Reviving the Art of Baseball Doggerel
I count 61 home runs…
The number seems unfathomable…
And each one is unique, the way it
Travels like a laser or a moonshot,
And, for a moment, fills imagination
So completely that I never want the
Ball or player to touch the ground.
Despite four walks for Aaron Judge —
Even Toronto fans murmured disapproval;
They too wanted to see history made —
The Yankees still clinched the division.
Maybe now, with all that behind him,
Judge can now hit his 61.
Standing at the edge of a long, dusty road
I watched a procession slowly pass me by:
A peddler dressed in a motley of old and new
Followed by a patient, plodding mule
And a creaking, groaning two-wheel cart
Piled high with neatly stacked baseball bats.
The peddler, his face lined by many seasons,
Nodded to me, then jerked his thumb up
To a sign plain-as-day overhead.
I looked and read: “October Straight Ahead.”
Then he grinned — his eyes were bright as suns —
And signaled me to follow, and I did.
Let’s just say
The season ended today
And the Yankees won the division…
That’s a no-brainer, a win-loss given.
But what about the rest
Of the hungry AL East —
Those Red Sox and Rays,
Those Orioles and Blue Jays?
Like it or not, three of these beasts
Rule the AL’s wild-card menu.
But hey, that’s a speculative dream,
Maybe a thought in the extreme.
It’s more likely than not
That these baseball carnivores —
Forget here any herbivores —
Will actively consume each other
In the AL East’s cannibal-diner.
I was looking forward to the game,
But could not find it on TV —
At least not on any customary station.
Then I learned it was being aired
On some streaming service,
And only by subscription.
In disbelief, I went online to explore —
Is this our brave new world, our 1984? —
And sadly, discovered
Baseball’s schedule, and my landscape,
Has been changed forever. It’s now
Littered with subscription service.
It’s bad enough that ticket prices
Have soared — truth is, I can’t afford them —
But to ask for more money when I’m home?
There’s nothing right in this situation —
And I wonder what minds made it so.
My only active thought spins around:
America’s national pastime
Is now MLB’s “cash time.”