by Jim Siergey
Summer Wind, Yankees Style
by HoraceClarke66
The summer wind was blowin’ out
At least half the year.
When Soto hit and Judge ran wild,
And we dreamed of golden rings.
Two monsters and the summer wind.
Like painted kites
Those long-ball nights
They went flyin’ by.
The world was new
’Neath a pinstriped blue
Umbrella sky.
Then worse than
Poor Gleyber ran
Cashman sent it askew.
We lost it with the summer wind.
The autumn wind,
The winter wind
Will come and go.
As Giants fall,
And Knicks appall,
Through another barren winter.
And yes those days,
Those dismal days
Will drag on and on.
As Gleyber clings
And Soto brings
Cheer to Flushing Meadow.
Where the hell can we go?
We’ll just have to wait,
For that same-old, same-old summer wind.
Originally appeared in the indispensable Yankee blog, It is High, It is Far, It is…caught.
Last Call for the Coliseum
by James Finn Garner
As the sun sinks low over East Bay,
We savor the memories of when they’d play,
That team from Oakland in yellow and green
And some of the greatest we’ve ever seen.
Leading off, of course, the immortal Rickey,
Powerful, swift, determined, tricky,
Then lanky, mustachioed Rollie, and who
Can forget Catfish and Vida Blue?
Campy Campaneris and Sal Bando
Thrilled the nascent East Bay fandom
The Swingin’ A’s and Charley O
Kept things jumping, three rings in a row.
Dave Stewart, imposing on the mound,
And Reggie Jackson! Too big for this town
Dennis Eckersley, Jason Giambi,
Dwayne Murphy, Joe Rudi, Rick Monday
A franchise always hurting for cash
Still grew Bob Welch and the Brothers of Bash
And a World Series paused by an earthquake?
These are the things that diehards make.
Rowdy! Joyous! Full-bore! . . . Buzzed?
They didn’t always win, but then who does?
For a snapshot of what it means to be an Oakland A’s fan, check out this article from the SF Chronicle, which is also posting an oral history with players from different eras of the team.
Go-juu/Go-juu, 50/50
by Dr. Rajesh C. Oza
In Japan, on July 5, 1994,
A mama flipped a coin;
A papa flipped it once more.
Go-juu/Go-juu: a Japanese number, now Dodger Blue!
Glove in hand, Papa wanted a boy;
Hugging a doll, Mama wanted a girl.
Regardless, their healthy child was a joy.
Go-juu/Go-juu: a Japanese number, now Dodger Blue!
On a Miami night, some 30 years later,
Some fans wanted a stolen base,
Others wanted a 400-foot homer.
Ain’t a swifty 50/50 out-of-the-ballpark nifty!
For all baseball fans, what a joyous treat
To watch Shohei Otani
Achieve his tremendous feat.
Ain’t a swifty 50/50 out-of-the-ballpark nifty!
Nap Lajoie
by Michael Ceraolo
I once was quoted as saying
no one gives you anything in baseball,
but that isn’t correct
Morgan Murphy gave me and other Phillies many hits
when he stole signs from the stands
and relayed them to a coacher through a buzzer system,
and the coacher then relayed them to us
And the St. Louis Browns gave me half-a-dozen bunt hits
during a doubleheader to end the 1901 season,
enabling me to win the batting title and a car
I took those gifts without apology,
though I often wished that the Browns
would have given us the ’08 pennant instead
