A Change of Heart by Barbara Feeney - A Roy Campanella

The game of baseball can break your heart; your team fails, a critical game gets lost, the key player going down, or they could just pack up & move to the West Coast. Is it possible to have a Change of Heart? See what happened below:

"A star with both the bat and glove, Roy Campanella was agile behind the plate, had a rifle arm and was an expert handler of pitchers." - National Baseball Hall of Fame (website)
A Change of Heart

Written by Barbara Feeney ©

Published: New York Daily News (02//06/1958)

The Bums are gone; good, I'm
      glad!
   O'Malley used to make me
      mad.

Those old short fences, ciggie
      ads
   And bright beer signs were
      passing fads.

That winning spirit couldn't
      last
   When Robby's playing days
      were past.

The ecstacy of
      '55
   When Podres kept our hopes
      alive

Are locked with scorecards,
      photographs
   Forgotten — with the million
      laughs

Of bleacher days. But who
      cares now?
   I'll never miss them,
      anyhow.

But, then — a bulletin comes
      through
   A flash from
      WNEW

It's Campanella! And they
      say
   That Roy was nearly
      killed today.

Paralysis! The tragic
      end
   Of Campy's ever-winning
      bend.

Who can forget the impish
      grin
   Accompanying every Dodger
      win?

The ever-crouching
      "39"
   Assuring fans that all is
      fine

Thrice MVP, the catching
      ace
   Who figured in each pennant
      race

Was loved by each and every
      fan
   Who rooted for that Brooklyn
      clan.

And now, the world has tumbled
      down,
   The prayers of a united
      town

Today are flooding heaven's
      gate
   For Brooklyn's favorite
      battery mate.

We never thought we'd feel this
      way
   When first they took out for
      LA

But Campy's crash has taught
      us all
   We're Dodger fans still,
      Spring to Fall.

No matter where they choose to
      roam,
   The hearts of Brooklyn are
      their home.

A Change of Heart by Barbara Feeney ©



In It's Good to be Alive by Roy Campanella (University of Nebraska Press, ISBN: 0803263635), he wrote the following moving words at the start of Chapter One:

      "My mind is so full of thoughts as I sit in my wheel chair and get ready to dictate the story of my life... a life that has been so eventful, so exciting, so wonderful... a life that was almost taken away from me but which God spared... a life such as few people have been fortunate enough to live.

      Where shall I start? How do I begin? There is so much to tell. Shall I begin with the automobile accident? When I recovered consciousness in the car and discovered that I was paralyzed? Shall I start with the time I came out of the anesthia after they cut a hole in my windpipe to allow me to breathe?

      Shall I open with the time I presented a baseball to a little boy in the hospital with me; and, after I apologized for not being physically able to autograph it for him, he said simply, 'That's all right, Mr. Campanella, I can't see.'"

      Source: It's Good to be Alive by Roy Campanella.

Campy was a true star in the Mexican League, the Negro Leagues and in the Major Leagues. His final major league game was played on September 29, 1957 — which was also the final major league baseball game ever played at historic Ebbets Field.

This poem — A Change of Heart — is a Baseball Almanac exclusive and appears here with expression written permission from the author.

     

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