A fair share of the recent Cooperstown Baseball Symposium considered myriad aspects of Casey at the Bat, which celebrates its 125th anniversary this month.
The esteemed sportswriter Frank Deford was the keynote speaker for the event. Deford contributed a speculative article, “Huge Commotion in Mudville” to the July 18, 1988 issue of Sports Illustrated. Shortly thereafter, he expanded on the story to publish Casey on the Loose: What Really Might Have Happened
Deford recited the poem on a recent NPR appearance.
Over the years there have been scores of artistic variations on the original, parodies, cartoons, movies, TV episodes, songs, etc. for Casey, some better than others (I have yet to here a really good recitation of the poem; they’re often paired with music — usually “Take Me out to the Ball Game” — usually either too dramatic or too milquetoast, IMO).
And other shtick:
It’s still a “force” in popular culture, as evidenced by this piece in The Atlantic.
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