Casey at the Bat
One of my favorite poems is “Casey at the Bat” by Ernest Lawrence Thayer. I enjoyed read through this a few nights ago, and since reading it have been considering some lessons we might take for our daily lives.
As you may recall, the story of Casey starts with a dismal situation:
“It looked extremely rocky for the Mudville nine that day.
The score stood six to four with but an inning left to play.”
The crowd had total faith in Casey, but didn’t think he would get to bat again because the two batters before him were not very reliable. However, those two batters got on base, bringing Casey (the go-ahead run) to the plate, which made the audience extremely excited:
“Ten thousands eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt,
Five thousand tongues applauded as he rubbed them on his shirt.”
Although the first two pitches were in the strike zone, Casey let them go by, saying, “That’s not my style.” It’s not until the third pitch that he really tries to hit it. He swings so hard that “the air is shattered by the force of Casey’s blow”, but he is unsuccessful. I wonder what might have happened if Casey had swung at the first two pitches. Chances are, he would have at least connected with the ball, perhaps even hit a 3-point home run. It’s unfortunate that he didn’t attempt to hit the first two pitches.
So why didn’t he attempt to hit the first two pitches? He was likely over-confident in his ability to hit any pitch he wanted, and was attempting to show off for the fans. But Casey is not the only one who struggled with over confidence; consider the fans in the stadium. When “Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat”, they were so sure that he would turn the game around. They loved Casey so much that when he made a mistake, the audience held the umpire responsible. And as the poem ends, “there is no joy in Mudville, for mighty Casey has struck out.”
When we look at the overconfidence of both Casey and the audience, it’s easy to look down on the characters in the poem, but I’d like to suggest that we’re all tempted to make the same mistakes. There are times that we all need to use our strengths (like Casey) and other times that we are cheering for others to use theirs (like the audience). In either case, we need to keep our confidence levels in check and recognize that nobody is perfect.
What about those two batters who came before Casey? The audience had labeled Flynn as a “pudding” and Blakey as a “fake”, and assumed they would both get out. The audience was pleasantly surprised to see that both them got safely onto base, but imagine what Flynn and Blakey were thinking as they stood at the plate. No one was cheering for them (although they cheered super loud when Casey came to the plate) and some people were even leaving. What kind of support does that show? Not much. This under-confidence can serve as a model for us as well. Of course not everyone has the same track record, but we should continue to support everyone on our team, regardless of their record.
As you may recall, the story of Casey starts with a dismal situation:
“It looked extremely rocky for the Mudville nine that day.
The score stood six to four with but an inning left to play.”
The crowd had total faith in Casey, but didn’t think he would get to bat again because the two batters before him were not very reliable. However, those two batters got on base, bringing Casey (the go-ahead run) to the plate, which made the audience extremely excited:
“Ten thousands eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt,
Five thousand tongues applauded as he rubbed them on his shirt.”
Although the first two pitches were in the strike zone, Casey let them go by, saying, “That’s not my style.” It’s not until the third pitch that he really tries to hit it. He swings so hard that “the air is shattered by the force of Casey’s blow”, but he is unsuccessful. I wonder what might have happened if Casey had swung at the first two pitches. Chances are, he would have at least connected with the ball, perhaps even hit a 3-point home run. It’s unfortunate that he didn’t attempt to hit the first two pitches.
So why didn’t he attempt to hit the first two pitches? He was likely over-confident in his ability to hit any pitch he wanted, and was attempting to show off for the fans. But Casey is not the only one who struggled with over confidence; consider the fans in the stadium. When “Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat”, they were so sure that he would turn the game around. They loved Casey so much that when he made a mistake, the audience held the umpire responsible. And as the poem ends, “there is no joy in Mudville, for mighty Casey has struck out.”
When we look at the overconfidence of both Casey and the audience, it’s easy to look down on the characters in the poem, but I’d like to suggest that we’re all tempted to make the same mistakes. There are times that we all need to use our strengths (like Casey) and other times that we are cheering for others to use theirs (like the audience). In either case, we need to keep our confidence levels in check and recognize that nobody is perfect.
What about those two batters who came before Casey? The audience had labeled Flynn as a “pudding” and Blakey as a “fake”, and assumed they would both get out. The audience was pleasantly surprised to see that both them got safely onto base, but imagine what Flynn and Blakey were thinking as they stood at the plate. No one was cheering for them (although they cheered super loud when Casey came to the plate) and some people were even leaving. What kind of support does that show? Not much. This under-confidence can serve as a model for us as well. Of course not everyone has the same track record, but we should continue to support everyone on our team, regardless of their record.
posted by Ben and Christina at
7:42 PM
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