Mighty Casey Comes to
Miracle League of Visalia

Visalia - Mighty Casey may have struck out in Ernest Thayer's 1888 poem, but he is now a hit in Visalia.

A 7-foot bronze statue formerly displayed in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, now sits at the site of Visalia's Miracle League on West Caldwell Avenue.

The statue will be unveiled at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 10, during the Miracle League's opening ceremonies of its fall season.

“It's just so cool looking. It's the first thing you see when you walk on the grounds at the facility,” said Gary Geiger, founder of the Miracle League of Visalia.

The world famous bronze statue, “Mighty Casey,” is the work of renowned sculptor Mark Lundeen. Since 1987, the statute has been displayed inside the Baseball Hall of Fame. It was brought to Visalia this summer thanks to generous league donors.

It sat in Geiger's back yard for a couple of months before it was placed at the baseball facility a week ago. The statue has been placed where the fountain once stood and will be illuminated at night.

Geiger said only 15 of the statues were done and this is the first to be sold. He found it at an auction house. “Two guys in Oklahoma had it,” he said.

“It is probably the best known bronze baseball statue out there,” added Geiger. “It's a mythical figure that this sculpture characterized.”

According to Wikipedia, “Casey at the Bat, subtitled 'A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888,' was first published in the San Francisco Examiner on June 3, 1888. It was later popularized by DeWolf Hopper in many vaudeville performances.
“A baseball team from the fictional town of Mudville (implied to be the home team) is losing by two runs with two outs in their last inning. Both the team and its fans (in the poem, about 5,000 attended the game) believe they can win 'if only' they could somehow get 'Mighty Casey' (Mudville's star player) up to bat. However, Casey was scheduled to be the fifth batter of the inning – the first two batters (Cooney and Barrows) did not reach base, while the next two batters (Flynn and Jimmy Blake) were perceived to be weak hitters with little chance of reaching base to allow Casey an at bat.

“Surprisingly, Flynn hits a single, and Jimmy Blake follows with a double (Flynn reaching third on the play). Both runners were now in scoring position and Casey represented the potential winning run. However, Casey is so confident in his abilities that he doesn't swing at the first two pitches, both strikes. On the last pitch, the overconfident Casey strikes out, ending the game and sending the crowd home unhappy.”

The Miracle League is celebrating its 15th season of providing the opportunity for disabled youth and adults to play the game of baseball on two state-of-the-art diamonds. Miracle League participants are paired with “Buddies” who are able to compete in sports of all kinds and in other areas of life.

Geiger said approximately 150 players participate, with more than double that number of volunteers. The Buddies assist players on the totally handicapped-accessible playing surface in games that allow everyone to get a hit and score a run in each inning.

To play or volunteer, call 635-1478 or visit, www.visaliamiracleleague.com.
Geiger, a huge baseball fan, attended the Chicago Cubs' tribute to Andre Dawson on Monday.

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