Casey at the Bat

For the 1927 silent film, see Casey at the Bat (1927 film).

A role-player takes the guise of Casey.

"Casey at the Bat", subtitled "A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888", is a baseball poem written in 1888 by Ernest Thayer. First published in the San Francisco Examiner on June 3, 1888, it was later popularized by DeWolf Hopper in many vaudeville performances.

In the poem, a baseball team from the fictional town of Mudville (implied to be the home team) is losing by two runs with two outs in their last at bats, but they think they can win "if only" they could somehow get "mighty Casey" up to bat. Two weak hitters manage to get on base, and Casey comes to bat with the tying run in scoring position. The beloved Casey, Mudville's star player, is so confident in his abilities that he doesn't swing at the first two pitches, both strikes. On the last pitch, the overconfident Casey strikes out, ending the game and sending the crowd home unhappy.

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 translators.

The poem was originally published anonymously (under the pen name "Phin", based on Thayer's college nickname, "Phineas"), [1]. 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.[2]

Text

This is the complete poem as it originally appeared in The San Francisco Examiner, 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) 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 (1734), which contains the line "Hope springs eternal in the human breast".

The second line above was rephrased in The Sporting News in the early 1960s, which characterized the atmosphere of pre-season training as "Spring Hopes Eternal".

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. However, many different words such as "hoodoo" and "fake" have been used as substitutes in later versions of the poem. "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" (the use of "lulu" in this context probably being a sarcastic use of "lulu" meaning "something very good."). Switching "lulu" to "hoodoo" — a player whose very presence was a jinx, or bad luck — was a way of heightening the tension of the poem.

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.

Tearing the cover off the ball was possible in those days, since a single ball was often used for the entire game (as also used to be the case in the game of cricket). However, it seems likely this is simply a way of saying "hit the ball hard," since Blake evidently hit a double.

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".

Also, 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.

The team's worst batters have managed to get on base, and the Mudville fans cheer as the star batter is now up to bat. Assuming Casey was a power hitter (as he was portrayed, for example, in the Disney animated adaptation), it seems doubtful the manager would place such weak batters in front of him in the order.

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 second strike without swinging is not unusual, for example to allow the batter to evaluate a new pitcher. However, it appears Casey was ignoring it out of pride, not as a sound baseball tactic.

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.

The moral of this poem, is not to be so very arrogant, like Casey was. For if he had swung at the first two pitches, he might have hit one.

Mudville

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

Holliston, MA - Mudville Village, Statue and Plaque Dedicated to "Casey" of "Casey at the Bat"

Holliston, MA - Mudville Village, Welcome Gate

Holliston, MA - Mudville Village, Welcome Sign

Residents of Holliston, Massachusetts, where there is a neighborhood called Mudville, claim it as the Mudville described in the poem. Thayer grew up in nearby Worcester, Massachusetts, 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--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--owned by his Harvard classmate William Randolph Hearst--and is said to have covered the local California League team, the Stockton Ports. For the 1902 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 that "the poem has no basis in fact."

Residents of Marshalltown, Iowa (home of Hall of Famer Cap Anson) often refer to their town as Mudville, though possibly for reasons of irreverence having little to do with Anson's former residency.

The Visalia Rawhide of the Class 'A' professional California League, keep alive the legend of Mudville and Casey at the Bat by donning the old-time Mudville Uniforms and playing a game each year as the Mudville Nine. The Rawhide carry Mudville Nine caps and merchandise at their team store and website.

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 stanzas, the only changes from the original are substitutions of Kelly for Casey, and Boston for Mudville. Mike "King" Kelly, then of the Boston Beaneaters, was one of baseball's two biggest stars at the time (along with Cap Anson).

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 Wallack Theatre as part of the comic opera Prince Methusalem in the presence of the Chicago and New York baseball teams, the White Stockings and the Giants; 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 performed a version of "Casey at the Bat" with Teller (the "silent" partner) struggling to escape a straitjacket while suspended upside-down over a platform of sharp steel spikes. The set-up was that if Penn Jillette 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 4th of 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 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 at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.

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

In the late 1940s, Walt Disney released a recording of the narration of the poem by Jerry Colonna, which accompanied the studio's animated cartoon adaptation of the poem (see below).

Adaptations

The first film adaptation of the poem was Casey at the Bat, a 1927 movie starring Wallace Beery as Casey.

There have been two animated film adaptations of the poem by Walt Disney: "Casey at the Bat" (1946), 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).

"Casey at the Bat" was adapted into a 1953 opera by American composer William Schuman. Allen Feinstein composed an adaptation for orchestra with a narrator. An orchestral adaptation by composer Frank Proto has been recorded by the Cincinnati Pops orchestra conducted by Erich Kunzel with baseball star Johnny Bench 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" had its world premiere in July 2008.

Jackie Gleason 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 illustrated a popular 1978 book of the poem.

In 1986, Elliot Gould starred as "Casey" in the Shelley Duvall's Tall Tales and Legends adaptation of the story, which also starred Carol Kane, Howard Cosell, Bob Uecker, Bill Macy and Rae Dawn Chong. The screenplay, adapted from the poem, was written by Andy Borowitz and the production was directed by David Steinberg.

Sequels

"Casey's Revenge", by Grantland Rice (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'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 adaptation starring Jerry Colonna (see above), Disney released a sequel, "Casey Bats Again" (1954), in which Casey's nine daughters redeem his reputation.

In 1988, on the 100th anniversary of the poem, Sports Illustrated writer Frank Deford 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", as being the daughter of the famous slugger from the poem.

Parodies

Mad republished the original version of the poem in the 1950s with artwork by Jack Davis and no alterations to the text. Later lampoons in Mad included "'Cool' Casey at the Bat" (1960), an interpretation of the poem in beatnik 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; "Howard at the Mike," about Howard Cosell; "Clooney as the Bat", a mockery of George Clooney's role as Batman in Batman and Robin; and in 2006 as "Barry at the Bat", poking fun at Barry Bonds' alleged involvement in the BALCO scandal. Another parody takes place in Russia, which ends with "Kasey" in a gulag prison.

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

Radio performer Garrison Keillor's parodic version of the poem replays the events from the perspective of the opposing team. Note that Mudville, despite clearly being the home team, bats in the top of the ninth. Prior to 1950, the home team had the option to bat first.

An episode of Tiny Toon Adventures featured a short titled "Buster at the Bat", where Sylvester provides narration as Buster goes up to bat. In this version, the first two strikes are due to Buster signing an autograph the first time and answering his cell phone the second time. However, in the end, Buster hits a home run, much to Sylvester's confusion; Buster replies, "You were expecting me to strike out?! I'm the star of this show!"

The poem was later parodied again for an episode of Animaniacs, this time with Wakko as the title character and Yakko narrating. Like Buster, Wakko also ends up unexpectedly hitting a home run.

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

The New York Times published a parody by Hart Seely and Frank Cammuso in which the poem was narrated by Phil Rizzuto, a New York Yankees 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.

A 1990 children's book called Mice at Bat by Kelly Oechsli is about a mouse named Casey, a rat, a cat, and two teams of baseball-playing mice that compete with each other, but after they clean up (and eat scraps of food from) a humans' baseball stadium.

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].

Casey in other media

Names

On page 11 of his autobiography Casey at the Bat: The Story of My Life in Baseball (Random House, 1962), Casey Stengel describes how his nickname of "K.C." (for his hometown, Kansas City, Missouri) 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 and fans and writers started calling him "strikeout Casey".

At the Oakland, California radio station KEWB during the early 1960s, the disc jockey Casey Kasem was known as "Casey at the Mike."

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'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 DeForest recorded DeWolf Hopper reciting the poem in DeForest's Phonofilm sound-on-film process.
• In 1927, a feature-length silent film Casey at the Bat was released, starring Wallace Beery, Ford Sterling, and Zasu Pitts.
• A reference to the poem occurs in Short Cuts (1993).
• In the film What Women Want (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 many television shows. One example is an episode of The Twilight Zone, The Mighty Casey, concerning a baseball player who is actually a robot. Another instance is from GREEK, when Rusty Cartwright as the catcher in a softball game, quotes a line as his sister Casey steps up to the plate.

Music

• William Schuman composed an opera, The Mighty Casey (1953), based on the poem.
• Song references to the poem include "Centerfield", the Broadway musical Cabaret, Joe Walsh's "Rocky Mountain Way", the song No Joy in Mudville from Death Cab for Cutie's album We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes, and "To The Dogs or Whoever", a song by Josh Ritter from his 2007 album The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter.
• The song "Rocky Mountain Way" by Joe Walsh includes the line, "The bases are loaded and Casey's at bat.".
• The song "Felicia" on the Straight On Till Morning album by Blues Traveller includes the line "I wouldn't feel so much like Casey who never got to bat."

Games

The poem is referenced in the Super Nintendo Entertainment System game EarthBound, where a weapon is named the Casey Bat, which is powerful but inaccurate.

Theme park

Casey's Corner is a baseball-themed restaurant in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, 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, reflecting the outcome of the game in the poem.

There is a game called Casey at the Bat in the Games of the Boardwalk at the Disneyland Resort's Disney's California Adventure.

Postage stamp

On July 11, 1996, the United States Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp depicting "Mighty Casey." The stamp was part of a set commemorating American folk heroes. Other stamps in the set depicted Paul Bunyan, John Henry, and Pecos Bill.

Sources

• Gardner, Martin, "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, New York Times, 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 at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.
• "Casey at the Bat" Web site with biographical details on Thayer, Hopper, Mike "King" Kelly and chronology of the poem's publication.
• "Casey au bâton"
• "Casey at the Bat" as told in baseball cards