Date:  Tue, 16 Dec 1997 19:46:12 -0500
From:  Gerald Cohen <gcohen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UMR.EDU>
Subject: "Mudville" Update

  Two developments:

 1) Maybe there was a real Mudville after all. I called the very helpful
staff at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection (573-882-6028) and
asked if the extensive Peter Tamony Collection of Americanisms housed there
has anything about "Mudville." Two relevant items are there:
 a)  _San Francisco Examiner_, May 20, 1979, p.8/2-5, "The Original
Mudville," column by Art
    Rosenbaum.
 b)  _San Francisco Examiner_, June 3, 1979, p.8/2-4, "Mudville
Revisited," column by Art
    Rosenbaum.
   Reportedly these two articles point to Stockton, California (formerly
nicknamed Mudville) as the
 original Mudville. The two articles (based on the research of others) are
being mailed to me, and I'll pass along any information they contain.

2) Following Barry Popik's suggestion I telephoned SABR (Society for
American Baseball Research---216-575-0500). Staff member John Zajc pointed
out an important work: _Ernest Thayer's "Casey At The Bat_," by Jim Moore
and Natalie Vermilyea (McFarland Press, 1994). Its subtitle is
"Background and Characters of Baseball's Most Famous Poem." It is 300+
pages with a bibliography, and so this work is probably the reliable source
we're looking for. I've ordered it via interlibrary loan.

  My thanks go to the helpful staff members of WHMC and SABR and to the
ADS-L members who sent along their thoughts on "Mudville." I'll let you
know the results.

--Gerald Cohen

gcohen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]umr.edu