This poem’s title is from Gertrude Stein’s “Sacred Emily.” The quotes in the poem are from A. Bartlett Giamatti’s A Great and Glorious Game.
“It breaks your heart.
It is designed to break your heart.”
Yes, I’m Commissioner Giamatti,
Baseball’s renaissance Bart.
“The game begins in the spring,
when everything else begins again.”
Young Petey didn’t begin playing ball
In some Little League gambler’s den.
“And it blossoms in the summer,
Filling the afternoons and evenings.”
With playful innocence and integrity,
He played Rookie of the Year innings.
“And then as soon as the chill rains come,
It stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.”
As a fading star and manager,
Peter Edward Rose bet on his own.
“You count on it,
Rely on it to buffer the passage of time.”
Fans counted on me, depended on MLB,
To call the betting a crime.
“To keep the memory of sunshine
And high skies alive.”
The bloom was off the Rose;
I banned him from baseball for life.
“And then just when the days are all twilight,
When you need it most, it stops.”
His Hall of Fame creds were extinct,
The man a triceratops.
“Of course, there are those who learn after the first few times.
They grow out of sports.”
Sure, Charlie tried to hustle me,
Appealing to the courts.
“And there are others who were born
With the wisdom to know that nothing lasts.”
Trump’s lackey, Manfred, litigated
My ban, dimming the game’s glorious past.
“These are the truly tough among us, the ones who can live without illusion,
Or without even the hope of illusion.”
Now Cooperstown must confront
Its Veterans Committee’s voting confusion.
“I am not that grown-up
Or up-to-date.”
So, childlike, I ponder,
What should be Pete’s fate?
“I am a simpler creature,
Tied to more primitive patterns and cycles.”
The book of baseball bylaws
Is verily one of my bibles.
“I need to think something lasts forever,
And it might as well be that state of being that is a game.”
My ballot? No, Mr. Rose, no.
For you, only the Hall of Shame.
“It might as well be that,
In a green field, in the sun.”
I’m on the wrong side of history.
Grifters and gamblers have—this day—won.