It’s possible some employees of the St. Louis Cardinals organization tampered with the Houston Astros player database. The Cardinals look bad, which is almost as good as other teams doing well. Still, it’s particularly embarrassing for an organization that prides…
Author: olabner
Welcome! I've followed baseball since I was 8 years old and started this site to illustrate the beauty of the game in prose, poetry, and photography.
I have a Master's in Creative Writing at Missouri State University. For my thesis I wrote a collection of nonfiction micro essays about working in remote Alaska fishing lodges for five summers in my 20s.
After graduation I worked as a northern lights guide in Bettles, Alaska, for 8 months. You can find my favorite aurora photographs at bestnorthernlights.com
I am a freelance writer and photographer. You can find my portfolio at maryellenchiles.com
Does a game in June mean less if the team doesn’t play in October? It is more pleasant to rake up leaves with a radio playing in the background. And it is nice to think that the whole world thinks…
As a child, I asked my parents what I’d done wrong when the Cards were called off. I sat in the middle seat of a green Suburban, surrounded by brothers and sisters. We were closing in on the stadium. I…
He waited at third. As if anyone ever waits at third, standing around watching the sun dipping toward the seats along the top of the stadium. If you sit up there you’re likely to believe you might tumble down, knocking…
Instead of sitting in a living room, he stood in a cage. Instead of checking on others, he learned to check his swing. Instead of watching movies, he watched film. Instead of seeking to fill out a tee, he swung…
He held his quad and yelled with pain. And then his teammate did, too. And the Cardinals lost both Matt Adams and Matt Holliday. Not to say they can’t make it up. Not to say they cannot score more than…
He twitches, and pouts, and stares. He watches a man standing on a pile of dirt. The man on the pile glares. The first man, called a Thief, takes his pace: 1, 2, 3 down the line. The second man,…
A year ago, he’d played his first major league game. He hit a home run. The fans yelled for more. He took off his helmet, and waved. He smiled. He would do it again: line a pitch over the right…
In the future, the fields will be small, because the players won’t grow up. by
A pitcher tried to hit with a runner at third. The runner scraped his toe along the third baseline until his laces turned dusty. The man at home took a pitch, and took another one. He knocked mud off of…