Wilbur Wood (Ode to a Junkballer)

Deep into the season (looks like the Tigers will be sellers at the deadline!), time to revive an old tribute to the game (generally), junkball pitchers (less generally), and Wilbur Wood (specifically). Before the poem, my favorite Wilbur Wood trivia, via Wikipedia:

On May 28, 1973, while pitching for the White Sox against the Cleveland Indians, Wood pitched the remainder of a 21-inning carryover game that had been suspended two nights earlier, allowing only two hits in five innings to earn the victory. He then started the regularly scheduled game and pitched a four-hit complete game shutout, earning two wins in the same night. Later that season, on July 20, Wood started both ends of a doubleheader, making him the last pitcher to do so. He lost both of those games.

And now, an ode to Wilbur Wood:

I’m like
throwin’ fuckin’ junk
scraping the sides of the plate
fluttering across broken winged
accumulating insults
& lounging in stale air
I’m the junkballer
& from a few feet away
I look easy to hit

but, friend, understand
that the shit explodes
       BOOM!

& it sure as hell ain’t where you thought it’d be
when you started that swing

& yr fury fans the air impotent
while my junk falls behind you, immaculate