Date: Mon, 15 Dec 1997 20:06:49 -0500

From: Gerald Cohen gcohen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UMR.EDU

Subject: Re: 'Mudville"



I have a sportswriter friend who swears that Mudville is actually Stockton,

California. I tend to trust him becuase he's one of those guys who knows

EVERYTHING about baseball, but he also suffer's from sportswriter's disease

(a.k.a. alcoholism).



--Dan Marcus



-----Original Message-----

From: Gerald Cohen gcohen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UMR.EDU

To: ADS-L[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UGA.CC.UGA.EDU ADS-L[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UGA.CC.UGA.EDU

Date: Sunday, December 14, 1997 12:00 PM

Subject: 'Mudville"



I recently received a request from _Boston Globe_ writer Robert Smith

for help in locating the original town Mudville (assuming it existed) that

inspired E.L. Thayer in his poem "Casey at the Bat." I replied that the

town is almost certainly mythical, like "Dogpatch" of the Li'l Abner comic

strip. I quoted from Paul Dickson's baseball dictionary and also referred

Mr. Smith to onomastics scholar Leonard Ashley.



Mr. Smith replied: "I still hold hope of finding the mythical Mudville,

so I would appreciate you querying your learned friends [at ads-l]. E.L.

Thayer never pinpointed the place, but he grew up in central Massachusetts

and some in these parts are convinced it is here."



A definitive answer might be available from the Massachusetts Historical

Society (I'll check the address tomorrow). Meanwhile, are any ads-l

subscribers able to help out Mr. Smith by shedding any light at all on

"Mudville?"



--Gerald Cohen







gcohen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]umr.edu







gcohen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]umr.edu