Saturday, August 25, 2012

Casey At The Bat

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Vintage Baseball Under the Arch 1

Americans of a certain age all know Casey At The Bat, an 1888 paean to the joys and despair of baseball, our "national pastime." Well, it may have been 124 years ago. Now I think the national pastimes are watching football players devastate one another and electing crackpots to Congress. But I digress.

Last weekend there was an exhibition of "vintage" baseball under the Arch. Using the word vintage is, of course, a malapropism, since vin means wine and vintage refers to the year the grapes were harvested, which could have been just a few months ago. These days it seems to be a synonym for "old." The uniforms and equipment in use were from Casey's era. The players didn't use gloves to catch the ball (ouch!). It was fun to watch but someone needs to tell the pitcher in the second photo that it's bad form to stick your tongue out at the batter.

I never found out who won. Does it matter? But back at that old game...
The sneer is gone from Casey's lip, his teeth are clenched in hate;
He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate.
And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,
And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow.
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 Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out.
 
Vintage Baseball Under the Arch 3

Vintage Baseball Under the Arch 2

Vintage Baseball Under the Arch 4

12 comments:

Oakland Daily Photo said...

I didn't know falling down was an official part of the game.

Memphis MOJO said...

It's hard to beat baseball -- nice shots!

Birdman said...

LOVE how the subtle arch makes in this shot. Nice unis too.

Lois said...

What a wonderful setting for such a fun activity!

William Kendall said...

Great spot for the game!

Falling down while playing is standard operating procedure for the Cubs, of course.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

Love the cameo appearance by le Arch Bob, I'm a little worried about the target of the ball in the third shot haha!

Wayne said...

The top one's a strike for sure. Good shots Bob.

Virginia said...

I love them all but the one with the Big A is awesome.
V

Pat said...

Playing under the arch is pretty cool. The balls they use are a bit softer, plus wooden bats make it a bit less painful to catch. In 1860's base ball if you catch it on one bounce it's an out.

cieldequimper said...

It isn't Thursday though...

Nathalie said...

The big A sets the scene - another great post, Bob!

Stefan Jansson said...

Crackpot Electing could go world wide, you never know!