Caseyatthe.blog

"The score stood four to two..."

"The score stood four to two..."

It's been 140 years since the epic "Battle of Brooklyn" between baseball rivals Harvard and Yale for the Inter-Collegiate championship. April 11, t...

The Mudville Hymn

Suppose the Bard of Concord, Ralph Waldo Emerson, had written "Casey at the Bat..."

The Raving: A Visit from Old Nick

What if Edgar Allan Poe--rather than Clement Clarke Moore--had written the poem better known by its first line, "'Twas the night before Christmas.....

Wanted by the FBI: Mighty Casey on the Ten Most Wanted List

Wanted: "The Mighty Casey" -- Height 7 feet; weight 600 pounds; bronze complexion, appears about 30 years old, but is considered "immortal." Once b...

Thomas Macaulay, Ernest Thayer, and Two Peoples Divided by a Common Ballad

Among the many signs of the growing popularity of baseball in the UK, Major League Baseball has announced the renewal of the "London Series" of ga...

Kessler at the Bat

Through an online dialog this summer I was introduced (via MLB's official historian John Thorn) to "Kessler at the Bat" by the inimitable ...

Can't Win For Losing: The Drama of the Mighty Casey

Player photo: Tim Wiles, formerly of the Baseball Hall of Fame, in costume as The Mighty Casey. The magical season of the year as experienced b...

Yogi, Poet Laureate of Baseball

On his birthday #OTD May 12, 1925, Caseyatthe.blog salutes Yogi Berra, Baseball Hall of Fame catcher and manager, Yankee immortal, and Poet Laureat...

Casey in Ulalysium

Now come the dreary days of October, when the hopes of the fans of 29 major league teams will ultimately be dismantled. Not today, though, approach...

Casey on the Bench 1897-1900: Mighty Hopper Strikes Out

Thanks to Anika Orrock, artist, author, and illustrator of the featured image above ("The Mudville Nine"), used here with her permission. Of all t...

Ballad of the Republic: The Arming of the Man

August 14 is the date to celebrate the birthday of Ernest Lawrence Thayer (1863) and also the debut performance in 1888 of Thayer's "Casey at the B...

Ambrose Bierce and The Fall of the Republic

Demagogues fixed a predatory eye on the inherent flaws of the American Republic. Like buzzards they circled the wounded behemoth thrashing in a bo...

Pathos and Baseball: Revisiting "Casey at the Bat"

I think the popular focus on Casey and his strikeout, rather than on the victorious pitcher, illustrates the wisdom and poetic sensibility of c...