Casey at the Bat

Thayer, E. L., & Bing, C. H. (2000). Ernest L. Thayer's Casey at the bat: A ballad of the Republic sung in the year 1888. Brooklyn, NY: Handprint Books.

Genre: Poetry

Age Level: 9-13

Summary: Casey at the Bat is about a baseball team in Mudville that is two points behind with two outs and is in the last inning of the game. Both the team and the fans believe they can win if the "Mighty Casey” (the star player) could get up to bat. Casey is fifth in the lineup and the better players (Cooney and Barrows) got out. The next two batters are believed to be weaker players. Surprisingly, the first batter hits a single and the second batter hits a double. Now it’s all up to Casey with two outs and bases loaded. Casey is so confident that he does not swing at the first two pitches and they end up being strikes. On the last pitch, Casey strikes out ending the game with the other team going home happy.

Reflection: This story is in the form of a ballad and seems to be told by a baseball guru who is in the stands at the game. The structure of the ballad is one of traditional verse because of the rhyming at the end of each line throughout the poem. For example, the first stanza reads “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 sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game” where day/play and same/game rhyme. The author also uses different forms of figurative language throughout the story. For example, a simile was used in the line “From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar, Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore.” Alliteration was used in the line “And its likely they'd a-killed him had not Casey raised his hand.”

The author tells the poem in an exciting and suspenseful way that keeps the reader very interested, especially boys. The illustrations are also very interesting because they are designed to look the newspaper clippings and the verses are made to look like captions. Boys will love looking at this story and the illustrations as they create an amazing story that they can relate to.

This story would be great in a poetry unit. Students can work in small groups to analyze different stanzas of the poem. Then groups can take turns explaining each stanza. Another activity would be for students to write their own ballad using an activity of their choice. Students could also write an acrostic or concrete poem using words from the story such as baseball, Casey, or bat. Students could also change parts of the story causing an alternate ending to the story.

Some questions I would ask students are: How do you think Casey feels now that he has struck out causing his team to lose the game? Why do you think everyone called Casey “Mighty Casey”? What other events do you think happened before this game? For example, maybe this was the World Series game, a regular game, or a district game.