Casey Chases a Knuckler

Tam posted a couple of stanzas of "Horatius" and linked to "Casey at the Bat" this morning. The latter always puts me in mind of the 1987 Bill James Baseball Abstract, which contained the following (reproduced in this volume):

Rough, tough, Charlie Hough
All eight innings had his stuff
Floating light from Charlie's cuff
Breaking late and just enough
To keep the scoreboard bare.

And yet, the Mudville fans did dare
To hope that foul would soon turn fair.
A single here, an error there,
Casey stood on deck and glared
At rough, tough, Charlie Hough.

Casey snorted, loud and gruff,
"I'll knock that busher on his duff.
Bring him on, I'll call his bluff;
How dare he aim that piece of fluff
At Casey's mighty stick?"

A home run now would tie it quick;
Charlie gave his wrist a flick;
Casey took a mighty lick.

The hearts of Mudville landed sick;
Just three pitches did the trick
From rough, tough, Charlie Hough.

For the whippersnappers who don't remember Charlie Hough, think Tim Wakefield. But Wakefield's tough to fit into the rhyme scheme.