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King Kong Swingman

by Hilary Barta

That Kingman was strong there’s no doubt
His bat could deliver a clout
Each swing for the fences
Could dazzle the senses
More often than not, he struck out.

Illustration by Jim Siergey

 

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Mordecai Peter Centennial Brown

by Peter Ceraolo

I’m using my given name here
because my nickname, Three-Fingered,
was a misnomer:
I had four-and-a-half fingers,
losing half of my right index finger
to farm machinery when I was a kid
While I was recovering from that,
I fell and broke the other fingers on that hand;
they never straightened completely after that
I understand today there is a pitch
called the split-fingered fastball
I think I was the originator of the pitch
without knowing it due to the missing half-finger
Considering the success I had,
including a winning record head-to-head
against Mathewson in games we both got the decision,
I am sometimes surprised
that other pitchers didn’t cut half a finger off.