the skipper's scrapbook
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April 1 – Opening Day was on March 31 in the football stadium that the Florida Marlins play in. It sticks out amongst all the new baseball-only yards, as well as the multi-purpose ones (like Shea) still in existence. The Mets won, 7-2, behind a strong performance by two-time Cy Young winner, Johan Santana, who came in an off-season trade from the Twins. The deal for Santana included four Mets prospects that a good portion of the media described as a “weak” package. The Chief taught me long ago how you should really stick to the boxscores and the pictures in the newspapers. That was probably his impetus for The Original scrapbook and maybe subliminally for my idea that became the skipper’s scrapbook. The point was and is that far too many sportswriters sounded incredibly bitter, as if they never played the game with any proficiency or joy, so they didn’t want anyone else to simply love the game. This assertion by The Chief has proven absolutely accurate and has only become more prevalent as I’ve gotten older. There’s less and less reporting going on – its more like venting or sermonizing. That said, the first regular season pictures that we used were a few shots of Santana, whose visage naturally dominated all of the papers, and a picture of shortstop Jose Reyes dodging a baserunner after getting a force out on a feed from second baseman Luis Castillo. That sort of action shot was a staple of The Original and I understood why The Chief liked it. We also put in the boxscore, which noted David Wright’s two doubles and three runs batted in (including a bases-clearing two-bagger that capped off the decisive 6-run fourth inning.), centerfielder Carlos Beltran’s pair of doubles and run scoring hits by newcomers Angel Pagan (double) and Ryan Church (single). Pagan was an original Brooklyn Cyclone (a Mets Single “A’ farm team) from 2001, whom both The Chief and I had tabbed as a good prospect. (We still go a few times a year to Coney Island’s
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About the Book
The re-birth of an idea from almost four decades past fuels this story of a pair of baseball fans who want to collectively chronicle the final season of their longtime home ballpark. In the skipper’s scrapbook, poet and writer Thomas Porky McDonald shares the tale of the skipper, a man in his late 40’s and The Chief, an octogenarian, who both still share the love of the game of baseball, in a way that is not as prevalent as it once was. Through the pages of a scrapbook based on photos taken as the final season of
It is 2008, and the New York Mets are preparing for the 45th and final season of their old yard, Shea Stadium, when the skipper broaches the idea of a scrapbook to commemorate the entire season. Once before, back in 1969, the two had teamed up to create a similar volume, only then it was The Chief who had thought of the scrapbook idea, with the skipper, just a small boy, enthusiastically along for the ride. Of course, when the 100-1 New York Mets, the perennial lovable losers of the National League since their inaugural season in 1962, went on to win the first ever National League East title, the ensuing League Championship Series and ultimately the World Series, the scrapbook took on added value and meaning. So much so, that the skipper still has it languishing on a dusty old bookshelf when 2008, the final season of Shea, comes along.
In the six months that it takes for a season to transpire, and in a most different way than it was done back in 1969, the new scrapbook takes the two men back one more time to what baseball had always meant to both of them and to so many other fans, even as a new breed of overly statistic-minded individuals crept more and more into the mainstream. A story of loyalty, the skipper’s scrapbook is a decidedly honest account of what many feel when a treasured old ballpark stands down its final days. Whether you are a genuine baseball aficionado or not, the connection between the two main protagonists should prove variously touching, humorous and familiar.
About the Author
Thomas Porky McDonald is a poet and writer who often comments on both baseball and life. His first five poetry collections, each of which contained five smaller volumes, spanned the 1990’s on into the early 21st Century. Ground Pork: Poems 1989-1994, Downtown Revival: Poems 1994-1997, Closer to Rona: Poems 1997-1999, Still Chuckin': Poems 1999-2002, and In the Cameo Shade: Poems 2002-2005, all presented a writer whose work was often distinguished by the use of baseball and the ballpark venue. Two other anthologies, Vespers at Sunset: Poems 2005-2007and And These Thy Gifts: Poems 2007-2009 are slated for release in the near future. He has also published two thematic poetry volumes, Diamond Reflections, Baseball Pieces For Real Fans, which takes the most vibrant baseball-related poems of the chronological collections from the many other life-related pieces contained in each five-book set, and Dem Poems: The Brooklyn Collection, born of verses written from 1985-2005, two decades when the writer’s jobsite was based in the Borough of Churches. His book on poetic process, Does the Toy Cannon Fire Still at Night? cited 62 poems from his first three collections, giving the actual story behind each piece. Beyond the poetry landscape, McDonald has also released Series Endings: A Whimsical Look at the Final Plays of Baseball’s Fall Classic, 1903-2003, a distinctly different view of baseball’s World Series than most mainstream histories, At a Loss to Eternity: Baseball Teams of Note That Didn’t Win it All, a celebration of great, non-Series winning teams, Never These Men: One Man’s Look at Baseball’s Creatively Cultured Characters, a biting rebuttal to the pervading need of the media to brand people for life and Where the Angels Bow to the Grass: A Boy’s Memoir, which is taken mainly from the writer’s childhood days of the 1960’s and 70’s describing the bond between McDonald and his father, Bill “The Chief” McDonald. He has also published a three-part anthology series, which includes An Irishman’s Tribute to the Negro Leagues, Over the Shoulder and Plant on One: An Irishman’s Tribute to Willie Mays and Hit Sign, Win Suit: An Irishman’s Tribute to Ebbets Field. Each volume contains short stories, historical material and a small dose of McDonald’s trademark baseball poetry. McDonald has also published a book of short stories, Paradise Oval and his singular New Yorkers’ take on 9/11, The Air That September. Born in