“Baseball’s Sad Lexicon” was a poem published by American columnist Franklin Pierce Adams in the New York Evening Mail during the summer of 1910.
As he sat in the stands at the famous Polo Grounds, watching the New York Giants take on their fierce rivals the Chicago Cubs, Pierce observed multiple double plays initiated and executed by the Cubs infielders. As he reflected on the devasting defense that was keeping the hometown Giants in check, he began to pen a poem to chronicle the sadness he was witnessing.
The poem was about three Cub infielders: shortstop Joe Tinker, second baseman Johnny Evers, and first baseman Frank Chance.