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Poetry Sunday: Analysis of Baseball

Baseball is a simple game: You throw the ball, you hit the ball, you catch the ball. It's only in the endless permutations of those activities that it gets complicated.

 This has been a fun season for Astros fans so far. In spite of having four starting pitchers on the disabled list at one time, and, now, their All-Star shortstop and potential league MVP on the disabled list, the team has persevered and has done well. 

 But it is a long season and the dog days of summer are when the true winners are finally separated from the pretenders, so we'll see. Fingers crossed...

 May Swenson certainly understood the simple game of baseball and she analyzed it perfectly.

 Analysis of Baseball

 by May Swenson

It's about
the ball,
the bat,
and the mitt.
Ball hits
bat, or it
hits mitt.
Bat doesn't
hit ball, bat
meets it.
Ball bounces
off bat, flies
air, or thuds
ground (dud)
or it
fits mitt.

Bat waits
for ball
to mate.
Ball hates
to take bat's
bait. Ball
flirts, bat's
late, don't
keep the date.
Ball goes in
(thwack) to mitt,
and goes out
(thwack) back
to mitt.

Ball fits
mitt, but
not all
the time.
Sometimes
ball gets hit
(pow) when bat
meets it,
and sails
to a place
where mitt
has to quit
in disgrace.
That's about
the bases
loaded,
about 40,000
fans exploded.

It's about
the ball,
the bat,
the mitt,
the bases
and the fans.
It's done
on a diamond,
and for fun.
It's about
home, and it's
about run.
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Comments

  1. CarmenJuly 23, 2017 at 8:06 PM

    It catches the spirit of the game perfectly. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersJuly 23, 2017 at 10:51 PM

      It does, doesn't it? I think Swenson must have loved the game.

      Delete
  2. Judy KruegerJuly 24, 2017 at 2:52 PM

    Great poem! Baseball is the only sport I enjoy watching.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersJuly 24, 2017 at 3:09 PM

      Baseball's my game and the Astros are my team so I'm enjoying this season quite a lot.

      Delete
  3. AnonymousMarch 3, 2026 at 10:43 AM

    I love baseball and I did not know this poem existed My teacher is making my friend do it and that makes him shang chi

    ReplyDelete

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