Monday, June 3, 2013

"Casey At The Bat" Is 125 Today

The original poem was printed 3 June 1888, in the San Francisco Examiner. Written by Ernest Thayer, it was his last piece written for the newspaper (poems in papers were common in those days). Later, on August 14th (Thayer's 25th birthday), comedian DeWolf Hopper gave the first public recitation in New York, with members of the Chicago White Stockings and New York Giants in attendance. Hopper would go on to be the poem's most famous orator, and was recorded several times, including this 1920's recording.



Of course, many kids learned about Casey from this 1946 Disney short.


Penn & Teller would later incorporate the poem into a part of their act, as seen in their 1985 PBS special, "Penn & Teller Go Public."


In 1996, James Earl Jones recorded a more straightforward version with the Cincinnati Pops.


If you'd like to read it yourself, it's available at Baseball Almanac.

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