Baseball Poem

Dodger Blue

by Richard Aberdeen©(August 20, 2003) 

Sung to the tune Deportee by Woodie Guthrie & Marting Hoffman

    The chalk lines are faded, the bleachers are empty
The parking lot's vacant at the ravine stadium
The fans have all taken up bad-mitten and checkers
On a hot summer evening there's nothin' else left for fun
The owners' and players' greed knows no boundaries
They've taken the fans on a phony hype ride
Though they both earn enough money to buy a jet airplane
'Till they have more than God, they won't be satisfied
Now, is this the best way to run America's pastime?
Is this fair to the fans who are loyal and true?
Like the late Billy Martin and Tommy Lasorda
There's no more real Yankees, no one bleeds Dodger Blue
 
Goodbye to Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio and Babe Ruth
Adios Lou Gehrig and true heroes for our youth
You won't see the great Clemente up on the big sports screen
The owners and players all want. . . more money
 
Now, us fans in the bleachers all want a solution
To stop all your whining and complaining on earth
Let's forget about salaries and pay by statistics
For hits, runs and outs, you'll be paid what you're worth
If you hit sixty homers, you'll get you're few million
But if you pitch more balls than strikes you'd better run
Down to apply at the nearest Del Taco
We're tired of big babies who ruin baseball's fun
Let's return our national pastime back to the fans
Give big bucks to the players only when they come through
And like the late Billy Martin and Tommy Lasorda
We'll cheer for real Yankees and bleed Dodger Blue
 
Goodbye to Ted Williams, Stan Musial and Cy Young
Adios Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron
You won't see Charlie Hustle up on the big sports screen
The owners and players all want. . . more money 

The chalk lines are redrawn, the bleachers repainted
The big screen scoreboard is re-hooked to the juice
The parking lot's filled with limos and Mercedes
The owners and players have a temporary truce
Now, we want real heroes our children can look up to
We want fair owners who treat loyal fans right
People who love baseball and the values we stand for
With all of their heart and their soul and their might
If you don't care what happens to our time-honored pastime
Then get the hell out of the way of those of us who do
Like the late Billy Martin and Tommy Lasorda
We want to cheer for real Yankees and bleed Dodger Blue

Goodbye to Vin Scully, Branch Rickey and Bill Veeck
Adios Harry Caray and real baseball, but what the heck?
We won't see Jackie Robinson slide on the big sports screen
The owners and players all want. . . more money
Yeah, the owners and players all want. . . more money. . .
Are there any more real Yankees?
Does anyone bleed Dodger Blue?