6th Inning Stretch Told in Four Parts by Sharon Wood Wortman with Ed Wortman

I.

A producer from Fox Sports Network calls— through like a train. will I sit in at PGE Park during a Beavers- Omaha game? Newer members Marquam, Fremont, and Morrison, We’ll talk bridges in between the sixth with the youngest legs, play right, center, inning’s and left field. plays, knuckle balls, and pop flys. This leaves the sturdy and dependable Shelling peanuts flaky as rusted steel, Burnside and Broadway I begin to see our river spans as a World to cover second and third base. Series team of nine— Last, what else but the flashy Ross Island as Among them the oldest vertical lift , the longest tied arch for the way it cantilevers itself all over the the largest Rall bascule place? a one-of-a-kind double-decker— III. Others that play together in a way the fans of Portland get to go the distance. The inning lasts a long time, along with my proposition that right here— Ed, being an expert in playing positions, says Sellwood between the Tualatin Mountains would have to be the , for the way and the Eastbank Esplanade live the it's over the hill. I put Hawthorne in as DH, designated hitter— Albert Pujols of bridges the old bridge might not so fast, the but Hawthorne can still lift a deck with of bridges enough impact the Joe DiMaggio and of to keep the big and small wheels of this bridges. world at bay. The oh, Baby, Ruth of bridges.

II. This being a very small stadium of a city, the announcer on my right says he studied The two jocks sit me down between them bridges behind home plate and hand me a headset. in the third grade at Alameda Elementary, I St. Johns, our only suspension bridge, am guessing about 1978— appears first on the screen. the same year the Yankees once again Since teams don’t have chaplains, I put St. swept the Dodgers. Johns in as —for its curves. IV. Flexible Steel in as the , because it can hold Amtrak, MAX, At the end of the sixth, we all shake hands, me swaggering off pedestrians, people on bikes, in cars, like I am a Major League clean-up hitter in its big black mitt all at once. who’s picked up the pace of their statistics.

First base: Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Bridge 5.1, since it defends against runners coming