Michael J Fennick

They Called Me Casey Michael J Fennick

Since its publication in 1888, mystery continues to cast a shadow on the thirteen stanzas of Ernest Lawrence Thayer's classic poem, Casey at the Bat. For over a century, his compelling lines have touched the hearts of all who have suffered despair from swinging and missing at a third strike pitch. But, is there noticeable absence sensed in Thayer's rhymes as they humbly hang in display at the Baseball Hall of Fame? Shouldn't additional details accompany his timeless work? Who was Casey? What was his past? And, maybe more importantly, what was Casey's future after that sympathetic strikeout propelled him into literary history. What if his tale mirrored the others that have had their ancestral facts uncovered in the search to ascertain new information? The revelation of truth can only allow both the living and the dead to rest in peace. But, when missing evidence disallows the summation of a final tally, imaginative writing is at times called upon to fictionalize accounts and appease a starved public. And, so it shall be with the saga of They Called Me Casey.