PIRATES AT THE PLATE

Cowboys and Pirates aren’t just team names in this brangle on the base paths.

With the “score knotted at 47 runs” each in the 22nd inning, Long John Silver uncorks a long fly to center: “The Cisco Kid’s gonna have to giddy-up if he wants to catch this ball!” Using scratchboard with oil glazes, Summers portrays melodramatically posed figures in lavishly detailed costuming. He even mounts both infielders and outfielders on charging horses and gives literal expression to such terms as “on deck” (ship’s deck, that is) and “bullpen.” It looks like the stage is set for a rousing, benches-clearing brawl after Silver’s attempt to steal second base and the ensuing exchange of insults (“Yer boys play like Barbies,” sneers the Pirates’ captain, Capt. Hook). Thankfully, a summons to dinner forces the lad who has been heretofore invisibly orchestrating it all to reluctantly abandon his suddenly tiny action figures.

“Another game called on account of spaghetti.” Aarrrgh. Or conversely, yup, git along. Good fun, regardless of the dialect.