The final word

Baseball can be summed up in one word — youneverknow.

             Joaquin Andujar, four-time MLB All Star

 

 

 

 

Poem: We're Human Beings

That's why we're here, said Julio Lugo
to the Globe. Sox fans booed
poor Lugo, booed his at-bat after
he dropped the ball in the pivotal fifth.

That ball, I got to it, I just
couldn't come up with it.

Lugo wants you to know
he is fast: a slower player
wouldn't even get close
enough to get booed. Lugo
wants you to know he's only
human: We're human beings.
That's why we're here. If not,

I would have wings.
I'd be beside God right now.
I'd be an angel.

But I'm not an angel.
I'm a human being that lives right here.

Next day, all
is forgiven. Lugo's home run, Lugo's
sweet comment to the press.

I wanted to make a poster like the ones that say
It's my birthday! or First Time at Fenway! or, pathetic, ESPN.
Posterboard, permanent marker to say Lugo: me, too.
I'm a human being that lives right here, decided
it's too esoteric, too ephemeral a reference, but it's true:
Oh, Lugo, Julio Lugo, I'm here with you.

                                            Jill McDonough

Popular

Baseball is very big with my people. It figures.
It's the only time we can get to shake a bat at a white man without starting a riot.

            Dick Gregory, From the Back of the Bus 

 

 

 

 

Bad pitches

I go up to hit.
    I hear people say I swing at bad pitches.
            If I can hit it, it is not a bad pitch.

                        Roberto Clemente 

A batting average over .300 for 13 of the 18 seasons he played,
     and he had 3,000 hits during his major league career. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Women in baseball

Then there’s Jackie Mitchell.
In 1931, while signed to the Chattanooga Lookouts
of the Southern Association’s Double-A league,
she pitched in an exhibition
game against the New York Yankees.
First batter she faced and struck out? Babe Ruth.
The second? Lou Gehrig.
Not too shabby for a one-pitch wonder
who had a nasty 12-6 curveball and great control.

        Nancy Doublin, No Girls Allowed: Why Aren't There Any Women In MLB?