Casey at the Bat, subtitled A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888, is a poem on the subject of baseball, written in 1888 by Ernest Thayer. It was first published in the San Francisco Examiner on June 3, 1888, but was popularized by DeWolf Hopper in many vaudeville performances. Poetry (ancient Greek: poieo = create) is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. ... This article is about the sport. ... Wikisource has original works written by or about: Ernest Thayer Ernest Lawrence Thayer (August 14, 1863 - August 21, 1940) was an American writer and poet who wrote Casey at the Bat. ... The San Francisco Examiner is a daily newspaper in San Francisco, California, where it has been published continuously since the late 19th Century. ... is the 154th day of the year (155th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the toll-free telephone number see Toll-free telephone number Year 1888 (MDCCCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Friday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... De Wolf Hopper (March 30, 1858 – September 23, 1935) was an American actor, singer, comedian, and theatrical producer. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

The poem is about a baseball team from the fictional town of Mudville, which is losing by two runs with two outs in their last at bats, but might win "if only" the team 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. However, the overconfident Casey strikes out, ending the game and sending the crowd home unhappy.

The poem is filled with references to baseball as it was in 1888, which in many ways is not far removed from today's version of the game. Casey, Mudville's star player, is beloved by the fans and so confident in his abilities that he doesn't swing at the first two pitches, both strikes. 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.

Casey at the Bat

This is the complete poem as it originally appeared in the San Francisco Examiner. After publication multiple versions with minor changes in wording were produced.

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 echoes a common synonym for any baseball team. It also reflects a time when substitutions were not allowed except in cases of injury. League California League Division North Year founded 1941 Major League affiliation Oakland Athletics Home ballpark Banner Island Ballpark Previous home ballparks Billy Hebert Field City Stockton, California Current uniform colors Red, White, and Blue Previous uniform colors Logo design A block S. Division titles League titles (10): 1946, 1947, 1963... League California League Division North Year founded 1941 Major League affiliation Oakland Athletics Home ballpark Banner Island Ballpark Previous home ballparks Billy Hebert Field City Stockton, California Current uniform colors Red, White, and Blue Previous uniform colors Logo design A block S. Division titles League titles (10): 1946, 1947, 1963...

"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, in the ninth inning of a regulation game.

A player "dying" at a base of course means he was put out. There are only three outs in an inning in baseball, so one more out would end the game.

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 was rephrased in The Sporting News in the early 1960s, which characterized the atmosphere of pre-season training as "Spring Hopes Eternal". The Sporting News (TSN) is an American-based sports newspaper. ...

The last line above reflects the casual attitude towards betting and baseball that existed at the time.

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.

The names of the players are all Anglo-Saxon or Celtic, as was the case with major league baseball in general at the time. The early major league rosters contained many Irish names.

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."

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 Johnnie safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.

Blake's hit that tore the cover of the ball employs an old expression that was literally possible to happen in the day when a single ball was used for the entire game, if possible (as is still done in the game of cricket). As Gardner points out, that metaphor would find literal expression in the book (and later, the film), The Natural. Bowler Shaun Pollock bowls to batsman Michael Hussey. ... The Natural is a 1952 novel about baseball written by Bernard Malamud. ...

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 might be spoken by the male spectators (or the players). The words "the men" breaks the meter of the sentence, and later versions simply say "they".

In the original version there was a printer's error that 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.

Casey "doffing his cap" suggests gentlemanly behavior, among men who might otherwise be assumed to be ruffians...

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 is undermined by rubbing excess dirt on his shirt while working on getting a better grip on the bat.

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.

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.

Casey's relationship with the crowd is typically heroic.

Gardners says that the line about the distant shore is paraphrased from Felicia Dorothea Hemans' The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers: The breaking waves dashed high / On a stern and rockbound coast. Felicia Hemans Felicia Hemans (September 25, 1793 - 1835), was a British poet. ...

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

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.

The author "teases" the reader, with the next-to-last stanza being somewhat misleading about the game's actual outcome. Although the poem is not so well known in its entirety, the last verse has attained something of the status of a classic:

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 ambiance of cheering and expectation, the (unfair) prejudice towards any player who is not the obvious star of the day, the final anticlimatic disappointment are very modern and certainly contributed largely to the perennity of the poem long in the live-ball era. The live-ball era, also referred to as the lively ball era, is the period in Major League Baseball beginning in 1920, following the dead-ball era. ...

Casey can be compared to the hare in the Aesop fable The Tortoise and the Hare: A highly gifted and talented individual who fails due to self-infatuated nonchalance. Aesop, as depicted in the Nuremberg Chronicle by Hartmann Schedel in 1493. ... The Tortoise and the Hare, illustrated by Milo Winter in a 1919 Aesop anthology The Tortoise and the Hare, illustrated in a 1921 story anthology The Tortoise and the Hare is a fable attributed to Aesop. ...

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. The first recorded version of Casey at the Bat, as sung by Russell Hunting, hit the music charts in 1893. DeWolf Hopper's more famous version was not released until October 1906. There was also a 1927 movie Casey at the Bat starring Wallace Beery as Casey. is the 226th day of the year (227th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the toll-free telephone number see Toll-free telephone number Year 1888 (MDCCCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Friday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... Comic opera, or light opera, denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending. ... Major league affiliations National League (1876–present) Central Division (1994–present) Current uniform Retired Numbers 10, 14, 23, 26, 42 Name Chicago Cubs (1902–present) Chicago Orphans (1898-1901) Chicago Colts (1890-1897) Chicago White Stockings (1870-1871, 1874-1889) (a. ... Major league affiliations National League (1883–present) West Division (1969–present) Current uniform Retired Numbers NY, NY, 3, 4, 11, 24, 27, 30, 36, 42, 44 Name San Francisco Giants (1958–present) New York Giants (1885–1957) New York Gothams (1883–1885) Other nicknames Jints, Gigantes, G-Men Ballpark AT... is the 226th day of the year (227th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the toll-free telephone number see Toll-free telephone number Year 1888 (MDCCCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Friday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Russell Hunting ([?]-[?]) was an North American entertainer, pionner sound recordist, and an influential figure in the early years of the recorded music industry. ... Casey at the Bat is a 1927 film starring Wallace Beery, Ford Sterling, Zasu Pitts, and Sterling Holloway. ... Wallace Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American actor, best known for his many cinema appearances. ...

Mudville

A rivalry of sorts has developed between the 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 claim to be the Mudville described in the poem. There is a neighborhood in Holliston called Mudville, and Thayer did grow up in nearby Worcester, Massachusetts. Nestled within the small New England Town of Holliston, Massachusetts sits a neighborhood, modest in size, yet grand in stature. Here, a short walk beyond the old schoolhouse on School Street brings one upon a garden, which during years of plentiful rain boasts a myriad of native flowers. There is a seven foot tall statue of Mighty Casey along with a plaque of dedication. Construction of the railroad brought the Irish to Holliston in 1847, and not desiring to travel further west, many workers settled on the often soggy parcels of land next to the tracks and adjacent to Lake Winthrop. Known as “Mudville” as early as 1856, its residents became fervent participants in the emerging National Pastime, and brought great pride to the area in 1858 when the local Winthrop Base Ball Club defeated Boston’s famous Olympic Base Ball Club 100-27 on the Boston Common, before over 2000 people. As quoted in the Boston Bee, “The playing of the Holliston Club was by far the best ever seen in our city.” Around this time, the Darling Woolen Mill, located just outside Mudville, employed many area residents. It was owned by the relatives of Ernest Lawrence Thayer, famous for penning the poem “Casey at the Bat.” Hence, the obvious connection. There is currently an active Mudville Base Ball Club that was created to pay homage to the past, while celebrating the game. They typically play by the Massachusetts Rules of 1858 but are open to all vintage interpretations. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (2580 × 1932 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (2580 × 1932 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (2580 × 1932 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (2580 × 1932 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (2580 × 1932 pixel, file size: 890 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) I took this picture myself. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (2580 × 1932 pixel, file size: 890 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) I took this picture myself. ... Holliston is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States in the Greater Boston area. ... Nickname: Location in Massachusetts Coordinates: Country United States State Massachusetts County Worcester County Settled 1673 Incorporated 1684 Government  - Type Council-manager also known as Plan E  - City Manager Michael V. OBrien  - Mayor Konstantina B. Lukes  - City Council Dennis L. Irish Michael C. Perotto Joseph M. Petty Gary Rosen Kathleen... Holliston is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States in the Greater Boston area. ...

Residents of Stockton, California, have long claimed and prior to the Holliston claim, been acknowledged as the inspiration for Mudville. Stockton was known for a time as Mudville prior to incorporation in 1850. For the 1902 season, Stockton's California League team was named the Mudville Nine. (Since then, the team's name has reverted to the Stockton Ports.) The minor league baseball team in Visalia, California, also plays games as the Mudville Nine. Thayer is said to have spent several weeks in Stockton at the time of the writing. Nickname: Motto: Stocktons Great, Take A Look! Location in the state of California Coordinates: Country United States State California County San Joaquin County Incorporated 1850 Government  - Mayor Edward J. Chavez  - City Manager J. Gordon Palmer, Jr. ... The following are the baseball events of the year 1902 throughout the world. ... The California League is a minor league baseball league which operates throughout the state of California. ... The Stockton Ports are a minor league baseball team in Stockton, California, USA. They are a high-A class team in the California League, and became a farm team of the Oakland Athletics in 2005. ... Visalia is a Central California city situated in the heart of California’s agricultural San Joaquin Valley, approximately 230 miles southeast of San Francisco and 190 miles north of Los Angeles. ...

Adaptations and sequels

A month after the poem was published, it was reprinted as "Kelly at the Bat," in the Sporting Times. 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). “Boston” redirects here. ... $10,000 Kelly baseball card, ca. ... Major league affiliations National League (1876–present) East Division (1994–present) Current uniform Retired Numbers 3, 21, 35, 41, 42, 44 Name Atlanta Braves (1966–present) Milwaukee Braves (1953-1965) Boston Braves (1941-1952) Boston Bees (1936-1940) Boston Braves (1912-1935) Boston Rustlers (1911) Boston Doves (1907-1910) Boston... Adrian Constantine Anson (April 17, 1852 – April 14, 1922), known by the nicknames Cap (for Captain) and Pop, was a professional baseball player in the National Association and Major League Baseball. ...

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."

Casey At The Bat was adapted into a 1953 opera by American composer William Schuman. This article is about Opera, the art form. ... William Howard Schuman (August 4, 1910–February 15, 1992) was an American composer and music administrator. ...

Based on Thayer's original, there have been two animated films by Walt Disney: Casey at the Bat (1946), which is a direct adaptation, and Casey Bats Again (1954), in which his daughters redeem his reputation. Animation refers to the process in which each frame of a film or movie is produced individually, whether generated as a computer graphic, or by photographing a drawn image, or by repeatedly making small changes to a model (see claymation and stop motion), and then photographing the result. ... For the company founded by Disney, see The Walt Disney Company. ... See also: 1945 in film 1946 1947 in film 1940s in film years in film film // Events Top grossing films North America The Bells of St. ... The year 1954 in film involved some significant events. ...

A parody of the original, replaying the same events from the perspective of the opposing team, was written by Garrison Keillor. It describes the hatred of the Mudville team by Dustburg, and tells of how Casey received abuse when he struck out. Garrison Keillor (born Gary Edward Keillor on August 7, 1942) is an American author, humorist, columnist, musician, satirist, and radio personality. ...

Several other parodies exist: Casey's Revenge, by Grantland Rice (1906) gives Casey another chance against the pitcher who had struck him out in the original story. In this version, Rice cites the nickname "Strike-Out Casey", hence the influence on 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--and the final stanza reads: Grantland Rice (November 1, 1880–July 13, 1954) was an early 20th century American sportswriter. ... Charles Dillon Casey Stengel (July 30, 1890 - September 29, 1975), nicknamed The Old Professor, was an American baseball player and manager from the early 1910s into the 1960s. ...

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.

(The Official Encyclopedia of Baseball by Turkin and Thompson attributes this verson to James Wilson, not Grantland Rice.)

Another followup has Casey coming to the plate twenty years later getting his revenge; and yet another one taking place in Russia, which ends with "Kasey" in a gulag prison. Gulag ( , Russian: ) was the government body responsible for administering prison camps across the former Soviet Union. ...

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. The first issue of Sports Illustrated, August 16, 1954, showing Milwaukee Braves star Eddie Mathews at bat in Milwaukee County Stadium. ... Frank Deford (born December 16, 1938, in Baltimore, Maryland) is a senior contributing writer for Sports Illustrated, author, and commentator. ... Sex and the City episode, see Take Me Out to the Ballgame (SATC episode). ...

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!" Steven Spielberg Presents Tiny Toon Adventures (also known as Tiny Toon Adventures or Tiny Toons) is an American animated television series created and produced as a collaborative effort between Steven Spielberg and Warner Bros. ... Sylvester J. Pussycat, Sr. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

The poem was later parodied again for an episode of Animaniacs, this time with Wakko as the title character and Yakko narrating. This article is about the television series. ... Animaniacs logo, featuring Yakko, Wakko, and Dot, plus Pinky and the Brain. ... Animaniacs logo, featuring Yakko, Wakko, and Dot, plus Pinky and the Brain. ...

MAD Magazine published several versions of the poem. The first instance in the 1950s was a verbatim printing of the poem, with artwork by Jack Davis. Later parodies included "Cool" Casey at the Bat in 1960, an interpretation of the poem in beatnik style, with artwork by Don Martin; 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. Harvey Kurtzmans cover for the first issue of the comic book Mad Mad is an American humor magazine founded by publisher William Gaines and editor Harvey Kurtzman in 1952. ... There are several notable people called Jack Davis. ... Beatnik is a media stereotype that borrowed the most superficial aspects of the Beat Generation literary movement of the 1950s to present a distorted (and sometimes violent), cartoon-like misrepresentation of the real-life people and the spirituality found in Jack Kerouacs autobiographical fiction. ... Don Martin (May 18, 1931 – January 6, 2000) was a popular American cartoon artist whose best-known work appeared in MAD magazine from 1956 to 1988. ... Batman (originally referred to as the Bat-Man and still referred to at times as the Batman) is a DC Comics fictional superhero who first appeared in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939. ... George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an Academy Award and two-time Golden Globe-winning American actor, director, producer and screenwriter, known for his role in the first five seasons of the long-running television drama ER (1994–99), and his rise as an A-List movie star... The film Batman and Robin, directed by Joel Schumacher, is considered by most to be less serious than the 1989 Batman movie and sequels Batman Returns (1992) and Forever (1995). ... Barry Lamar Bonds (born July 24, 1964 in Riverside, California) He is the son of former Major League All-Star Bobby Bonds, cousin of Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, and the godson of Hall of Famer Willie Mays. ... The Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO) is a controversial sports nutrition center in Burlingame, California, USA. The company achieved fame due to a long investigation in accusations that the lab provided anabolic steroids and other banned performance enhancing drugs to athletes, many famous. ...

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 with baseball star Pete Rose narrating. This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Wallace Tripp illustrated a popular 1978 book of the poem. Wallace Tripp is a popular American illustrator and author. ... Year 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar). ...

In the show, U.S. Acres, one episode was titled "Orson at the Bat" and parodied Casey. U.S. Acres (known as Orsons Farm outside the United States) is a comic strip that ran from 1986 to 1989 created by Jim Davis, author of the popular comic strip Garfield. ...

Dan Gutman published a sequel in the same meter called Casey Back At Bat in 2007. Dan Gutman (born 19 October 1955 in New York City) is an author from New Jersey. ... The metre, or meter (symbol: m) is the SI base unit of length. ...

Translation in a foreign language

The difficulty of the translation of this text in a foreign language is due to the specifics of the ethno-cultural reference of the narrative. Casey at the bat needs to be translated in the language of a culture where baseball is played and where its characteristics can be treated as a full implicit. Furthermore, one needs imperatively to know the rules of baseball themselves in order to understand the text and share its climax and emotions. That makes Spanish, Japanese and French (from Canada) the three foreign language which could be considered the most serious candidates for a translation.

The only known translation of the poem in a foreign language is in French. It was written in 2007 by French Canadian linguist Paul Laurendeau and the title is Casey au bâton. Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ...

Other references

• On page 11 of his autobiography (titled Casey at the Bat: The Story of My Life in Baseball), 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, and fans and writers started calling him "strikeout Casey".
• Ralph Andreano's 1965 book, No Joy in Mudville, laments the dearth of heroes in modern baseball, which was in somewhat of an economic decline during the 1960s.
• In Garfield and Friends, the barnyard Animals do a version of the poem.
• In the film Short Cuts, a little boy named Casey dies, and his grieving parents are harassed by a prank caller who gives the final lines of "Casey at the Bat" a cruel and ominous double meaning.
• The phrase "No Joy" in aircraft communications indicates a failure to make visual sighting; or inability to establish radio communications. This reference to the last stanza ("There is no joy in Mudville").
• The poem is referenced in passing by John Fogerty in his song "Centerfield." The two lines go as follows:

Well I spent some time in the Mudville Nine, watching it from the bench.

You know I took some lumps when the mighty Case struck out.

• In the Broadway musical Cabaret, American writer Clifford Bradshaw arrives in Berlin and meets English singer Sally Bowles. Sally, eager to listen to someone speak in English for a change, encourages Cliff to say anything. He responds by quoting the last four lines of the poem. His recitation is later referred to in the song Perfectly Marvelous ("Next moment I was no longer alone, but sat reciting some perfectly beautiful verse in my charming American style...").
• The title character (Casey) is also mentioned in Joe Walsh's "Rocky Mountain Way". But while Walsh sings, "Bases are loaded and Casey's at bat", according to the poem there are only men on second and third.
• Death Cab for Cutie's album We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes features a song titled "No Joy in Mudville".
• An episode of the TV series Northern Exposure revolved around the meaning of the poem. The character of Chris is writing his Master's thesis in English literature on the poem. Two professors come to town to hear his thesis defense, and their obscure academic debate is ended when Chris recites the poem while pitching to the professor most critical of this thesis. When the increasingly furious professor strikes out, Chris proves his thesis by stating that the poem is about the feeling in the professor's gut right at that moment.
• The Teacher's Pet episode "Take Me Out of the Ballgame" (not to be confused with the DuckTales episode of the same name) featured a narrator who spoke in rhymes similar to those in the poem.
• In the Fairly OddParents episode "Foul Balled", when Chester McBadbat loses his ability to play baseball well, Chet Ubetcha remarks that "mighty Chester has struck out!!"
• 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 instead, replaces Mudville with Retroville and the last famed line with "cause Jimmy is an idiot!"
• In the Super Nintendo Entertainment System game EarthBound, the most powerful weapon for Ness is the "Casey bat", but its accuracy is very poor.
• Animaniacs did a version of this poem with Yakko as the narrator called "Mighty Wakko at Bat".
• In the House episode "All In", Dr. House refers to the amount of tests he can do on a dying patient by saying "Mighty Casey's down to his last strike." Dr. Foreman replies, "But Mighty Casey struck out." Dr. House pauses for a moment, then says "Thanks a lot. I was gonna read that this weekend."
• Mad Magazine did a reprint of "Casey" with "hippy" baseball players.
• The 35th episode of Season 1 of The Twilight Zone was titled "The Mighty Casey:, about a robot with the ability to pitch.
• Foster Brooks ("the Lovable Lush") wrote "Riley on the Mound," which recounts the story from the pitcher's perspective.

Charles Dillon Casey Stengel (July 30, 1890 - September 29, 1975), nicknamed The Old Professor, was an American baseball player and manager from the early 1910s into the 1960s. ... Nickname: Location in Jackson, Clay, Platte, and Cass Counties in the state of Missouri. ... Garfield and Friends is an American animated television series based on the popular comic strip Garfield by Jim Davis. ... Short Cuts is a 1993 film directed by Robert Altman. ... John Cameron Fogerty (born May 28, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his time with the swamp rock or roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival. ... Centerfield is an album by musician John Fogerty, released in 1985. ... League California League Division North Year founded 1941 Major League affiliation Oakland Athletics Home ballpark Banner Island Ballpark Previous home ballparks Billy Hebert Field City Stockton, California Current uniform colors Red, White, and Blue Previous uniform colors Logo design A block S. Division titles League titles (10): 1946, 1947, 1963... Cabaret is a 1966 Broadway musical, based on John Van Drutens play I Am a Camera, based in its turn on stories by Christopher Isherwood, with book by Joe Masteroff, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and music by John Kander, produced and directed by Hal Prince and starring Bert Convy... This article is about the capital of Germany. ... For other persons named Joe Walsh, see Joe Walsh (disambiguation). ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. ... Death Cab for Cutie is an American band formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1997. ... We Have the Facts and Were Voting Yes (2000) is the second LP release of the indie band Death Cab for Cutie. ... This article is about the TV series; there is also a mix album of the same name. ... In general sense, teachers pet refers to a student at school who is especially liked by the teachers or likes the teachers and receives special treatment. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Magicas Magic Mirror / Take Me Out of the Ballgame is the fifty-fifth episode of the Disney animated television series DuckTales. ... The Fairly OddParents is one of the most popular cartoons on Nickelodeon The Fairly OddParents is an animated series created by Butch Hartman and was first aired in March 30, 2001. ... Information Aliases Matter Muncher Lad Species Human Gender Male Age 10 Date of birth 1997 as of 2007 Family Buckingham Bucky McBadbat (father) Portrayed by Frankie Muniz (Seasons 1-2) Jason Marsden (Seasons 3-4) Created by Butch Hartman Chester McBadbat is a character in the animated series, The Fairly... This is a list of characters from the Nickelodeon animated television series The Fairly OddParents. ... The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius is a spin_off of the Oscar_nominated computer-animated movie; Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, first officially aired in September 2002. ... The Super Nintendo Entertainment System or Super NES (also called SNES and Super Nintendo) was a 16-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia, and Brazil between 1990 and 1993. ... EarthBound, released in Japan as MOTHER 2: Gyiyg no GyakushÅ« , lit. ... Ness ) is a fictional character and the hero of the EarthBound video game. ... This article is about the television series. ... Animaniacs logo, featuring Yakko, Wakko, and Dot plus Pinky and the Brain. ... House, also known as House, M.D., is a critically-acclaimed American medical drama television series created by David Shore and executive produced by Shore and film director Bryan Singer. ... Dr. Gregory House, M.D., is a fictional character and protagonist of the Fox medical drama House. ... Information Specialty Neurologist Occupation Physician Diagnostic Medicine Fellow (former) Family Rodney Foreman (father) Alicia Foreman (mother) Marcus Foreman(brother) Relationships Wendy (ex-girlfriend) Portrayed by Omar Epps Dr. Eric Foreman, M.D., is a fictional character on the Fox medical drama House. ... Harvey Kurtzmans cover for the first issue of the comic book Mad Mad is an American humor magazine founded by publisher William Gaines and editor Harvey Kurtzman in 1952. ... The Twilight Zone title. ... “The Mighty Casey” is an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone. ...

References

• 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]).

Martin Gardner (b. ...

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Casey at the Bat

• 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"