Why are foul lines and foul poles in fair territory? It’s a familiar
Yet comforting start, but it sets the tone for baseball’s verbal
Oddities worthy of a valedictory speech by Casey Stengel.
Why is it a home run instead of the more accurate run home
Or the even better trot home, because when was the last time
A hitter ran around the bases? Why is home plate not called home
Base? Why is it okay to treat an injured player but not to doctor
A baseball? Why were bonus babies in the 1950’s clearly grown?
Why doesn’t a bench coach try to improve the dugout bench?
And what was the dugout dug out of? How can a base runner
See daylight in a night game? How can one be accused of stealing
A base when it’s exactly where it was at the start of the game?
Why is the fourth hitter in a lineup batting cleanup even if
He leads off the second inning? What is there to clean?
Why are the seats called the stands when fans usually sit there?
How can a player boot a ground ball when his hands are involved,
Not his feet? How did Cleveland win 111 games out of 154 in 1954,
On the strength of a powerful pitching staff of Lemon, Wynn, Garcia
And Feller, only to lose the World Series in four straight games to the
New York Giants, winners of only 96? And this last question has kept me
Up at night so often that I am now supporting the melatonin industry
All by myself: Why did my team not win the wild card and beyond when
They won 101 games in the regular season? Why did you do this to me in 2022,
My beloved New York Mets? Why? Oh, why??
THE POETRY OF THE GAME