Nov 9, 2020

Ernesto de la Torriente, La Bola Rápida

The penguin tagged third and headed for home. Herb Martin lobbed the ball to his battery mate. Yosuke Imai gamely blocked the plate. Tension filled the air as the penguin approached at penguin velocity. Which is to say it took a while.

Mere moments earlier, the local wit, sitting on the upturned skiff that served as the home team dugout, wearing his beloved London Underground parka, had time to call out “Penguin now running for home team!” when he saw the fleet footed avian approaching third. This, of course, was a legal substitution under the local rules. Invoking any sort of rule was a bit odd as this was a mere pick up game and nobody had been even keeping score. Nonetheless the call stood as the man on third took his seat alongside his teammates at the skiff.

The penguin had brought his ‘A’ game though, sliding across the ice slab that was home plate, he collided with catcher, who doubled over in a fit of hysterical laughter and dropped the ball. “SAFE!”, was the call. “The penguin stole home! The penguin stole home!” Cheers went up all around as the penguin continued to run right out of the makeshift park and along the beach to the rookery over the dune. He was never to bathe in the glory of the play. Being a King Penguin he was naturally and hereafter known as “King Kelly”. Though physically identical in appearance to every other of his flock, the lifetime avian leader in stolen bases and runs scored he acquired a certain mystique as all ballplayers do, and he was easy to pick out of the crowd after that day.

Thus ended the exhibition game between the Havana Leones and the locals of the Falkland Islands. The islanders were all fans of PEBA’s London club. The exhibition was a friendly way to promote the newly formed Intercontinental Division which will be playing home to both Havana and London in the inaugural season of the reformed PEBA. Dubbed the “Barnstorn Heard Round the Horn” it came about when ship hauling the team’s equipment and a few of the players pulled into Port Stanley for some minor repairs resulting from passage round Cape Horn.

The storm followed the ship. Winds picked up and the temperature dropped sending the participants on a baseball-equipment laden “yomp” to the nearest pub. Beer was provided by the Falkland Beerworks and contributed highly to an animated discussion over who had actually won the game. No official score was kept and there was only one issue that all could agree on.

The penguin was safe.