"Lineup for Yesterday: An ABC of Baseball Immortals" by Ogden Nash

[RichRed]

Wasn't sure where to post this: Tavern, Non-Sports Chatter?
The "What are you reading?" or "Roy's Reads" thread perhaps.
But in this case, location just doesn't matter;
Simply read this poem and enjoy it, you saps.

A is for Alex
The great Alexander;
More Goose eggs he pitched
Than a popular gander.

B is for Bresnahan
Back of the plate;
The Cubs were his love,
and McGraw his hate.

C is for Cobb,
Who grew spikes and not corn,
And made all the basemen
Wish they weren't born.

D is for Dean,
The grammatical Diz,
When they asked, Who's the tops?
Said correctly, I is.

E is for Evers,
His jaw in advance;
Never afraid
To Tinker with Chance.

F is for Fordham
And Frankie and Frisch;
I wish he were back
With the Giants, I wish.

G is for Gehrig,
The Pride of the Stadium;
His record pure gold,
His courage, pure radium.

H is for Hornsby;
When pitching to Rog,
The pitcher would pitch,
Then the pitcher would dodge.

I is for Me,
Not a hard-hitting man,
But an outstanding all-time
Incurable fan.

J is for Johnson
The Big Train in his prime
Was so fast he could throw
Three strikes at a time.

K is for Keeler,
As fresh as green paint,
The fastest and mostest
To hit where they ain't.

L is for Lajoie
Whom Clevelanders love,
Napolean himself,
With glue in his glove.

M is for Matty,
Who carried a charm
In the form of an extra
brain in his arm.

N is for Newsom,
Bobo's favorite kin.
You ask how he's here,
He talked himself in.

O is for Ott
Of the restless right foot.
When he leaned on the pellet,
The pellet stayed put.

P is for Plank,
The arm of the A's;
When he tangled with Matty
Games lasted for days.

Q is for Don Quixote
Cornelius Mack;
Neither Yankees nor years
Can halt his attack.

R is for Ruth.
To tell you the truth,
There's just no more to be said,
Just R is for Ruth.

S is for Speaker,
Swift center-field tender,
When the ball saw him coming,
It yelled, "I surrender."

T is for Terry
The Giant from Memphis
Whose .400 average
You can't overemphis.

U would be 'Ubell
if Carl were a cockney;
We say Hubbell and Baseball
Like Football and Rockne.

V is for Vance
The Dodger's very own Dazzy;
None of his rivals
Could throw as fast as he.

W is for Wagner,
The bowlegged beauty;
Short was closed to all traffic
With Honus on duty.

X is the first
of two x's in Foxx
Who was right behind Ruth
with his powerful soxx.

Y is for Young
The magnificent Cy;
People battled against him,
But I never knew why.

Z is for Zenith
The summit of fame.
These men are up there.
These men are the game.

[RBA]

Reading that makes me appreciate the members of Redszone moreso. I believe some redsonzers postings are as good as this professional writer, if not better.

[RichRed]

Originally Posted by RBA

Reading that makes me appreciate the members of Redszone moreso. I believe some redsonzers postings are as good as this professional writer, if not better.

I agree, although I like Nash, and this is far from his best work but since it's baseball-related, I thought I'd share.

BCubb, among others, could definitely give him a run for his money. But to be fair, Nash died in 1971 so he can't defend himself.

[mth123]

Love it.

[mth123]

Liked it so much, thought I'd try a Red's version.

Apologies for the groans.

A is for Anderson
George is his name
But Sparky’s the moniker
He brandished to fame

B is for Bench
The best Catcher of all
First from the Machine
To enter the Hall

C is Concepcion
And Davey could fly
He’d make plays at short
Others just couldn’t try

D is for Dunn
With the huge power bat
He hit one to Kentucky
Now how about that?

E is Ed Roush
A hitting Machine
Led the Reds to a title
In 1919.

F is for Foster
With his big black bat.
His 52 homers
Still Team’s best at that.

G is for Goodie
Ival in Right Field
A true 5 tool talent
That injury concealed.

H is for Hustle
Charlie Hustle that is.
Pete Rose was his name
And hitting his biz.

I is for Innings
Arroyo provides.
Like Billingham before him.
Theses dudes just abide.

J is for Joey
Or maybe for Jay
Now its Bruce and Votto
Who show us the way

K for Kluszewski
There’s no way to rhyme.
I’ll just say Big Klu
And won’t waste my time.

L is for Larkin
That hometown kid.
Went 30/30 from short
before anyone did.

M is Morgan
Little Joe in the Hall
On the Big Red Machine
The Best Player of All.

N is for Nuxhall
A great Red for all time
He debuted at 15
And still lives in my mind.

O is for Oliver
A Catcher named Joe.
Was the guy to whom
The Nasty Boys would throw.

P is for Perez
The Doggie to some.
The classy leader
Who could drive in a run.

Q is for Queen
That’s Mel on the mound.
He could also hit
Which would really astound.

R is for Robby
A Reds MVP
Might be the best ever
To play in Cincy

S is for Soto
Of the Circle Change
Hitters couldn’t touch it
They found it quite strange.

T is Tom Terrific
Yeah, Seaver played here.
A true ace on the mound
For 5 really good years.

U is underhanded
Like Abernathy and Sully
We could use more like them
To bolster our Bully.

V is for Vada.
Pinson in Center Field
A true great of the game
If truth be revealed.

W is for Walters
Bucky dominated games.
With Derringer paired with him
He led the team to much fame.

X in the middle of
Eppa Rixey’s surname.
The Reds have a pitcher
In the Hall of Fame?

Y is for Youth
Its the movement and how
Will add new names to this rhyme
20 years from now.

Z ends the Schnozz
Lombardi’s his name.
The other Reds Catcher
In the Hall of Fame.

[RichRed]

Nicely done, mth!

[redsmetz]

Originally Posted by RichRed

Nicely done, mth!

I agree, although if I was grading, I'd have to mark it down ever so slightly for overlooking the extra "d" in Edd Roush's name. And Pinson's deserving of the "V" verse, but what a shame to miss out on Vander Meer.

[mth123]

Originally Posted by redsmetz

I agree, although if I was grading, I'd have to mark it down ever so slightly for overlooking the extra "d" in Edd Roush's name. And Pinson's deserving of the "V" verse, but what a shame to miss out on Vander Meer.

Thought of verses verses for Vander Meer, McKechnie, Griffey, Gullett, Sweet Lou, Cardenas, Sabo just couldn't use them all.

Originally had Pinson under P and Vander Meer under V, but remembered Perez and switched it around. Since Seaver is more of a Met in most minds, should have done T for Tony instead of Tom Terrific.