"Casey at the Bat" is a poem written in 1888 by Ernest Thayer. A dramatic narrative about a baseball game, the poem became popular on the vaudeville circuit, and has become one of the best-known poems in American literature.

  The classic baseball poem had first appeared in the June 3rd, 1888 issue of the San Francisco Examiner, under the pseudonym Phin. Thayer's Nickname at Harvard was Phinney. The poem was first printed in a book in the 1880s, in a Harvard Class report which is basically unobtainable today. In 1901, it was printed, on its own, as a softcover pamphlet.

 "Casey at the Bat" was published for the first time in a hardcover anthology, in "A Treasury of Humorous  Poetry." A Compilation of Witty, Facetious, and Satirical Verse Selected from the Writings of British and American Poets." In most copies of this book the poem was attributed to "Joseph Quinlan Murphy."

In 1888, De Wolf Hopper, a life-long baseball fanatic, performed the poem for the first time in front of an opera house audience with the NY Giants and the visiting Chicago White Stockings in attendance. It was an immediate hit.

After 10,000+ performances of the piece, the Victor Talking Machine Co., recorded Hopper's rendition. The "Humorous Rendition" of the poem was first released for $1.00, in 1906 as a single sided 78 RPM record.

  A two sided record was released in 1909, 35290-A "Casey At The Bat" and side 35290-B "The Man Who Fanned Casey" (A Reply To "Casey At The Bat") Performed by Digby Bell.

 The poem was written by "Sparkus" which is believed to be William Sparkus, according to a 1966 newspaper article. But, the poem was published in a 1907 issue of The Dayton Herald newspaper "By T.M. Fowler." "The Man Who Fanned Casey" was also released on Victor Records, 31733, single faced record.

  Grantland Rice was an early 20th-century American sportswriter whose writing was published in newspapers around the country and broadcast on the radio. In 1906 Grantland Rice penned "Casey's Revenge" a sequel to "Casey at the Bat." Rice’s first book of poems, "Base-Ball Ballads," was Published by The Tennessean Company, of Nashville, Tennessee in 1910.

 The book with illustrations By C. H. Wellington, contains baseball verse exclusively. It includes some of the best-known poems about baseball ever written, including "Casey’s Revenge, which was originally credited to an author named James Wilson, a pseudonym Grantland Rice used before acknowledging the poem as his creation; "Mudville’s Fate;" and the original version of "Game Called." In 1948 Rice revised "Game Called" into a eulogy for Babe Ruth.

  In 1920, composer Sidney Homer, told the story of Mighty Casey through music. The sheet music was published by G. Schirmer of New York, and Boston, as part of Six Cheerful Songs to Poems of American Humor. The others shown on the cover art, as listed on a scroll held up by Casey the ballplayer with two kids looking on are; Specially Jim; An Idaho Ball; A plantation Ditty; The Height of the Ridicules; and Christmas Chimes. The 20 page sheet feature the poem with some words edited slightly from the original, and a couple of verses were omitted.


  In 1939 to celebrate 100 years of baseball, Wheaties published "8 historical highlights of baseball... printed on the backs of Wheaties packages. "Neway" descriptions and illustrations depicting how baseball gloves originated... How the Uniforms developed...Evolution of the Bat. .. and 5 other interesting highlights"
 
No. 1 - 1839 "Design Of First Diamond;" No. 2 - 1860 "Lincoln Gets News Of Nomination On Ball Field;" No. 3 - 1869 "Crowd Boos First Baseball Glove;" No. 4 1877 "Curve Ball Just An Illusion Say Scientists!;" No. 5 - 1877 "Fencers Mask Is Pattern For First Catchers Cage;" No. 6 - 1890 "Baseball Gets All Dressed Up;" No. 7 - 1895 "Modern Bludgeon Enters Game;" No. 8 - "Casey At The Bat."

 In 1949 the John Hancock Insurance Company ran the Mighty Casey "He Never Struck Out At All" national magazine Ad campaign. The company also produced posters, and ink blotters which coincide with the ads. The John Hancock produced ink blotter feature "Casey At The Bat" artwork on the left, done by renown illustrator Albert Dorne, co-founder of correspondence schools for aspiring artists, photographers, and writers.