For America

On September 17, 2001, the late, great Jack Buck made one of his final apperarances at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Showing the signs of Parkinson's disease that he was fighting, that would take his life 9 months later, he fired up the crowd by reading the following poem. He concluded by silencing those who thought baseball was coming back too soon, saying: "I don't know about you, but as for me, the question has already been answered: Should we be here? Yes!"

For America

by Jack Buck

Since this nation was founded under
God, more than 200 years ago,
We've been the bastion of
Freedom...
The light which keeps the free world
Aglow.
We do not covet the possessions of
Others, we are blessed with the
Bounty we share.
We have rushed to help other
Nations...anything...anytime...
Anywhere.
War is just not our nature...we
Won't start, but we will end the fight.
If we are involved we shall be
Resolved to protect what we know is
Right.
We've been challenged by a
Cowardly foe, who strikes and then
Hides from our view.
With one voice we say there's no
Choice today, there is only one
Thing to do.
Everyone is saying the same thing
And praying that we end these
Senseless moments we are living.
As our fathers did before, we shall
Win this unwanted war.
And our children will enjoy the
Future, we'll be giving.

Pujols: To Walk or Not to Walk?

Hey baseball fans, here’s a question for you. Most of you who know me know of my love of baseball, especially the St. Louis Cardinals. If you are a true baseball fan, you are aware of Albert Pujols and the great year he is having. My question is why do so many teams let him beat them? Why don’t more teams pitch around him and walk him intentionally? Take their game last night for instance. Pujols came to bat in the 8th inning with the Cardinals down 3-0. The bases where loaded and two out. The book says you pitch to him which is what the Reds did. The result was a grand slam home run and the Cards led 4-3. If you are the Reds, why not walk Pujols? Even though you walk in a run, you still have the lead, and then take your chance on the next hitter, in this case Ryan Ludwick. Ludwick isn’t near the hitter that Pujols is, and Ludwick hasn’t been hitting the ball well for the month of June, a weak .200 batting average with just 3 home runs. You get Ludwick out and you escape with a 3-1 lead. Will we ever see something like this, a team giving Pujols the free pass, even though it would mean walking in a run? I’m glad a team hasn’t done this yet because I really like seeing Albert bat with men on base. Oh, by the way, the Cardinals ended up winning the game 7-4.