“Let’s Play Two!”

By Dr. Rajesh C. Oza

Ernie Banks wanted
To play a doubleheader
Every day, because

He loved baseball so
Much that one was not enough
To satisfy him.

Wilbur Wood lost two
Games of a doubleheader.
He started both games,

Throwing his trademark
Knuckleball ball to twenty-four
Wins, twenty losses.

Billy Williams and
Ron Santo played every game
In 1965.

Perhaps a couple
Players will play all the games
In 2024.

Ferguson Jenkins
Threw 29 complete games
In 1974.

MLB may not
Have 29 complete games
In 2024.

So why does baseball
Today give hitters days off
And pitchers pitch counts?

Is Pampers part of
How managers lead their teams?
Or a diaper brand?

Dr. Oza’s novel Double Play sits at the intersection of Ernie Banks’ Cubs, the Negro Leagues, riding the El, wrongful convictions, immigration and friendship. It will be published in October 2024 by Chicago’s Third World Press.

 

MLB All-Bro Team

1B   Gentleman Jim Hickman
2B   Guy Ousley
SS   Guy Sularz
3B   Dude Esterbrook

LF   Hi Ladd
CF   Cool Papa Bell
RF   Guy Curtright

C    Chappy Lane

LHP   Guy Hoffman, Rex Brothers
RHP   Bob Feller, Robert Person, Bob Friend, Pete Ladd

MGR   Manny Acta

Vernon “Lefty” Gomez

by Michael Ceraolo

Unlike Yogi later, I did say everything I said
And while a couple of the details related
might not have been entirely accurate, the substance was
I don’t mind being remembered as a storyteller,
but I sometimes wonder if that was why
the writers never elected me to the Hall of Fame:
because I was more entertaining than they were,
they dismissed how great a pitcher I was