Casey at the Bat - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

"Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888" is a baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

poem written in 1888 by Ernest Thayer

Ernest Thayer

Ernest Lawrence Thayer was an American writer and poet who wrote "Casey at the Bat".-Biography:Thayer was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts and raised in Worcester. He graduated magna cum laude in philosophy from Harvard in 1885, where he was editor of the Harvard Lampoon...

. First published in The San Francisco Examiner
The San Francisco Examiner
The San Francisco Examiner is a U.S. daily newspaper. It has been published continuously in San Francisco, California, since the late 19th century.-19th century:...

on June 3, 1888, it was later popularized by DeWolf Hopper

DeWolf Hopper

William DeWolf Hopper was an American actor, singer, comedian, and theatrical producer. Although a star of the musical stage, he was best-known for performing the popular baseball poem Casey at the Bat. -Biography:...

in many vaudeville

Vaudeville

Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...

performances.

The poem was originally published anonymously (under the pen name

Pen name

A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...

"Phin", based on Thayer's college nickname, "Phineas"). The author's identity was not widely known at first. A number falsely claimed to have authored the poem, and Thayer's efforts to set the record straight were often ignored.

Synopsis

A baseball team from the fictional town of Mudville (implied to be the home team) is losing by two runs

Run (baseball)

In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls are met or assured...

with two outs

Out (baseball)

In baseball, an out occurs when the defensive, or fielding, team effects any of a number of different events, and the umpire rules a batter or baserunner out. When a player is called out, he is said to be retired...

in their last inning. Both the team and its fans (in the poem, about 5,000 attended the game) believe they can win "if only" they could somehow get "Mighty Casey" (Mudville's star player) up to bat. However, Casey was scheduled to be the fifth batter of the inning, and the first two batters (Cooney and Barrows) did not reach base. The next two batters (Flynn and Jimmy Blake) were perceived to be weak hitters with little chance of reaching base to allow Casey an at bat.

Surprisingly, Flynn hits a single, and Blake follows with a double (Flynn reaching third on the play). Both runners were now in scoring position and Casey represented the potential winning run. Casey is so sure of his abilities that he does not swing at the first two pitches, both strikes. On the last pitch, the overconfident Casey strikes out

Strikeout

In baseball or softball, a strikeout or strike-out occurs when a batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters....

, ending the game and sending the crowd home unhappy.

Text

The text is filled with references to baseball as it was in 1888, which in many ways is not far removed from today's version. As a work, the poem encapsulates much of the appeal of baseball, including the involvement of the crowd. It also has a fair amount of baseball jargon that can pose challenges for the uninitiated.

This is the complete poem as it originally appeared in The San Francisco Examiner
The San Francisco Examiner
The San Francisco Examiner is a U.S. daily newspaper. It has been published continuously in San Francisco, California, since the late 19th century.-19th century:...

, with commentary. After publication, multiple versions with minor changes were produced. The text without commentary is available at the Wikisource link elsewhere in this article.

The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville Nine that day;

The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play,

And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,

A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.

The "Mudville Nine" could stand (by the use of synecdoche
Synecdoche
Synecdoche , meaning "simultaneous understanding") is a figure of speech in which a term is used in one of the following ways:* Part of something is used to refer to the whole thing , or...

) for any baseball team. It also reflects a time when substitutions were not allowed except in cases of injury.

"One inning more to play" in standard baseball jargon means that the home team has one set of at-bats remaining: the poem is set just before the start of Mudville's final turn (of a regulation game), in the ninth inning.

A player "dying" at a base means he was put out. There are only three outs per team in an inning in baseball, so one more out would end the game (with Mudville losing).

A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest

Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;

They thought, if only Casey could get but a whack at that -

We'd put up even money, now, with Casey at the bat.

The second line above is an allusion to Alexander Pope's An Essay on Man

An Essay on Man

An Essay on Man is a poem published by Alexander Pope in 1734. It is a rationalistic effort to use philosophy in order to "vindicate the ways of God to man" , a variation of John Milton's claim in the opening lines of Paradise Lost, that he will "justify the ways of God to man" . It is concerned...

(1734), which contains the line "Hope springs eternal in the human breast".

But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,

And the former was a lulu and the latter was a cake;

So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat,

For there seemed but little chance of Casey's getting to the bat.

Gardner asserts that "lulu" (as in "humdinger") is being used ironically in this case. The original version of the poem used "lulu" and "cake" to describe Flynn and Blake. "Cake" was taken to mean someone who was vain and not particularly "manly," whereas a "lulu" in baseball slang of the period was "an unskilled player". In any case, Flynn and Blake were perceived to be poor hitters; thus, the crowd believed that Casey had little chance for a potential game-winning at bat.

But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,

And Blake, the much despis-ed, tore the cover off the ball;

And when the dust had lifted, and the men saw what had occurred,

There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.

Although the term "men" is often used generically in English, in those days baseball was largely attended by men. If women attended, they were often isolated to a section away from the men, supposedly to distance them from any vulgarities that the male spectators (or players) might speak. However, the phrase "the men" breaks the meter of the line, and later versions simply say "they".

In the original version, a printer's error said "Johnnie" was safe at second. Later versions corrected it to "Jimmy".

Then from 5,000 throats and more there rose a lusty yell;

It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;

It knocked upon the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,

For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.

There was ease in Casey's manner as he stepped into his place;

There was pride in Casey's bearing and a smile on Casey's face.

And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,

No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Casey at the bat.

Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt;

Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt.

Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,

Defiance gleamed in Casey's eye, a sneer curled Casey's lip.

And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,

And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.

Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped-

"That ain't my style," said Casey. "Strike one," the umpire said.

Taking the first or even the second strike without swinging is not unusual. The batter may wish to evaluate a new pitcher (though the text does not indicate a pitching change), to take advantage of a pitcher who may be experiencing control problems (especially after giving up two hits to two weak hitters), or to see if the pitcher may be trying to "pitch around" him to reach the next batter (with first base open, a walk doesn't immediately result in a run scored, and also sets up a potential force out at any base including home plate; the risk being the next hitter may feel that the pitcher considers him to be "weak" compared to Casey and try harder to produce a run). However, it appears Casey was ignoring the pitch, not as a sound baseball tactic, but out of pride for his abilities.

From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,

Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore.

"Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted someone on the stand;

And it's likely they'd a-killed him had not Casey raised his hand.

With a smile of Christian charity great Casey's visage shone;

He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;

He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the spheroid flew;

But Casey still ignored it, and the umpire said, "Strike two."

"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered fraud;

But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.

They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,

And they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball go by again.

The sneer is gone from Casey's lip, his teeth are clenched in hate;

He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate.

And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,

And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow.

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;

The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,

And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;

But there is no joy in Mudville — mighty Casey has struck out.

Mudville

A rivalry of sorts has developed between two cities claiming to be the Mudville described in the poem.

Residents of Holliston, Massachusetts

Holliston, Massachusetts

Holliston is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States in the Greater Boston area. The population was 13,547 at the 2010 census. It is part of the region known as MetroWest. Holliston is the only town in Middlesex County that borders both Norfolk and Worcester...

, where there is a neighborhood called Mudville, claim it as the Mudville described in the poem. Thayer grew up in nearby Worcester, Massachusetts

Worcester, Massachusetts

Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....

, where he wrote the poem in 1888; his family owned a woolen mill less than a mile from Mudville's baseball field.

However, residents of Stockton, California

Stockton, California

Stockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...

— which was known for a time as Mudville prior to incorporation in 1850 — also lay claim to being the inspiration for the poem. In 1887, Thayer covered baseball for The San Francisco Examiner
The San Francisco Examiner
The San Francisco Examiner is a U.S. daily newspaper. It has been published continuously in San Francisco, California, since the late 19th century.-19th century:...

— owned by his Harvard classmate William Randolph Hearst

William Randolph Hearst

William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...

— and is said to have covered the local California League

California League

The California League is a Class A Advanced minor league baseball league which operates throughout the state of California. Before 2002, it was classified as a "High-A" league, indicating its status as a Class A league with the highest level of competition within that classification, and the fifth...

team, the Stockton Ports

Stockton Ports

The Stockton Ports are a baseball team in Stockton, California. The Ports play in the Northern Division of the Class A – Advanced California League and are a Minor League affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. Their home field is Banner Island Ballpark which seats over 5,000 people and opened in...

. For the 1902

1902 in baseball

-Major League Baseball:* American League: Philadelphia Athletics* National League: Pittsburgh Pirates1902 World Series: Not played due to AL-NL war over player contracts.-American League:*Home Runs: Socks Seybold, Philadelphia Athletics: 16...

season, after the poem became popular, Stockton's team was renamed the Mudville Nine. The team reverted to the Mudville Nine moniker for the 2000 and 2001 seasons. The Visalia Rawhide, another California League team, currently keep Mudville alive by playing in Mudville jerseys on June 3 each year.

Despite the towns' rival claims, Thayer himself told the Syracuse Post-Standard
Syracuse Post-Standard
The Post-Standard is the major daily newspaper servicing the greater Syracuse, New York, metro area. Affiliated with Syracuse.com, it is owned by Advance Publications. The Post-Standard features regular political commentary from Sean Kirst and local commentary by Dick Case. It is home-delivered in...

that "the poem has no basis in fact."

Residents of Marshalltown, Iowa

Marshalltown, Iowa

Marshalltown is a city in and the county seat of Marshall County, Iowa, United States. The population was 27,552 in the 2010 census, an increase from the 26,009 population in the 2000 census. -History:...

(home of Hall of Famer Cap Anson

Cap Anson

Adrian Constantine Anson , nicknamed "Cap" and "Pop", was a National Association and Major League Baseball first baseman...

) often refer to their town as Mudville, though possibly for reasons of irreverence having little to do with Anson's former residency.

Impact on popular culture

For a relatively short poem apparently dashed off quickly (and denied by its author for years), "Casey at the Bat" had a profound effect on American popular culture. It has been recited, re-enacted, adapted, dissected, parodied and subjected to just about every other treatment one could imagine.

Plagiarism

A month after the poem was published, it was reprinted as "Kelly at the Bat" in the New York Sporting Times.
Aside from leaving off the first five verses, the only changes from the original are substitutions of Kelly for Casey, and Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

for Mudville. Mike "King" Kelly

King Kelly

Michael Joseph "King" Kelly was an American right fielder, catcher, and manager in various professional American baseball leagues including the National League, International Association, Players' League, and the American Association. He spent the majority of his 16-season playing career with the...

, then of the Boston Beaneaters

Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....

, was one of baseball's two biggest stars at the time (along with Cap Anson

Cap Anson

Adrian Constantine Anson , nicknamed "Cap" and "Pop", was a National Association and Major League Baseball first baseman...

).

In 1897, "Current Literature" noted the two versions and said, "The locality, as originally given, is Mudville, not Boston; the latter was substituted to give the poem local color."

Live performances

DeWolf Hopper

gave the poem's first stage recitation on August 14, 1888, at New York's

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

Wallack Theatre as part of the comic opera

Comic opera

Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...

Prinz Methusalem
Prinz Methusalem
Prinz Methusalem is an operetta written by Johann Strauss II to a libretto by Karl Treumann, after Victor Wilder and Alfred Delacourt. It was first performed on January 3, 1877 in Vienna at the Carltheater. It achieved a run of eighty performances...

in the presence of the Chicago and New York baseball teams, the White Stockings

Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...

and the Giants

San Francisco Giants

The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....

; August 14, 1888 was also Thayer's 25th birthday. Hopper became known as an orator of the poem, and recited it more than 10,000 times (by his count—some tabulations are as much as four times higher) before his death.

On stage in the early 1890s, baseball star Kelly recited the original "Casey" a few dozen times and not the parody. For example, in a review of a variety show he was in, in 1893, the Indianapolis News said, "Many who attended the performance had heard of Kelly's singing and his reciting, and many had heard De Wolf Hopper recite 'Casey at the Bat' in his inimitable way. Kelly recited this in a sing-song, school-boy fashion." Upon Kelly's death, a writer would say he gained “considerable notoriety by his ludicrous rendition of 'Casey at the Bat,' with which he concluded his `turn’ [act] at each performance.”

During the 1980s, the magic/comedy team Penn & Teller

Penn & Teller

Penn & Teller are Las Vegas headliners whose act is an amalgam of illusion and comedy. Penn Jillette is a raconteur; Teller generally uses mime while performing, although his voice can occasionally be heard during their performance...

performed a version of "Casey at the Bat" with Teller (the "silent" partner) struggling to escape a straitjacket

Straitjacket

A straitjacket is a garment shaped like a jacket with overlong sleeves and is typically used to restrain a person who may otherwise cause harm to themselves or others. Once the arms are inserted into the straitjacket's sleeves, they are then crossed across the chest...

while suspended upside-down over a platform of sharp steel spikes. The set-up was that if Penn Jillette

Penn Jillette

Penn Fraser Jillette is an American magician, comedian, illusionist, juggler, bassist and a best-selling author known for his work with fellow illusionist Teller in the team Penn & Teller, and advocacy of atheism, libertarian philosophy, free-market economics, and scientific skepticism.-Early...

reached the end of the poem before Teller's escape, he would leap off of his chair, releasing the rope which supported Teller, and send his partner to a gruesome death. The drama of the performance was taken up a notch after the third or fourth stanza, when Penn Jillette would read out the rest of the poem much faster than the opening stanzas, greatly reducing the time that Teller had left to work free from his bonds.

On July 4, 2008 Jack Williams recited the poem accompanied by the Boston Pops during the annual Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular at Boston's 4 July Celebration.

Thayer's speculative inspiration: Kelly

In 1887, National League star Kelly became famous—arguably the first baseball player to become so overnight—when Boston paid Chicago a record $10,000 for him. He had a personality that fans liked to cheer or jeer. He also is associated with "Casey at the Bat," and a once well-known song and expression for avoiding danger, such as being tagged out: "Slide, Kelly, Slide!" In 1927, an MGM silent movie with a baseball theme was called “Slide, Kelly, Slide."

As of 1887, Kelly was especially known as the "$10,000 Beauty." In 1881, actress Louise Montague had been so dubbed after winning a $10,000 contest for handsomest woman in the world.

After the 1887 season, Kelly went on a playing tour to San Francisco. Thayer, who would write "Casey" in 1888, covered the San Francisco leg for the San Francisco Examiner. Although Thayer said he literally chose the name "Casey" after a non-player of Irish ancestry he once knew, open to debate is who, if anyone, he modeled Casey's baseball situations after. The best big league candidate is Kelly, the most colorful, top player of the day of Irish ancestry. Thayer, in a letter he wrote in 1905, singles out Kelly as showing "impudence" in claiming to have written the poem. If he still felt offended, Thayer may have steered later comments away from connecting Kelly to it. The author of the 2004 definitive bio of Kelly – which included a close tracking of his vaudeville career—did not find Kelly claiming to have been the author.

Before the playing tour, Kelly's plans to go on it had drawn colorful comment in San Francisco. In August, the San Francisco Call said, "My, what a time the small boy will have following him around the streets, styling their nines the 'Only Kells,' and asking him how he liked [new National Leaguer George Van Haltren, who was living in the offseason in San Francisco]. But it is a great thing to be distinguished, you know.'"

Also, while Kelly was in San Francisco on the tour, the $10,000 check arrived with which Boston had bought him. It will "at once be placed on exhibition in a prominent show window," the San Francisco Chronicle said. "The check bears the names of [Boston club President] A. H. Soden of Boston as payer and [Chicago club President] A. G. Spalding of Chicago as payee."

Recorded recitations

The first recorded version of "Casey at the Bat" was narrated by Russell Hunting

Russell Hunting

Russell Hunting was a North American entertainer, pioneer sound recordist, and an influential figure in the early years of the recorded music industry....

in a broad Irish accent in 1893; an 1898 cylinder recording of the text made for the Columbia Graphophone label by Hunting can be accessed from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project

Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project

The Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project is a free digital collection maintained by the University of California, Santa Barbara Libraries with streaming and downloadable versions of over 10,000 phonograph cylinders manufactured between 1893 and the mid 1920s.- History :The project began...

at the University of California, Santa Barbara

University of California, Santa Barbara

The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...

Library.

DeWolf Hopper

DeWolf Hopper

's more famous recorded recitation was released in October 1906.

In 1946, Walt Disney

Walt Disney

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...

released a recording of the narration of the poem by Jerry Colonna, which accompanied the studio's animated cartoon

Animated cartoon

An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...

adaptation of the poem (see below).

In 1996, film star James Earl Jones

James Earl Jones

James Earl Jones is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership...

recorded the poem with Arranger/Composer Steven Reineke

Steven Reineke

Steven Reineke is a conductor, composer, and arranger from Cincinnati, Ohio. He is the Music Director of The New York Pops. He currently resides in New York City.-Biography:...

and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra

Cincinnati Pops Orchestra

The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra is a pops orchestra based in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, founded in 1977 out of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Its members are also the members of the Cincinnati Symphony, and the Pops is managed by the same administration...

Adaptations

The first film adaptation of the poem was Casey at the Bat
Casey at the Bat (1927 film)
Casey at the Bat is a 1927 silent film starring Wallace Beery, Ford Sterling, Zasu Pitts, and Sterling Holloway. The film was directed by Monte Brice and loosely based on the baseball poem "Casey at the Bat" written by Ernest Thayer.-Cast:...

, a 1927 movie starring Wallace Beery

Wallace Beery

Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill opposite Marie Dressler, as Long John Silver in Treasure Island, as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa!, and his titular role in The Champ, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...

as Casey.

There have been two animated film adaptations of the poem by Walt Disney

Walt Disney

: "Casey at the Bat

Make Mine Music

Make Mine Music is an animated feature produced by Walt Disney and released to theatres by RKO Radio Pictures on August 15, 1946. It is the eighth animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series....

" (1946

1946 in film

The year 1946 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*November 21 - William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives premieres in New York featuring an ensemble cast including Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell.*December 20 - Frank Capra's It's a...

), which uses the original text (but set in 1902 according to the opening song's lyrics, instead of 1888). This version is recited by Jerry Colonna, as is a sequel (see below).

Art-song composer Sidney Homer

Sidney Homer

Sidney Homer was a classical composer, primarily of songs.Born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, in 1864 , he was the youngest child of deaf parents. He attended Phillips Academy, Andover, in the Class of 1884, but did not attend college. He married contralto Louise Dilworth Beatty in 1895...

turned the poem into a song. Sheet music was published by G. Schirmer in 1920 as part of Six Cheerful Songs to Poems of American Humor.

"Casey at the Bat" was adapted into a 1953 opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

by American composer William Schuman

William Schuman

William Howard Schuman was an American composer and music administrator.-Life:Born in Manhattan in New York City to Samuel and Rachel Schuman, Schuman was named after the twenty-seventh U.S. president, William Howard Taft, although his family preferred to call him Bill...

. Allen Feinstein composed an adaptation for orchestra with a narrator. An orchestral version was composed by Stephen Simon in 1976 for the bicentennial; Maestro Classics' has recorded it with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Stephen Simon conducting with Yadu (Dr. Konrad Czynski) narrating. An orchestral adaptation by composer Frank Proto

Frank Proto

Frank Proto American composer and bassist. Proto was born on July 18, 1941, Brooklyn, New York. Double Bass student of Fred Zimmermann and David Walter. Graduate of the Manhattan School of Music 1966 Master of Music. Self-taught composer...

has been recorded by the Cincinnati Pops orchestra conducted by Erich Kunzel

Erich Kunzel

Erich Kunzel, Jr. was an American orchestra conductor. Called the "Prince of Pops" by the Chicago Tribune, he performed with a number of leading pops and symphony orchestras, especially the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra , which he led for over 44 years.-Early life and career:Kunzel was born to...

with baseball star Johnny Bench

Johnny Bench

Johnny Lee Bench is a former professional baseball catcher who played in the Major Leagues for the Cincinnati Reds from 1967 to 1983 and is a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame...

narrating. The Dallas Symphony commissioned an arrangement of "Casey" by Randol Alan Bass in 2001 which he later arranged for concert band. A version for wind band and narrator by Donald Shirer based on "Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

"Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is a 1908 Tin Pan Alley song by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer which has become the unofficial anthem of baseball, although neither of its authors had attended a game prior to writing the song. The song is traditionally sung during the seventh-inning stretch of...

" had its world premiere in July 2008.

Jackie Gleason

Jackie Gleason

Jackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The...

in his "Reginald Van Gleason III" persona (in full Mudville baseball uniform) performed a recitation of the poem on his television show during the 1950s.

Wallace Tripp

Wallace Tripp

Wallace Whitney Tripp is an American illustrator, anthologist and author. He is known for creating anthropomorphic animal characters of emotional complexity and for his great visual and verbal humor. He is one of several illustrators of the Amelia Bedelia series of children's stories...

illustrated a popular 1978 book of the poem.

In 1986, Elliott Gould

Elliott Gould

Elliott Gould is an American actor. He began acting in Hollywood films during the 1960s, and has remained prolific ever since. Some of his most notable films include M*A*S*H and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, for which he received an Oscar nomination...

starred as "Casey" in the Shelley Duvall
Shelley Duvall
Shelley Alexis Duvall is an American film and television actress best known for her roles in The Shining, Popeye, Thieves Like Us and 3 Women....

's Tall Tales and Legends adaptation of the story, which also starred Carol Kane

Carol Kane

Carolyn Laurie "Carol" Kane is an American actress. Kane has worked on the stage, on the screen and in television. She appeared on the television series Taxi in the early 1980s, as the wife of the character played by Andy Kaufman. She received two Emmy Awards for her work...

, Howard Cosell

Howard Cosell

Howard William Cosell was an American sports journalist who was widely known for his blustery, cocksure personality. Cosell said of himself, "Arrogant, pompous, obnoxious, vain, cruel, verbose, a showoff. I have been called all of these...

, Bob Uecker

Bob Uecker

Robert George "Bob" Uecker is an American former Major League Baseball player, later a sportscaster, comedian, and actor. Uecker was given the title of "Mr. Baseball" by Johnny Carson...

, Bill Macy

Bill Macy

Bill Macy is an American television and stage actor.Macy was born in Revere, Massachusetts, to Mollie and Michael Garber, a manufacturer...

and Rae Dawn Chong

Rae Dawn Chong

Rae Dawn Chong is a Canadian-American actress.-Life and career:Chong was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, the daughter of Maxine Sneed and Tommy Chong. She and her sister Robbi were raised by her grandmother, Tommy Chong's mother. Chong's father is of Chinese and Scottish-Irish ancestry and her...

. The screenplay, adapted from the poem, was written by Andy Borowitz

Andy Borowitz

Andy Borowitz is a comedian and New York Times bestselling author who won the first National Press Club award for humor. He is best known for creating the satirical website , which has an audience in the millions...

and the production was directed by David Steinberg

David Steinberg

David Steinberg is a Canadian comedian, actor, writer, director, and author. At the height of his popularity, during the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was one of the best-known stand-up comics in the United States...

.

In 2000, Michael J. Farrand adapted the rhyming scheme, tone, and theme of the poem—while reversing the outcome—to create his poem "The Man Who Gave All the Dreamers in Baseball Land Bigger Dreams to Dream" about Kirk Gibson

Kirk Gibson

Kirk Harold Gibson is a former Major League Baseball player and currently the manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks. As a player, Gibson was an outfielder who batted and threw left-handed...

's home run off Dennis Eckersley

Dennis Eckersley

Dennis Lee Eckersley , nicknamed "Eck", is a former American Major League Baseball pitcher. Eckersley had success as a starter, but gained his greatest fame as a closer, becoming the first of only two pitchers in Major League history to have both a 20-win season and a 50-save season in a career .He...

in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series

World Series

The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...

. The poem appears at the Baseball Almanac

Baseball Almanac

Baseball Almanac is an interactive baseball encyclopedia with 3,000 pages of baseball facts, research, awards, records, feats, lists, notable quotations, baseball movie ratings, and statistics. Its goal is to preserve the history of baseball....

Sequels

"Casey's Revenge", by Grantland Rice

Grantland Rice

Grantland Rice was an early 20th century American sportswriter known for his elegant prose. His writing was published in newspapers around the country and broadcast on the radio.-Biography:...

(1906), gives Casey another chance against the pitcher who had struck him out in the original story. (The Official Encyclopedia of Baseball by Turkin and Thompson attributes this version to James Wilson, not Rice.) In this version, Rice cites the nickname "Strike-Out Casey", hence the influence on Casey Stengel

Casey Stengel

Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel , nicknamed "The Old Perfessor", was an American Major League Baseball outfielder and manager. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in ....

's name. Casey's team is down three runs by the last of the ninth, and once again Casey is down to two strikes—with the bases full this time. However, he connects, hits the ball so far that it is never found, and the final stanza reads:

Oh! somewhere in this favored land dark clouds may hide the sun;

And somewhere bands no longer play and children have no fun;

And somewhere over blighted loves there hangs a heavy pall;

But Mudville hearts are happy now--for Casey hit the ball.

In response to the popularity of the 1946 Walt Disney, Disney released a sequel, "Casey Bats Again" (1954

1954 in film

The year 1954 in film involved some significant events and memorable ones.-Events:*May 12 - The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx divorces wife Marion Benda...

), in which Casey's nine daughters redeem his reputation.

In 1988, on the 100th anniversary of the poem, Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...

writer Frank Deford

Frank Deford

Benjamin "Frank" Deford, III is a senior contributing writer for Sports Illustrated, author, and commentator for National Public Radio and correspondent for Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel on HBO....

constructed a fanciful story (later expanded to book form) which posited Katie Casey, the subject of the song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

", as being the daughter of the famous slugger from the poem.

In 2010, Ken Eagle wrote “The Mudville Faithful,” covering a century of the Mudville nine's ups and downs since Casey struck out. Faithful fans still root for the perpetually losing team, and are finally rewarded by a trip to the World Series, led by Casey's great-grandson who is also named Casey.

Parodies

Mad
Mad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...

republished the original version of the poem in the 1950s with artwork by Jack Davis

Jack Davis (cartoonist)

Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...

and no alterations to the text. Later lampoons in Mad included "'Cool' Casey at the Bat" (1960), an interpretation of the poem in beatnik

Beatnik

Beatnik was a media stereotype of the 1950s and early 1960s that displayed the more superficial aspects of the Beat Generation literary movement of the 1950s and violent film images, along with a cartoonish depiction of the real-life people and the spiritual quest in Jack Kerouac's autobiographical...

style, with artwork by Don Martin; "Casey at the Dice" in 1969, about a professional gambler; "Casey at the Talks" in 1977, a "modern" version of the famed poem in which Mudville tries unsuccessfully to sign free agent Casey[the last line of which is "Mighty Casey has held out"]; "Howard at the Mike," about Howard Cosell

Howard Cosell

; "Casey at the Byte" (1985), a tale of a cocky young computer expert who accidentally erases the White House Budget Plan; "Clooney as the Bat", a mockery of George Clooney

George Clooney

George Timothy Clooney is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award...

's role as Batman

Batman

Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...

in Batman and Robin; and in 2006 as "Barry at the Bat", poking fun at Barry Bonds

Barry Bonds

Barry Lamar Bonds is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder. Bonds played from 1986 to 2007, for the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants. He is the son of former major league All-Star Bobby Bonds...

' alleged involvement in the BALCO

Balco

Balco can refer to:* the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative - a controversial sports medicine/nutrition centre in Burlingame, California.* Balco balcony systems who develops, designs and manufactures balcony systems and glazing solutions....

scandal. Another parody takes place in Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, which ends with "Kasey" in a gulag

Gulag

The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...

prison. A "Poetry Round Robin" where famous poems are rewritten in the style of the next poet in line, featured Casey at the Bat as written by Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...

.

Foster Brooks

Foster Brooks

Foster Brooks was an American actor and comedian most famous for his portrayal of a lovable drunken man in nightclub performances and television programs.-Biography:...

("the Lovable Lush") wrote "Riley on the Mound", which recounts the story from the pitcher's perspective.

Radio performer Garrison Keillor

Garrison Keillor

Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio personality. He is known as host of the Minnesota Public Radio show A Prairie Home Companion Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio...

's parodic version of the poem reimagines the game as a road game, instead of a home game, for the Mudville team. The same events occur with Casey striking out in the ninth inning as in the original poem, but with everything told from the perspective of other team.

An episode of Tiny Toon Adventures
Tiny Toon Adventures
Steven Spielberg Presents Tiny Toon Adventures, usually referred to as Tiny Toon Adventures or simply Tiny Toons, is an American animated television series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. It began production as a result of Warner Bros....

featured a short titled "Buster at the Bat", where Sylvester

Sylvester (Looney Tunes)

Sylvester J. Pussycat, Sr., Sylvester the Cat or simply Sylvester, is a fictional character, a three-time Academy Award-winning anthropomorphic Tuxedo cat in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies repertory, often chasing Tweety Bird, Speedy Gonzales, or Hippety Hopper...

provides narration as Buster

Babs and Buster Bunny

Babs and Buster Bunny are cartoon characters from the Warner Bros. animated television series Tiny Toon Adventures. They are the stars of the show— they both appear in the Tiny Toons logo, and the show usually begins and ends with their gags. Buster is voiced by Charlie Adler for most of the...

goes up to bat. The poem was parodied again for an episode of Animaniacs
Animaniacs
Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...

, this time with Wakko

Yakko, Wakko, and Dot

Yakko, Wakko and Dot Warner, also known as "The Warner Brothers " or "The Warner Siblings", or just simply "The Warners", are the three titular cartoon characters featured on the animated series Animaniacs. The trio of red-nosed Warner siblings were considered to be the stars of the ensemble of...

as the title character and Yakko narrating.

In the Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius episode "The Return of the Nanobots", Cindy's poem is identical to the ending of "Casey at the Bat" but replaces Mudville with Retroville and the last famed line with "cause Jimmy is an idiot!"

An episode of the show U.S. Acres
U.S. Acres
U.S. Acres is a comic strip that originally ran from 1986 to 1989 created by Jim Davis, author of the popular comic strip Garfield. When the strip was launched, Jim Davis expected it to become quickly popular, but it ended after 3 years in 1989...

titled "Orson at the Bat" also parodied "Casey".

The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

published a parody by Hart Seely and Frank Cammuso in which the poem was narrated by Phil Rizzuto

Phil Rizzuto

Philip Francis Rizzuto , nicknamed "The Scooter", was an American Major League Baseball shortstop. He spent his entire 13-year baseball career for the New York Yankees...

, a New York Yankees

New York Yankees

The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...

announcer who was known to veer off on tangents while calling the game. The poem was later published in Seely and Cammuso's book, 2007 Eleven And Other American Comedies.

Issue #92 of the comic Fables employs a paraphrased version of "Casey at the Bat" appropriating the character names to those of the Fable players. It is preceded by a mock apology to Ernest Thayer for the mangling of "his beloved poem".

David Pogue

David Pogue

David Welch Pogue is an American technology writer, technology columnist and commentator. He is a personal technology columnist for the New York Times, an Emmy-winning tech correspondent for CBS News Sunday Morning, weekly tech correspondent for CNBC, and a columnist for Scientific American...

penned a parody version titled 'A Desktop Critic: Steven Saves the Mac' for Macworld

Macworld

Macworld is a web site and monthly computer magazine dedicated to Apple Macintosh products. It is published by Mac Publishing, which is headquartered in San Francisco, California...

magazine that ran in their October 1999 issue. It tells the story of Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs

Steven Paul Jobs was an American businessman and inventor widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc...

' triumphant return to a struggling Apple Inc and his early efforts to reverse the company's fortunes.

Translations

There are three known translations of the poem into a foreign language, one in French, written in 2007 by French Canadian linguist Paul Laurendeau, with the title Casey au bâton, and two in Hebrew. One by the sports journalist Menachem Less titled "התור של קייסי לחבוט" [Hator Shel Casey Lachbot], and the other more recent and more true to the original cadence and style by Jason H. Elbaum called קֵיסִי בַּמַּחְבֵּט [Casey BaMachbayt].

Names

On page 11 of his autobiography Casey at the Bat: The Story of My Life in Baseball (Random House, 1962), Casey Stengel

Casey Stengel

Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel , nicknamed "The Old Perfessor", was an American Major League Baseball outfielder and manager. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in ....

describes how his nickname of "K.C." (for his hometown, Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

) evolved into "Casey". It was influenced not just by name of the poem, which was widely popular in the 1910s, but also because he tended to strike out frequently in his early career so fans and writers started calling him "strikeout Casey".

Books

Ralph Andreano's 1965 book, No Joy in Mudville laments the dearth of heroes in modern baseball.
In the book Faithful by Steward O'Nan and Stephen King, describing the 2004 season of the Boston Red Sox, there is a chapter contributed by King, named "The Gloom is gone from Mudville".
Kurtis Scaletta
Kurtis Scaletta
Kurtis Scaletta is a popular young adult and children's book author known for his contemporary writing intermingled with light fantasy and humor. His first novel, Mudville , is based on the poem "Casey at the Bat". He is also the author of Mamba Point and The Tanglewood Terror...

's 2009 children's novel, Mudville is about a town where it's been raining for 22 years, delaying a baseball game between two rival towns.

Film

In 1922, Lee De Forest
Lee De Forest
Lee De Forest was an American inventor with over 180 patents to his credit. De Forest invented the Audion, a vacuum tube that takes relatively weak electrical signals and amplifies them. De Forest is one of the fathers of the "electronic age", as the Audion helped to usher in the widespread use...

recorded DeWolf Hopper reciting the poem in DeForest's Phonofilm
Phonofilm
In 1919, Lee De Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patent on a sound-on-film process, DeForest Phonofilm, which recorded sound directly onto film as parallel lines. These parallel lines photographically recorded electrical waveforms from a microphone, which were translated back...

sound-on-film process.
In 1927, a feature-length silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

Casey at the Bat
Casey at the Bat (1927 film)
Casey at the Bat is a 1927 silent film starring Wallace Beery, Ford Sterling, Zasu Pitts, and Sterling Holloway. The film was directed by Monte Brice and loosely based on the baseball poem "Casey at the Bat" written by Ernest Thayer.-Cast:...

was released, starring Wallace Beery
Wallace Beery
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill opposite Marie Dressler, as Long John Silver in Treasure Island, as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa!, and his titular role in The Champ, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...

, Ford Sterling
Ford Sterling
Ford Sterling was an American comedian and actor best known for his work with Keystone Studios. One of the 'Big 4' he was the original chief of the Keystone Cops.-Biography:...

, and ZaSu Pitts
ZaSu Pitts
ZaSu Pitts was an American actress who starred in many silent dramas and comedies, transitioning to comedy sound films.-Early life:ZaSu Pitts was born in Parsons, Kansas to Rulandus and Nellie Pitts; she was the third of four children...

.
The poem is cited in Frederic Wiseman's documentary High School
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

(1968) by a teacher in a class room.
A reference to the poem occurs in Short Cuts
Short Cuts
Short Cuts is a 1993 American drama film directed by Robert Altman. Filmed from a screenplay by Robert Altman and Frank Barhydt, it is inspired by nine short stories and a poem by Raymond Carver...

(1993).
In the film What Women Want
What Women Want
What Women Want is a 2000 American romantic comedy film, directed by Nancy Meyers and starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt. The movie was a box office success with a domestic gross of $182,811,707 and a worldwide gross of $374,111,707, against a budget of $70 million.-Plot:Nick Marshall, a Chicago...

(2000), Mel Gibson's character tries to block out his daughter's thoughts by muttering the poem under his breath.

Television

The poem has been referenced in a huge number of television shows. One example is an episode of The Twilight Zone

The Twilight Zone

The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode is a mixture of self-contained drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist...

, The Mighty Casey
The Mighty Casey
"The Mighty Casey" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.The episode title is a reference to the baseball poem "Casey at the Bat".-Synopsis:...

, concerning a baseball player who is actually a robot. In the Northern Exposure
Northern Exposure
Northern Exposure is an American television series that ran on CBS from 1990 to 1995, with a total of 110 episodes.-Overview:The series was given a pair of consecutive Peabody Awards: in 1991–92 for the show's "depict[ion] in a comedic and often poetic way, [of] the cultural clash between a...

episode 'The Graduate' Chris Stevens gains his Masters degree in Comparative Literature by subjecting his assessors to a spirited re-enactment of the poem.

Music

William Schuman
William Schuman
William Howard Schuman was an American composer and music administrator.-Life:Born in Manhattan in New York City to Samuel and Rachel Schuman, Schuman was named after the twenty-seventh U.S. president, William Howard Taft, although his family preferred to call him Bill...

composed an opera, The Mighty Casey (1953), based on the poem.
The song No Joy in Mudville from Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie is an American alternative rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1997. The band consists of Ben Gibbard , Chris Walla , Nick Harmer and Jason McGerr ....

's album We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes
We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes
We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes is the second studio album by indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie, released March 21, 2000, on Barsuk Records. It is a concept album about a ruined relationship...

directly references the poem.
The song "Rocky Mountain Way
Rocky Mountain Way
Rocky Mountain Way is a compilation album released in 1985 by rock musician Joe Walsh.-Reception:Writing for Allmusic, critic Ben Davies wrote of the album "considering both the amount of classic Walsh songs not featured on Rocky Mountain Way and the many other more extensive and better chosen...

" by Joe Walsh
Joe Walsh
Joseph Fidler "Joe" Walsh is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has been a member of three commercially successful bands, the James Gang, Barnstorm, and the Eagles, and has experienced notable success as a solo artist and prolific session musician, especially with B.B...

includes the line, "The bases are loaded and Casey's at bat.".
The song "Felicia" on the Straight On Till Morning
Straight on Till Morning
Straight on Till Morning is a 1972 British thriller film directed by Peter Collinson and starring Rita Tushingham, Shane Briant, James Bolam, Katya Wyeth and John Clive. A reserved young woman finds herself attracted to a handsome stranger, unaware of his psychotic tendencies...

album by Blues Traveler
Blues Traveler
Blues Traveler is a rock band, formed in Princeton, New Jersey in 1987. The band has been influenced by a variety of genres, including blues-rock, psychedelic rock, folk rock, soul, and Southern rock...

includes the line "I wouldn't feel so much like Casey who never got to bat."
The song "Centerfield
Centerfield
Centerfield is an album by musician John Fogerty, released in 1985. It was his most popular post-Creedence album, containing the hit singles "The Old Man Down the Road", "Rock and Roll Girls" and the title track "Centerfield". Fogerty played all the instruments on this album himself, thanks to...

" by John Fogerty
John Fogerty
John Cameron Fogerty is an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his time with the swamp rock/roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a #1 solo recording artist. Fogerty has a rare distinction of being named on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 Greatest...

includes the line "Well, I spent some time in the Mudville Nine, watchin' it from the bench. You know I took some lumps when the Mighty Case struck out."
The song "To the Dogs or Whoever" by Josh Ritter
Josh Ritter
Josh Ritter is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and author who performs and records with The Royal City Band. Ritter is known for his distinctive Americana style and narrative lyrics. In 2006 he was named one of the "100 Greatest Living Songwriters" by Paste magazine.- Early life :Josh...

includes the stanza "Was it Casey Jones
Casey Jones
John Luther Jones was an American railroad engineer from Jackson, Tennessee, who worked for the Illinois Central Railroad...

or Casey at the Bat who died out of pride and got famous for that? Killed by a swerve, laid low by the curve, do you ever think they ever thought they got what they deserved?"
The song "No Joy In Pudville" by Steroid Maximus
Steroid Maximus
Steroid Maximus is an instrumental side project of J.G. Thirlwell. Thirlwell is best known for his main band, Foetus. Steroid Maximus contains elements of jazz, big band, avant-garde, soundtrack and exotica styles.-History:...

is a reference to this poem.

Games

The poem is referenced in the Super Nintendo Entertainment System

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...

game EarthBound
EarthBound
EarthBound, also known as EarthBound: The War Against Giygas! and released as in Japan, is a role-playing video game co-developed by Ape and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game console...

, where a weapon is named the Casey Bat, which is the strongest weapon in the game, but will only hit 25% of the time.

Theme park

Casey's Corner is a baseball-themed restaurant in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom

Magic Kingdom

Magic Kingdom Park is one of four theme parks at the Walt Disney World Resort located near Orlando, Florida. The first park built at the resort, Magic Kingdom opened Oct. 1, 1971. Designed and built by WED Enterprises, the park's layout and attractions are similar to Disneyland in Anaheim, California...

, which serves primarily hotdogs. Pictures of Casey and the pitcher from the Disney animated adaptation are hanging on the walls, and a life-size statue of a baseball player identified as "Casey" stands just outside the restaurant. Additionally, the scoreboard in the restaurant shows that Mudville lost to the visitors by two runs.

A hotdog restaurant featuring the Disney character can be found at Disneyland Paris since its opening in 1992, under the name Casey's Corner.

There is a game called Casey at the Bat in the Games of the Boardwalk at the Disneyland Resort

Disneyland Resort

The Disneyland Resort is a recreational resort in Anaheim, California. The resort is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks and Resorts division and is home to two theme parks, three hotels and a shopping, dining, and entertainment area known as Downtown Disney.The area now...

's Disney's California Adventure.

Postage stamp

On July 11, 1996, the United States Postal Service

United States Postal Service

The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...

issued a commemorative stamp

Commemorative stamp

A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp, often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honor or commemorate a place, event or person. The subject of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print, unlike definitive stamps which normally depict the subject along with the...

depicting "Mighty Casey." The stamp was part of a set commemorating American folk hero

Folk hero

A folk hero is a type of hero, real, fictional, or mythological. The single salient characteristic which makes a character a folk hero is the imprinting of the name, personality and deeds of the character in the popular consciousness. This presence in the popular consciousness is evidenced by...

es. Other stamps in the set depicted Paul Bunyan

Paul Bunyan

Paul Bunyan is a lumberjack figure in North American folklore and tradition. One of the most famous and popular North American folklore heroes, he is usually described as a giant as well as a lumberjack of unusual skill, and is often accompanied in stories by his animal companion, Babe the Blue...

, John Henry

John Henry (folklore)

John Henry is an American folk hero and tall tale. Henry worked as a "steel-driver"—a man tasked with hammering and chiseling rock in the construction of tunnels for railroad tracks. In the legend, John Henry's prowess as a steel-driver was measured in a race against a steam powered hammer,...

, and Pecos Bill

Pecos Bill

Pecos Bill is an American cowboy, apocryphally immortalized in numerous tall tales of the Old West during American westward expansion into the Southwest of Texas, New Mexico, Southern California, and Arizona. Their stories were probably invented into short stories and book by Edward O'Reilly in the...

Theatre

The last verse of the poem is quoted in the musical Cabaret
Cabaret (musical)
Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....

– the character Cliff Bradshaw recites it to Sally Bowles when they first meet.

Sources

Gardner, Martin
Martin Gardner
Martin Gardner was an American mathematics and science writer specializing in recreational mathematics, but with interests encompassing micromagic, stage magic, literature , philosophy, scientific skepticism, and religion...

, "The Annotated Casey at the Bat: A Collection of Ballads about the Mighty Casey", New York: Clarkson Potter. 1967 (Revised edition: Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984 [ISBN 0-226-28263-5]; 3rd edition: New York: Dover, 1995 [ISBN 0-486-28598-7]).
Rosenberg, Howard W, "Cap Anson 2: The Theatrical and Kingly Mike Kelly: U.S. Team Sport's First Media Sensation and Baseball's Original Casey at the Bat", Arlington, VA: Tile Books, 2004 [ISBN 0-9725574-1-5]
"Mudville Journal; In 'Casey' Rhubarb, 2 Cities Cry 'Foul!'" by Katie Zezima, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, March 31, 2004.

External links

"Casey at the Bat" on MLB.com.
Hear Hopper recite the poem.
Casey at the Bat cylinder recording by Russell Hunting, from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project
Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project
The Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project is a free digital collection maintained by the University of California, Santa Barbara Libraries with streaming and downloadable versions of over 10,000 phonograph cylinders manufactured between 1893 and the mid 1920s.- History :The project began...

at the University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...

Library.
"Casey at the Bat" Web site with biographical details on Thayer, Hopper, Mike "King" Kelly and chronology of the poem's publication.
"Casey at the Bat" as told in baseball cards

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