Published: Baseball Almanac (2000)

Jackie Jensen
was carved
in my mind
like bronze
along with
some graffiti:
"Chicken to fly,"
a phobia I didn't share
on my first
flight from Logan
to Chicago boot camp.
I was as easy
in my Delta seat
as Jackie always
seemed
in a batter's box.
Happy to serve
in the Navy
as he had done,
I didn't gloat.
Just wished I could
have traded with him -
all my Cooperstown
flying calm
for a Topps card
worth of talent
back when making
Little League
was as distant as
Fenway to Comiskey
by bus.

Cooperstown Calm by Thomas Michael McDade ©