Batter up!

Ernest L. Thayer's comic poem "Casey at the Bat" first appeared on June 3,1888 in the San Francisco Examiner.

Morris Kantor's painting Baseball At Night sets the mood for this tale of a heated game for the Mudville team. In the ninth inning, their only hope of winning lay in the star batsman, Casey. If he had used a bat the size of Claes Oldenberg's Study for Bat Column, (shown below) perhaps he could have saved the day.

This excerpt from Thayer's poem is the peak of color commentary!

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…

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." …

The sneer is gone from Casey's lip, his teeth are clenched in 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 favored 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.

Source: Ernest Lawrence Taylor (illus. by Christopher Bing). Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888 (Brooklyn, N.Y.: Handprint Books, 2000).

Pictured top: Morris Kantor, 1896 Russia-1974 USA , Baseball at Night, 1934, oil on linen, 37 x 47 1/4 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Morris Kantor.

Pictured bottom: Claes Oldenburg, Study for Bat Column, 1975, steel/welded and painted on steel base, 39 1/2 x 12 x 12 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from General Services Administration.