I’ve been wondering about the players in the college wood bat league in Ozark. I meant to attend more games this summer, but I spent so many innings at ballparks this year that I stopped going for a little while….
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
Guests in town. I wonder what it’s like to be these ones. Maybe it’s worth trying things instead of wondering. I tend to think this way. by
If you missed it, check out part one. Ryan Casteel plays first base for the Double-A Arkansas Travelers, and a month ago we chatted. So, I asked. How do you deal with failure, anyway? “You can hit a ball on…
I took a photo of this ballplayer in June and I wondered how he got here. So I wrote this: “Can he hit a curveball? How many times has he taken cuts at batting cages attached to mini-golf courses? Maybe…
St. Louis Cardinal outfielder Randal Grichuk made a brief stop at Double-A Springfield on July 19. He tied the game with a 3-run home run en route to an 8-4 win. Then he signed autographs and posed for pictures. Seems…
It looked – well, not too rocky for the SGF to the Death team that day They had not five but four but they were ready to play The fifth was climbing 14ers, somewhere west of here The rest said…
June and July at Hammons Field, Springfield, MO (Just a few of the thousands …) by
Kolten Wong flew with the Baby Birds for a few days this month. Flap, flap. He chased popups at full-speed, and joked with his teammates. by
A few photos from the July 6 game between the Springfield Cardinals and the Midland Rockhounds, a game the Baby Birds won 2-1. Read about the infield triple before you leave. Midland RockHounds shortstop Richie Martin blows bubbles in the…
Springfield played the Frisco RoughRiders, the Texas Rangers affiliate. Sometime – maybe during batting practice – a player split his bat into pieces and left them in the photo well. The Cardinals, meanwhile, splintered plenty of pitches as they took…