Stealing Signs, 1951

by Michael Ceraolo

Herman Franks

We stole signs from the Germans and the Japanese,
and it wasn’t wrong for us to do so
While baseball isn’t life or death,
winning instead of losing is part of our way of life,
so it wasn’t wrong to steal signs in ’51
When Leo suggested it,
and Hank Schenz volunteered his telescope,
I was happy to be the spy relaying the signs
And if that could always assure victory,
we would have won a pennant or two
doing it while I was managing San Francisco,
instead of finishing second four years in a row

Bobby Thomson

Because of the way I was raised,
I struggled for years to justify what we were doing
I finally realized that,
even if you knew what pitch was coming,
you still had to hit it squarely,
and I deserved credit for doing so

Ralph Branca

I was among those taunting the Giants
earlier in the season, so some might say
I got a deserved comeuppance
in giving up the homer to Bobby;
I don’t think so, because of the spy
Bobby got more credit than he deserved
and I got more blame that I deserved
We’ll be linked as long as baseball is played,
and I’m at peace with my role in the drama

 

Spend It and They Will Come

By James Finn Garner

If rooting for the Yankees
Was like rooting for GM
Back when rabbit ears on TVs were a must

Then rooting for the Dodgers
And their pricey diamond gems
Prob’ly feels like rooting for Disney Plus.

 

MLB All-Oil-Painter Team

by Dan Campion

1B   Lew Whistler
2B   Joe Sargent
SS   Jack Albright
3B   Brandon Wood

LF  Norris Hopper
CF  Babe Twombly
RF  Bill Van Dyke

C    Butch Benton

LHP   Andrew Albers, Eddie Bacon, Denis Boucher
RHP   Brooks Lawrence, Mariano Rivera, Carlín Velázquez

MGR   Ted Turner

 

Joseph Steele, Edward Brown, et al.

by Michael Ceraolo

We have slipped from history,
mostly because we were known only to a few at the time
We were the front men or the agents of dummy corporations
who kept the price down when buying up the land
necessary for Shibe, Ebbets, etc.
to build the ballparks that bore their names,
the edifices that became legendary
This is our footnote