“Inside the Park: Voices of Baseball” covers all the bases in poetic beauty

A while back, J-Mag Guthrie approached me about doing a review of her new book Inside the Park: Voices of Baseball. How could I turn her down?

I’ve known “Annie” (She went by the name Astro Annie on the Astros web forums) for about 6 years. Even dated her daughter (but that’s a story for a different day). She’s written baseball poems and parody songs for as long as I’ve known her, so I wasn’t surprised when she told me about the book.

I finally got the chance to read it on Friday while I was waiting on my flight to Phoenix and found it to be a wonderfully-written collection of poems on a variety of topics. She has poems covering a wide variety of topics and perspectives, including bench players, veteran pitchers, fans, umpires, and even the broadcasters.

The poem that struck me the most was the one covering Shoeless Joe Jackson, who proclaimed his innocence in the 1919 Black Sox Scandal until the day he died. I loved it.

As someone that considers himself anything but a poetry junkie, I have to say that I was really impressed with it. Definitely a great read for any baseball fan, especially one that’s more into poetry than myself.