Blackwood’s Blog

THE DIAMOND DREAM If we could go back to the time When people watched games for a dime And rooted for their favorite team And so beheld the diamond dream From baseball cards to Cracker Jack Or wearing clothing made of sack While playing baseball in the street We learned to imitate our team Our favorite pastime grew and grew Surviving scandals of games threw We watched as Landis made a call Of banning players from baseball And as time passed we saw it rise In Ruth and Gehrig’s homerun flies We saw it in a time of need And so beheld the diamond dream Jackie Robinson was the same As white men were that played the game And brought together black and white That filled our souls with glad delight Our heroes grew and played with heart To give our country a new start From May’s great catch in ‘54 We loved the game so more and more The M and M’s in ‘61 So chased the glory with great fun America did sit and watch More players came that were top notch Stadiums filled with hotdog smell As spectators began to yell And saw their heroes make mistakes Brought some to tears and made hearts break We rooted on and stayed the fan Of teams we hoped they had a plan To win that year The World Series Among the many such queries Hank Aaron broke The Babe’s Record And holds the record and reward The games went on and giants grew To entertain both me and you Mr. October busted seams And so beheld the diamond dreams The fan’s delight so passed the time The mighty players were sublime Soon baseball fans would endure strikes Illegal bets and all the likes Another banned from baseball land Would add but one more so called brand We watched as players gained great size With homerun records in their eyes We cheered our heroes all the way As media gets in the way We saw The Red Sox beat “The Curse” Next year the White Sox finished first Now Cubs’ fans have a solid hope Their team will meet the deadline scope Now in the “Era of Steroids” Our heroes hide and must avoid The hippocrits that run the news Looking to whom they may accuse Our game is torn beyond the seam As we behold the diamond dream The “Great Commission” won’t defend The players that will come to end While some do care and some may not No one should act as they knew not Why punish those so only few Why not punish the whole game too Regardless of the things we see The fan is always there to be The heroes we see play the game We all still love them just the same Barry Bonds broke Aaron’s Record And holds the record and reward Or will it be a flaming sword That strips him as Aaron’s restored To all those who have never sinned Pick up the first stone and throw in Remember this in time of need As we behold this diamond dream Johnny Hall (2009)