Poet in the Grandstand

About the Book

In the area of ballpark hopping, there have been a number of accounts written, recorded or talked about in recent times, sometimes for a cause or others just as a gimmick.  Through Poet in the Grandstand, poet and writer Thomas Porky McDonald gives us a most unique twist on a preoccupation which has grown in the past few decades, in the wake of the closings of classic old yards and the birth of the more entertainment and nostalgia driven open-air parks.  From his first trip in 1990, to the fabled Comiskey Park of Shoeless Joe Jackson, Bill Veeck and the Go-Go Sox, on through to the 2010 opening of Minnesota’s fabulous Target Field, featuring the modern M&M Boys, Joe Mauer and Justin Mourneau, McDonald offers up a book that is part travelogue and part poetic tribute to all the places that men and women have gone to over the years for a very personal sense of joy.  This journey, done methodically, over two decades, picks up steam as the chapters begin to flow.  The effect of McDonald himself clearly growing as a poet through the years is accentuated by the fact that more and more pieces are written in the later trips.  The end result is a most interesting volume of not just ballparks, but Americana, as numerous attractions taken in during those ballpark weeks and weekends are also noted and/or dissected.

For fourteen seasons on his own and then six more accompanied by friend and confidant Adam Boneker, McDonald’s travels, highlighted by over 300 poems, can take the reader back to a simpler time or into the possibilities of the future.

In chapter and in verse, Poet in the Grandstand has something for both the baseball enthusiast and the curious traveler.  Fans of the game and lovers of the road will each find much to offer within these pages.

About the Author

Thomas Porky McDonald is a poet and writer who often comments on both baseball and life.  His first six poetry collections, each of which contained five smaller volumes, spanned the 1990’s on into the early 21^st Century.  Ground Pork: Poems 1989-1994, Downtown Revival: Poems 1994-1997, Closer to Rona: Poems 1997-1999, Still Chuckin': Poems 1999-2002, In the Cameo Shade: Poems 2002-2005 and Vespers at Sunset: Poems 2005-2007, all presented a writer whose work was often distinguished by the use of baseball and the ballpark venue.  Other previously published poetry came in the form of two thematic 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, his most recent book, the skipper’s scrapbook, was inspired by his own Queens upbringing and told the tale of two men and the journey they took together through the final season of their home ballpark, Shea Stadium.  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 St. Albans Naval Hospital in Queens, McDonald has lived in nearby Astoria his entire life.