Ernest Lawrence Thayer

Ernest Lawrence Thayer

• School Harvard University

• Born August 14, 1863 in Lawrence, MA USA
• Died August 21, 1940 in Santa Barbara, CA USA

Biographical Information

Ernest Lawrence Thayer wrote the famous poem Casey at the Bat. It first appeared in the San Francisco Examiner under the pen name "Phin" on June 3, 1888. The official name of the work is Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic, Sung in the Year 1888. He was normally the humor columnist for the Examiner and Casey was his last published article; it is also his only known poem. He had also covered some baseball games for the paper, including some featuring Mike "King" Kelly, who is seen as a likely model for the boastful and charismatic Casey of the poem.

Thayer tried to divorce himself from the work. He did not admit to being the author for some time. The work was never copyrighted and is freely reprinted. A link to the complete poem can be found below.

Related Sites

• Casey at the Bat