{"id":8246,"date":"2022-05-31T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-31T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspaperhistory.com\/?p=8246"},"modified":"2022-05-31T01:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T05:00:00","slug":"the-new-pitchers-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/the-new-pitchers-prayer\/","title":{"rendered":"The New Pitcher’s Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From the <\/em>Evening Star, May 31, 1914<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Out on the grass-green diamond
    Thousands and thousands can see
One, the man who is pitching\u2014
    That little image is me.
Clad in the garb of a player,
    Built for a pitcher am I,
Whirling the ball with a motion
    Studied and graceful and high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You think you\u2019re the judges before whom
    Pitchers are tried and approved;
That you are the court and your verdict
    Tells whether I\u2019m kept or removed.
You do not know, but I\u2019ll tell you,
    I haven\u2019t a chance save as one
Standing with mask and protector
    Determines my fate, lost or won.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He can decide and determine,
    His calling of strike or of ball,
Whether I\u2019m good or a \u201cdead one\u201d\u2014
    You do not matter at all.
He can call corners or close ones,
    He can determine my fate;
Make me or mar me at pleasure,
    Label me \u201cstar\u201d or a \u201cskate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Umpire, I pray you, kind master,
    Look now with favor on me;
Give me an inch now of margin,
    Waving your right arm up free.
Fate\u2019s staring there on the benches;
    The manager\u2019s thinking today
Will settle my doom or my fortune,
    So, umpire, be good to me, pray!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Evening Star, May 31, 1914. Out on the grass-green diamond    Thousands and thousands can seeOne, the man who is pitching\u2014    That little image is me.Clad in the garb of a player,    Built for a pitcher am I,Whirling the ball with a motion    Studied and graceful and high. You think […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-evening-star","category-newspapers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8246\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}