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Leon Day

By Michael Ceraolo

Of course I would like to have played in the white majors
But because that wasn’t meant to be for me,
I’m proud to have played in the Negro Leagues,
and I’m glad to see those leagues
have now been recognized as major leagues,
because we definitely played major-league-caliber ball
I long hoped to be elected to the Hall of Fame,
to be in the group of the greatest ballplayers
I was in the hospital when I got
the news that I had been so elected
I could now die a happy man,
and, unlike so many who use that cliche,
I did die a few days later

Day, Leon | Baseball Hall of Fame

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Away! Away!

by Stephen Jones

Away all teams,
Dugouts filled with lumber and hide;
Away all teams,
As captains cry “Let it ride!”

It’s Opening Day,
As dreams and teams set sail.

 

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Ready. Set. Baseball.

by Stephen Jones

Just days ago I had gone
To the natural history museum:
To see if MLB’s remains —
Like the dinosaurs —
Were now on display

But while looking for fossils
Of owners, players, and …
And, oh look, that’s Rob Manfred …
I gratefully learned from a guide
That the toxic asteroid —
Like the one so long ago
That sealed the dinosaurs’ fate —
Had been averted, and now
The only display of note was
The species named “Universal D.H.”

 

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The Center

by Paul Kocak

The center, it did hold
Promise and potential
Glittering as three golden rings
Twelve years as the beating heart
Of forged trial and triumph
Leaping exaltations
Hugging exclamations
Victors’ arms aloft
As gladiators parade
Down Market Street
And Main Street, Everywhere

Our avatar of success
Is silhouetted behind the plate
A catcher fair and famed
The center of the storm
An oracle of swing or miss
Each pitch thus framed
By one so named
Gerald Dempsey Posey III
Buster, to us
Forever young
Forever loved
A giant among Giants
Hanging up the cleats
Headed home

Paul Kocak is the author of Baseball’s Starry Night and World Serious, as well as the poetry collections Rounding Third and Tipp Hill Litanies. His memoir Chasing Willie Mays is a must-read for Giants fans. Check out all his books at his Amazon page here.

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Houston Brings Winter to Boston, Win ALCS

by Stephen Jones

A weatherman on Beantown TV
Described it this way:
“You start here,” a flat hand
measuring height in the air.
“This is chilly. Okay?
Then you drop it to here.
This is freezing,
Just thirty-two degrees.”
He went on: “But it gets colder,
Down here…”
He ducked below the camera eye.
“… Is zero, and it’s so cold …
You freeze fruit and it shatters.
But there’s one more level …”
He looked the camera in the eye.
“… Colder still: Red Sox hitting.”