FIELD OF NIGHTMARES

In the escapist years right after The War to End All Wars
(Which it did not do) Major Leaguers sometimes,
Ending Spring Training and on their way north from
The Sunshine State, tripped over a minor league
Stadium in Nashville that was to baseball fields
What catfish are to detritus, the bottom-feeder
Of the world of stadiums. Sulphur Dell had lengthy
Left and center fields but 262 feet to a wall in right
That could tame and shame the Green Monster at Fenway.
Those players roaming that area were termed mountain goats;
They faced the daily challenge of a hill that rose from level ground
More than 22 feet to the Mount Everest of walls
(And players who stopped by snickered that Sulphur Dell
Was properly pronounced “Suffer Hell”)

One day the townsfolk took a brief vacation
And crowded all those swampland seats to see
The Yankees and the Cardinals play each other on their way home.
The Babe stared at right field, shook his head, and then declared:
“I won’t play on any field that a starving cow would refuse
To graze on.” Sometimes a baseball tale is valued
For the smile that it brings to the reader. In that light,
The Sultan of Swat that day hit a homer without laying
His hands on that 42-ounce piece of ash that he could swing.