Not everyone could hit
Tape measure home runs -
Mickey could:
Pinstriped slashes echoing the Babe's
Dotted lines in the photo next day
Tracing the imaginary flight into history
As a kid
I often wondered where they got
That five-hundred-plus feet ribbon
Hauled out to the stadiums
From the nearest university
I guessed
By a crack team of
Bespeckled scientists
In white lab coats
Carrying clipboards and rulers
And Lord knows what else they used
To make their measurements
Today I realize
They were probably just guys
Looking for free passes
Science in those days
Was as welcome in the game
As it was in religion:
Not much at all
Who cared exactly how far it went?
The more important questions were
Was it done in the clutch?
And did it win a game?
And whose did it remind you of?
If the smash set off a chain-reaction
Of story-telling for the next week
Then it was
Long enough
Baseball & the Lyrical Life
Edited by Tom Colnay
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