Baseball, woven into
the fabric of our lives
is being torn asunder,
shredded by the violence of football
and the video game pace of basketball.
Stands empty, fans age,
games start and end too late
while the cost of a family outing
at a local big league park
can devour a week’s wages.
Kids nowadays look for glory
as quarterbacks and point guards,
and nobody ever listens to games
broadcast on the radio anymore
by the likes of Scully and Barber.
Once there was a fair chance
that any team could win the pennant,
but now money stalks the batter’s box,
and only a few big market teams
can vie for the best players.
With its slow pace, baseball
has dropped the fly ball of its appeal,
and if changes aren’t made soon,
the game will drift into a sepia-tinged
memory in the annals of American history.
THE POETRY OF THE GAME