The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play.Īnd then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,Ī sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.Ī straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day On the last pitch, the overconfident Casey strikes out swinging, ending the game and sending the crowd home unhappy. Casey is so sure of his abilities that he does not swing at the first two pitches, both called strikes. Both runners are now in scoring position and Casey represents the potential winning run. Surprisingly, Flynn hits a single, and Blake follows with a double that allows Flynn to reach third base. The next two batters (Flynn and Jimmy Blake) are perceived to be weak hitters with little chance of reaching base to allow Casey a chance to bat. However, Casey is scheduled to be the fifth batter of the inning, and the first two batters (Cooney and Barrows) fail to get on base. Both the team and its fans, a crowd of 5,000, believe that they can win if Casey, Mudville's star player, gets to bat. It has become one of the best-known poems in American literature.Ī baseball team from the fictional town of 'Mudville' (the home team) is losing by two runs in its last inning.

Featuring a dramatic narrative about a baseball game, the poem was later popularized by DeWolf Hopper in many vaudeville performances. It was first published anonymously in The San Francisco Examiner (then called The Daily Examiner) on June 3, 1888, under the pen name 'Phin', based on Thayer's college nickname, 'Phinney'. ' Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic, Sung in the Year 1888' is a poem written in 1888 by Ernest Thayer. 'Casey at the Bat' as it first appeared, June 3, 1888

Ernest thayer