Silly Joe Walsh, there were only two men on base when Casey
went up to bat
So Mr. Walsh got this wrong, how, exactly?
Well, it comes from the lyrics to the popular Joe Walsh song "Rocky Mountain Way." He clearly states "Bases are loaded and Casey's at bat, playin' it play by play." This, of course, is a reference to the poem "Casey At The Bat" written in 1888.
What Mr. Walsh didn't apparently have time to do is actually look at the poem and figure out just how many people were actually on base for the Mudville baseball team at the time Casey came up to bat. A simple reading will tell you that there were runners on second and third, after Flynn singled and Blake followed up with a double.
Of course, we can sit here all day and question why, with a 2-run lead and first base open with the most feared hitter in the Mudville roster coming up to bat, the pitcher didn't simply walk Casey to load the bases and take on the #5 hitter. There were, after all, two outs already. It's not even a question, really....any manager in baseball would have done the same thing. Maybe things were different in the 1880s, who knows?
I suppose I can also concede that "Runners on second and third and Casey's at bat" wouldn't fit in as well with the rhythm of the song, so he took a bit of literary license. There should just be an asterisk or something.
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