Chippy

My aunt Chippy
Whose real name was Lillian
Wore her hair short
Like a tomboy
And had been in love
With the Brooklyn Dodgers
Throughout the 1950's
And when they left
The East Coast for California
It broke her heart
And she purged them from her life forever
By giving me all the Dodger memorabilia
She had spent a decade collecting

There were newspaper articles
About Sandy Amaros
The Cuban left fielder
And a photograph of him
Flashing the leather at the last moment
Stealing a sure double from Yogi Berra
Making his famous sliding catch
Down the left field line
In game seven of the '55 World Series

And although she hated the Yankees
There was an article and photograph
Of Mickey Mantle’s mammoth
565 foot home run
That cleared the Griffith Stadium roof
And became the first tape measure home run

Chippy also liked telling stories
About the stick ball games
She played In Catholic School -
The girls against the nuns
Or, as she called them – the Sisters

And when she finally decided
To spend a weekend with us
At our Long Island house
I bragged to all my friends
That she was greatest stick ball player
To ever have played in Brooklyn
Throwing in that she was capable of delivering
Home runs on the scale of Ruth and Mangle
Because none of them really knew
Where Brooklyn was
Or had ever played stick ball
but they all knew Mantle and Ruth

The moment she arrived
I dragged her out to the street
And handed her the stick ball bat
I had made from my mother's broom
And proudly pulled out a Spaldeen
And tossed it to her

She laughed and said
She hadn’t played in years
And couldn't promise anything

She whiffed the first five times
She tossed the ball in the air
And tried to hit it

And I could see
the look of doubt
Creeping into my friends' faces
and all I could say was -
“She’s rusty, that’s all.”

But then on the sixth try
She connected
And sent the bubble gum colored
ball in a high, far arc
Out of the cul-de-sac
And down the length of the block
With everyone scrambling
To retrieve it

Turning to me
She smiled
And said – "Not bad, kid.
Now you try."