"Two decades after Spalding discontinued the spongy hollow ball that inspired the urban pastime of stickball, stores will start selling it again." -The New York Times, May 5, 1999
How like 20 yrs. hath your absence been
From NY streets, while your true lovers-Sal, Dean,
Tommy Davis, et al. (oh what dark days seen!)
Lust for your return Spaldeen. Spaldeen!
Soft pink hollow ball that means Summer Time,
& even if I missed making All Dean's
list because of too much stickball in my Prime-
Oh gods call down your blessings on Spaldeen!
Yet, this fortunate return has set sorrow free,
Tho your long absence had cast a pall keen.
Two decades lost! But what new games await thee!
Without you our broomstick bats were mute, Spaldeen!
Only tenured philosophers know what this might all mean-
The glorious return of the spongy ball Spaldeen.
Elysian Fields Quarterly
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