Another Dan Quisenberry Poem

I had high hopes of having the 1961 season write up ready to go this morning, but life happened. Instead, I offer another poem written by the late Dan Quisenberry from the collection On Days Like This.

BASEBALL CARDS

that first baseball card I saw myself
in a triage of rookies
atop the bodies
that made the hill
we played king of
I am the older one
the one on the right
game-face sincere
long red hair unkempt
a symbol of the ’70s
somehow a sign of manhood
you don’t see
how my knees shook on my debut
or my desperation to make it

the second one I look boyish with a gap-toothed smile
the smile of a guy who has it his way
expects it
I rode the wave’s crest
of pennant and trophies
I sat relaxed with one thought
“I can do this”
you don’t see
me stay up till two
reining in nerves
or post-game hands that shook involuntarily

glory years catch action shots
arm whips and body contortions
a human catapult
the backs of those cards
cite numbers
that tell stories of saves, wins, flags, records
handshakes, butt slaps, celebration mobs
you can’t see
the cost of winning
lines on my forehead under the hat
trench line between my eyes
you don’t see my wife, daughter and son
left behind

the last few cards
I do not smile
I grim-face the camera
tight lipped
no more forced poses to win fans
eyes squint
scanning distance
crow’s-feet turn into eagle’s claws
you don’t see
the quiver in my heart
knowledge that it is over
just playing out the end

I look back
at who I thought I was
or used to be
now, trying to be funny
I tell folks
I used to be famous
I used to be good
they say
we thought you were bigger
I say
I was

A Mollycoddle Game

If you are looking for something to do on your day off, check out the President’s Day quizzes from Coffeyville Whirlwind over the past two years. 2007 here. 2006 here. 

Though the American League has a Washington DC franchise from the beginning in 1901, a President did not attend a game until William Howard Taft did so in April of 1909. From 1901-1908, the sitting President was Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt was known as a sportsman, but found baseball tedious and less strenuous than the sports he preferred. He referred to the emerging national pastime as a “mollycoddle game.” In fact, the only reason Teddy even acknowledged the game was due to the fact that his son Quentin loved to play basebal, and often practiced on the White House lawn.

Still, Roosevelt never attended a major league game while in office, despite the fact that baseball issued him a lifetime pass in 1907.

In June of 1909, after Teddy had left office, Grantland Rice wrote “A Tip to Teddy,” a poem that was published in baseball magazine:

That’s the only job for you, take your tip now, Theodore,
Think of how your pulse will leap when you hear the angry roar.
Of the bleacher gods in rage, you will find the action there,
Which you’ve hunted for in vain, in the Presidential chair.
Chasing mountain lions and such, catching grizzlies will seem tame,
Lined up with the jolt you’ll get in the thick of some close game.
Choking angry wolves to death as a sport will stack up raw,
When you see Kid Elberfeld swinging for your under jaw.
When you hear Hugh Jennings roar, “Call them strikes, you lump of cheese!”
Or McGraw rushing in, kicking at your shins and knees.

Roger Patrick: Grid Painting #4

Click on the picture to see a larger version. If someone can name all of the players in the painting I will be very impressed (I haven’t been able to yet, though I haven’t spent a lot of time trying either).

Check out the artist’s website here.

Lazy Friday

I thought I might be finished with Game 3 of the 1987 World Series DVD in time to write it up for today, but that didn’t happen. Instead of offering my thoughts on the Twins’ series with the Tigers this week (an exercise that would not only cause me to echo a lot of the complaints that are already out there, but would also cause indigestion), I give you one of my favorite baseball photographs:

This picture was featured on a Star Tribune poster that was a give away at the Dome this weekend, unfortunately it was not the give away at the game I attended (though the Joe Mauer bat is significant - it is the first free item my son has gotten at a ballgame).

This weekend my family and I will attend a vintage baseball tournament. I’ll have a full report, hopefully with pictures, on Monday. In the meantime, make sure to check out the blog at TwinsCards, and feel free to join today’s discussion.

My First Baseball Video Game

Major League Baseball Intellivision 1980

Look at those graphics!

The old Intellivision system is probably how I first learned about a lot of the rules of baseball. I remember naming the players (most of batters were Jose Cruz and the pitchers were Nolan Ryan - I was an Astros fan early), and having tournaments by myself. I also got in plenty of games against my dad.

Intellivision was the video game system that had controllers that looked a bit like our telephones look today.

Each game came with little cards that you slide into the controller. Here is the overlay for MLB:

Pretty nifty.

From the catalog description:

The crowd roars as the nine man home team sprints out onto the field. Then you and your opponent use all the tricks in the book to score the winning run.

You control all the action — balls and strikes, hit and run, double plays and stolen bases. And it’s not over until the last out of the ninth inning!

• Two players
• Nine full innings
• Control pitching, fielding, base running, batting

The Ballad of Bombo Rivera

by Garrison Keillor and The Powdermilk Biscuit Band
(written by Garrison Keillor)

[Intro] Well here it is, another spring and the Minnesota Twins of 1978. And
I know we all wish that Calvin had traded for a left-handed pitcher to keep
those right-handed hitters from crowding the plate. And I know we were all
sorry to lose that Lyman Bostock and that Larry Hisle. And some folks
talkin’ about not goin’ out to the ballpark as a form of revenge or
reprisal.

But now here comes a fellow who just kinda makes you forget all that has
occurred.
He’s a guy you’d want to come up to bat with two out in the bottom of the
ninth and the Twins with men on first and third.
Last year for Denver he batted .302 with 95 runs batted in.
Bombo Rivera is his name, and this year he’s a Twin!

[Chorus]
Bombo, Bombo
Bombo Rivera
What other guys just hit one of
Bombo, he hits a pair-a!
It takes two to tango and two to mambo
But you can do it all with just one Bombo
Bombo Rivera will carry us to victory!

Well all the men love Bombo
‘Cause he’s a guy who came to play.
And all the women love him
‘Cause his name ends in E-R-A.
You can have apple pie,
You can take my mom
We’re gonna win the flag
‘Cause we’ve got The Bomb.
Bombo Rivera will carry us to victory!

Well we went to the game and we yelled his name
And he tipped his hat and smiled.
The count was 3 and 2, and the pitcher threw
The crowd about went wild!
It was a southpaw pitcher
But the ball went nort’
Up through the hole
Between third and short!
Bombo Rivera will carry us to victory!

(Chorus)

Well all the kids love Bombo
‘Cause he plays the game for fun.
And we know that God loves Bombo
‘Cause God loves everyone.
And He loves a guy who waves and laughs
And stays around late to sign the autographs.
Bombo Rivera will carry us to victory!

Well, Mr. Bombo, this Biscuit combo
Plays a whole lot like you.
They swing away, see how loose they play?
But they do what they have to do.
Well here comes the sun
It looks like spring
The Twins just won
And I’ve gotta sing!
Bombo Rivera will carry us to victory!

Dan Quisenberry

With the Twins set for a three game series in Kansas City, I thought it would be a good time to feature some poetry from an all-time great.

SWITCH HITTER (1998)

i miss pitching so much
don’t miss it at all, sick of it

i’ll miss baseball forever, an old high school flame
burnt out, want nothing to do with it

it’s part of me, like an extra limb or another ear
cut it off, numbed, like it happened to someone else

gave all of me to the game: head, heart, body, soul
gave nothing to it: zero

baseball was clear, focused, true
baseball was confusion, a roller coaster, a lie

learned so much
discovered nothing

i yearn for the attention, the dance of the big game
it was p.r. events that were meaningless, roars with no passion

i want a hat that tells me who I belong to
the logos were from cities I wasn’t from

the game sings its siren song for my soul
i’m a mercenary who wants peace

i don’t need another word of it
i’m synonymous with it

i’ve seen enough, heard enough
wonder who they’re playing tonight?

-from Quisenberry’s collection in Days Like This

The Berenguer Boogie

cover scan from TwinsCards.com

See the video here, posted at SBG’s site a couple of months back.

I am proud to say that I owned the VHS version of the Boogie, and it was a well watched tape.

Baseball art or kitsch? You decide.

Ogden Nash

Lineup for Yesterday (1949)

A is for Alex
The great Alexander;
More Goose eggs he pitched
Than a popular gander.

B is for Bresnahan
Back of the plate;
The Cubs were his love,
and McGraw his hate.

C is for Cobb,
Who grew spikes and not corn,
And made all the basemen
Wish they weren’t born.

D is for Dean,
The grammatical Diz,
When they asked, Who’s the tops?
Said correctly, I is.

E is for Evers,
His jaw in advance;
Never afraid
To Tinker with Chance.

F is for Fordham
And Frankie and Frisch;
I wish he were back
With the Giants, I wish.

G is for Gehrig,
The Pride of the Stadium;
His record pure gold,
His courage, pure radium.

H is for Hornsby;
When pitching to Rog,
The pitcher would pitch,
Then the pitcher would dodge.

I is for Me,
Not a hard-hitting man,
But an outstanding all-time
Incurable fan.

J is for Johnson
The Big Train in his prime
Was so fast he could throw
Three strikes at a time.

K is for Keeler,
As fresh as green paint,
The fastest and mostest
To hit where they ain’t.

L is for Lajoie
Whom Clevelanders love,
Napolean himself,
With glue in his glove.

M is for Matty,
Who carried a charm
In the form of an extra
brain in his arm.

N is for Newsom,
Bobo’s favorite kin.
You ask how he’s here,
He talked himself in.

O is for Ott
Of the restless right foot.
When he leaned on the pellet,
The pellet stayed put.

P is for Plank,
The arm of the A’s;
When he tangled with Matty
Games lasted for days.

Q is for Don Quixote
Cornelius Mack;
Neither Yankees nor years
Can halt his attack.

R is for Ruth.
To tell you the truth,
There’s just no more to be said,
Just R is for Ruth.

S is for Speaker,
Swift center-field tender,
When the ball saw him coming,
It yelled, “I surrender.”

T is for Terry
The Giant from Memphis
Whose .400 average
You can’t overemphis.

U would be ‘Ubell
if Carl were a cockney;
We say Hubbell and Baseball
Like Football and Rockne.

V is for Vance
The Dodger’s very own Dazzy;
None of his rivals
Could throw as fast as he.

W is for Wagner,
The bowlegged beauty;
Short was closed to all traffic
With Honus on duty.

X is the first
of two x’s in Foxx
Who was right behind Ruth
with his powerful soxx.

Y is for Young
The magnificent Cy;
People battled against him,
But I never knew why.

Z is for Zenith
The summit of fame.
These men are up there.
These men are the game.

Jessica Gandolf

“Sam Rice, Circles” 2002