Context

"Casey at the Bat" is a thirteen-stanza ballad chronicling the last half-inning of a baseball game between the hometown team, Mudville, and their unnamed opponent. Mudville is behind by a score of 4-2 and there are just two outs left in the game. For you un-baseball types, that means things are looking very bleak. To make matters even worse, the next two batters are especially bad. If, by some miracle, these two batters were to reach base, that would bring the team stud, Casey, to bat with the winning runs on base—and Mudville would have a good chance to win.

And guess what? As they sometimes do, a miracle happens—twice. Both of those terrible players get hits, and that brings Casey to home plate with a chance to win the game. The rest of the poem (stanzas 5-13) describes the crowd's reaction and Casey's at bat, from his approach to the plate to this last line: his ultimate failure.

Yep, mighty Casey strikes out. Ouch.

Where you've heard it

If your childhood was as awesome are ours, you read this poem as a children's book.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

If you pull the "Mighty Casey has struck out" line on someone who just fell over a chair and dropped their plate and broke their glass, it might be pretentious. Otherwise, you're good to go.