Casey at the Bat

by Ernest Thayer, Tom LaPadula (Illustrator)

Overview

"And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville—mighty Casey has struck out."

Since its debut in 1888, that closing couplet has continued to echo down the decades. The ballad about a puffed-up 19th-century sports superstar quickly caught on with an America ready to elect Baseball the national pastime, and its position as an everlasting classic was instantly secured—safe at home, you might say.

This book is a wonderful read-aloud for parents of the very young, a rich visual adventure for current kid players, and a great gift for baseball-fans of all ages; a timeless comic melodrama about the whiff heard 'round the world!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781939322333
Publisher:	Pixel Mouse House LLC
Publication date:	06/09/2020
Pages:	36
Sales rank:	339,117
Product dimensions:	11.00(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.25(d)
Age Range:	6 - 8 Years

About the Author

In 1888, Ernest Lawrence Thayer, a Harvard educated sportswriter, wrote “Casey at the Bat” for the San Francisco Examiner and subtitled it A Ballad of the Republic. While Thayer’s subtitle suggests his belief that the poem captured the essence of the national pastime, it was not an overnight success.

Back in the 19th century, Baseball was quite a different game than the one played today. Power hitters and the walk-off home run were unusual. In 1888, the leading sluggers of both leagues hit only 29 home runs, combined. Raw power mattered less, which made speed and strategic batting much more important.

Nowadays, the big bruising slugger is commonplace. But when Thayer wrote his poem, a “Casey” would have been a rarity. Today, the outcome of many games is decided in dramatic fashion in the bottom of the ninth; sometimes by a walk-off hit or home run, and sometimes, as in “Casey at the Bat,” a game will end with a deafening strike out.

Tom La Padula was born in the Bronx, and began his journey to become a professional artist at an extremely early age. Fast-forward; after graduating from Parsons School of Design with a BFA, Tom earned his MFA from Syracuse, and for the next forty years contributed his signature illustrations to national and international magazines, advertising agencies, and publishing houses. He is a member of the History of Illustration Project, contributed the chapter,” Wartime Imagery and Propaganda” to The History of Illustration, (Fairchild Publishing), and has lectured extensively on illustration history countrywide. Tom has been teaching illustration at Pratt Institute in New York for over 30 years.