A Kingsville poet has recently been announced as a finalist for the CASEY Award for the best baseball book of 2025.
Simon Pole, who grew up in a baseball family not too far from here in Kent Bridge, joins such authors as fellow Canadian W.P. Kinsella (Shoeless Joe/Field of Dreams), who was a finalist and past winner.
His book-length poem, titled The Black Bat: A Supernatural Baseball Epic, tells the story of Ernie Thatch, a gifted pitcher who must undergo great sporting tests to redeem himself and the woman he loves from encroaching evil. The action is set in Southwestern Ontario, Canada’s historical baseball heartland, and features a climactic baseball battle between two fictional teams, the Kingsville Cranes and Leamington Monarchs.
The baseball action takes place in the fictional Lake Counties Baseball Association, featuring other teams like the Wheatley Lucky Gulls, Harrow Threshers and Petrolia Gushers.
An excerpt:
The county cup was on the line:
A golden bowl, on which were etched
The champions past, what glories shine
On those old names, the ones who fetched,
And caught, and hit, and pitched the ball—
The giants sleeping fans recall.
There were two teams that summer hot
Who for the trophy fiercely vied,
And when they to the last games got,
They found themselves for first place tied.
There were the Monarchs, buff and spry,
Whose symbol was the butterfly.
Against them fought the able Cranes,
A side who made explosive gains.
“I’m just overjoyed to be included with all those who have turned their love of baseball into great literature,” says Pole.
“Baseball is a grand stage for the greatest stories to be told, not least in verse, and has produced such timeless poems as Casey at the Bat and Tinker to Evers to Chance. To add my contribution is a dream come true.”
Pole is the author of six volumes of poetry, including the seven-poem epic cycle The Saga of Terminal City. The Harvard grad is also descendent of Canadian poet Susie Drury. His poetry is considered cosmic poetry, which scales from the everyday to the spiritual heights beyond.
Pole expects he’ll have a meet the author book signing in the not-too-distant future, as he awaits word on the award, for which the winner is scheduled to be announced at the end of February.
The CASEY Award is bestowed by Spitball: the Literary Baseball Magazine, based in Walton, Kentucky, and is considered the preeminent award given to distinguished baseball literature. The award itself is an actual Louisville Slugger baseball bat adorned with the CASEY Award logo and the recipient’s name.
The Black Bat is available on Amazon and also through the author’s website at simonpole.ca and would make a great Christmas gift for the reader and baseball fan in your life.
