April 17, 2019 | Fiction
Summer League
Terrance Wedin
Take your pick. Me, they said I hung my off-speed stuff, lost track of the count, lacked mental toughness. I waved off too many signs.
April 16, 2019 | Poetry
In July, 2002, The Mascot Answers A Question
Robert Halleck
I joined the crowd and bought an XL.
April 16, 2019 | Nonfiction
Béisbol
Francisco Martínezcuello
When I am young I wish I were invisible so that the white boys will stop screaming, “Go back where you came from.”
An Abbreviated Directory of Women in Baseball
Courtney Preiss
Kinsella, Annie: Cinnamon-haired romantic lead in Field of Dreams. Played with zeal by Amy Madigan. Equal parts romantic and pragmatic, she raised a farm and a daughter, vanquished small-town Nazism, and offered unconditional support to her crazy-ass ghost-loving husband.
Fan Interference
Thomas Genevieve
The smell of grilled hot dogs is in the near distance.
The Gospel According to the First Base Umpire
John McDonough
And everyone in section ten is standing
When Gills Gets Sent Down
John Jodzio
After tonight, I’ll be demoted to my parents’ couch and a job at my uncle’s lumberyard.
Ode to Baseball
Jimmy Pappas
Everyone was welcome. No one was cut
in this league.
Your Name Comes From Him
Thomas Gresham
You cannot think of baseball without thinking of your grandpa. The two forever tangled in each’s DNA.
Ken Smiled with His Eyes
Jeff Barker
Later that evening, Ken Caminiti died alone in a bug infested Bronx drug house.
An Interview With Mary Laura Philpott
Haley Sherif
The wonderful thing about teenagers — which is what he is now — is that they are very focused on their own lives and not the least bit interested in what their parents are up to.
The Bottom of the Order: Overrunning It
Andrew Forbes
Then maybe head over to the State Park near Orange City to rent a canoe and paddle gator-infested waters, strafed by black vultures and large, fictional-looking birds, for the chance to see some manatees, large and stationary in the gentle current of a warm, clear river.
B is for Breakfast
Alice Lowe
“I’ll be right up,” I said, seeking the comfort of the remaining parental arms. But no, he told me, “wait until morning.”
The Conquest of Bread
Joshua Hebburn
It tasted like apple cider — apple and something astringent — cinnamon, a strong cinnamon, warming, brown sugar, and sprinkled throughout the loaf, unadvertised, was some kind of dried fruit with a mild taste — raisins, probably — partially rehydrated by the thawing process.
Fable of the Everyman
Tucker Leighty-Phillips
My mother and father are stuck in an optic deadlock, her looking at him like she is trying to solve a puzzle or remember the name of a particular film, him looking like he’s just deciphered answers to both.
Don Giovanni
Michael Mungiello
Mike and I sat in our separate seats and waved to each other. I’d texted him the night before and asked “Wanna see Don Giovanni tomorrow night?” and he said “What the hell. It’s a good hump day
Rubber Mother
Adam Falik
I’m on a date with this dude, the guy’s gorgeous, and ripped, skin all sunburnt like a surfer with big white teeth and confident eyes. It’s all too sexy. But I’m on guard. I want to deny him but
In Which You Fly Home For Your Brother's Funeral
Bridget Adams
You elaborate: Christmas just makes people emotional. "No," she says, raking at her hair with French-tipped nails. "I don't think so."
Ghosts of Summer
Stephen Seabridge
We are intrepid travellers hunting – or rather haunting – the square. We are exhausting the place of its details.
Aisle of Scary Preserved Things
Jeremy Kniola
We’re riding the red line south when Xue suggests stopping in Chinatown to purchase thousand-year eggs. I picture her cracking open an enormous egg and a pterodactyl flying out. “They’re not really a
Muscle Memory
Michelle Ross
Also, every time they flew and he had that damn backpack on, he forgot that the space he occupied extended beyond his physical back. He whacked bystanders in the shoulders or the chest, and, at least once, the face.
Many Fathers Away
Babak Lakghomi
Before that, the father had been away. It was a time that many fathers were away.
The Woman Who Wasn't There
Nicole Hamer
The bracelet tells someone where she is, honey. But it doesn’t tell you why.