Why Barry Bonds Belongs in Cooperstown

Alan Berecka

March 12, 2023 

Baseball writers and aficionados

have banned Bonds to infamy.

They say “he cheated; it was the juice

that slammed 73 in ought-one."

If so, I might be the Barry Bonds

of the Sinton Municipal Golf Course,

thanks to the injections of steroids

prescribed by my GP, a good golfer

in his own right. At 63, I am bombing

the ball farther than back in my prime.

The ball is flying way farther to the right,

and way farther to the left; it goes deeper

into the trees, and into deeper water.

The ball now whistles off the club face,

whistles an age-old song, “There’s no 

prescription that cures a lack of talent.

There’s no substitute for well-honed skill."

Alan Berecka is the author of five books of poetry, the latest A Living is Not a Life: A Working Title (2021, Black Spruce Press) was a finalist in the Hoffer Awards. His poetry has appeared in such journals and websites as The Christian Century, The Concho River Review, The Texas Review, The Texas Poetry Assignment, and The Main Street Rag.  He recently participated in the Lithuanian Writers Union’s international spring poetry festival which took place in May 2022. This was the second time Berecka has been invited to read at festivals in the birthplace of two grandparents. He earned his living for many years as a librarian at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi. In January 2023, he finally lived long enough so he retired. He and his wife Alice reside in Sinton, Texas where they raised their now two adult children.