by Dizzy Dean
Difference between
the old ballplayer
and
the new ballplayer
is
the jersey.
The old ballplayer
cared about
the name on the front.
The new ballplayer
cares about
the name on the back.
On Every Channel
by Fred Lovato
Shohei and Babe Ruth
comparisons never end
daily TV fare
Fred Lovato is Bardball’s Okinawa correspondent.
GOAT of the Booth
by Bill Cushing
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.
Metsamorphosis
by Jim Siergey
“Can’t anyone here play this game?”
Casey asked his forces
Then saw that his team, the Mets
Had become the Metsamorphosis
Six legs are certainly faster
Than the measly two
Six hands perform much better
In keeping balls from getting through
But gripping bats and swinging
Proved to be quite hairy
As no bug could hit no better
Than big ol’ Marv Throneberry.
Power of the Press
by Frank Howard
The distance of
every tape-measure
home run
depends
upon your
press agent.
RIP to the Capitol Punisher.
