Earl Weaver

Wikipedia - "Earl Sidney Weaver (born August 14, 1930 in St. Louis, Missouri) is a former Major League Baseball manager. He spent his entire 17-year managerial career with the Baltimore Orioles (1968–1982; 1985–1986). Weaver was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996. Weaver's nickname was the 'Earl of Baltimore.'"
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference, YouTube - 1982 as described by Howard Cosell, Earl Weaver Was A Badass

Stephen Cormany - "Big Six and Alexander The Great"

I.
On Labor Day of 1916
Matty pitched his last game
Locking up with his ancient foe
Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown of the Cubs
In in second game of a twin-bill.
Matty's fadeaway was a mere crook by now, and
Neither old-timer was baffling,
But with nothing hanging in the balance
Both stayed around until the end,
Matty picking up the win, 10-8.

II.
Thirteen years later, in 1929
Grover Cleveland Alexander
Was nearing immortality, and
The St. Louis chapter of A.A.
Was having a field day
Keeping him off the wagon.
Drunks in every corner of Missouri
And Southern Illinois
Were dropping by the local headquarters
With home remedies.
One more victory, and
Pete would break Matty's
National League record of 372.

III.
On a somber day in August
Pete accomplished just that.
Though weaving, all the same
He had receded sufficiently from the tremens
To make out in the shadows
Shoulders gingerly affixed to bats.
Those who saw him that day say
He pitched as if the world were a drop of wine
Clinging to the bottom of a slender necked bottle.
To retrieve it, all he had was
A coat hanger and a sponge.

IV.
Fifteen years later,
Give of take a year,
A figure filbert discovered an error
In the National League records of 1902.
A victory by Matty had accidently been recorded
A defeat.

V.
Out on the prairie near St. Paul, Nebraska
Ol'Pete was too drunk to know, or care
Or even differentiate the difference
If anybody had cared to explain it to him.
Matty's case was another.
In 1925, almost a year to the day before
Pete's infamous whiffing of Lazzeri,
Matty was dead at forty-five
At Saranac Lake, New York
After a bout of spinal meningitis,
An erroneous number imprinted on his brain.


Baseball I Gave You All the Best Years of My Life

Curt Schilling

Wikipedia - "Curtis Montague 'Curt' Schilling (born November 14, 1966 in Anchorage, Alaska) is a former American Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He helped lead the Philadelphia Phillies to the World Series in 1993 and has won World Series championships in 2001 with the Arizona Diamondbacks and in 2004 and 2007 with the Boston Red Sox. Schilling retired with a career postseason record of 11–2. His .846 postseason winning percentage is a major-league record among pitchers with at least 10 decisions."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference

Steve Hermanos - "Jon Miller, Hall Of Famer"

Your humor dryer,
Than a summer Scottsdale parking lot;
Your timing equal,
To James Brown's;
Your knowledge profound,
Wide and generous;
Your descriptions vivid;
Your mimicking of Vin -
Ah, perfect moment after perfect moment.

You're the only announcer,
To whom I stay tuned,
In a rain delay.

With Stanford sidekick David Braxton:
Sancho Panza/Tonto/Chico Marx/Dr. Watson/
Mr. Spock/Chewbacca;
Aristotle,
Contemplating Plato's freshest utterance.

Miller, you gotta quit ESPN,
Sending you hither and yon,
Every week,
Away from the story by the Bay.

Remain with the homies,
In your booth,
A lama on his hillside,
In reverent levitation,
Soaking in every nuance of the goings on,
Below on the greensward,
Disseminating ever-deeper observations;
And tossing off jokes,
The most popular guy at the party.

We deserve it, don't we?


O, Gigantic Victory!

The Man Who Couldn’t Hit

"On May 25, 1972, Frank Fernandez pinch hit for Cubs starter Bill Hands in the sixth inning, grounded out to third base, and returned to the dugout. It was his final at-bat in the majors. Because of it, he had unknowingly put himself in the record books. The at-bat lowered his batting average from .1997 to .1994, thus cementing his career batting average below the Mendoza line. If the ball had snuck through the infield, or hit a pebble in the dirt, he would be forgotten. Instead, he is forgotten, but he holds an interesting title in baseball history. Frank Fernandez is the greatest player in baseball history to hit below .200 for his career. ..."
pitchers & poets, Wikipedia

Mikhail Horowitz - "Big League Poets (cont.)"

A centaur-fielder for the Trojan Horseman, HOMER was the Father of Big League Poetry: inventing the epic poem and the epic clout (which still retains his name today) with one great swing of his wine-dark bat.

JOHNNY OVID was a hot-blooded ace of the Latin Leagues who is chiefly remembered for inventing the metamorphose-pitch, nowaday known as the "change-up."

VIDA VIRGIL was a bas-relief pitcher who led the old Etruscan Leagues in Earned Ruin Average. He later achieved additional fame as Dante's batting coach.

Dante SPARKY ALIGHIERI was a fiery competitor who played the hot corned for the Florence Flamethrowers. A sizzling hitter, his visionary bat had rival pitchers seeing stars. It was Alighieri who introduced the concept of batting circles to the game.

Geoffrey RAUNCHY CHAUCER played for the Canterbury Tailors. On his way to naturalising the iambic pentameter, he led the league in rhymes royal, heroic couplets and innings pilgrimmaged.


BIG LEAGUE POETS
amazon - City Lights Books

Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession - Dave Jamieson

"How come that Frank Thomas rookie card you stowed away in 1990 is now worth less than a Happy Meal? Chalk it up to the baseball card bubble of the late 1980s and early 1990s. In a new book, Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession, Dave Jamieson tells the story of how baseball cards evolved from a tobacco marketing gimmick in the 19th century into a massive, big-money industry of their own by the late 20th century. In this excerpt, Jamieson explains how baseball cards first became seen as promising investments, setting the stage for a decade of speculation and overproduction."
Slate: The Great Baseball Card Bubble, Slate: Can Topps Save Baseball Cards?, Slate: Requiem for a Rookie Card, Slate: The Secret Lives of Baseball Card Writers, Slate: Junior Mint, Slate: The Autograph Man, amazon, Dave Jamieson

Tim Peeler - "Josh as I Am"

a shaking window
on a doorslam afternoon,

your children left crying
for money beer-spent
and whoring...

maybe you coulda
fired a volley to second
caught Cobb
escaping your one-bagger jailhouse
then swinging with the shoulders
from the hips
knocked the choo-choo end
off the Big Train
maybe you coulda...

when fourth of july
meant nothing but a doubleheader...
no phone call from a president
that tape-measured your heroics.

Josh,
I am just a shaken window
on a doorslam afternoon,
and no,
they'd never
mickey your mantle
with trophies from the BIGS,
never even
civilize your numbers
into totals.


Touching All the Bases

Pete Reiser

1948 Bowman #7
Wikipedia - "Harold Patrick 'Pete' Reiser (March 17, 1919 - October 25, 1981), nicknamed 'Pistol Pete,' was an outfielder in Major League Baseball during the 1940s and early 1950s. He played primarily for the Brooklyn Dodgers, and later for the Boston Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Cleveland Indians."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference, Pete Reiser - When Hustle Was Expected, Pete Reiser: One of the Best Ball Players of All-Time, Baseball in Wartime, BROOKLYN DODGERS in Havana, Cuba 1942 (Video)

Bill Steckis - "Because He Was First: Jackie Robinson"

It wasn't about stealing bases
When he leaned down to tie his laces,
It was all about blending races

When the players were at their worst.

He fought for civil rights without fists clenched,
And he was threatened at times to be lynched-
But the righteous Jackie never flinched

In the heat of a bitter hate burst.

He stood up and demanded men be quiet
And persuaded them finally to try it,
And once managed to stop a Harlem riot

Because he was so well-versed.

He endured police dogs in Birmingham,
Bands of bigots with a bullet-gram,
And suppressed a lion's rage to a lamb

While, by prejudiced people, he was cursed.

He was spiked at third and often bled.
Pitchers threw baseballs at his head.
He ignored death threats that were said

As a separate spigot quenched his thirct.

His strength allowed him to withstand
Teammates refusing to shake his hand.
Yet he stayed focused to his demand.

For social change that later emerged.

He opened the door for Grif, Bonds, and Mays
By enduring the game's most intolerant phase
And bettered baseball in so many ways

Because he was first.



Baseball & the Lyrical Life
Edited by Tom Colnay

Spitball

Burleigh "Ol' Stubblebeard" Grimes
Wikipedia - "A spitball is an illegal baseball pitch in which the ball has been altered by the application of saliva, petroleum jelly, or some other foreign substance. Such a pitch presents an additional challenge to the hitter because it causes the ball to move atypically during its approach due to the altered wind-resistance and weight on one side of the ball. Alternative names for the spitball are spitter, mud ball, shine ball, supersinker, vaseline ball (because originally, Vaseline was used to give the ball a little more break), and emery ball, although technically, an emery ball is one where the ball has been abraded in much the same way that the original cut ball had been physically cut (an emery ball is also known as a scuff ball)."
Wikipedia, SF Weekly: A Sports Analogy You Never Thought You'd See: Court's Odd, Split Ruling on Prop. 8 Recalls Spitball Decision in 1920, SABR: Frank Shellenback, In Baseball History (The Spitball), The Spitball King: Gaylord Perry

Big League Poets & Ted Williams

"When the writer John Updike was stood up after a planned adulterous meeting on Beacon Hill, he walked over to Fenway Park. Much has been written about that very game this week, since the small crowd that day fifty years ago saw the last at-bat of Ted Williams, his last home run as the baseball gods ordained. Ted Williams is one of greatest ballplayers ever, but he is also one of the great muses for writers and poets."
Thomas' Trolley, New Yorker: Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu by John Updike, amazon: Big League Poets

agate type

Leland Giants 1905
"adventures in baseball archeology: the negro leagues, latin american baseball, j-ball, the minors, the 19th century, and other hidden, overlooked, or unknown corners of baseball history...with occasional forays into other sports"
agate type

Donald Hall - "Old Timer's Day, Fenway Park, 1 May 1982"

When the tall puffy
figure wearing number
nine starts
late for the fly ball,
laboring forward
like a lame truckhorse
startled by a garter snake,
– this old fellow
whose body we remember
as sleek and nervous
as a filly's –

and barely catches it
in his glove's
tip, we rise
and applaud weeping:
On a green field
we observe the ruin
of even the bravest
body, as Odysseus
wept to glimpse
among the shades the shadow
of Achilles



Leasing News

1985 World Series

Todd Worrell
Wikipedia - "The 1985 World Series began on October 19, 1985 and ended October 27. The American League champion Kansas City Royals played against the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals, winning the series four games to three. The Series was popularly known as the 'Show-Me Series', or the 'I-70 Showdown Series,' as both cities are in Missouri, connected by Interstate 70."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference, YouTube - Denkinger Blown Call 1985, YouTube - Kansas City Royals "The Thrill Of It All" part 1, part 2, Classic Scorecards: 1985 World Series Game Six, ESPN: What became of the 1985 Royals?

Rodney Torrrson - "Two Years Retired, Bobby Murcer Makes Comeback Bid, 1985"

"The life of a soul on earth longer than his departure." - Outfielder Murcer quoting philosopher-poet Angelo Patri at Thurman Munson's funeral, 1979

After your ascent into the
broadcast booth, then higher
into the rites
of the front office,
your soul still roams the field,
combs it for hits
that never got through.
Your ear cocks
for that song: the body
raining hard on the basepath.

In Florida, when you pick up a bat,
the deep woods stir.
A practice swing and the river
jumps into your wrists.
You make good contact
with that world
you've seen from the moon.
As if the Yankees remember
your words: "A man lives on
in the life of others,"
they hand you a miracle; you sign.

What is lonely as one hit
in twelve at-bats?
Call it a rain dance
in the season of old bones,
your playing four games
while the trees grow back,
your fist, stone,
as you dream back your speed,
fun faster than you can run.



Hummers, Knucklers, and Slow Curves
Edited by Don Johnson

Jim Rice

Wikipedia - "James Edward 'Jim' Rice (born March 8, 1953), nicknamed 'Jim Ed', is a former Major League Baseball left fielder. Jim Rice played his entire career for the Boston Red Sox from 1974 to 1989. An 8-time American League (AL) All-Star, he was named the AL's Most Valuable Player in 1978 after becoming the first major league player in 19 years to hit for 400 total bases, and went on to become the ninth player to lead the major leagues in total bases in consecutive seasons, and join Ty Cobb as one of two players to lead the AL in total bases three years in a row. He batted .300 seven times, collected 100 runs batted in (RBI) eight times and 200 hits four times, and had eleven seasons with 20 home runs, also leading the league in home runs three times, RBIs and slugging average twice each."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference, MLB: Video

Sportsman's Park

Wikipedia - "Sportsman's Park was the name of several former Major League Baseball ballpark structures in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, all but one of which were located on the same piece of land, the northwest corner of Grand Boulevard and Dodier Street on the north side of the city. From 1920–1953, Sportsman's Park was the home field of both the St. Louis Browns of the American League, and the St. Louis Cardinals of the National League, after which the Browns departed to become the modern-day Baltimore Orioles."
Wikipedia, Ballparks of Baseball, YouTube - Living St. Louis | Sportsman's Park

Carol J. Pierman - "Sweet"

One lunar eclipse in seven years
and it's raining so we can't see it.
But there's a perfect picture on TV,

over St. Louis, where the Cardinals
play like geniuses against the Braves.
Oh, St. Louis, murmurs Ernie Johnson,

what a sweet franchise. We're in bed,
in Alabama, but I still get
that sliding sensation - planets

riding on the black hip of universe,
the deep shadow of pure night rising
over the pleated lip of Busch Stadium,

and the words sweet franchise move
forever outward, like all radio waves,
toward the unreasonable dawn of time -

making chaos sweet, summer endless,
the blue turf fast and true. The ball
coming off the bat makes the most reassuring

sound in the world: the crack of time
straining against the seams,
pouring out toward the warning track.

You're in the outfield now,
dancing under the ball, moonbathing,
the shadow of something - surprise,

a faint smile - crossing over your face.
I can see you now, just counting on
coming back to earth.




Line Drives
Edited by Brooke Horvath and Tim Wiles

Unassisted triple play

Wikipedia - "In baseball, an unassisted triple play occurs when a defensive player makes all three putouts by himself in one continuous play, without any teammates touching the ball (assist). In Major League Baseball (MLB), it is one of the rarest of individual feats, along with hitting four home runs in one game and hitting for a natural cycle. There have been more perfect games in baseball history than unassisted triple plays. During a span of over 65 seasons (June 1927 to September 1992), there was only one unassisted triple play in the major leagues, made in July 1968. Even 'ordinary' (assisted) triple plays are fairly rare, occurring a few times per year."
Wikipedia, MLB: Unassisted triple play (video)

Stephen John Roth - "Ode to Ollie Brown"

As your jive #31 clings loosely to your back
While your heavy arms swing
A pinch-hit bat that flies
Inches above a floating curve
Do you return to the water cooler
And reflect upon a career that
Was at best luke warm?

Has Fresno any meaning at thirty
When at twenty, forty homers, 133 ribbys and .329 BA
Reflected a youthful body's
Outburst of premature excellence
That sent yet stronger winds
Of pennant fever and winning season
Into Candlestick.

Ollie "downtown" Brown
Never mastered the art in San Francisco,
Improved hits trade trade in San Diego
But soon found himself in Milwaukee
In a uniform
That let ripples drift over a waist
That accentuated a body grown tired
Of reaching for outside pitches
That were destined for pastures in Fresno
But seldom met contact in the Biggies.

The man who was supposed to have been a mainstay
In the outfield of Alou and Mays
Is fearful of that certain day
When waivers are called and cleared
For then he must claim
His pension, wasted glove and Fresno dreams.



Baseball I Gave You All the Best Years of My Life

Steven Carlton

Wikipedia - "Steven Norman Carlton (born December 22, 1944), nicknamed 'Lefty', is a former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. He pitched from 1965-1988 for six different teams in his career, but it is his time with the Philadelphia Phillies where he received his greatest acclaim as a professional and won four Cy Young Awards. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference, YouTube - Steve Carlton Strikeout montage

Mel Allen

Wikipedia - "Mel Allen (... February 14, 1913 – June 16, 1996) was an American sportscaster, best known for his long tenure as the primary play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees. During the peak of his career in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Allen was arguably the most prominent member of his profession, his voice familiar to millions. Years after his death, he is still promoted as having been the 'Voice of the New York Yankees'. In his later years, he gained a second professional life as the first host of This Week in Baseball.
Wikipedia, Mel Allen, YouTube - 1948 BASEBALL GAME with MEL ALLEN

EFQ Staff - "The All-Body Team"

C: Barry Foote
1B: Dave Brain
2B: Greg Legg
SS: Bucky Dent
3B: Jim Ray Hart
OF: Ted Beard
OF: Heinie Manush
OF: Bill Bean

RHP: Bartolo Colon
Elroy Face
Rollie Fingers
Bill Hands
Ed Head

LHP: Tony Fossas
Eddie Eayrs

BENCH: George Bone
Pinky Hargrave
Harry Cheek

MGR: Lip Pike


Elysian Fields Quarterly

Dressed to the Nines: A History of the Baseball Uniform

"There is something special about the baseball uniform, a mystique that is hard to pin down. Whether we are looking at someone in a uniform or we are trying it on ourselves, it is the feeling of the fabric, the design on the cap and jersey, the colors, cut, and history of the outfit, that all lend meaning to our relationship with the game."
Dressed to the Nines: A History of the Baseball Uniform

Tim Peeler - "Nobody Ever Stole"

like Lou Brock;
say what you will about your Henderson,
your Cobb, your Wills;
Brock went like the slash of a knife.
Baseball, track, and poker met
in the cool shift of his eyes;
the agitated pitcher peered
over his left shoulder - a weak hand of cards
against this Card - who led
so brassy and distant from the sack -
whose acrobatics made him safe
from the surest gunslinging cowboy -
who only stole when he needed,
no ninth inning ten run lead prima donna -
NOBODY EVER STOLE
like Lou Brock
on the high wire of a tenth inning tie
so incredibly
and so often.


Touching All the Bases

The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book

Wikipedia - "The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book (Little Brown, 1973) is a book written by Brendon C. Boyd & Fred C. Harris about baseball cards, primarily ones issued during the 1950s and 1960s, and the players on the cards."
Wikipedia, amazon, Dinged Corners

Tom Clark - "To Nelson Fox"

Nellie, you arrived
at Connie Mack's
wartime tryout camp
on the back of you old man's
pickup truck

You were so short
that when you stood up
you could barely see over
the side panels

But that didn't stop you
from going on to become
the greatest second baseman
in the history of the American League

Your chaw of tobacco
was as big as you were
and it was always moving
because you were always moving.

Al Lopez said you "hustled
your way to stardom"
and if anybody ought to know
it's El Senor

As a kid, I took you for granted
the way only something necessary
can be taken for granted

I never appreciated your
talent for getting hit by pitches
as much as I should have

You did it 17 times one season
who knows how many of those bruises
became permanent?

Little man, you were so tough
that when you were into the hospital last to die of cancer
you told everybody you were feeling fine


Fan Poems