Prose for the Baseball Fan.
The Missouri State game started 50 minutes late, a regular occurrence this weekend. I wandered around the concourse watching Indiana State beat Evansville, and wondered which players were dreaming of the draft next month. Who wouldn’t? Getting drafted, like getting married, seems to…
It was 20 degrees warmer and a bit more sunny today. Missouri State played Southern Illinois, and in the first inning batter Ryan Smith hit a home run to left center. Then Greg Lambert hit one. The next inning, Will Farmer…
We start at 11:03 p.m., like it’s June in Alaska and we can play under the midnight sun. Jake Burger taps the freshly painted plate, a half-hour after receiving the player of the year award. He walks. Illinois State is…
The concrete floor is covered in rainwater, but only the ground below the first row of green chairs. I sit anyway. The 7:30 p.m. start of Missouri State and Illinois State – for which I rushed through celebratory grilled cheese…
A frat boy chews on sunflower seeds, spitting the shells on the concrete floor as he watches an Indiana State batter jog back to the dugout, head down, after grounding out to second. I’m still thinking of Justin Paulsen. I…
A few days after writing the last post I drove a couple of hours south, planning to spend two days writing and living in a tent. River Pretty is a retreat held twice a year, but I’d never been. Feverish from…
He cracks the ball and races down the basepath, lunging to avoid the Missouri pitcher’s tag. And he falls to the ground. I don’t know him, Aaron Meyer, but I can imagine that as a child he wrapped rubber bands around his…
A baserunner The batter twists when the ball bruises his back. He jogs toward first base and stands up straight. He does not reach over his shoulder to hold the aching muscle. Instead he ignores it, speaking to the first base…
He was out. by