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Ol Abner

Prose for the Baseball Fan.

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Tag: literary prose

Baseball returns: how long, oh COVID-19, how long?

Posted by olabner on July 27, 2020July 27, 2020 in Covid, Fan, NL, St. Louis Cardinals

So strange to watch Kodi Whitley make his major league debut in front of empty seats. Such is baseball in the time of COVID-19. It’s still an escape from the monotony of mostly quarantining, and the anxiety caused by visiting…

Winning: Is That It? Boston Globe Columnist Dan Shaughnessy’s Personal Evolution After the End of the Curse of the Bambino

Posted by olabner on May 7, 2020May 7, 2020 in AL, Boston Red Sox, Playoffs, Research

NB: I wrote this in the fall of 2015 for a research methods class while working on a Master’s of English (Creative Writing Nonfiction emphasis) at Missouri State. I present it here with no edits except for subheadings (for easier…

Austin Warner, St. Louis Cardinals organization

Posted by olabner on March 23, 2020March 23, 2020 in Interviews, Minors, MLB, Springfield Cardinals, St. Louis Cardinals

Jupiter St. Louis Cardinals’ pitching prospect Austin Warner, who split last season between AA-Springfield and AAA-Memphis, was playing at minor league camp in Jupiter, Florida, when spring training was shut down. He wasn’t totally surprised. March Madness was supposed to…

Baseball in the Age of Corona

Posted by olabner on March 11, 2020March 11, 2020 in College, Ethics, Fan, Missouri State, MVC, Photos

Welcome back. I was supposed to be on a plane today but postponed my flight because I had a cold and didn’t want to fly to the PNW considering certain factors. Besides, American Airlines will call you back in a…

A day at the ballpark (6-2-2019)

Posted by olabner on June 3, 2019June 3, 2019 in Fan, Minors, Springfield Cardinals

I got to the ballpark half an hour early to watch puppies and their parents parade around the stadium. The people smiled and the dogs sniffed my camera lens and waited for scratches. A Naturals hitter cracked a ball far…

Bears lose, but with hopeful hearts look onward

Posted by olabner on May 23, 2019May 23, 2019 in College, Missouri State, MVC, Photos

I haven’t cried this much in a Starbucks since I had to work at one starting at 5 a.m. every day. It wasn’t so bad as long as the Seahawks won, and of course Howard Schultz visited. But here in…

Losing and then some

Posted by olabner on May 12, 2019May 12, 2019 in Minors, Photos, Springfield Cardinals

Sometimes your side gets picked off twice in one game, losing baserunners when you’re struggling to give them a base to begin with. Then you’re smiling like you don’t mean it. Then it happens again: (The other pix made it…

On how I learned to stop worrying and learned to love the (base)ball

Posted by olabner on March 9, 2019March 26, 2019 in Fan, Minors, Missouri State, Spring

“Oh? You’re working with the summer league up there?” a broadcaster asked. “No, I’m just … going there,” I said. Oh. Fairbanks? Beyond – to Bettles, pop. 12 on Wikipedia and 7 in reality. It’s a village 35 miles north…

On the Season’s Approach

Posted by olabner on March 21, 2014April 2, 2017 in NL

Soon I will walk through those iron gates, with torn ticket stub stuffed in my pocket. A woman will ask me if I want to buy a magazine: the cover featuring someone kneeling in the grass, exposing blue and white…

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