Poetry and Whimsical Loss

Content: Casey at the Bat

Introduction: For anyone who loves baseball and the spoken word, Casey at the Bat is required reading. Originally written in 1885 by a former Harvard Lampoon author for a Hearst paper, its spirit is adequately summed up by Albert Spalding (a late 19th century pitcher, who started with the original Boston Red Stockings club that is better known today as the Atlanta Braves): “Love has its sonnets galore. War has its epics in heroic verse. Tragedy its sombre story in measured lines. Baseball has Casey at the Bat.”

Dream’s Age at Introduction: 4 or 5

Reason for That Age: Dream has no idea what he or she is in for as a sports fan. God help this child if it does not have a deep and abiding love for the Boston Red Sox. I’m a fan of baseball the game, and my favorite baseball team is the Boston Red Sox. This distinguishing me from my wife in a subtle way: She is a fan of the Boston Red Sox, and because they play baseball, she suffers baseball. If the Red Sox played curling, she would watch curling. If they baked, she would watch baking. But because the Sox play baseball, she likes to have baseball on in the background almost every night during the season. So everyone’s life will be a little bit easier if Dream likes baseball and the Red Sox. So Casey at the Bat needs to come into his or her life at the junction of baseball awareness and the ability to listen to a poem for 10 minutes. I think 4 or 5 is a good age for that.

What I Want Dream to Get Out of It: Two things: A greater love of spoken word poetry and an appreciation that you must always try. No matter how good you are at anything, if you don’t try you lose.

Be content,
John