For Junior Gilliam by B.H. Fairchild

Many great men and women have written entire books about every aspect of the game; however, other than "Casey At Bat," few know about some of the other great poems that have appeared honoring our national pastime. Listed below is the baseball poem: For Junior Gilliam.

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"I killed time with bubble gum..." - B.H. Fairchild

For Junior Gilliam (1928-1978)

by B.H. Fairchild ©

In the bleak, bleacherless corner
of my rightfield American youth,
I killed time with bubble gum
and baseball cards and read the stats
and saw a sign: your birthday was mine.

And so I dreamed: to rise far
from Kansas skies and fenceless outfields
where flies vanished in the summer sun.
To wake up black in Brooklyn,
to be a Bum and have folks call me Junior
and almost errorless hit .280 every year
and on the field, like you, dance double plays,
make flawless moves, amaze the baseball masses.

You would turn, take the toss from Reese,
lean back and, leaping past the runner's cleats,
wing the ball along a line reeled out
from home and suddenly drawn taut
with a soft pop in Hodges' crablike glove.
And we went wild in Kansas living rooms.

The inning's over. You're in the shadows now.
But summers past you taught us how to play
the pivot (or how to dream of it).
And when one day they put me in at second,
I dropped four easy ones behind your ghost,
who plays a perfect game.

For Junior Gilliam (1928-1978) by B.H. Fairchild ©
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baseball almanac fast facts

Jim "Junior" Gilliam played fourteen seasons with the Dodgers starting in 1953 and moving with the club from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958, ending his career with the organization in 1966.

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Junior Gilliam was named two All-Star squads, led the league in triples in 1953, base on balls in 1959 and fielding average in 1957 — click his name for comprehensive stats.