Russell to Baez to Rizzo

By Marc Mangel

 

When I was a lad, we learned a poem

“These are the saddest of possible words:

‘Tinkers to Evers to Chance.’

Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds…”

Franklin Pierce Adams, great as poet, failed as a seer

“Baseball’s Sad Lexicon”

–“That Double Play Again” —

penned in 1910

Only one World Series

since the Cubbies had won it all

We waited.

We waited.

And then waited some more.

To fear once again defeat not victory

We expected heartbreak.

But that was not to be.

We will never know why.

But we do know how.

Russell to Baez to Rizzo

A trio to match Tinker, and Evers, and Chance

Or perhaps

Bryant to Baez to Rizzo

Another to match Tinker, and Evers, and Chance

Names that are “heavy with nothing but trouble”

like those of Tinker, Evers, and Chance

 

November 2016