"Line-Up for Yesterday: An ABC of Baseball Immortals" is a poem written by Ogden Nash for the January 1949 issue of Sport. In the poem, Nash dedicates each letter of the alphabet to a legendary Major League Baseball player. The poem pays tribute to 24 players altogether, plus one winking reference to himself (under "I") as a fan of the game, and concludes with a final stanza in homage to the players collectively.
Baseball players referred to in the poem
Grover Cleveland Alexander Roger Bresnahan Ty Cobb Dizzy Dean Johnny Evers Frankie Frisch Lou Gehrig Rogers Hornsby Carl Hubbell Walter Johnson Willie Keeler Nap Lajoie Christy Mathewson Bobo Newsom Mel Ott Eddie Plank Connie Mack Babe Ruth Tris Speaker Bill Terry Dazzy Vance Honus Wagner Jimmie Foxx Cy Young
Statistics
Eighteen of the players were also in the Hall of Fame at the time, and all but one (Bobo Newsom) would eventually be inducted. Eight players—Cobb, Gehrig, Hornsby, Johnson, Mathewson, Ruth, Wagner, and Young—would be elected to the All Century Team in 1999.
External links
Full text of the poem at Baseball Almanac