One of the most famous poems in American literature, “Casey at the Bat,” is arguably the “most memorable piece of baseball writing ever produced,” according to Glenn Stout, editor of “The Best American Sports Writing.”
What better place, then, to host the National Baseball Poetry Festival than the hometown of this significant poem's author, Ernest Thayer – Worcester, Mass.
May 3-5, Polar Park will host the National Baseball Poetry Festival for the second annual event. The festival brought together a wide array of baseball and poetry fans, and is set to do so once again this year.
The man behind the event is Steven Biondolillo, a lifelong lover of baseball and literature. Biondolillo is the president and founder of Biondolillo Associates, “a national leader in the field of special-event fundraising,” credited with the resurgence of walk-a-thons. Biondolillo Associates runs the event along with Baseball Bard, a baseball poetry publication, and the Woo Sox.
Biondolillo talks fondly of his love of baseball, something that came at an early age for him. After his father died when he was just 6 years old, Biondolillo found himself turning to baseball as a comforting outlet.
“My great solace was that the gift I was left with was the ability to play baseball,” Biondolillo said. “It was really this sport that stabilized me in a pretty shaky time in my life.”
Since then, he turned toward wrestling as his main sport but continued to keep baseball in his heart, especially through his writing. He came up with the idea for a baseball poetry festival when he saw that there was a fishermen’s poetry event in Oregon.
“I was reading a magazine article that was talking about the Fishermen Poets Gathering in Astoria, Oregon, and I went, ‘A fishermen’s poetry festival?’” Biondolillo said. “If there’s a poetry festival for fisherman poets, how come there isn’t one for baseball poets?”
Last year, Biondolillo along with the organizing committee planned and executed the first annual National Baseball Poetry Festival within seven months, seeing great success in year one.
Now, another year later, the committee is confident and hopes to see even more participation in the different parts of the festival.
Schedule of events
The festival consists of a variety of events for the poetry-lovers. On Friday, there is a welcome reception for poets coming from far and wide for the festivities followed by a stadium tour of Polar Park prior to the Woo Sox’s game against the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs. The usual Friday fireworks will cap off the night.
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Saturday starts with the youth poetry readings. As part of the festival, there were two poetry contests that people could enter – one for youth and another for college students and adults. Some who were entered in the children’s category have the opportunity to read their works on the Berm at Polar Park, and adults who were recognized will be reading later in the day at the Worcester Public Library.
Once again, festival attendees are welcomed to buy tickets for the Woo Sox game. Postgame activities include the Canal District open mic night where participants can read or listen to poetry at either of the two selected locations – Steel & Wire or Boland’s.
A send-off will be held Sunday morning at the Homewood Suites by Hilton to bring the festival attendees and poets together one last time before everyone parts ways.
The 'synergy' of baseball and poetry
Gardner native Pamela Gemme will be participating for the second year, serving as a volunteer to the festival. Gemme is a published poet and worked as a social work consultant before recently retiring. After living in Gardner, Gemme lived in various towns and cities in Central Mass., including Worcester. The National Baseball Poetry Festival hits close to home for her, both literally and figuratively, and she is a perfect representation of what the festival is aimed to do.
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“There are so many poets that I know, like I might know them from the poetry world, but I’ve never met them,” Gemme said, telling how she is going to be meeting some of her online poetry acquaintances in person for the first time. “These are people that I met (through the festival) that normally I probably wouldn’t, but you can relate to people through a sport where you might not always.
“Not everyone who writes poetry is going to write baseball poetry and there are some people who wrote a baseball poem not because they love poetry but because they love baseball, and so the synergy is so interesting.”
Biondolillo expressed his excitement at how many people showed up to participate in last year’s events, including representing states such as California and Arizona. This year is expected to bring similar results and bond lovers of poetry and baseball fanatics for one big appreciation of culture and sports.
This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Culture and sports combine for the National Baseball Poetry Festival at Polar Park
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