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k Baseball Seasons:

A Collection of

Baseball Haiku

and Art!

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Dave’s Garage Press Oakland and Walnut Creek, CA

2010H

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Baseball Seasons © 2010 by Jerry Ball and David Ball

All rights reserved. Ho part of this book may be reproduced with out expressed permission from the publisher.

Haiku by Jerry BallV

Design and Artwork by David Ball

Dave’s Garage Press Oakland and Walnut Creek, C.A, USA David Ball: powerballl3@yahoo.eom Jerry Ball: jersan.haiku@eomcast.net

Jerry Ball and David Ball Baseball Seasons

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This hook is dedicated to father and son projects.

Introduction: BaseballBaseball Is a game of skill and a game where a little person

can play. It’s a game of timing and coordination.Unlike football which is based on capturing and holding

territory, baseball is modeled on scouting, and spying.That is, it is a game of intelligence.

Once upon a time there were scouts and they would find a way to enter another tribe’s territory. Often this would be to create a disturbance where the other tribe’s men would be busy locating the source of the disturbance. Then, while this is happening they would find a safe place to hide. This would become a base. After a while the scout would go to the next safe place (base), and maybe one more time until they would finally return home.Every time this process is repeated the scout would gain

some information about the enemy’s strengths and weaknesses. The team with the most information is the winner.But it’s what happens during the game that is important

to baseball: the pitching, the great plays on defense, the walk-off home run, the camaraderie of the players, and on ... Baseball is series of little events which are related by the game itself and thereby become greater events. Baseball is a game of honor. Every American child knows the stories of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, Mark McGuire, Rickey Henderson, ... These stories consist of a series of tiny episodes in the context of a game, and a yearly championship. Often, it’s an example of David and Goliath. In the 1970’s the Oakland A’s were not supposed to win the World Series, ... but they DID. It was a series of “little events” leading to an unforgettable impression of a “great team.” The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

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Introduction: HaikuNow, what has this to do with “haiku?” Well, haiku are

short poems which express “small events” in the context of the passage of time. None of the events on its own will seem to matter very much, but in the context of the passage of time can be emblematic of something much greater.

What, then, is a “haiku?” A “haiku” is a short poem; a brief statement with a twist, or turning, or surprise. Here is a summary: A haiku is:

a short poem usually in three lines one breath longsometimes in a 5 - 7 - 5 syllable count one line is a small surprise

WThe writing of haiku began in Japan. Haiku writing is part

of a very old tradition dating back the seventh century.(Is it any wonder that baseball is popular in Japan?)Today there are haiku writers all over the world with many

in United States. Writing a haiku is like going to bat in a game of baseball. You get three swings (lines) to get a base hit. Getting a base hit means expressing something important

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about human life. Your timing, breath, and understanding of what it means to get a hit are all very important As a start, here are some haiku of the masters:

in every village sleep grows deeper falling water Buson

the owner of the field goes to comfort the scarecrow and returns Buson

spring breeze - the green field tempts me to play catch *Masa Oka Shiki

lush grass the baseball path is white *Masa Oka Shiki

liTow, let us see how the haiku relates to Baseball.

*Thls has been extracted from: "If Someone Ask...” Published by Matsuyama Municipal Shiki-Kinen Museum Matsuyama City Japan 2001

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mid winter trade

“That general manager

is a nit-wit”beginning new year

I follow my resolution

to the athletic club

weathered and worn

a baseball from last season

in the tall grass

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old timers gone

putting the “bitch”

back in obituary

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Spring Trainingdark clouds from the north the stares of the rookies on the dugout steps

he wets his finger and holds it in the air

Patting practice

again he explains to her how Peer

is an acquired taste

old timer’s gamethe skinny kid with the red hair

retrieves the foul hall

at the hall park hot dogs and mustard mixed with sunsreen

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the big heavy guyand the little skinny guy

chasing the pop fly

little leaguemembers of the losing teamexchange advice

his baseball glovein the back seat of the car

next to his books

Opening Dayhe looks anxious

another foul hall into the parking lot

opening day

a ticket to the hallgame

tucked in his math hook' s.

opening day

the peanut vendor

looking young again

little league

the littlest kid

gets to play right fieldi '(

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“Aw, come on Blue!”the heckler

is just warming up

time outgrounds keepers running

to catch the stray cat

three and two everyone in the stands

shouting advice

for the pretty girl he pretends he doesn’t know

about baseballi;

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i third inning beer drinkers in line

in the men’s bathroom'

seventh inning more reasons to complain

about the pitching

bottom of the ninth the number nine hitter

with a sacrifice fly

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another moment without saying a word

striking out ■■

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off to work again bringing a baseball cap

“just in case!”

swing and a miss he tightens the straps on his batting gloves

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foul ball Into the stands and the little girl

is frightened

called strikeeveryone in the stands says,

“Low and outside!”

bottom of the ninth a sacrifice fly

and the fans go crazy7a

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September and...dry grass the edge

of the warning track

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/a new "baseball cap

one more series till the playoffs

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two games out the relief pitcher

has found religion

playoffshe talks to his wife

between pitches

end of the season stuck in a conversation

I can’t get out of

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World Seriesreading the obituary

for a world series pitcher “Wow, there was a ball player!” (Paul Lindblad, Oakland A’s)

feet shuffling the conversation shifts

to the World Series

Ball four!...then he says, “what was it

you were saying?”

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ready to retire the veteran decides

to grow a heard

3 3 D2D D DO 1 ODD2 3 02 D 0 DOD DDKirs

cold rainrust on the statue

by the ballpark

last game of the seasoneveryone saying

“Next year!”

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baseball parka concrete stairway'

with peanut shells

ft

the crack of the hatoutfielders converging

all over themselves

bottom of the ninththe ball goes over the fence

and the fans go crazy

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double playand the crowd begins to move

toward the exit

wild pitch the pinch hitter just got better

a walk; off he tries to preserve

the moment

bottom of the ninth the center fielder comes to bat

green stains and all

repeated dreams I replay the fastball that left the ballpark

extra innings he tries to remember

where he parkedi

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alone In the dugout the boy who threw the last pitch

of the season

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playoffswhen I talk to the ball player

I stand up straighter

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end of the season long shadows

on an empty ballpark

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if someone asks I've gone to the ballpark

for hatting practice

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broad grin a boy with a baseball signed by the pitcher;

after the last out his mitt and spikes and a canvas bag

leaving the locker room with his bag and bat

he dreams of next year;

end of the playoffs announcers begin talking

about record booksf

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end of the season the voice of the veteran "See ya next year kid"...

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