Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer

Casey at the Bat

by Ernest Lawrence Thayer

(first published on June 3, 1888 in The San Francisco Examiner)

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 c...