{"id":3496,"date":"2023-04-28T18:16:57","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T18:16:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.northstarmusicllc.com\/?post_type=product&#038;p=3496"},"modified":"2025-02-01T14:09:15","modified_gmt":"2025-02-01T19:09:15","slug":"in-the-country-of-baseball","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/www.northstarmusicllc.com\/index.php\/product\/in-the-country-of-baseball\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Country of Baseball"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>In the Country of Baseball<\/strong><br \/>\nMusic by David Evan Thomas, based on writings by Donald Hall<\/p>\n<p><strong>I. Home<\/strong><br \/>\nThe ball once struck off<br \/>\nAway flies the boy<br \/>\nTo the destin&#8217;d post<br \/>\nAnd then home with joy<br \/>\n(Anon., 18th c.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>II. The Country of Baseball<\/strong><br \/>\nIn the country of baseball, time is the<br \/>\nair we breathe, and the wind swirls us<br \/>\nbackward and forward, until all time<br \/>\nand all seasons become the same. In<br \/>\nthe country of baseball the bat swings<br \/>\nin its level swoop, the ball arcs upward<br \/>\ninto the twilight, the center-fielder<br \/>\ngathers himself beneath it, and Dixie<br \/>\nWalker flies out to Willie Mays\u2026.<\/p>\n<p><strong>III. Pitches<\/strong><br \/>\n(Vocalise)<\/p>\n<p><strong>IV. Fielding<\/strong><br \/>\nFielding is total humiliation. I don&#8217;t care\u2026. When he<br \/>\nhits me a grounder that stays low, it scoots under my<br \/>\nglove. I cannot bend that far. Others come bouncing<br \/>\nalong like rabbits with hideous intent. They bounce<br \/>\noff the hard dirt to an unpredictable elevation-and<br \/>\ncareen into my shin or smash into my forearm. My<br \/>\nback does not allow me to bend far enough and the<br \/>\nball swoops under my mitt, those are the only times<br \/>\nwithout pain. I simply collect bruises, hard purple<br \/>\nknots on my various limbs. I do not even care. I<br \/>\nembrace my wounds.<br \/>\nI am Saint Sebastian.<\/p>\n<p><strong>V. Fathers and Sons<\/strong><br \/>\nBaseball is fathers and sons, the long<br \/>\narc of the years between.\u2026 Baseball<br \/>\nis the generations, looping backward<br \/>\nforever. Baseball is fathers and sons,<br \/>\nthe long arc of the years\u2026 a million<br \/>\napparitions of sticks and balls, cricket<br \/>\nand rounders, the games the Iroquois<br \/>\nplayed in Connecticut before the<br \/>\nEnglish came. Baseball is fathers and<br \/>\nsons playing catch, lazy and<br \/>\nmurderous, wild and controlled, the<br \/>\nprofound archaic song of birth,<br \/>\ngrowth, age, and death:<br \/>\nThis diamond encloses what we are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"innerContentContainer\">[dflip id=\"4076\" type=\"thumb\" ]<\/span><\/p>\n[audio mp3=\"https:\/\/www.northstarmusicllc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/in_the_country_of_baseball_eikum_mcglaughlin.mp3\"][\/audio]\n<p>Carol Eikum, soprano<br \/>\nHeather MacLaughlin, piano<br \/>\nUsed by permission<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":3520,"template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[65,62,42],"product_tag":[],"class_list":["post-3496","product","type-product","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","product_cat-david-evan-thomas","product_cat-high-voice","product_cat-individual-songs","first","instock","purchasable","product-type-variable"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northstarmusicllc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/3496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northstarmusicllc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northstarmusicllc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northstarmusicllc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northstarmusicllc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northstarmusicllc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=3496"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northstarmusicllc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=3496"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northstarmusicllc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=3496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}