The mighty Casey is getting what any failed sports hero most desires: a second chance. He's got to prove himself after his last, disastrous game. All eyes are on Casey as he steps up to the plate. Will he finally bring joy to Mudville? It's a hilarious sequel to Ernest Lawrence Thayer's famous poem "Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic."

Caldecott Honor Book : 2001.

A narrative poem about a celebrated baseball player who strikes out at the crucial moment of a game.

MUDVILLE—what a sad state it was in. Casey, the town's great baseball hero, had swung beautifully and mightily at the final pitch, only to have the ball disappear into the soft folds of the waiting catcher's mitt. Game over! The agony of defeat cuts so deep. In his immortal poem, "Casey at the Bat," Ernest Thayer pulled the proverbial rug out from beneath our feet. Just when it seemed certain Casey would win it all, all is lost. But Thayer once said, “hope springs eternal within the human breast.” Perhaps there can be another day, perhaps there can be another game, and perhaps there may be another chance for Casey. In 1906 Grantland Rice penned a sequel to "Casey at the Bat" entitled "Casey's Revenge." Rice was a famous sportswriter in the first half of the 20th century and a great fan of baseball. In this edition of "Casey's Revenge," Jim Hull once again entertains us with the same stunning detail and wild perspective baseball fans across the nation enjoyed as they looked through his drawings for Dover Publication's illustrated book, Casey at the Bat. As Casey digs in at the plate, you'll see a curve ball that really curves, what a pitcher looks like from behind Casey's front teeth, and a glimpse of the stands filled with ten thousand fans! Hang onto your hat—it's quite an adventure!

After receiving a call from the newly appointed chief of the New Mexico State Police, ex-Santa Fe chief of detectives Kevin Kerney is thrown into an investigation of a small-town cop-killing no one has been able to solve. His only lead: a homeless schizophrenic's ramblings about rape and an uncharted place called Serpent Gate. Meanwhile, back in Santa Fe, priceless art is stolen from the governor's offices and a beautiful young blonde is murdered in a millionaire's mansion. Kerney follows a trail of clues to Mexico, where he faces off against an old nemesis with powerful government connections. Unwilling to back down, Kerney must use all of his tenacity, raw courage, and knowledge of the criminal mind in a bloody showdown that may cost him his life.

Ernest Thayer's "Casey at the Bat" was first published in the San Francisco Daily Examiner on June 3, 1888. Its popularity owed much to the universality of its subject; every city seemed to have a "Casey" on its team. Thayer, a Harvard graduate, said little about the real Casey, though he did leave a few clues. "The verses owe their existence," he wrote in 1930, "to my enthusiasm for college baseball...and to my association with Will Hearst." Thayer's background is examined here as the basis for determining the origins of the colorfast cast of characters behind his "Ballad of the Republic"--men who may have been "Casey," "Flynn," "Cooney" and other members of the Mudville Nine.

“[An] important work . . . inspiring its readers to greater human connection and to keep fighting the good fight.”—The Rumpus In this new collection of poems, Martín Espada crosses the borderlands of epiphany and blasphemy: from a pilgrimage to the tomb of Frederick Douglass to an encounter with the swimming pool at a center of torture and execution in Chile, from the adolescent discovery of poet Omar Khayyám to the death of an "illegal" Mexican immigrant. from "The Trouble Ball" On my father's island, there were hurricanes and tuberculosis, dissidents in jail and baseball. The loudspeakers boomed: Satchel Paige pitching for the Brujos of Guayama. From the Negro Leagues he brought the gifts of Baltasar the King; from a bench on the plaza he told the secrets of a thousand pitches: The Trouble Ball, The Triple Curve, The Bat Dodger, The Midnight Creeper, The Slow Gin Fizz, The Thoughtful Stuff. Pancho Coímbre hit rainmakers for the Leones of Ponce; Satchel sat the outfielders in the grass to play poker, windmilled three pitches to the plate, and Pancho spun around three times. He couldn't hit The Trouble Ball.

It had been only twenty-four hours since Mighty Casey struck out, plunging fans of the Mudville team into gloom and despair. But a new game day dawned, and Casey once again proved his might with a homer in the eighth. The Mudville nine took a one-run lead, but in the bottom of the ninth, their hurler walked three straight. Bases loaded and the starting pitcher spent, the Mudville manager was not bullish about his bullpen. With the game on the line, he called for rookie Joy Armstrong to take the mound. Could she bring joy to Mudville again?and prove that a girl can play ball as well as any boy?

A laugh-out-loud novel for middle-grade readers, for any child who loves Star Wars, science and soccer. Ten-year-old Avery Green loves science. He loves football. He is crazy about Star Wars. But Hebrew school? No, thank you. Avery would rather have his arms sliced off with a lightsaber than sit through one more day of Hebrew School. He’s only asked about a million times why he has to go, but no one in his family has managed to convince him. And then one day, Rabbi Bob shows up. He is strange, but how strange? And strange how? Piecing together some unusual clues, Avery begins to suspect that this new rabbi might be a Jedi master. Armed with something more powerful than a lightsaber, he sets out to reveal the surprising truth. Going Rogue (at Hebrew School) is a hilarious tale about the deep passions of a 10-year-old boy, Judaism, family, big questions and the surprising journey one can have in pursuit of truth and understanding. A book for any child who questions the purpose of religious school and any parent who has run out of answers.

The untold story of baseball’s nineteenth-century origins: “a delightful look at a young nation creating a pastime that was love from the first crack of the bat” (Paul Dickson, The Wall Street Journal). You may have heard that Abner Doubleday or Alexander Cartwright invented baseball. Neither did. You may have been told that a club called the Knickerbockers played the first baseball game in 1846. They didn’t. Perhaps you’ve read that baseball’s color line was first crossed by Jackie Robinson in 1947. Nope. Baseball’s true founders don’t have plaques in Cooperstown. They were hundreds of uncredited, ordinary people who played without gloves, facemasks, or performance incentives. Unlike today’s pro athletes, they lived full lives outside of sports. They worked, built businesses, and fought against the South in the Civil War. In this myth-busting history, Thomas W. Gilbert reveals the true beginnings of baseball. Through newspaper accounts, diaries, and other accounts, he explains how it evolved through the mid-nineteenth century into a modern sport of championships, media coverage, and famous stars—all before the first professional league was formed in 1871. Winner of the Casey Award: Best Baseball Book of the Year