Old Number Seven
A doubleheader in the Bronx.
Bright sunshine floods the end of May,
Old number Seven at the plate,
Mantle on his last good day.
A pair of homers, five for five.
The legs are wrapped, he strides with pain
Mickey takes the bases slow
He has to sit the second game.
It would have been a fitting end
to wave his cap and walk away.
To end like Ruth and Williams did
and homer on his final day.
But Jimmy Foxx is still in reach
so Mickey drags himself to play.
The Cathedral in the Bronx half empty
Few come to watch him fade away.
Mclain and Lonberg are ahead
Five Thirty Six and Mick is done
Long shadows stalk the center field
that he patrolled when he was young.
poem by John F. McCullagh
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Related quotes
Cowboy From The Bronx
He's got sandy hair and steel blue eyes and
Dressed in black from head to toe and his main
Love is a cowboy show. He's a cowboy from the bronx.
He stands tall and straight and lean
And mean and he sure is a loving machine.
He's a cowboy from the bronx.
He loves rattle snake boots and big stetson hats
And he's sure hell in any spat.
He's a cowboy from the bronx.
He bought a guitar and learned to play,
He practiced hard night and day.
He's a cowboy from the bronx.
It took 10 years to become a star
That Bronx Cowboy and his guitar,
So when you go to a cowboy show and you see a man
In black from head to toe you can bet it's
A cowboy from the bronx.
poem by Dewey Nixon
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Today (Watch Me Shine)
Yesterday is just a dream I don't remember
Tomorrow, still a hope I've yet to endure
I'm out of time
I'm out of rhyme
I'm out of reason
Season's change and leave me out in the cold
The story's old
The tale been told by many a scholar
Got a fistful of dollar
And pocketful of love
God above if you hear me cryin'
I've tried to sell my soul
But no one's buyin'
Lord, strike me down now if I'm lyin' Bronx Style Bob: Lord strike me down (X3)
It's gettin' cold
It's time for dyin'
CHORUS
Come on and watch me shine
Like the world is mine (check it out) today
Come on and watch me shine (check it out)
Like the world is mine today
Watch me shine (check it out)
Then the man was free from sin
Bronx Style Bob: free from sin
Cast the first stone then began the violence
Bronx Style Bob: began the violence
Let the man whose words ring true
Speak on up till his voice breaks through the silence
Bronx Style Bob: through the silence
Let the ones who lose their way
Live to see just one more day in the sunshine
Bronx Style Bob: La-la-la-la-la-la-laaa
Let the one's who choose to stray
Recognize the price they'll pay
In their lifetime
Bronx Style Bob: in their lifetime (X2)
CHORUS
Sit in the way and wait for my roads to cross
You nail me down and you watch me bleed
Bronx Style Bob: watch me bleed
So lay my head against the earth
Plant my body like a seed
Bronx Style Bob: plant my body like a seed
You can't always get the things you want, love (check it out)
Bronx Style Bob: tell me what you want
You get what you deserve
Or maybe what you need
Bronx Style Bob: tell me what you need
So fill
song performed by by Everlast
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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After I hit a home run I had a habit of running the bases with my head down. I figured the pitcher already felt bad enough without me showing him up rounding the bases.
quote by Mickey Mantle
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I always loved the game, but when my legs weren't hurting it was a lot easier to love.
quote by Mickey Mantle
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Hitting the ball was easy. Running around the bases was the tough part.
quote by Mickey Mantle
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Today's Little Leaguers, and there are millions of them each year, pick up how to hit and throw and field just by watching games on TV. By the time they're out of high school, the good ones are almost ready to play professional ball.
quote by Mickey Mantle
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Somebody once asked me if I ever went up to the plate trying to hit a home run. I said, 'Sure, every time.'
quote by Mickey Mantle
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Faded Photographs
Some pictures hang upon my wall
Of baseball players from the past-
Gionfriddo’s catch of DiMaggio’s ball-
Lou Gehrig standing at the mike-
Babe Ruth pitching in the Bronx-
And the one place that links them all.
They happened at the lumberyard
The place on River Avenue
The place where Bombers came to play
Now sad, diminished, and by Fall-
a victim of the wrecking ball.
One other theme is intertwined
Within the pictures on my wall
Each enshrines the final time
These men enjoyed a curtain call..
Babe was pitching his last time
The season ender (33’)
He never pitched another game
A complete game shutout
Against the Sox.
Gehrig speaking at the mike
A hot July 4th holiday
At home plate for the final time
He stood on the unaccustomed side
Gionfriddo’s speed won the game
By making his miraculous catch
But next day he sat on the bench
And never played a game again
How bittersweet these moments are
for a scrub or a superstar
To know, at last, you’ve reached the end
To still have done the best you can.
Their time has passed, these men have died
And now their park has seen its day
I’ve only photographs to show
Perfection never fades away.
poem by John F. McCullagh
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The biggest game I ever played in was probably Don Larsen's perfect game.
quote by Mickey Mantle
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It's unbelievable how much you don't know about the game you've been playing all your life.
quote by Mickey Mantle
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You don't realize how easy this game is until you get up in that broadcasting booth.
quote by Mickey Mantle
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It was all I lived for, to play baseball.
quote by Mickey Mantle
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I'll play baseball for the Army or fight for it, whatever they want me to do.
quote by Mickey Mantle
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Farewell To My Fans
A farewell to my fans
When I am just a faded memory,
and my dimensions shift in your mind’s eye-
think back upon the nights you spent at me
around a field of green beneath the sky.
For you were here the night back in 04’
The night that Jeter dove into my stands
When Yanks and Red Sox played a thirteenth Frame
he caught the ball but had to leave the game.
And you were here when A-Rod hit three bombs
Against the cy young candidate Colon-
you stood expectant in my left field stands
To catch the fourth if ever it should land..
Who can forget old Freddy and his pan-
The “Ancient Mariner” of Yankee fans
He wanders through my aisles just like a vendor-
He bangs the drum more slowly this September.
I’ve been the field where Ruth and Mantle played-
where DiMaggio stood out at center stage.
I’ve been the home plate where the luckiest man
bowed out before his disbelieving fans.
I’ve played host often to a Series game
My champions have added to my fame.
The shadows long upon my infield face
As days grew short and cool at Autumn’s pace.
I was the place George Herman lay in state
When he lost his fight for life in 48’
Thousands of you wandered past his bier
(the only one he didn’t want, I hear) .
But now my time has come, they say I’m through
And I think hard what Gehrig had to do-
He passed on the baton from failing hands
So I too say my farewell to the fans.
poem by John F. McCullagh
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The first thing you do when you get out to center field is put up your finger and check the wind chill factor.
quote by Mickey Rivers
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Mickey and Me
I want to see
Mickey...
It was cool...
Him and I went
swimming...
Mickey and I went
shopping...
He bought a
hat...
And I bought a
shirt...
We both shared
a sundae...
A nice big sundae!
So...it’s just
Mickey and me.
poem by Lisa Parks
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Old Jimmy
With the aid of walking stick he shuffles down the side street and time has left him looking stiff and gray
And truly it can be said of old Jimmy that he is one who has known a better day
Ageless father time takes care of everybody there was a time when he could run quite fast
But now he only can walk at a slow pace and all of his better days are in the past.
He was a football hero in his heyday the best on ground in nineteen forty one
The day that his club played in the Grand Final without him the Premiership could not be won
Close to his prime and in his early twenties on looking back that seems so long ago
It's true that time leaves it's mark on everybody the man who once ran fast now walking slow.
The hard games of football he played in now on him telling he has arthritis in his painful right knee
An injury that forced him into retirement when he was past his prime at thirty three
Back in the forties and fifties he was a football hero but football heroes like the seasons come and go
And that he once was a Grand Final hero is something few young people wish to know.
Old Jimmy slowly shuffles down the side walk a mere shell of the man he used to be
In forty one he starred in the Grand Final when he was near his prime at twenty three
And father time has left his mark on Jimmy and time 'tis said for anyone doesn't wait
And the grim reaper will take the king and pauper and the grim reaper will take the football great.
poem by Francis Duggan
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To play 18 years in Yankee Stadium is the best thing that could ever happen to a ballplayer.
quote by Mickey Mantle
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If I knew I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself.
quote by Mickey Mantle
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There used to be a ballpark here
The Ghosts of Ruth and Gehrig sat
Up in Tier 35
And wiped tears from translucent cheeks
As the final anthem died.
DiMaggio brought the popcorn
The Mick supplied the beer
He bought it up in heaven
Cause it’s cheaper there than here.
“An epic game”, the Babe enthused
“The best I ever saw”
he chowed down on some hot dogs
And looked around for more.
Gehrig glanced out at his bat
Atop the center pole
And wished to get it in his hands
And feel its weight once more.
“I had a streak in 41’ the longest in the game”
Then DiMaggio fell silent and turned to watch the game
“I did my best in 56’”Mantle then exclaimed
“I wonder what I could have been if both my legs were game”
Mystique and Aura, Saucy things
Each dancing at a pole
As Derek with his broken hand
drove a single through the hole.
Pettite our left handed ace
Dealt his greatest game
Glaring out beneath his cap-
His hate for batters plain.
The autumn sky had turned to black
When Mo entered the game
The Sandman tune was soon drowned out
By the faithful who remain.
Robert Merrill sang, and then Kate Smith sang
Then Sinatra one last time
Singers for the requiem
Living need not apply!
The Ghosts of Ruth and Gehrig sat
Up in Tier 35
And wiped tears from translucent cheeks
As the music died
“I wonder if we’ll feel the pain
When they wield the wrecking ball
I wonder if our hearts will break
When they breech the wall.”
“Fear not, dear friend, the Stadium’s end
For if steel and concrete fall
The Stadium lives in our hearts
Whenever we recall.”
The fans left standing in the street
On River Avenue
These corporate types in Luxury suites
Have little thought for you
Our paradise is lost tonight
Our little patch of green
But what a life we lived in there
The greatness we have seen.
poem by John F. McCullagh
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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