The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-01-01
CASEY AT THE BAT"
r. J. Wilstach Casts Light on Question
of Authorship.

From the Washington Post
The authorship of the celebrated ball
lad. Casey at the Bat" which De Wolf
Hopper has served to immortalize, has
long been in question. 1t is to be hoped,
however. that this rafting ditty should
not go down to posterity linked with the
Beautiful Snow and that other source
OF embodiment and recriminationl
Laugh and the World Laughs with
You; Weep and You Weep Alone" Ca
sey" has had many fathers to claim Ii
as their dream-child. but, at last, tam
gible evidence, which should serve to lay
the question of authorship to rest for all
time. is at hand
F. J. Wilstach, business manager of the
Viola Allen company, contends that the
poem was from the pen of VIII Valen-
tine. a young Irish poet. who came to
this country in 1876, and who died In
New York, when member of the
Worlds staff, in 1897. Casey" according
to Mr. Wilstach, appeared for the first
time in the Sioux City Tribune, when he
was business manager of that paper in
1882. VIII Valentine had been city edi-
tor of the Kansas City Star and came
to Sioux City in the above year to accept
a like position on the Tribune. Valen-
tine had contributed many parodies to
the Tribune, and his poems were signed
February IA" being st. Valentines
day, and so a pleasant little joke on the
authors name. Mr.. Wilstach and Val
ertine were room-mates. One Sunday
afternoon the former was reading Mac
aulay's Lays of Ancient Rome and,
having finished the perusal of "Horatious
at the Bridge he suggested to Valen-
tine that it offered an excellent opportu-
nifty for, the display of his talent in par
ody; that Casey at the Bat" or some
thing of this kind. instead of Horatius
at the Bridge" should prove a divertng
effort. Valentine perused 'Horatius at
the Bridge and at once set to work on
the ballad now famous as Casey at
the Bat
1t has never, oddly, been pointed out
that Casey was a parody of "Hora-
thus" yet perusal Of both poems proves
that there is a very close resemblance
Iii story and that the poems are written
in the same meter. 1t is curious fact
also that the words "the nine" appear IN
the first line of Horatious." and this,
Mr. Wilstach thinks, at this distant time,
may have served ito suggest the baseball
connection with the parody. Anyway,
Sioux City was baseball crazy at that
time.
One does not have to compare these
poems closely before he discovers lat
there is very close resemblance one to
the other. For instance, the line in
Casey
curled Caseys lip.
Turning to "Horatius" we find this
line:
He smiled on those bold Romans. a
smile serene and high.
Then the famous line in Casey"
XIII him! Kill the umpire" shouted
some one from the stand
Again turning to "Horatius' we find
the suggestion for this:
down with mimi" cried false sextus,
with a smile on his pale face.
The closing of the two poemrs Is very
similar that of Casey ending:
Oh. somewhere in this favored land the
sun Is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere and
somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing and
somewhere children shout:
But there is no joy in Mudvile-mighty
Casey has "struck OUT
The closing lines of 'HoraItius" are as
follows:
With weeping and with laughter. still IS
the story told,
How we'll Hofatius kept the bridge In
the brave days of old.
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best cuts. Phone Peoples 276.