The Abominable Baseball Bat

The Abominable Baseball Bat

In the poem "The Abominable Baseball Bat," by X.J. Kennedy, a batter swings and misses the ball and strike three is called. The bat is changed into a vampire showing that the anger the batter is feeling towards striking out is caused by the vampire sucking the life out of the batter. Now every time the batter goes up to bat he can still feel the vampire's bite and so he looks to walk instead of swing at the ball.

The batter in this poem seems to be in a hitting slump and he swings so hard and tries so hard to hit the ball, but he ends up hitting nothing at all. The bat then mysteriously turns into a vampire and latches on to the batter. In this part of the poem, X.J. Kennedy is showing the symbolism in a baseball bat; also know as a "bat," turning into a vampire and attacking the batter. This also shows that the bite of the vampire is not actually happening but it is giving life to the batter's great anger towards striking out. This is a strong reminder of the batter letting his team down by striking out.

In the second stanza it shows that the batter has a very important role on the team. His teammates try to pry the vampire loose from the batter. This is telling how the team is trying to make the batter feel better and they are trying to get the batter more focused on the next time he gets a chance to bat. Nothing is working because the bite is too deep and the batter cannot get over it. While all of this is taking place, the umpire is looking flat because he is neutral to both teams and must maintain his unbiased nature.

At the end of the poem the batter is still playing the game, but every time he goes up to bat he never swings. The batter will always feel the bite of the vampire and it is too much to handle. The batter will not swing and instead, the batter looks to walk every time he is at bat.