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| The Disney version Casey (D23.com) |
Casey at the Bat was born today.
We don't know who Casey really was. We never learned his last name or what his WAR was.
No clue about his OPS.
Casey -- Mighty Casey -- or, should we say Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888 was first published on this day The Daily Examiner of San Francisco.
Written by Earnest L. Thayer, it tells the story of the Mudville Nine, trailing an unnamed team 4-2 as they entered the bottom of the ninth inning.
Mudville is a scrappy team with a superstar -- the Mighty Casey himself. But he's do up fifth in the ninth (though it's said to be the "last inning" we'll figure it's the ninth).
Indeed, Cooney and Barrows produce outs while weaker hitters Flynn and Blake, each expected to make the last out of the game, come up with hits. Flynn singles and Blake doubles.
Now it's up to Casey, in front of a crowd numbering 5,000.
Talented and cocky, Casey lets the first two go by (somewhat reminiscent of Babe Ruth and his "called shot" in 1932). But, where Ruth succeeded, Casey did not.
He struck out. Game over.
No word on if the broadcaster called it "gargantuan" or if his swing produced a greater wind than the bearded girl down at the nickelodeon waiting to join Mr. Barnum's circus or whatever. Oh, wait. Baseball broadcasting was still roughly 35 years away. I'm digressing wildly.
The poem isn't exactly the work of Dickinson or Cummings (or cummings) or Frost or Whitman.
It's not even Homer (given there is no...homer). Yeah, that's a bad joke.
But it's so important to the culture of baseball and is as celebrated as any written word.
The poem hit the zeitgeist of early sound recordings once an actor named DeWolf Hopper got hold of it. Hopper first did a dramatic reading of it on August 14, 1888 and would do it thousands of times (said to be possibly 40,000) by the time he died in 1935.
Hopper also recorded it several times, including a famous version in 1906. Russell Hunting, described by some as "the most popular pre-1900 recording artist" did the first of the Casey recordings, in 1893.
By the way, Hopper's version is said to be the third most popular recording of 1906!
It has since been interpreted numerous times in print, animated shorts, and audio. Arguably the most famous episode of The Simpsons was called "Homer at the Bat."
My son has a copy of a latter printing, and it obviously brought me great joy to read it to him as a bedtime story.
Culturally, many have uttered the terms "no joy in Mudville" and "Mighty Casey has struck out" without ever knowing where it came from.
Such is the power of the poem that originated on this day in 1888.
It's never quite been determined who it was about. The poem predates Babe Ruth professionally by nearly 30 years. Some have suggested that it was based on early superstar "King" Kelly though there's never been any basis to that.
The great Vincent Price recorded Casey during his legendary career. Admittedly, if you've never heard the Hopper versions, I'll warn you that they're a bit over-the-top. So we'll post Mr. Price's version for your listening pleasure.
And wish Casey well in his next game.
1 comment:
To me, the poem is about the importance of teamwork--and about the failure of Casey to recognize the importance of teamwork.
If you read the poem carefully, it doesn't actually say that Blake doubles. The way it is written, it suggests a possibly more complex play. It suggests a very close play at third, with Flynn just barely safe.
What I'm thinking happened on the previous play is that Blake singled to left. Even though he isn't the tying run, Flynn takes the risk of possibly making the 3rd out at third, and tries to advance to third. This might seem a foolish risk, but Flynn draws a throw and is safe. Blake takes advantage of the throw and advances to second on the throw.
Clearly, the fans, Casey himself, the readers, and perhaps even the poet don't think too much of Blake and Flynn. The team's manager, however, obviously has a higher opinion of Blake and Flynn, or he wouldn't have put them in the batting order batting just ahead of Casey.
In other words, Flynn and Blake have shown baserunning hustle and worked as a team to get the tying run into scoring position. That would allow Casey--if he were also a team player--to focus on the more modest goal of hitting a game tying single.
But Casey ignores the teamwork of Blake and Flynn, and still wants to be the superstar who hits the heroic walk off home run. And, of course, he famously--albeit fictionally--strikes out. Casey and his team lose because Casey doesn't recognize an opportunity to be a good team player. He still swings for the fences even though the game situation no longer calls for that.
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