by Stephen Jones
Cole versus Bieber –
Advertised as “pitchers’ duel”
On pre-game paper.
Then Bang! Judge hit the ball –
And not even a cloud
Of the Cleveland midge
Could stop
The Cleveland hemorrhage.
The Asterisk Year
by James Finn Garner
Cool air, short days
Now it’s the postseason of a faux season
It wasn’t a waste
But much has been lost
Sleety April games
Midseason slumps
The DH argument
Stints in Toledo and Scranton
The minors
Veteran farewell tours
A season as satisfying as an airline dinner
(If I remember correctly)
What has the game become?
I feel like Jon Lester trying to pick off a runner
I want to turn back Time
And Time don’t play like that.
Harry Frazee
by Michael Ceraolo
I was the first owner who wasn’t handpicked by Johnson,
and I was the first owner to remind him
that he worked for us, not the other way around
Two strikes against me
Most of the transactions I made
were not thought of poorly at the time;
it is only in retrospect that some look bad
And even among these I wasn’t always to blame:
it was years after I sold the team
that one of the players we acquired
in one of the so-called bad moves, Lefty O’Doul,
was sent elsewhere and became a quality player
Even selling the Babe was defensible:
we finished sixth in the standings and fifth in attendance
even with him; he wanted more money,
and it’s extremely doubtful
he would have become in Boston what he became in New York
And I sold the team to Bob Quinn in 1923,
so their finishing last seven of the next eight years
wasn’t my responsibility: remember,
there were no farm systems back then
Every year you had to acquire some new players
in order to improve your team;
if Quinn didn’t have the wherewithal
to do the job, that was on him,
not on me or any supposed curse
But Quinn was a baseball guy, not a theater guy,
and so he escaped the blame from sportswriters
Strike three against me:
having my baseball reputation in the hands of sportswriters
No one should ever have his reputation in such hands
Yankee Theater: “Macswat”
by Stephen Jones
“Bubble, bubble. Toil and …”
Nineteen home runs in three straight games.
Baseball records are being made
As The Bats of Endor have come together.
The Toronto Blue Jays went to Yankee Woods
And were swept away by The Thanes of Bronx.
Something awesome, something special,
Is going on in the Bronx.
The Book of Ernie
by Raphael Badagliacca
Where all ends
Lead to new beginnings
Looking down from heaven
At double-headers
Only seven innings
Mr. Banks shook his head
And said, “Let’s play three!”