Hoyt

Hoytamus Wilhelmsky, North Carolinian as pine trees,

threw knuckleballs that swooped and dived like hordes of drunken bees.

Catchers wist not when his choice of flutter pitch began,

they just knew that when he threw they cursed him to a man.

Only one thing saved Hoyt from reciever lynching mobs:

batters blasphemed even more when missing his soft lobs.

Watching Wilhelm as a starter had to be great fun

(Ginsberg and Triandos chasing passed balls on the run).

Richards was so fearful of Bird errors in the pinches,

he designed a whopper mitt that spanned 38 inches!

The surest way to catch Hoyt's pitch was not in that glove's cup;

one waited till the ball quit rolling and then picked it up.

If Wilhelm's pitch was funny, what he did with it was not;

just look in the record book - most seasons he was hot.

That Rookie of the Year in '52 won 15 games;

in '58, no-hitting Yanks, they called him lots of names.

League earned run average titles in both years(imagine that);

from 64-8 you couldn't touch him with a bat.

By '72, with Wilhelm's stint irrevocably done

he led in most appearances and topped relief games won.

Every night before sleep, all short men should praise Hoyt's name -

the first one of their species to make baseball's Hall of Fame.

dan gray taylor jr.
(for thomas frederick wilson)

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