Casey at the Bat: Only half of the American story
There is no joy in Mudville, for the Mighty Casey has struck out.
Forget Shakespeare: Perhaps the greatest modern tragedy could be the story of Casey at the Bat.
The Mudville Nine make a miraculous comeback, with two struggling hitters reaching base to bring the team superstar, Casey, to the plate with the opportunity to win the game.
Spoiling the ending: Casey whiffs. Mudville loses. No Disney ending to this story.
#2
By Bob (Unregistered User)
12:32am on July 8, 2008
Also, I'd note that baseball's best hitter don't fail 70% of the time - 60% maybe, but no 70% - you can't call a walk a failure, so 1-OBP is a better metric for the "% of failure."
#3
By Julian Rajeshwar (Unregistered User)
6:58pm on July 10, 2008
From the title of this piece, I thought a more salient point was going to be made: the pitcher succeeds. One should give the pitcher credit for striking out the mighty Casey in a pressure situation.
#4
By y07 (Unregistered User)
4:56pm on July 17, 2008
You misspelled Mudville. Good job, summer fact-checkers!
I now what you mean about hearing of Casey for the first time in Grade School. Pure devastation...from which I never recovered...until reading your wonderful rendition. Well done...and thank you!