CASEY AT THE BAT

CASEY AT THE BAT By Ernest Lawrence Thayer Start excerpted transcript: (Take Me Out to the Ballpark comes up) Hello. This is The 3:57 and my name is William Spear. This episode is one of the all-time sports classics - CASEY AT THE BAT. Every sports fan knows the sting of defeat when a favorite team loses. From football to bowling to curling, fans take losses hard. But one story has captured the despair of a crushing loss since 1888. That's when Ernest Lawrence Thayer told the tale of the Mudville fans. Losing late in the game, they hoped their hero would get a chance to bat. And he did! And now . . . CASEY AT THE BAT. The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day: The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play, And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same, A pall-like silence fell upon the patrons of the game. A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest Clung to the hope which springs eternal in the human breast; They thought, "If only Casey could but get a whack at that— We'd put up even money now, with Casey at the bat." But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake, And the former was a hoodoo, while the latter was a cake; So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat, For there seemed but little chance of Casey getting to the bat. But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all, And Blake, the much despisèd, tore the cover off the ball; And when the dust had lifted, and men saw what had occurred, There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third. Then from five thousand throats and more there rose a lusty yell; It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell; It pounded on the mountain and recoiled upon the flat, For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat. End of excerpt.