For my May blog article, I wrote about my favorite poem My
Papa’s Waltz (Link HERE).
Continuing with a poetry theme, my June article is about
a baseball poem by Ernest Lawrence Thayer: Casey at the Bat.
This poem was
published in the San Francisco Examiner on June 3, 1988.
According to the website Poets.org¹, Ernest Lawrence Thayer
was born on August 14, 1863 (d. August 21, 1940) in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University. While there,
he met William Randolph Hearst, who would later have the San Francisco
Examiner. Hearst eventually hired Thayer to write a humorous column for his
newspaper, which turned out to be Thayers’s most famous work, Casey at the Bat.
Thayer wrote under the pen name “Phin”.
 |
| Ernest Lawrence Thayer - Reference¹ |
Wikipedia² tells us:
- DeWolf Hopper “gave the poem’s first stage recitation on August 14, 1888 at New York’s Wallack Theater as part of the comic opera Prinze Methusalem in the presence of the Chicago and New York baseball teams, the white Stockings and the Giants, respectively.
- Hopper reportedly recited the poem an estimated 10,000 times on the low side and up to 40,000 times on the high side.
- The first recorded version of this poem was by Russell Hunting, who spoke in a broad Irish accent.
- Among others who have recorded this poem, James Earl Jones recorded a version with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra in 1996.
- The poem has been referenced in many movies, television shows, books, comics, and parodies as well as being set to music as a song and adapted into an opera.
- On July 11, 1996, the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp depicting “Mighty Casey” as part of a commemorative American folk heroes set that included Paul Bunyan, John Henry, and Pecos Bill.
 |
| Mighty Casey Commemorative Stamp - Reference³ |
My first recollection of Casey at the Bat is from watching this 1946 Disney
cartoon.
Once I discovered Casey at the Bat via Disney, my grandpa, whom I talked about in my May article, read it to me many times thereafter. He was a big fan of baseball, so he didn't mind at all. :-)
Read the poem HERE
Until next time,
Kaye Spencer
Stay in contact with Kaye—
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Resources:
1. Poets.org, Academy of American Poets,
poets.org/poet/ernest-lawrence-thayer.
2. “Casey at
the Bat.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 31 May 2020,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_at_the_Bat.
Kaye, I was SO GLAD for this poem when my Casey was little. I bought it for him in a story book with pictures and all. That year he was born, a lot of people named their girls Casey, too, and he was heartbroken as a little kid when people in his class would say, "Casey is a GIRL'S name!" So I tried to reinforce the positives of his name and he played little league baseball, so Casey at the Bat was a favorite. Anyhow, all that went away when, in first grade, a new girl started school and was in his class--her name was MICHAEL. No more teasing! LOL I love this poem--loved it as a kid, and my dad would read it to me. I remember that Disney cartoon, too.
ReplyDeleteCheryl,
DeleteThat's a great name story. ;-) My youngest son is named Cameron. It wasn't long before Cameron became a non-traditional girl's name.
I like story poems. I may continue with my poems-themed blog posts through the summer. I have a great 'back-in-my-teaching-days' story about the German poem/son 'Erlkönig'/'Erlking'.
I love poetry and have written many over the years. This one's a delight. Never heard it before. I can just imagine James Earl Jones saying this poem with his wonderful voice. Loved him in the movie, The Sandlot, a great baseball story. I look forward to more poetry blogs....my favorite poem of all time is The Highwayman. There was a time when I could recite the entire poem.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI admire anyone who has the gift of poetry in them. I am not one of those people. My poems generally start with, There was a young girl from Nantucket... and they just get worse after that. Hahahaha
The Highwayman is a great poem.
I used to be able to recite The Raven and Paul Revere's Ride, but no longer. I remember chunks of stanzas in no particular order.
Thanks for stopping in.
Oh the memories this poem brings up. Thank you for sharing. Doris
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by. *hugs*
DeleteI remember this poem from my childhood and the Disney movie, too. Thank you for this step back in time when poetry could be fun.
ReplyDeletePoetry was a big part of my childhood. My sister and I would read some of them aloud to one another like "The Congo" that had a great beat to it and "Hiawatha." Later, my husband and I used to read them to each other. His was "The Highwayman" and mine was "The Lady of Shalott" by Tennyson. In fact, my wedding band had a quote engraved in it from that poem.
It's good to see from your post that poetry is still held in high regard and even memorized by some of us.
All good things to your corner of the universe, Kaye.