Posted on

Bob Dylan’s 2017 Forecast: “My Come Back Pages”

by James Finn Garner

Pinstripe flameouts through the years
As the vet’rans cashed their checks
Overtime for financiers
Signing A-Rod, CC, Tex
While the promise of the farm hands dimmed
Strapped behind a plow
But we were so much older then
We’re younger than that now

It seems like years since Jeet was here
Young and full of soul
Then money sunk in contracts dear
Dictated players’ roles
Simultaneously at Wilkes-Barre
Prospects stood by, like cows
But we were so much older then
We’re younger than that now

Will they give Gleyber time to grow?
Frazier and Sheffield too?
The Yankees’ patience will wear out
Just like it always do
By June the brass will call them up
Panicking, dropping trou
But we were so much older then
We’re younger than that now

 

 

Posted on

Bob Dylan’s 2017 Forecast: “It’s the Card’s Reign’s A-Gonna Fall

by Jim Siergey

Oh, where have you gone, my blue-capped chumps?
Oh, where have you gone, you darling crumb bums?
You’ve stumbled and cried for ten musty decades
You’ve choked and you’ve tripped in lieu of sweet vict’ry
(But) You’ve shaped up your farm teams the several last seasons
You’ve beat us by using our very own game plan
You’ve put ten thousand miles away from Cubs’ hist’ry

And it’s the Card’s, and it’s the Card’s, it’s the Card’s,
and it’s the Card’s
And it’s the Card’s reign’s a-gonna fall!

 

Posted on

Bob Dylan’s 2017 Forecast: “Sucking in the Wind”

by James Finn Garner

How many innings must Verlander pitch
to have them destroyed by the pen?
How many times must Miggy get on
to be left on the base by Upton?
How many weeks before Ausmus is canned–
that’s not an “if”, that’s a “when”

The answer, my friend, is 2017
When the Tigers will be sucking in the wind

How many balls will Martinez misjudge
and watch as they roll to the wall?
How many years will poor V-Mart DH
as his trot slows down to a crawl?
How many years must fans grumble and wince
before this team wins in the fall?

The answer, my friend, is 2017
When the Tigers will be sucking in the wind

 

Posted on

Bob Dylan’s 2017 Forecast: “Gotta Curve Somebody”

by Jim Siergey

You may be a young fast baller for Cleveland or Pitt
You may like to rear back and put heat on it
You may want to strike out eight-teen batters a game
You may dream of the high life filled with fortune and fame

But you’re gonna have to curve somebody, if you wanna stay
You’re gonna have to curve somebody
If it’s not in the Big Leagues, then it will be Triple-A
But you’re gonna have to curve somebody

You might be fed cock ‘n’ bull stories about how you’ll be a star
You might have scouts with radar guns readin’ how fast you are
You may have a businessman to help sign you for a lot
They may call you Doctor K but call you up, they will not

Cuz you’re gonna have to curve somebody, if you wanna stay
You’re gonna have to curve somebody
If it’s not in the Big Leagues, then it will be Triple-A
But you’re gonna have to curve somebody

You maybe can reach back with your physical skill
And feel you can reach the mountain top strictly through your will
You may be thinkin’ that you can’t be stopped, at a hundred miles an hour
You may be somebody’s “can’t miss” but you’ll head straight to the showers

Cuz you’re gonna have to curve somebody, if you wanna stay
You’re gonna have to curve somebody
If it’s not in the Big Leagues, then it will be Triple-A
But you’re gonna have to curve somebody

They may call you Nolan, or even Big Train
They may call you Warren Spahn and then pray for rain
They may call you Sandy or maybe Aroldis
They may call you anything but you’d best answer to this

You’re gonna have to curve somebody, if you wanna stay
You’re gonna have to curve somebody
If it’s not in the Big Leagues, then it will be Triple-A
But you’re gonna have to curve somebody

 

Posted on

Bob Dylan’s 2017 Forecast: “Edwin from the North Country”

by James Finn Garner

If you’re traveling in the north country fair
Where the winds hit heavy on the fans’ behinds
Remember him for all the hits he had there
Edwin Encarnacion did his time

If you got used to the Jays winning games
By knocking hits and flipping bats
Saunders is gone, and Navarro the same
And Edwin’s now in Cleveland, swatting gnats

I’m a-wondering if he’ll remember them at all
The fans who came to see him play
As they drink and fight and lament
Watching Melvin Upton flail away

If you’re traveling in the north country fair
Where the winds hit heavy on the fans’ behinds
Remember him for all the hits he had there
Edwin Encarnacion did his time