John Miller, head coach of the Brussels Kangaroos and a reporter for a major American newspaper, is chronicling his team’s 2008 season in a column that will appear every Monday on mister-baseball.com. It is the first of several Mister-Baseball Blogs this year.
Let’s be real
There are few things so trivial
As this historical tell-all
The tale of Brussels Kangaroos baseball
Like the Red Stockings of the 19th century
1987 Brussels guys in athletic penury
Picked up bat, ball, a glove maybe
And said this game will be my life baby
At first the rules were unclear
Shortstop was discovered after a beer
After several years it was affirmed
Run counter-clockwise or you get burned
They played in the fourth division
Which required a revision
Of what baseball should be like
Which is harder than riding a bike
But in 1992 they conquered that league
And entered 3rd division intrigue
Fields by churches, meadow and stream
Belgium’s low divisions can be a pot dream
In 1995, the division was two
And in 1999, too good to be true
The Kangaroos were champions, headed to the top
Of the bottom of many a lopsided slaughter
Who put Easton -5 bats in the first division’s charter?
But they did more than apply merci rules
They built a field, and learned tools
That a team called the Kangaroos
Should apply as baseball trues
For almost a decade of baseball fighting
They’ve battled and struggled and tried to strike lighting
Borrowing many a playa
From America, Canada and Australia
And as little Belgies have grown
From seeds that were sown
By coaches from all over
Touch that four-leaf clover
Because the Kangaroos, my lad,
Ain’t so bad
(Note to Kangaroo crazen:
Saturday we beat the Lions of Beveren
Zero to eleven)
In fact, the day might be near
When up is the direction all other teams in the standings might have to peer
.
.
No reason my channeling of American poet Ogden Nash shouldn’t inspire imitation and/or disgust. Is my poetry good or bad? Send your baseball verses to oldworldpastime@gmail.com. For possible publication, of course.