Cub Fans Bid Kid K Adieu

by James Finn Garner

It’s not 14 years.
Really?
Since Kid K choked the Stros?
Ah, but what’s 14 years anyway,
In a Cub fan’s memory?

A short trip to the DL
And he’d be back again
Better than ever
Ready to win
Again, again, again . . .

Then one last, sweet K
On three straight pitches
And a hug from his Justin on the dugout steps

A kid for all time
Youth ready, on tap
Hope in pinstripes

I was always a Cub, I’ve always been a Cub, and I’ll always continue to be a Cub.

What’s 14 years anyway,
In a Cub fan’s memory?

Home Run

by Owen P.

Yesterday we played, we played baseball
the pitcher pitched and I whacked the ball
it flew over Maine
and a Japanese train
it flew over a polar ice cap
it was seen by some English chaps
some soldiers saw it in Afghanistan
and as it flew it learned Uzbekistan
it flew over the Great Barrier Reef
in North Dakota it sampled some beef
but just as it landed in Moscow
the umpire called it  foul

Owen P. is a fifth-grade student in Chicago.

A Retrospective: The Wind-Up, and Watch

by Bruce Daniels

Baseball’s Hall of Fame hails a time-honored game,
That cannot be settled by clock.
Inning after inning, no team is winning,
I’d opt not to buy tickets or stock.

If one is so clever, a game can last forever,
A tie score all knotted at zip.
Ruth started the line-up, need new hitters to sign up,
Like Bonds who can make a round trip.

But we may never survive to see a line drive,
For me the game just drives me bonkers.
Be it Brooklyn or Yanks, if you ask me, “No thanks!”
The Bronx just bombed out, on to Yonkers!

This time-worn tradition should be sent to perdition,
The outcome has outlasted my strength.
Would there be sudden death? Please don’t hold your breath,
This game of ages is just so by its length!

2012 NL West Prediction Haiku

By Stuart Shea

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Over(bay) the Miles,
Young men climb Upton a Hill—
This poet’s a Putz

COLORADO ROCKIES
The prime of one’s life
Ends around 40 for all
But Jamie Moyer

LOS ANGELES DODGERS
It’s a Magic time!
Millionaires swap property
And the fans go wild

SAN DIEGO PADRES
Highly paid jocks in
Military uniforms?
A bullshit salute

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
The Posey’s a bloom
That needs strong roots around it
Not these flimsy sticks