Tribute to Billy Werber, by Bob M.
For baseball fans everywhere:
The Ballad of Billy Werber
It was somewhere between '34 and '36
and the scene was Fenway Park;
The Red Sox were hosting the Yankees,
The day Billy Werber made his mark.
I don't recall who's pitching, but he's
angry and over-wrought;
He'd just walked this Werber kid
And he did not do that a lot!
Somewhere out there in Google-land,
There may be an account of this feat;
But, I was there in person,
On a bench they called a seat.
After drawing the walk, Werber heads for first,
The catcher, Dickey holding the ball;
Lazzeri, is no where near second
Paying no attention to the “ball 4” call.
Crosetti, the shortstop is checking his hair,
hat off, fingers scratching away;
Everybody seems half asleep on this
balmy, mid-summer day.
As Billy makes the turn at first,
he's watching these all-stars freeze,
So he puts his butt in second gear
and slides into second with ease!
Many years later I heard that Cobb
had pulled the same thing once,
And a few others had likewise tried,
but not really a whole big bunch.
In 1930, Billy was a Yankee,
where Crosetti amd Lazzeri held sway;
He rode the bench and played off and on;
Until it came; a career changing great day.
He was traded to the Red Sox,
and became a very familiar face;
Can you imagine the smile he beamed
standing tall on second base?
This came so early in a great career,
that not much was written or said,
Until the word came out of Charlotte,
that the great Billy Werber was dead.
Some times stats tell a story
that are true but incomplete;
and there are few of his equal in Cooperstown,
not when you're talking “compete.”
His numbers can be easily found, hitting, fielding,
(man, how he could run---!)
He fought to the day in two thousand eight, but
couldn't quite make it to a hundred and one!
