Baseball's Opening Week! National Poetry Month

Batter up! It's baseball's opening week at ball parks across the U.S. Whether or not you are a fan, you recognize this harbinger of spring. For most of us fans, it's a time for hope that this year, our team will do better. Our local newspaper this morning proclaims "New era finally dawns for 2017 Twins," and fans will turn out to see if it is so.

 And yes, baseball is poetry, too. I'd like to introduce you to poet Elizabeth Healy, who has granted permission for me to use her poem here. Liz is, among other things, a caregiver and one of a large family of die-hard baseball fans. Here's how she would like to experience the game:

WITH MY EYES CLOSED

by Elizabeth Healy

I want to use my other senses first
Hear the vendors calling us to slake our thirst
and the home plate umpire being roundly cursed

I want to smell the grass as sweet as heather
The sweat of fans enjoying the hot weather
and the intoxicating scent of an old mitt's leather

I want to taste ballpark fare and sup
on hotdogs slathered in mustard and ketchup
and drink a cold beverage from a paper cup

I want to feel the crunch of peanut shells beneath my feet,
to squeeze myself into the plastic seat
and enjoy the too short season of sizzling summer heat

I want to see the sky a periwinkle blue
the shamrock green outfield grass--such a peaceful hue
and the white of home a place for every heart that's true

I want to embrace the game with all my senses
to leave behind all worries and pretenses
in the magic place that's found between the fences.

Thanks, Liz! This and other poems are found in Liz's book and so he calls, available here.

Take us out to the ball game, and remember to comment on the previous post for a chance to win one of Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell's books!

Play Ball!

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/txnicole/3813159381/sizes/m/in/photostream/, Creative Commons, Some rights reserved by mistycabal)

Baseball season is well underway, and if you're a fan, you probably have disagreed with the umpires a time or two already. Did you know that the first female baseball umpire was a South Dakotan?

Amanda Clement, now in the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame, never umped a pro game, but umpired many amateur games and later coached athletes in many sports. At 5 feet, 10 inches, her height was a great advantage in making correct calls, as in those days the umpire stood behind the pitcher

Clement's story caught the interest of Yankton, South Dakota, author, Marilyn Kratz. She turned her research findings into a newly released book for children, Umpire in a Skirt. The South Dakota State Historical Society Press offers more information and an interview with Marilyn here.

(Umpire making the call on a man sliding into home plate during a baseball game between Washington and the Boston Red Sox,between 1910 and 1930,No known restrictions on publication, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division )

It's possible that Clement was responsible for a scenario like that expressed in the classic "Mighty Casey at the Bat." STEEE_RIKE!

Let's wrap this up with the seventh inning stretch favorite:

Who are you root, root, rooting for?