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