Thursday, April 8, 2010

Baseball Poems 8: Stormin' Gorman

I remember Gorman Thomas
as if it were yesterday,
and the way he put the ball into the seats.
Reggie's dynasty was dying
and Gorman Thomas seemed to say
"I'll pick up the slack with Herculean feats."

There were others who were better:
Robin Yount and Cecil Cooper,
Rollie Fingers seemed unhittable back then.
Other teams had banjo hitters
stealing second after bloopers.
Gorman Thomas was a giant among men.

They call it "the good land"
(unless Alice was lying),
but what's good now is Prince and sausage races.
In the days of Gorman Thomas
there was a lot more worth buying
as they put Bernie Brewer through his paces.

Bruce Sutter struck out Gorman
to kick off the smallball folly
and put Harvey's Wallbangers in the past.
The Hall of Fame came calling
for Robin, Paul, and Rollie
as one of Gorman's homers was his last.

But if you go a-calling
and see him in his Corner
please thank him for all he did back then.
In the days of David Kingman,
Michael Schmidt and Bob Horner
Gorman Thomas was a giant among men.

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