Thank you, Sara, for the favor.
Sara’s newest novel, Hardball, stars her well-known detective V.I. Warshawski and will hit bookstores on Sept. 22. You can order your copy here.
Posted 9/11/2009
Yankees: Minnesota, May You Always Play Against Us
by Hart Seely
Justin Morneau, Denard Span,
Each of them, a special man.
Jason Kubel, Jason Pride,
Promising a pleasant ride.
Michael Cuddyer, Joe Mauer,
Every game, a happy hour.
Carlos Gomez, Jesse Crain,
I would play them all again!
R.A. Dickey, old Joe Crede,
Yielding to us, if we’re needy.
Minnesota! Humphrey Dome!
‘Neath thy roof, we feel at home.
Published 7/10/09
Hart Seely is the author of Mother Goose Goes to Washington, as well as Oh Holy Cow: The Selected Verse of Phil Rizzuto, newly released in a 15th-anniversary edition. He often hangs around the Yankee website, It is High, It is Far, It is….caught, offering tasteful and constructive comments to management and players alike.
Near Cutdown Day
By Stuart Shea
Whatcha gonna do
If you don’t make the team?
Whatcha gonna do
If you don’t make the team?
You’re 36
You’ve got one bad knee
And your last two-year contract
Ended in 2003.
Whatcha gonna do
If you don’t make the team?
Whatcha gonna do
If you don’t make the team?
You’re not at home
While your children grow
Your wife’s been waiting
And she deserves to know.
Whatcha gonna do
If you don’t make the team?
Whatcha gonna do
If you don’t make the team?
If you’re the last cut,
Have you had your fill?
Or will you take that deal
In Louisville?
Whatcha gonna do
If you don’t make the team?
Published 6/8/2009
Baseball Waltz (Let’s Go To The Ball Park)
Words and music by Tom Rinaldi
(Scroll down to play the MP3)
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There’s something about looking out on a big field of green
A diamond, four bases, and ninety feet in-between
The players go ‘round with their pant legs rolled up to their knees
The smell of fresh peanuts ‘a roasting is caught in the breeze
.
Let’s go to the ball park
I haven’t been in a while
I used to watch my favorite slugger
Knock that baseball a mile
Let’s go to the ball park
Let’s be kids again
Hot dogs with mustard
And frozen custard
Just like it was back then
.
The magic allure of the game is as pure as the snow
With nicknames like Lefty and Dizzy and Murderer’s Row
And nothing’s as pretty as watching the infield “get two”
Or watching a pop up fall out of a big sky of blue
.
Repeat Chorus
.
Where else can you go
Where they stop the show
Two-thirds of the way
Just to stretch and sing a song
Before they continue to play?
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[audio:http://bardball.com/audio/01 Track 1.mp3]Repeat Chorus
.
Posted 6/5/2009
A Baseball Poem #2
by Stephen Jones
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Slower than a slider
the sun the breeze today
a wild pitch of weather is
The sky settled in May’s dugout
a month’s sun-and-cloud teaming
. . . and what of defense?
We’ll see large bulky clouds
crouch, the sun concuss
& diamond dreams evolve.
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For more of Stephen’s poetry and photographs, check out his blog.
Posted 6/1/2009