Who follows baseball anymore?
Gone are the days when we sat
glued to our TVs and radios,
hanging on every pitch.
Tell me, Joe DiMaggio,
where have you gone?
I know, I know – to more than
a hundred countries – from the Far East,
to under the hot Caribbean sun.
There is even a league
starting up in the deserts of Dubai.
Best players are called up
to the U.S. to shore up ratings
against the tsunami onslaught
of football and basketball.
Baseball at one time,
in halcyon days, may have been
our national pastime,
but now it is crystal clear
that our national pastime
is just past its prime.
THE POETRY OF THE GAME