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The Game Without A Clock

by Stephen Jones

Critics of baseball always complain:
“Speed it up.  The game’s too slow. ”
Look elsewhere, they often chime,
For proof.  But to a clock-driven show?

Baseball is not the NFL,
Where starts and stops rush pellmell.

Baseball is not the NHL,
Where fights and goals are the sell.

Baseball is not the NBA,
Where endless timeouts hold the day.

Maybe more common sense could be used,
Maybe more strikes should be called . . .
These are arguments on which fans linger
Long after the day’s game is over.

Baseball, a game of numbers, is in play
In a stadium beyond time’s sway.

 

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The Origin of Baseball

by Kenneth Patchen

Someone had been walking in and out
Of the world without coming
To much decision about anything.
The sun seemed too hot most of the time.
There weren’t enough birds around
And the hills had a silly look
When he got on top of one.
The girls in heaven, however, thought
Nothing of asking to see his watch
Like you would want someone to tell
A joke–“Time,” they’d say, “what’s
That mean–time?”, laughing with the edges
Of their white mouths, like a flutter of paper
In a madhouse. And he’d stumble over
General Sherman or Elizabeth B.
Browning, muttering, “Can’t you keep
Your big wings out of the aisle?” But down
Again, there’d be millions of people without
Enough to eat and men with guns just
Standing there shooting each other.

So he wanted to throw something
And he picked up a baseball.

 

From City Lights Pocket Poets Anthology, edited by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Copyright 1995.

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Wrigley Reverie

by Hilary Barta

The throng full of hope and “Hey, heys!”
King Kong (the big dope) could amaze
Cracker Jack and ol’ Ernie
Drifting back on a journey
To those long-ago Opening Days.

 

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Opening Day 2014

by Doug Fahrendorff

Another season
Harbingers of spring
Robins in my yard
This morning
Brewer baseball
On the radio
This afternoon
Snow predicted
By the weekend
Our equanimity
Undisturbed
Winter finally in retreat
Baseball is back

 

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Opening Day 2014

by Philip Pecorino

What a wonder!
This year it was in the Land Down Under.

Then again, it began.
Way out West came the first test.

Californians appear in the lead
Until the rest get up to speed.