Born: August 14, 1863
Died: August 21, 1940
Ernest Lawrence Thayer is noted for his poem, Casey at the Bat, which was printed in the San Francisco Examiner in 1888. The poem recounts a tale of a baseball player's at-bat experience.
Thayer published this work using the name Phin. The poem became famous only when it was re-enacted by an entertainer, DeWolf Hopper. Once fame was achieved, many writers tried to take credit for Casey at the Bat, which was subsequently made into an operetta in 1953, entitled The Mighty Casey. In addition, in 1908 S.P. Clarence McDonald published a response, also in the San Francisco Examiner, entitled Casey - Twenty Years Later.