Presents
Just Like Josh Gibson
Actors: Grandmama,Papa,Danny, Narrator 1 & 2
Narrator 1: Grandmama says there’s nothing like baseball.
Narrator 2: The story goes…
Grandmama: Josh Gibson once hit a baseball in Pittsburgh so hard that it didn’t come down.
Papa: The next day he was playing in Philadelphia, and ball dropped out of the sky, right into a fielder’s glove.
Grandmama: The umpire pointed at Josh and said,
Boys: You’re out yesterday in Pittsburgh!
Grandmama: My papa showed up on that same day, the day she was born, with a Louisville slugger and a smile.
Papa: I said to my new baby that she would make baseballs fly, just like Josh Gibson.
Narrator 1: So Grandmama’s papa threw balls to his baby girl in the early morning dew.
Narrator 2: Those summer days were like magic as the balls sailed away…
Grandmama: …sailed away,
Danny: …gone.
Girls: But girls in the forties didn’t play baseball.
Danny: They weren’t supposed to take the field with the boys or have batting dreams.
Narrator 1: So even when Grandmama gotbigger, she still had to stand outside the fence
Narrator 2: and watch her cousin Danny and Maple Grove All-Stars batting away.
Danny: But every now and again, when our team was just practicing, we’d let Grandmama play too.
Grandmama: Then I would step up to the plate, hit the ball, and watch it soar.
Danny: I would imagine I was with the Dodgers.
Papa: But Grandmama always pretended she was Josh Gibson, playing for the Grays, wearing the team colors and hitting away.
Grandmama: I would play all day, with everybody saying…
Boys: You can do it all!
Danny: She could do it all, hit, throw, and fly round the bases. You would hear people say,
Narrator 1: But too bad she’s a girl…
All: Too bad she’s a girl…
Narrator 2: Until…two days, hot days after the Fourth of July,
Danny: I hurt my arm sliding into second, and there were only eight All-Stars.
Papa: That afternoon the team looked to Grandmama.
Grandmama: I had on a pink dress with a white bow, and Danny’s baseball shoes.
Narrator 1: And Grandmama says…
Grandmama: As I went to the plate I remembered…
baseball has always been early morning dew and sunlight, hitting balls with my papa, watching the boys play.
Boys: standing behind the fence and,
Girls: watching the boys play.
Narrator 2: The story goes…
Danny: Grandmama hit the ball a mile that day, caught anything that was thrown,
Papa: and did everything else -
All: Just like Josh Gibson.
Narrator 1: As she hands the ball to me she says,
Grandmama: There’s nothing like baseball, baby, and I couldn’t help but love it, especially that one time I got to hear the cheers,
Narrator 2: …hear all the cheers,
All: …while stealing home.
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