Orioles
Will refuse to migrate south,
Seeking fall colors.
Boston Red Sox
Yes, every franchise
Is an Evil Empire now.
Game is in its Fall.
New York Yankees
Can the potential
Of overpowering bats
Overpower their age?
Tampa Bay Rays
Lesson of the old:
It takes a genius chef to
Make soup out of straw.
Toronto Blue Jays
An exhaustive search!
Team’s new radio guy is
The TV guy’s son.