Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer illustrated by Patricia Polacco

A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the year 1888
My oldest son and I read When Willard Met Babe Ruth recently and were curious about the poem/ballad Willard memorized in the story-Casey at the Bat so we checked this out of the library to read.
Ms. Polacco adds a background story to it which adds some humor and interest.
Basically Casey is the Mudville baseball team's best hitter.  He arrogantly marches up to the plate to save the game . . .but does not!
Strategies: vocab expansion, inferring
-Borrowed from the library.