Batter Up!

There were saddened hearts in

baseball for a week or even

more;

There were muttered oaths and

curses--every fan was clearly

sore.

"Just think," said one, "how much

we missed with no one up to bat,

And ballparks closed throughout

the land by an owner-player

spat."

But the lane is long, someone has

said, that never turns again,

And Fate, though fickle, often gives

another chance to men.

The players who'd been made to feel

the pain of heroes shunned

At last convinced the owners to

enhance their pension fund.

Oh! somewhere in this favored

world dark clouds may hide the

sun,

And somewhere bands no longer

play and children have no fun;

And somewhere over blighted loves

there hangs a heavy pall;

But baseball hearts are happy now

--they've heard the cry, "Play

ball!"

--Variations on a theme

by James Wilson

The settlement last week of the major league baseball players' strike was not exactly as sweet as James Wilson's "Casey's Revenge," the 1906 sequel to "Casey at the Bat." The 13-day strike cost the owners at least $5,000,000, mostly in lost ticket sales and broadcasting fees; the players dropped about $1,000,000 in salaries. Neither sum is retrievable because none of the 86 missed games will be made up. But that still left 3,802 regular season games before the World Series starts.

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