Elysian Fields Quarterly - The Baseball Review

Another venerable old home of The Game
succumbs to the wrecking ball.
Convince me that it can be re-created.
You know?
The smell of an old ballpark.
Its beer, piss, paint, rain, grass,
fertilizer, dirt, leather, B.O.,
Aqua Velva, dollar cigars, bus exhaust,
grilled (not steamed) dogs,
horse manure, sterno, wet hair,
coffee, sewers, dry rot.
Can't buy it, can't resurrect it.
Only time can create it.
Tell 'em in Milwaukee that I'll stop back
in about twenty years.

—EFQ

JEFF BODLEY, a father of two, lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he is employed in the automotive industry. A lifelong Tigers fan, he regrets the loss of any historic ballpark.

© 2001 Jeff Bodley