Crazy Eddie sold beer nuts at Veteran's Field
back when a man was a man
and a woman was a tomato
Dodge vans curled along the ridgeline stuffed
with migrant workers
promised some real relaxation
Jim and me drank beer in the bleachers
ate peanuts, watched the second baseman
stealing signs of the apocalypse from the catcher
The road to the stadium was a long Via Delarosa
for those poor wetbacks
tar baby eyes weary with hope
Their first baseball game
their first exposure to the National Pastime
"Look!," I cried, pointed my ball park frank
All heads turned
The Outfielder, a well known bonus baby
had clobbered a sinking slider
It sailed like a bat
out of the park
across the Rio Grande, the aliens cheered like crazy
That night we drank with Oaxacan grape pickers
Sinaloan chicken pluckers, Yucatucan taxi drivers
at Rosa's Cantina
"Explain hombre", they begged,
moustachio's foamed with Coronas,
"the true meaning of baseball"
I thought about it
the earth shifted, crosses smoked and turned to ash
"Jackie Robinson," I finally said, "stealing home"
Adding your comment:
does that make me bilingual...but I don't speak baseball, which sure has changed since the days of Jackie Robinson. I know less about baseball than the pickers, pluckers and taxi drivers, but I do know that Smoltz is doing great right now. Again.. great story!
