Romancing the Horsehide: Baseball Poems on Players and the Game

From the power of the home run to the grace of the fielder, these 120 baseball poems are a reminder of the emotional pull the game has on its fans. Most of the poems are tributes to individual players, including oldtimers (such as Pie Traynor, Christy Mathewson, "Home Run" Baker, and Ty Cobb), Negro league stars ("Cool Papa" Bell, Josh Gibson, and others), and players from the modern era. Many of these are accompanied by brilliantly artful silhouettes of the players in action. Other poems describe specific aspects of the national pastime: the feel of the bat, the taste of the hot dog, the thrill of the squeeze play, the magic of opening day.