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In
1983, Central Savings (formally Central
Federal Savings), 850 West Larch Lane,
Stockton CA., issued "Casey At The Bat"
and "The Mudville Story" on a BMI 45RPM
record. "Casey At The Bat" a song performed by
Muddy & The Diamonds, was composed by
one of North America's leading
conductors of popular music, Steven Reineke.
"The Mudville Story" written by Bob Carruesco,
was Narrated by Mike Wynn.
As "The Mudville Story" is told
on the record: Stockton was
affectionately known as Mudville.
According to legend, in the spring of
1888, the immortal game between the
Mudville Nine, and the Eastern
All-Stars was played. Mudville, led by
their local hero Casey, went up against
the heavy favorite All-Star team. The
fame of that early Stockton baseball
club was perpetuated by Ernest L. Thayer.
Thayer was the editor
of the Lampoon at Harvard University.
One of Theyer's classmates was William
Randolph Hearst. Years later, when
Hearst took over the San Francisco
Examiner, he hired Thayer to write for
the newspaper. Thayer the writer and
poet was at banner Island in June of
1888, to document the drama of that
historical encounter and Casey's
memorable at bat to the famous poem.
The poem was published in June of 1888,
appeared obscurely on the editorial
page of the Examiner.
It would have been forgotten if it were not for the chain of events, which
some time later would put the paper
clipping in the hands of one, De Wolf
Hopper. Hopper a well known thespian,
performed the poem n the east coast
before a
crowd partially comprised of
professional baseball players. The poem
was a hit, and Hopper was to perform
this recital again and again, over the
years in public. The rest is history.
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