HAPPY FELTON’S KNOT HOLE GANG

So what if my European father
never played catch with me.
So what if I cried like a baby
when Kevin Costner played catch
with his father in “Field of Dreams.”
I had my own dreams with Happy Felton
who ran a televised kid’s show before
every home game of my beloved Brooklyn Dodgers.
Three youngsters would run, throw and field
with some larger-than-life Dodger hero
who judged the best 10 year old athlete.
I was that kid fielding a ground ball,
circling under a pop-up and throwing
a major league hardball as fast as I could.
In my reverie I always won and Happy,
smiling, would ask me my name, my face
broadcast all over the tri-state area.
Sometimes, I think of Happy now
as I toss a baseball from hand to hand,
and think of the times when my only wish in life
was to star in Happy Felton’s Knot Hole Gang program.