The Story Behind the Poem Casey at the Bat
R. J. Brown
When George Hearst decided to run for senator from California in
1885 he realized the need of an influential organ, and bought the
San Francisco Examiner to promote his political ambitions. When
the campaign was over, he presented it to his son, William
Randolph Hearst who had just graduated from Harvard College.
While in college the younger Hearst had been editor of the
Harvard Lampoon.
When he went to California to edit the Examiner he took along
with him three members of the Lampoon staff; Eugene Lent, F. H.
Briggs, and Ernest L. Thayer. Each had nicknames -- Thayer's was
"Phin." He wrote a humorous column on a regular basis for the
Examiner and signed his columns with his nickname.
In the spring of 1888, Thayer wrote Casey and submitted it for
publication. It appeared in the Examiner in the June 3, 1888
edition and was signed "Phin" as usual.
When Casey made its first appearance, nobody hailed it with
shouts of joy or suspected that it would become immortal. A few
weeks later, (exact date unknown) the New York Sun published the
last 8 stanzas of the poem -- but signed its author as "Anon."
Other than the Sun, it was just plain ignored by the public.
To become immortal, everyone (or thing) needs a press agent.
Archibald Clavering Gunter, an author of novels, was "Casey's"
press agent. Always on the look out for incidents to base some of
his novels on, Gunter, living in New York, sought and actively
read newspapers from around the country on a regular basis. When
he read Casey for the first time, he clipped it out to save. He
wasn't sure just what he would do with it, but he clipped and
saved it anyway.
Many weeks later, in August of 1888, Gunter read that both the
New York and Chicago baseball clubs would be attending the
performance of the comedian De Wolf Hopper at the Wallack Theater
in New York. Upon reading the announcement, Gunter instantly knew
what he wanted to do with the clipping of Casey he had saved.
Gunter approached Hopper, a good friend, and offered the poem for
him to recite as he felt the baseball teams would enjoy a comic
baseball recitation. Hopper agreed and recited it that night. The
rest, as they say, is history. From that point forward in time,
Casey become immortal -- while a good poem to begin with, it took
a recital before a group of "famous" baseball players by a
professional comedian to bring it to life.
After reviews for Hopper's performance were published, three
people came forward to claim authorship and demanded Hopper pay a
royalty to use "their" poem. None could prove authorship, so
Hopper kept it in his repertory.
Four or five years later, Thayer, living in Worcester,
Massachusetts at the time, attended a performance of Hopper in
Worcester. After the show, Thayer sent a note backstage
requesting to meet Hopper. Thayer gave him the rights to perform
it without paying any royalties.
Newspaper collectors should check their issues of New York papers
for August, 1888 (exact day unknown) for reviews of Mr. Hopper's
performance of Casey -- You may have an issue almost as important
as the first printing of the poem in the June 3, 1888 San
Francisco Examiner.
http://www.historybuff.com/library/refcasey.html
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