Baseball's Sad Lexicon

Written by Franklin Pierce Adams in the New York Evening Mail in 1910, Baseball's Sad Lexicon is also known as "Tinker to Evers to Chance".

The eight line poem was written from the perspective of a New York Giants fan who laments his team's chances of winning the National League pennant against the mighty Chicago Cubs.

Tinker to Evers to Chance refers to the double play combination of the Cubs in 1910, Joe Tinker at shortstop would throw the ball to Johnny Evers at second base then on to Frank Chance to complete the double play.

The Poem Baseball's Sad Lexicon

1 These are the saddest of possible words:

2 "Tinker to Evers to Chance."

3 Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds,

4 Tinker and Evers and Chance.

5 Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,

6 Making a Giant hit into a double --

7 Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:

8 "Tinker to Evers to Chance."