Dan Casey
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Daniel Maurice Casey (November 20, 1862 – February 8, 1943) was an American professional
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
player whose career spanned from 1884 to 1894 and 1899. He played in
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
, principally as a
pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...
, over parts of seven seasons for four major league clubs. He saw his most extensive playing time with the Philadelphia Quakers, appearing in 142 games for that team from 1886 to 1889. He also appeared in 46 games for the Syracuse Stars in 1890. Casey led the
National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
with a 2.86
earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...
(ERA) and four
shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...
s in 1887 while playing for Philadelphia. Over the course of his seven seasons in the major leagues, he compiled a 96–90
win–loss record In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...
in 201 appearances, with a 3.18 ERA and 743
strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...
s. In his later years, Casey claimed to be the Casey about whom Ernest L. Thayer wrote his famous poem, "
Casey at the Bat Casey at the Bat is a poem written in 1888 by Ernest Thayer. Casey at the Bat may also refer to: * ''Casey at the Bat'' (1916 film), a film based on the poem * ''Casey at the Bat'' (1927 film), a film based on the poem * ''Casey at the Bat'', an ...
." Casey was given a parade honoring him as the famed "Casey", was featured on a national radio broadcast, and participated in a "re-enactment" of "Casey at the Bat" when he was age 78. The poem's author denied that his work was based on any real player, and several sources have called Casey's claim into doubt. Casey had a career
batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...
of .162 and one
home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
.


Early years

Casey was born in Binghamton, New York, in 1862. His parents, Hannah and William Casey, immigrated to the United States from Ireland. Casey grew up with five siblings on the family's farm in
Broome County, New York Broome County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 United States census, the county had a population of 198,683. Its county seat is Binghamton. The county was named for John Broome, the state's lieutenant governor when Br ...
, a short distance from Binghamton.


Professional baseball career


Wilmington

In 1884, Casey began his professional baseball career at age 21 with the
Wilmington Quicksteps The Wilmington Quicksteps (also known as the Quickstep Club of Wilmington) were an 1884 late-season replacement baseball team in the Union Association. They finished with a 2-16 record and were managed by Joe Simmons. The team played their home ga ...
. He began playing for Wilmington while the team was part of the Eastern League and compiled a 10–2 win–loss record and 1.91 ERA in Eastern League play. Casey continued to play for the Quicksteps after the team joined the
Union Association The Union Association was a league in Major League Baseball which lasted for just the 1884 season. St. Louis won the pennant and joined the National League the following season. Seven of the twelve teams who were in the Association at some poi ...
in August 1884, compiling a 1-1 record and 1.00 ERA in two games. The Quicksteps played only 18 games as a major league club and compiled a record of 2-16. Casey was the winning pitcher in one of the two victories in the club's brief major league history; a player known as The Only Nolan was the winning pitcher in the Quicksteps' other victory.


Indianapolis and Detroit

In 1885, Casey played with two different teams. He began the season with the Indianapolis Hoosiers (minor league baseball), Indianapolis Hoosiers of the newly formed Western League (original), Western League and compiled a 10–2 win–loss record and a 0.50 ERA in 12 games. In mid-June 1885, the Western League disbanded, and the majority of the Indianapolis players were signed by the Detroit Wolverines of the
National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
. Casey appeared in 12 games for Detroit and compiled a 4-8 (.333) win–loss record and a 3.29 ERA.


Philadelphia

Casey was acquired by the Philadelphia Quakers (later renamed the Phillies) of the National League prior to the 1886 season and played with that club for the next four seasons from 1886 to 1889. Casey enjoyed his career best seasons with Philadelphia, winning 66 games from 1886 to 1888. In 1886, Casey threw 39 complete games and compiled a 24-18 (.571) record. Casey ranked among the
National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
's leading pitchers with four
shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...
s (2nd), a 2.41 ERA (6th), a Wins Above Replacement (WAR) rating of 6.2 (6th), a Walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP) ratio of 1.165 (7th), 44 games started (8th), 24 wins (9th) and 193
strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...
s (9th). In 1887, Casey led the league with a 2.86 ERA and four shutouts and compiled a career-best 28-13 (.683) record. He again ranked among the league's leaders pitchers in multiple categories with a 147 Adjusted ERA+ (1st), 10.4 WAR pitcher rating (2nd), a .683 win percentage (3rd), 28 wins (4th), 43 complete games (6th), innings pitched (6th), 1.260 WHIP (7th), 119 strikeouts (8th). In 1888, Casey started 33 games, threw 31 complete games, and compiled a 14-18 (.438) record and a 3.15 ERA with 108 strikeouts. His playing time was reduced further in 1889 to 20 games started, as he compiled a 6-10 (.375) record and a 3.77 ERA.


Syracuse

Casey played during the 1890 season with the Syracuse Stars of the American Association (19th century), American Association. He appeared as a pitcher in 45 games for Syracuse, threw 40 complete games and innings, and compiled a 19-22 record and a 4.14 ERA. He appeared in his last major league game on October 4, 1890, at age 27.


Minor leagues

Although his major league career ended in 1890, Casey continued playing for several years in the minor leagues. His minor league career included stints with clubs in Jamestown, New York, Jamestown and Albany, New York, in 1891, and Binghamton, New York, from 1892 to 1894 and 1899. In 1894, while playing for Binghamton, he struck out 15 batters in an exhibition game against the club from Rochester, New York.


"Casey at the Bat"

After retiring from baseball, Casey claimed to be the "Casey" about whom Ernest L. Thayer wrote his famous poem, "
Casey at the Bat Casey at the Bat is a poem written in 1888 by Ernest Thayer. Casey at the Bat may also refer to: * ''Casey at the Bat'' (1916 film), a film based on the poem * ''Casey at the Bat'' (1927 film), a film based on the poem * ''Casey at the Bat'', an ...
", which had first been published in 1888 by a San Francisco newspaper. Casey claimed that the poem was based on an August 1887 game in which he played for Philadelphia. He asserted that he had hit a "lucky" home run against Boston a week earlier and that Philadelphia trailed, 4-3, when he came to bat and struck out. In support of his claim that the poem was based on his performance for Philadelphia, Casey pointed out that the Huntington Avenue Grounds where the Philadelphia Quakers played in 1887 was in a neighborhood once called "Mudville", the same name given to the locale in Thayer's poem. Casey claimed the area drew the name "Mudville" because the site was a vast mudhole before the ballpark was built. Over the years, a number of sources accepted Casey's claim. As early as 1900, after Casey was "scalped" in a streetcar accident, a newspaper account noted that there was "no end" to the persons claiming to be "Casey", but cited Dan Casey as the one true "Casey" who had been immortalized by Thayer.(available on-line through the LOC Chronicling America database) In July 1915, a local Binghamton baseball club, the Bingos, sponsored a "Casey Day" that included a parade honoring Dan Casey as the famed "Casey." In March 1938, Casey appeared on Gabriel Heatter's radio program, broadcast on the CBS#Early radio years, Columbia network, to make his claim to being the famous "Casey." During the broadcast, Casey stated:
I've been waiting 50 years to tell you folks that Mighty Casey was just old Dan Casey, a pretty good ball player, but no home run king. But I guess if I hadn't struck out that day I never would have become famous.
After Casey's radio broadcast, ''The Sporting News'' published a lengthy profile, complete with a photograph of the 75-year-old Casey with a bat on his shoulder, touting him as the "Inspiration of Thayer's Poem." Two months later, in May 1938, ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine published a story referring to Casey as the "Mudville Man." In approximately 1940, a supposed re-enactment of "Casey at the Bat" was played out prior to a Baltimore Orioles (minor league), Baltimore Orioles game; Rogers Hornsby threw two called strikes to the 78-year-old Dan Casey, and Casey then swung and missed on the third pitch, just as Thayer had written in the poem. Over the years, other players, including King Kelly and John Cahill (baseball), John Cahill, have been suggested as Thayer's inspiration, though Thayer himself reportedly denied that the poem was based on any real player. As early as 1900, Fred Pfeffer rejected Casey's claim: "Now, you listen to me! That poem was never written about that Casey." In February 1943, a columnist in ''The Sporting News'' described Casey's claim to be Thayer's inspiration as a "myth" and wrote: "Thayer ... always declared he had no particular player in mind as his hero. But despite this evidence, original 'Caseys' continue to appear, including Daniel, who was the most persistent and told the story so often he unquestionably came to believe it." Another writer examining the claim concluded that the game cited by Casey as the inspiration for Thayer did not end in a 4-3 defeat of Philadelphia. Rather, Casey got a hit in the ninth inning, driving in two runs, and the game was called due to darkness in a 5-5 tie. Yet another writer claimed to have disproved Casey's claim by pointing out that a
strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...
required four strikes in 1887, when Casey claimed to have inspired Thayer by swinging and missing on a third pitch. The author of the latter story noted: "In 1887, according to the rules so revised for that season only, Casey would have had another strike coming to him. That he didn't get it is evidence that Thayer was not writing about any incident in 1887 and that the late Dan Casey either was shortchanged, or was not the hero the author had in mind."


Family and later years

Casey was married in December 1889 to Minnie E. Cahill (sometimes later listed as Mary E. Casey) at a ceremony at St. Patrick's Church in Binghamton, New York. Casey and his wife had a daughter, Mable, in 1891. After retiring from baseball, Casey lived in Binghamton, where he worked from at least 1895 to 1920 as a trolley car operator for the Binghamton Railway Company. By 1930, Casey remained living in Binghamton with his wife, though he was not employed. After 1935, Casey and his wife later moved to Silver Spring, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C.1940 U.S. Census entry for Daniel M. Casey, age 77, and Mary E. Casey. Shows their residence in 1935 was Binghamton. Census Place: Montgomery, Maryland; Roll: T627_1555; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 16-49. Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Casey died in 1943 at age 80 in a hospital in Washington, D.C. He was buried at Fort Lincoln Cemetery in Brentwood, Maryland.


See also

*List of Major League Baseball annual ERA leaders


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Casey, Dan 1862 births 1943 deaths 19th-century baseball players Major League Baseball pitchers Baseball players from New York (state) Wilmington Quicksteps players Detroit Wolverines players Philadelphia Quakers players Syracuse Stars (AA) players National League ERA champions Wilmington Quicksteps (minor league) players Indianapolis Hoosiers (minor league) players Jamestown (minor league baseball) players Albany Senators players Binghamton Bingos players Binghamton Bingoes players Allentown Buffaloes players Sportspeople from Binghamton, New York