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Composer:
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Incipit: 51116777617655111677766712
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Lyrics:
I play'd a game of baseball,
I belong to Casey's Nine!
The crowd was feeling jolly,
And the weather it was fine;
A nobler lot of players,
I think were never found.
When the omnibuses landed
That day upon the ground.
The game was quickly started,
They sent me to the bat:
I made two strikes, says Casey,
“What are you striking at?”
I made the third, the Catcher muff'd,
And to the ground it fell;
Then I run like a divil to first base,
When the gang began to yell:
chorus:
Slide, Kelly, slide!
Your running's a disgrace!
Slide, Kelly, slide!
Stay there, hold your base!
If someone doesn't steal you,
And your batting doesn't fail you,
They'll take you to Australia!
Slide, Kelly, slide!
'Twas in the second inning
They call'd me in, I think,
To take the catcher's place, while
He went to get a drink;
But something was the matter,
Sure I couldn't see the ball;
And the second one that came in,
Broke my muzzle, nose and all.
The crowd up in the Grand Stand,
They yelled with all their might;
I ran towards the Club House,
I thought there was a fight.
'Twas the most unpleasant feeling,
I ever felt before;
I knew they had me rattled,
When the gang began to roar:
They sent me out to center-field,
I didn't want to go;
The my nose was swelling up,
I must have been a show!
They said on me depended
Vict'ry or defeat.
Iff a blind man was to look at us,
He'd know that we were beat.
“Sixty-four to nothing!”
Was the score when we got done,
And eve'rybody there but me,
Said they had lots of fun.
The news got home ahead of me,
They heard I was knock'd out;
The neighbors carried me in the house,
And then began to shout:
The inspiration for the lyrics was Major League Baseball player Michael Joseph “King” Kelly (1857-1894), who was popular for his flamboyant, daring baserunning. “Slide, Kelly, slide!” was the chant his fans used during his games. The song was America's first “pop hit” record, recorded by George J. Gaskin in 1893 on Edison phonograph cylinders.
