By Terrianna Daniels
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
“Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic, Sung in the Year 1888” is a mock-heroic poem written in 1888 by Ernest Thayer. 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”. Featuring a dramatic narrative about a baseball game, the poem was later popularized by DeWolf Hopper in many vaudeville performances. It has become one of the best-known poems in American literature.
SYNOPSIS
A baseball team from the fictional town of “Mudville” (the home team) is losing by two runs in its last inning. 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. 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. 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.
Surprisingly, Flynn hits a single, and Blake follows with a double that allows Flynn to reach third base. Both runners are now in scoring position and Casey represents the potential winning run. Casey is so sure of his abilities that he does not swing at the first two pitches, both called strikes. On the last pitch, the overconfident Casey strikes out swinging, ending the game and sending the crowd home unhappy.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- Jefferson Davis (president of the Confederacy) –
- Ransom Eli Olds (automobile manufacturer) –
- Roland Hayes (tenor) –
- Tony Curtis (actor) –
- Allen Ginsburg (poet) –
- Francis “Frank” Gouin (plant physiologist) –
- Anderson Cooper (television journalist) –
- Lalaine Vergara-Paras (actress) –
Died
- Johann Strauss, the Younger (composer) –
- The Marquess of Lansdowne (Canadian Governor General 1883-1888) –
- Pope John XXIII –
- Ozzie Nelson (actor) –
- Lew Wasserman (old time movie mogul) –
- David Carradine (actor) –
- Rue McClanahan (actress) –
- Dr. Jack Kevorkian (pathologist known as Dr. Death” due to his role in assisting the suicides of terminally ill people”) –
- Muhammad Ali (boxer) –
Events
- John Adams became the first U.S. president to live in Washington, D.C..–
- The poem “Casey at the Bat” was published in the San Francisco Examiner–
- The New York Times won its first Pulitzer Prize–
- Ernest Poole became the first to win a Pulitzer Prize in the category of novels (now known as fiction)–
- Baseball player Lou Gehrig hit 4 home runs in 1 game–
- Astronaut Edward H. White II was the first American to perform a spacewalk” when he stepped outside of his spacecraft Gemini 4”–
- The Royal Canadian Mint announced that nickel would replace silver in coins–
- Sally Jane Priesand became the first American female to be ordained as a rabbi–
- Frances Bay, James Cameron, k.d. lang, The Kids in the Hall, Steve Nash, and Daria Werbowy were announced as being inducted into the Canada Walk of Fame–
Weather
- Early hurricane wreaked havoc along the Atlantic coast from June 3 through 5.–
- Seattle received 1.42 inches of rain within 24 hours, a June record–
- Flood caused major devastation in Pueblo, Colorado–
- Golfball-size hail fell in northeast Colorado–
COURTESY www.almanac.com
