Line-Up for Yesterday


"Line-Up for Yesterday: An ABC of Baseball Immortals" is a poem written by Ogden Nash for the January 1949 issue of SPORT Magazine. In the poem, Nash dedicates each letter of the alphabet to an iconic Major League Baseball player. Altogether, the poem pays tribute to 24 players, plus one winking reference to himself as a fan of the game, and concludes with a final stanza in homage to the players collectively.

Baseball players referred to in the poem

LetterPlayerVerse
AGrover Cleveland AlexanderA is for Alex
The great Alexander;
More Goose eggs he pitched
Than a popular gander.
BRoger BresnahanB is for Bresnahan
Back of the plate;
The Cubs were his love,
and McGraw his hate.
CTy CobbC is for Cobb
Who grew spikes and not corn,
And made all the basemen
Wish they weren't born.
DJay "Dizzy" DeanD is for Dean,
The grammatical Diz,
When they asked, Who's the tops?
Said correctly, I is.
EJohnny EversE is for Evers,
His jaw in advance;
Never afraid
To Tinker with Chance.
FFrankie "Fordham" FrischF is for Fordham
And Frankie and Frisch;
I wish he were back
With the Giants, I wish.
GLou GehrigG is for Gehrig,
The Pride of the Stadium;
His record pure gold,
His courage, pure radium.
HRogers HornsbyH is for Hornsby;
When pitching to Rog,
The pitcher would pitch,
Then the pitcher would dodge.
INash, the authorI is for Me,
Not a hard-hitting man,
But an outstanding all-time
Incurable fan.
JWalter JohnsonJ is for Johnson
The Big Train in his prime
Was so fast he could throw
Three strikes at a time.
KWillie KeelerK is for Keeler,
As fresh as green paint,
The fastest and mostest
To hit where they ain't.
LNap LajoieL is for Lajoie
Whom Clevelanders love,
Napoleon himself,
With glue in his glove.
MChristy MathewsonM is for Matty,
Who carried a charm
In the form of an extra
brain in his arm.
NLouis "Bobo" NewsomN is for Newsom,
Bobo's favorite kin.
You ask how he's here,
He talked himself in.
OMel OttO is for Ott
Of the restless right foot.
When he leaned on the pellet,
The pellet stayed put.
PEddie PlankP is for Plank,
The arm of the A's;
When he tangled with Matty
Games lasted for days.
QConnie MackQ is for Don Quixote
Cornelius Mack;
Neither Yankees nor years
Can halt his attack.
RBabe RuthR is for Ruth.
To tell you the truth,
There's just no more to be said,
Just R is for Ruth.
STris SpeakerS is for Speaker,
Swift center-field tender,
When the ball saw him coming,
It yelled, "I surrender."
TBill TerryT is for Terry
The Giant from Memphis
Whose.400 average
You can't overemphis.
UCarl HubbellU would be 'Ubbell
if Carl were a cockney;
We say Hubbell and Baseball
Like Football and Rockne.
VCharles "Dazzy" VanceV is for Vance
The Dodger's very own Dazzy;
None of his rivals
Could throw as fast as he.
WHonus WagnerW is for Wagner,
The bowlegged beauty;
Short was closed to all traffic
With Honus on duty.
XJimmie FoxxX is the first
of two x's in Foxx
Who was right behind Ruth
with his powerful soxx.
YCy YoungY is for Young
The magnificent Cy;
People batted against him,
But I never knew why.
ZZenithZ is for Zenith
The summit of fame.
These men are up there.
These men are the game.

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