This season will live forever
in the hearts and souls of every fan
who has seen their dreams turn to dust,
their heroes put to shame
and their victory put aside for yet
another day.
l: The Spring
In the spring everyone is equal,
for no one claims the throne.
Even the fortune tellers
use the roll of the dragon's bones.
But those bums who roost in Flatbush
started early winning games,
for Chuck Dressen's Brooklyn Dodgers
were holding up under April's rains.
And the Dodgers hate the Giants
for Durocher was once a bum
and every baseball fan knows
you never forgive a cheating son.
This season may last forever
as the frost melts from the mound
making it a chilly spring
even for the boys in Dodger town.
Other teams were soon folding
their dreams just washed away
as the Dodgers and Giants hopes
flew higher under the skies of May.
For life is a win-lost column
with every inning a chance to take.
In the beginning make your errors
by the end never repeat your mistakes.
Some say baseball is just a game,
just another sport played on a field.
But no one ever told those players
whose heads began to reel.
So this spring was mean to many
even the Giants stumbled down
until the rookie Willie Mays
found his feet on hallowed ground.
II: The Summer
In this summer the race grew hot
as the sun hung late in the sky,
for the heat just never went away
while winners divided the pie.
For half the league had given up
and their fans just sat in silence
even some of the players rage
had turned to thoughts of violence.
But Durocher's sleeping Giants
had now won sixteen straight
and Willie, Sal and Bobby
were looking for a series date.
Their players were so fearsome
in endless games they played
looking like ancient Vikings
going out on a summer's raid.
Yet those bums too were winning
at least half the games they played
with Newk, Duke ad Campy
leading the Dodger blue parade.
So this baseball contest raced
into twilight doubleheaders,
making half the players crazed
trying to get their act together.
Reporters wrote about every score
as the radios carried every game,
until the households were divided
on who would finally win the fame.
The bums made the Whiz Kids fall
on that season's very last day,
they tied with the Giants
who they were leading since May.
III: The Fall
So these two teams met
like Titans on a set,
dueling banjos in the sun
playing hit and run.
The Giants were ruthless
by taking game one,
but the Dodgers were stubborn
for in game two they won.
All the chips were on the table
everything riding on act three,
this long season was finally ending
now locked in two-part harmony.
By the bottom of the ninth
the Dodgers could taste the wine
for only three grapes were left
on the Giant's vine.
Then "The Newk" was in trouble
and Ralph Branca was sent to pitch
as Bobby Thomson came to bat
and made a secret wish.
With runners on the bases
this game could go either way,
the heartbreak or the triumph
was just a swing away.
The Giant fans were restless
and the Dodger ones full of glee,
for only help could come from heaven
in troubled times like these.
And now, Bobby's bat answered
every question in the crowd,
for the ball he hit
quickly left the Polo Grounds.
The Dodger's season ended
in sudden death it seems,
with no pennant flag in their sky
and no more World Series dreams.
* * * *
The Yankees beat the Giants
in the World Series.
And in Flatbush that winter
it was bitter cold and it seemed
That springtime would never come again.
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