Frank Messina, also known as the “Mets Poet,” is the author of four books of poetry, including Full Count: The Book of Mets Poetry and Disorderly Conduct. His poetry concentrates on large themes—love, struggle, and war—but he is best known for poems about baseball fanaticism, particularly for the New York Mets.

“Most people don’t think of baseball as a typical poetry topic, but it has everything in human nature that makes for great writing,” Messina told the New York Times in a 2007 profile. “It has victories and failures and struggles and angst.”