No one who had experienced as much death as I had
would ever call baseball a life-or-death matter,
but winning was next-most in importance
And I would do anything to win:
doctor the grounds to favor our team;
scour the rule book for technicalities that favored us
(and scream loudly when other used technicalities against us);
try to sign players like Charlie Grant and William Mathews;
sign reprobates like Donlin and Raymond and Chase,
thinking I could rehabilitate them.
And I apologize for none of it:
we won far more often than not.
THE POETRY OF THE GAME