by Fred Lovato
Chants of “MVP”
echo ‘cross the universe
when Shohei’s at bat
Jim Brosnan
by Michael Ceraolo
I was a better pitcher and a better writer than Bouton,
but he had played for the Yankees and so received
all the superlatives from those who hadn’t heard of me
and even if they had, probably didn’t realize
I actually wrote my books myself
I had had a good year for the White Sox in ’63,
but when they wanted to put a clause in my contract
prohibiting me from writing without their consent,
I retired from baseball
Years later I testified for Curt Flood in his suit
and I was proud to have done so, though he lost
And that led me to my one regret in baseball:
that I, perhaps having an even better case,
hadn’t been the one to challenge baseball
The Boys of 3 Summers Ago
by James Finn Garner
When the ‘Stros went to Chavez Ravine,
L.A. homies got nasty and mean
Inflatable cans
Fistfights in the stands
Apropos, I s’pose, in 2018.
Rube Benton
by Michael Ceraolo
It’s better to be lucky than good
I wasn’t good:
I knew the Series had been fixed in ’19,
though I’ve always denied that I profited from that knowledge
(wink wink)
And though I fit the Commissioner’s definition
of someone who wasn’t strictly honest,
and though others had been banned for ‘guilty knowledge’,
I was lucky to be a pawn in the game
between the Commissioner and the league presidents,
so I was not banned, and was able to play
three more years in the majors
and then eight years in the minors after that
Playing Center Field
by Dan Campion
“Kids, don’t be too big to accept advice.” —Lewis Robert “Hack” Wilson
Hack Wilson said he played “hung over, yes,
but never drunk.” He said, “when I see three
balls, I just swing at the middle one.” You’d guess
he’d likely die of drink, in poverty,
and so he did, in Baltimore, far from
his glory days at Wrigley, where he’d hit
the big green scoreboard with a homer, some
poke for a guy just five foot six. His mitt
failed him in ’29, when two fly balls
played three balls with the sun, and Hack missed both
and blew the World Series, no animals
like Billy Goats involved. Though one is loath
to draw a moral, it’s just common sense
to wear shades near the center field fence.