THE ORIOLES OF OLD
When I was a kid (in the age of Nero!)
You needn't look far to find a hero
I found a bunch down on 33rd
at Memorial Stadium, the home of the Birds
Me 'n' the boys loved to sit in the bleachers
And take in the ballyard and all of its features
The greenest grass on the whole East Coast
and a roster of players, well, I don't wanna boast
But Brooks Robinson was my favorite Bird
Wielding his bat and fielding at third
And the 20-game winners tossed it right down the alley
Pat Dobson and Cuellar, Palmer, McNally
A mountain named Boog took care of first base
And along came Frank Robby for a true pennant chase
And when we were losing and down in the dumps
The skipper, Earl Weaver, would dump on the umps!
Yep, those were the days, when it felt so carefree
And the players stayed years (for Brooks, twenty-three)
But the stadium's gone and now salaries soar
And free agents pack up and leave Baltimore
But I still recall fondly when we had a blast
Rooting that magical team of the past!
When I was a kid (in the age of Nero!)
You needn't look far to find a hero
I found a bunch down on 33rd
at Memorial Stadium, the home of the Birds
Me 'n' the boys loved to sit in the bleachersAnd take in the ballyard and all of its features
The greenest grass on the whole East Coast
and a roster of players, well, I don't wanna boast
But Brooks Robinson was my favorite Bird
Wielding his bat and fielding at third
And the 20-game winners tossed it right down the alley
Pat Dobson and Cuellar, Palmer, McNally
A mountain named Boog took care of first baseAnd along came Frank Robby for a true pennant chase
And when we were losing and down in the dumps
The skipper, Earl Weaver, would dump on the umps!
Yep, those were the days, when it felt so carefreeAnd the players stayed years (for Brooks, twenty-three)
But the stadium's gone and now salaries soar
And free agents pack up and leave Baltimore
But I still recall fondly when we had a blastRooting that magical team of the past!
Note 1: Great minds think alike. I was committed to this topic for the letter "O" and noticed my sis is also rooting the O's on her blog!
Note 2: As hard as I tried, I could not figure out how to rhyme anything with "Luis Aparicio", so at least I had to get his mellifluous name in a footnote.
Note 3: A tip of the Bird Cap to the Murrays who got me a brick from the old stadium. It resides in a place of honor on my dresser. And, hey, the new stadium is wonderful, too.
Note 2: As hard as I tried, I could not figure out how to rhyme anything with "Luis Aparicio", so at least I had to get his mellifluous name in a footnote.
Note 3: A tip of the Bird Cap to the Murrays who got me a brick from the old stadium. It resides in a place of honor on my dresser. And, hey, the new stadium is wonderful, too.
10 comments:
I hated the Oriels because I was a Reds fan and Boog Powell made me even madder back in '71 (was it?) I was in 5th grade and I sneaked my transister radio in to class to listen...with the headphone hidden under a pancho...even though it was 90 degrees in So Cal...and I would keep all the boys in class informed on the score....I never got caught but in retrospect I think the teacher knew.
Good "O" post!
Go O's! A post Bawlmer would be proud of, Hun! (note: proud is pronounced prayod and post is pronounced payost.)
M: Ah, the transistor radio in school..earphone cord up the sleeve...great memories. Sorry about Boog, sorry about taking Frank Robinson....not! I like the Reds too. Didn't like what the Mets did in '69. Or the Pirates in '71. Or the Yankees, any year.
Margaret: Thanks, Hun (pronounced "hoin", and it's really the only term of endearment in existence in Bawlmer, far as I know)
I'm not much into sports, but I enjoyed your poem. I think you did great with the rhymes even if you couldn't fit Aparicio into it. When I really want to use a certain word in a poem, but there are no rhymes to go with it, I sometimes put it in a different part of the line instead of at the end. Sometimes it will work out that way. My husband and sons are into watching the Cleveland Indians play when they can get there once in a while or on TV when they can't.
Daisy: I guess I could have invoked Star Wars and rhymed Aparicio with C3PO? Almost? Maybe not? And, yeah, by virtue of where I now live, I follow the Tribe pretty closely.
Home Run!!!! :D
I'm not much of a baseball fan, but I liked your poem.
Maybe you could think of several words to string together to rhyme with it instead of trying to find a one word rhyme. It might end up being a near rhyme, but those work too. Or you might rhyme just the very last syllable of Aparicio with a short word like "go" or "throw." Trying to think of what words might be used in a baseball poem, some suggestions might be:
bottom of the ninth, three outs to go
well what do you know
the pitcher came out, ready to throw
the fans were yelling, "Way to go!"
one two three---three strikes in a row
HA! Obviously, my knowledge of baseball terminology is rather limited. :D
What a fabulous post...your poems are out of this world PERFECT!!! Love it.
As I posted on Margaret's blog yesterday, I wasn't too happy with what the O's did to the Tribe in '96. But we did turn the tables the next year. And what the heck? The O's did have the immortal Albert Belle on their roster for awhile. They did the White Sox a favor on that one, after the White Sox did one for the Tribe.
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