Hot Southern Nights Poem by Curtis Johnson

Hot Southern Nights
By Curtis Johnson

During the time before television came to our home My dad sat there in his car on a dark Southern night
And I was somewhere close by, enjoying a wonderful
Game of Major League Baseball on the radio

O, there were other teams in the majors like The Pirates,
The White Socks, and The Red Socks that were popular
Teams. But in my town in Northern Mississippi, it was all
About the Cardinals, Dodgers, and Yankees.

My dad had lots of friends, but two were rivals of the game
There was his friend, the Yankee man name Mr. Baines
And then, Mr. Mon, his other friend, was a Dodger fan
But my dad’s heart was in St. Louis with Stan The Man

In my mind I can hear those games now on radio, and in
My memory, later on when we obtained a TV, I can see The Baseball Game Of The Week

I mean no disrespect to other sportscasters, but Harry Carry and Peewee Reese made us feel like we were there in the stands

They say that baseball is America’s great past time experience,
But for me, baseball was all about ‘now and then’, ‘today, and
‘tomorrow’ too. It was about a little country boy fantasizing
And dreaming today about what could be tomorrow

cj042010