Casey at the Bat and Baseball's First Viral Moment

On June 3, 1888, the San Francisco Examiner published a poem in its Sunday edition. The poem was 13 stanzas long, told the story of a mighty slugger who strikes out with the game on the line, and was signed with the pen name "Phin." The author's real name was Ernest Lawrence Thayer, he was paid $5, and the poem was called "Casey at the Bat." It would have been forgotten entirely if not for DeWolf Hopper, a stage actor performing at Wallack's Theatre in New York City. On August 14, 1888, the New York Giants and the Chicago White Stockings were in the audience for a special baseball night. A friend of Hopper's had clipped the poem from a newspaper and suggested he perform it between acts.

Hopper did. The audience roared. He performed it again the next night. And the next. Over the following four decades, Hopper estimated he recited "Casey at the Bat" more than 10,000 times. He recorded it. He performed it on radio. He performed it at banquets, charity events, and private parties. He could not escape it. "There are just two things I dread," he once said. "One is being asked to recite 'Casey.' The other is not being asked."

The poem's power lies in its structure. For twelve stanzas, hope builds around Casey, the mighty slugger the crowd believes in, who lets two strikes go by with supreme confidence before swinging through the third. The ending is the point. Baseball is a game built on failure, and Thayer understood that in 52 lines of verse.

It looked extremely rocky for the Mudville nine that day: The score stood four to six with just an inning left to play; And so, when Cooney died at first, and Burrows did the same, A pallor wreathed the features of the patrons of the game.

A straggling few got up to go, leaving there the rest With that hope that springs eternal within the human breast; For they thought if only Casey could get one whack, at that They'd put up even money, with Casey at the bat.

But Flynn preceded Casey, and so likewise did Blake, But the former was a pudding, and the latter was a fake; So on that stricken multitude a death-like silence sat, For there seemed but little chance of Casey's getting to the bat.

But Flynn let drive a single to the wonderment of all, And the much-despisèd Blaikie tore the cover off the ball; And when the dust had lifted, and they saw what had occurred, There was Blaikie safe on second and Flynn a-hugging third!

Then from the gladdened multitude went up a joyous yell, It bounded from the mountain-top, and rattled in the dell, It struck upon the hillside, and rebounded on 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.

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 glanced 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.

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 some one in the stand. And it's likely they'd have 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 the echo answered, "Fraud!" But the 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 with 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 favoured 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.

Thayer never sought credit for the poem, and for years, other people claimed authorship. Thayer was a Harvard-educated journalist who considered himself a humorist, not a poet, and he was reportedly embarrassed by the poem's popularity. He died in 1940, and he never received another cent for it.

Disney adapted "Casey at the Bat" into a 1946 animated short narrated by Jerry Colonna and set to music, and writers have parodied, sequelized, and rewritten it thousands of times since. It remains the most famous piece of baseball literature ever written, and it established a template that every medium has borrowed. The mighty hero steps to the plate. The crowd holds its breath. And sometimes, the hero strikes out.