CASEY AT THE BAT

"Casey at the Bat" was written over at the Examiner Building by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, who Hearst knew from his Harvard days (Thayer ran the Lampoon).

Here is a link to Christopher Bing's (dare I say - sumptuous) new edition.

It is intended as a children's book, but I suspect it's the sort of children's book that is most appreciated by adults. My son enjoys chewing the cover, however.

There's a good piece on Bing here.

Dashed off in an afternoon, the poem followed poor Thayer around for the rest of his life. In his last days he was seized with the desire to write but was too ill. "Now I have something to say, I am too weak to say it." More here.