Base-Ball Ballads/As the Game "Breaks"

by Grantland Rice

 

AS THE GAME "BREAKS."

Mulligan "catches the ball on the snout;"
It's just where he likes it; he smashes it out.
Biff—on the trade-mark—it whirls like a shot;
They're yelling and cheering all over the lot.
A shout, then a groan from the well-crowded stands;
The drive travels straight to the outfielder's hands.
Two feet to the left or two feet to the right
And Mulligan's swat would have captured the fight.
Just a matter of inches from out of the line
Changed him from a "star" to a "mutt" and a "shine."
Just two stingy feet—aye, there is the rub—
He didn't hit safe, so they called him a dub.

Pat Flaherty gets one that isn't his kind,
But he closes his orbs and he swings at it blind.
'Twas a weak-sister swat and not one-half as stout
As the one which poor Mulligan "slammed on the snout."
Yet the bleachers arose with a yelp and a screech
As it twisted just out of an infielder's reach.
It broke up the game, and yet only two feet
Closer in and the tap would have been easy meat;
Just a matter of inches—a bit farther down—
Changed him from a "dub" to a "star" of renown;
Just two pesky feet, but it ended the game,
So they plastered a new-made cigar with his name.

You'll find it the same upon life's massive chart—
The "star" and the "dub" are but inches apart.
One smashes out hard, but his drive never lands,
As it travels direct to another one's hands.
The next fellow's effort is puny and tame,
But it hits the right spot and so gathers him fame.
It's the lore of the age from the centuries brought:
"The bunt may roll safe, while the hard smash is caught."
You may strive twice as hard for the rich prize at stake,
But the fellow that wins is the one "with the break."