At the moment, nothing. But still. by
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
When the sun slips into a dusky grey, one gathers gloves with some reluctance. One picks up bats that lean against a backstop, and searches for baseballs in the tall grass somewhere in left center. Of course, there is a…
For you will remember if you stayed or not. When the others clap and cheer. When they carry golden bobbleheads around, and half-full cups of beer. It’s easy to stay when the sun pours over the top of the highest…
It won’t be so awful in three months. Another pitcher will climb out of the minor leagues, trading $5 lunches for far better options. He will startle with his curve, his cutter or his sinker. We may know him now….
He throws curveballs that buckle knees, and stands on the mound when no one else will do. Because he plays in the National League, he stands at the plate every nine batters. And sometimes he smacks a hit into right…
This one walked to the plate and knocked mud off his shoes, like he’d been digging for potatoes all afternoon and hadn’t changed yet. He didn’t care to wait under the lights for a minute longer. So he swung on…
At first I found my base. And a former Cardinal, Colby Rasmus, who signed baseball cards when he had a minute. Last year’s AL batting champ, Jose Altuve, took his swings. That’s him on the left. I watched the first…
Here, the players stretch and run across the field. They lean against batting cages and wait to hit. They dance to Daft Punk. They sign for people carrying folders of baseball cards. Fans lean over the top of the dugout…
May you stand in centerfield and twirl dandelion stems between your fingertips. At times, though, you will stand on your toes, your body stressed before a sprint to someplace that lies before you. You will stretch out for a sinking…
I worked during the Cardinals game today. And so I checked the score between swigs of coffee. I sat on a bench along Lake Washington, with boats shadowing the water and Rainier shimmering. I assumed St. Louis stayed ahead during…