“trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds”
Back in 1910, Franklin Pierce wrote a memorable poem about the already famous Chicago Cubs double play trio. All three of these Cubbies later made the Hall of Fame, but most baseball historians today realize that their adeptness at completing double plays was more grounded on the side of lore than it was in a statistical reality that set them apart from all others.
In that total emotive spirit, and in humble recognition that our simple efforts proceed a single 2016 regular season game in which all three have even played by position on the field with each other, we got caught up in the business last night of writing a parody based on our hopes for such a shining “short-to-second-to-first” trio now on the roster of the Houston Astros.
Here’s the Proud and Indelible Original ~
“Baseball’s Sad Lexicon” by Franklin Pierce, New York Evening Mail, July 12, 1910
These are the saddest of possible words:
“Tinker to Evers to Chance.”
Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds,
Tinker and Evers and Chance.
Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,
Making a Giant hit into a double —
Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:
“Tinker to Evers to Chance.”
And the humble and time-fragile parody ~
“Baseball’s Joy of Hope Lexicon” by Bill McCurdy, Pecan Park Eagle, April 6, 2016
These are the sweetest of double-play words:
“Correa to Altuve to White.”
Trio of Astros, and faster than birds,
“Carlos to Jose to Ty, they bite.”
Ruthlessly shaving all worries to stubble,
Reducing all foes’ hopes — to little but rubble,
In Spanish or English – they’re nothing but trouble:
“Correa to Altuve to White.”
____________________
Bill McCurdy
Houston, Baseball, & Other Musings.
The Pecan Park Eagle 