by Stuart Shea
1B Luke Easter
2B Rabbit Warstler
SS Rabbit Maranville
3B Rabbit Nill
OF Dave Eggler
OF Jim Lentine
OF Ben Paschal
CÂ Max Pentecost
P Jamie Easterly
PÂ Bunny Hearn
PHÂ Jim Gentile, Bunny Brief
MGRÂ Mack Eggleston
1B Luke Easter
2B Rabbit Warstler
SS Rabbit Maranville
3B Rabbit Nill
OF Dave Eggler
OF Jim Lentine
OF Ben Paschal
CÂ Max Pentecost
P Jamie Easterly
PÂ Bunny Hearn
PHÂ Jim Gentile, Bunny Brief
MGRÂ Mack Eggleston
It’s been a rough stretch for the Pale Hose,
A title expected by friends and foes.
The thing to do, fast,
Is to write off the past
And send off Big T for a nice doze.
There is no clock.
The games could last forever,
Even as September suns sink sooner every day.
This is suspended-animation baseball time.
If a team is 30 out, and nobody watches,
Did the game even happen?
Maybe only in your mind,
But this is the best place for a baseball game anyway.
Cups of coffee and last gasps,
Careers come and go in a flash,
Before the eyes of the true devotees,
Miles from a pennant race.
.
Originally posted 9/28/2009
From the Cincinnati Times-Star, 1937, on announcer Red Barber’s consistent hawking of Wheaties cereal:
Red Barber has charm and he shows it,
And over the air he sure throws it–
But with all his entreaties
To munch those damned Wheaties
He eats ham and eggs and he knows it!
As of now, it’s later, but not never.
As of tomorrow, will it be soon, if ever?
Last week, it was yes, then maybe…
For dinner, who’d get the gravy?
But now, knives are sheathed,
A 60-game season bequeathed–
For now.
But even if there’s no game
Because of this global virus,
It’s nice that players and owners
Aren’t snarling and fighting like Tyrus.