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Handful of haikus tell a Babe Ruth story

6:49 AM Fri, May 29, 2009 |
By Sheila Lennon    Email this author |   Email this entry

Just a year ago, some of you took me up on the invitation to Try your hand at baseball haiku.

Jack Zerby found the post last month, and asked if multi-stanza haiku -- a few innings of it -- would be acceptable. It is to me, but the comments form kept eating it. I suggested he email it, and he did.

It wants to be read, I think, in a rhythm that includes long pauses -- it's a haiku slideshow.

Jack writes,

I'm a SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) member, so the historical aspect appeals to me a little more than a one-stanza baseball "picture." Maybe this isn't the right medium, but I've had fun with the ones I've done so far:


The Babe In The 'Burgh: May 25, 1935


The Babe, rejected
By both Yankees and Dodgers,
Landed with Boston.

 

Woebegone Braves, the
Laughingstock of the NL;
Would win thirty-eight.

 

So bad they became
"Bees" in thirty-six; hiding -
No pride of Boston.

 

But Babe came aboard
Age forty in thirty-five;
Attraction for fans.

 

Hobbling out to right -
Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, late May;
Babe hit like old times.

 

Seven-eleven
Round-trippers already logged
With three more this day -

 

Last cleared roof in right,
Seventh inning, off Guy Bush . . .
Magic seven-fourteen.

 

A week later, Babe
Retired. Seven-fourteen stood
Thirty-nine years.

-- Jack Zerby


ruth1_250.jpg


The Beckett Blog posted this photo a couple of years ago, sent in by a collector, of Ruth crossing the plate that day, and tells the backstory as Unique Photo: Babe Ruth's Final Home Run.


Want to play? Can you be pithy about Big Papi or Papelbon? Post your baseball haiku of any length in comments.

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2 Comments

Jack Zerby said:

Thanks, Sheila. This is a great photo--I'd never seen it before. The blog where it's posted makes an interesting point contrasting the extent of media coverage when Barry Bonds "broke" the 714 record with the all-in-a-day's-work attitudes here.

Note the Babe, gentleman to the end, with the slight cap tip as he crosses the plate . . .

Link | May 29, 2009 3:39 PM
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Sheila Lennon said:

Jack, I think brains are on vacation. Or they're all Twittering to each other.

Google will deliver the next batch.

I'm glad I could show you something new, too.

Link | May 30, 2009 11:57 PM
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