{"id":4229,"date":"2017-11-06T08:03:37","date_gmt":"2017-11-06T14:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/?p=4229"},"modified":"2017-11-06T08:03:37","modified_gmt":"2017-11-06T14:03:37","slug":"updikes-baseball-poem-recalled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/2017\/11\/06\/updikes-baseball-poem-recalled\/","title":{"rendered":"Updike’s baseball poem recalled"},"content":{"rendered":"

A blogger on The Nature of Things<\/em><\/a> posted an entry titled “Houston, we have a World Series champion! in celebration of the team’s (and city’s) first World Series championship.<\/p>\n

“Baseball is a game that will break your heart two times out of three,” Dorothy Borders writes. “But, oh, that third time is worth waiting for.<\/p>\n

“John Updike knew and loved the game and explained it best of all. Let’s give him the last word and then, let the off-season begin!”<\/p>\n

\n

Baseball<\/h2>\n
\n
by\u00a0John Updike<\/i><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
It looks easy from a distance,
\neasy and lazy, even,
\nuntil you stand up to the plate
\nand see the fastball sailing inside,
\nan inch from your chin,
\nor circle in the outfield
\nstraining to get a bead
\non a small black dot
\na city block or more high,
\na dark star that could fall
\non your head like a leaden meteor.<\/p>\n

The grass, the dirt, the deadly hops
\nbetween your feet and overeager glove:
\nfootball can be learned,
\nand basketball finessed, but
\nthere is no hiding from baseball
\nthe fact that some are chosen
\nand some are not\u2014those whose mitts
\nfeel too left-handed,
\nwho are scared at third base
\nof the pulled line drive,
\nand at first base are scared
\nof the shortstop’s wild throw
\nthat stretches you out like a gutted deer.<\/p>\n

There is nowhere to hide when the ball’s
\nspotlight swivels your way,
\nand the chatter around you falls still,
\nand the mothers on the sidelines,
\nyour own among them, hold their breaths,
\nand you whiff on a terrible pitch
\nor in the infield achieve
\nsomething with the ball so
\nridiculous you blush for years.
\nIt’s easy to do. Baseball was
\ninvented in America, where beneath
\nthe good cheer and sly jazz the chance
\nof failure is everybody’s right,
\nbeginning with baseball.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A blogger on The Nature of Things posted an entry titled “Houston, we have a World Series champion! in celebration of the team’s (and city’s) first World Series championship. “Baseball is a game that will break your heart two times … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-updike-online"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4229"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4230,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4229\/revisions\/4230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}