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<\/a>By William Kozy<\/strong><\/p>\nAt bat this week is \u201cThe Mighty Casey\u201d which avoided getting shut out, receiving only 3 votes in the survey that asked \u201cWhat is your favorite episode of the original Twilight Zone series?\u201d This put it in a tie with 6 other episodes for 133rd thru 139th place\u2014too many games out of first place to make the postseason. Based on one of Serling\u2019s own plays, written before \u201cThe Twilight Zone\u201d, \u201cThe Mighty Casey\u201d gets a bad rap from many fans; you\u2019ll often see it mentioned as one of the least favorite, and although it indeed commits many errors, I find myself appreciating in some small measure, its lightness. Few episodes flit by as quickly. When it\u2019s over you almost want to check the running time because it feels so short, but sure enough it\u2019s just as many innings as the other episodes.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s got a very good premise to start with that raises questions about artificial intelligence and its role alongside humans as AI continues its march toward physicalization in the form of robots. We\u2019re not so far as many assume when it comes to computers thinking like humans. In \u201cThe Mighty Casey\u201d we see an example of that line blurring.<\/p>\n
The story opens with manager \u201cMouth\u201d McGarry (the ever-reliable Jack Warden) looking on at the sorry state of his team, the fictional Hoboken Zephyrs, as they hold a practice. Although there never has been an MLB team that called Hoboken its home city, the episode pays homage to Hoboken for being the birthplace of baseball. Historians cite Elysian Fields in Hoboken as being the locale of the start of organized baseball. Back in 1846, The New York Nine took on the Knickerbocker Club in a game and from there, its popularity grew quickly with over 10,000 attendees at games during the 1860\u2019s.<\/p>\n
But this Hoboken squad here has McGarry dismayed. They look sloppy and not even in the best health as one pitcher limps after every toss. McGarry and the team\u2019s general manager have a contentious discussion in the dugout over the sorry state of the team, and this being one of the comedic episodes, there are a lot of humorous barbs batted back and forth. Some of the jokes actually land fairly well, but some of them don\u2019t. That\u2019s a trend that the whole of the episode follows.<\/p>\n
A phone calls comes in to the dugout with word that a new pitcher has come to try out. A nebbishy Dr. Stillman appears (he\u2019s \u201cstill\u201d a \u201cman\u201d), but he is representing a ball player named Casey, who is not. Stillman introduces the quiet Casey who gives a bone-crushing handshake to McGarry while wearing an odd facial expression that the actor will use throughout\u2014curling his lower lip up underneath his upper lip. Admittedly, it does lend an infantile vibe to the character, who after all, is only three weeks old, as Dr. Stillman explains to McGarry. Stillman confesses that Casey is a robot that he has created, and shows McGarry the blueprints.<\/p>\n
But McGarry soon becomes a believer when the two men observe Casey\u2019s uncanny pitching prowess. Filmed at the minor league Los Angeles Angels\u2019 Wrigley Field (with California palm trees and mountains in the distant background that exist nowhere near Hoboken) Casey whiffs the batters with blazing fastballs, a curve ball (that moves more like an insane knuckleball) and a \u201cslow ball\u201d which I suppose is his change up, complete with extra long slide whistle sound effect. Hey, it\u2019s a comedy.<\/p>\n
Cut to: The team takes the field for a real game. The stands are crowded, and Casey is pitching. As McGarry and Stillman watch, the doctor answers McGarry\u2019s \u201cWhat\u2019s in it for you doc?\u201d by telling him, \u201cJust scientific, really. Purely experimental.\u201d He tells him its an acid test to see if he has indeed created a sort of superman, and he chose the worst team in baseball, to see if Casey can turn them around. McGarry\u2019s umbrage at this feels unduly pissy: \u201cThanks a lot doc. Ya gotta lottta class.\u201d<\/p>\n
The obligatory passage of time montage of newspaper headlines announces the Zephyrs\u2019 streak of wins as they climb up in the standings. But then Casey is injured, and is taken to the hospital for examination. The team physician says Casey will be fine. Everyone exhibits relief at the good news, but as the doctor continues his check-up on the Casey, he trails off in mid-sentence, puzzled that he can\u2019t detect a pulse. (There is a hilarious performance by TZ alum Sydney Pollack in the film \u201cDeath Becomes Her\u201d as he plays a doctor perplexed by the same observance. Pollack\u2019s reaction is terrific). McGarry tries intervening but he\u2019s too late and the doctor tells them that Casey doesn\u2019t seem to have a heart. Stillman tells McGarry the truth will have to come out now, and he tells the assembled that Casey is a robot. The doctor announces that he has to tell the commissioner about this, and McGarry tells the bedridden Casey, \u201cCasey, move over.\u201d It\u2019s a funny joke, but no one\u2019s in the mood.<\/p>\n
We cut to the baseball commissioner reading from the rule book that \u201ca team shall consist of nine men. End of quote!\u201d and he shuts the book hard. \u201cMen! Understand? Not robots.\u201d Casey is suspended. The GM and McGarry plead their case, but the commissioner counters, \u201cHow could he be human without a heart?\u201d
\nMcGarry: \u201cBeasley hasn\u2019t got a heart either and he owns 40% of the club.\u201d That line lands nicely.<\/p>\n
Stillman rises up and says, \u201cSuppose we gave him a heart.\u201d He follows up with an offer to make a heart for Casey. Since that was the commissioner\u2019s sole\/soul argument, he relents and checks in with Casey, asking \u201cYou wanna play?\u201d Of note is that behind Casey\u2019s head on his bed\u2019s headboard is an oil can like the one in \u201cThe Wizard of Oz\u201d used to oil the Tin Man, who also sought a heart. McGarry interjects again, \u201cOf course he wants to play.\u201d Clearly, it means more to him than anybody else involved. In looking to the physician for guidance, the commissioner is told, \u201cHe had me fooled even without one.\u201d In a conciliatory compromise that allows him to pass the buck, the commissioner says \u201cWith a heart I\u2019ll give him a temporary okay until the league meeting in October. Then we\u2019ll have to take it up. Oh, the other clubs are going to scream bloody murder.\u201d<\/p>\n
We next see the team in the locker room, but they seem down. That\u2019s because Casey isn\u2019t there and Beasley is having trouble reaching Dr. Stillman on the phone. They assume the operation must still be underway. The comparatively heartless McGarry huffs, \u201cWhat\u2019s the matter? He can\u2019t use one hand to pick up a phone?\u201d He can\u2019t wait any longer and gets up to give his pep talk. It\u2019s peppered with the usual clich\u00e9s as he holds court, and right in the middle of it Casey enters the room. In mid sentence, when McGarry sees him, he off-handedly says, \u201cHi Casey\u201d and continues before doing the double take. Warden is good enough, but I would have liked to see Vincent Gardenia play the role, who so wonderfully and hilariously played the baseball manager in the funny baseball tearjerker \u201cBang The Drum Slowly.\u201d<\/p>\n
McGarry is elated of course and so is the team as they rush up to greet Casey, including according to imdb, an uncredited Dom DeLuise (I assume they mean the actor at the 19:25 mark pushing his way past the others to shake Casey\u2019s hand). McGarry tells Casey to suit up for the game, handing him his uniform with the National League 75th anniversary patch on the left sleeve, which marks this story as taking place in 1951.<\/p>\n
But just as Jack Warden\u2019s James A. Corry has his heart broken over a robot in the TZ episode \u201cThe Lonely\u201d, here Warden\u2019s McGarry has his heart broken by Casey the robot, who ironically has found his own heart. The Zephyrs got thrashed terribly by the Giants. Casey pitched terribly, because in his new incarnation he \u201cjust couldn\u2019t strike those poor fellows out. I didn\u2019t have it in me to do that. To hurt their feelings. I felt compassion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Casey gives a fond goodbye to the disconsolate McGarry, and Dr. Stillman slides Casey\u2019s blueprints over to him offering, \u201cA little memento might cheer you up.\u201d McGarry picks them up and in a nicely played and timed reaction Warden looks them over with a slowly rising comprehension. He goes running out, calling after the doctor and we cut to a wide angle long shot from high in the stadium of McGarry catching up to Stillman, presumably to pursue the idea of building another Casey. Serling\u2019s closing narration has a mysterious and playful tone that is just right: “There’s a rumor, unsubstantiated of course, that a manager named McGarry took them to the West Coast and wound up with several pennants and a couple of world championships. This team had a pitching staff that made history.” Little did Serling know that just one year after this episode aired, The Brooklyn Dodgers who had just moved to the West Coast would field a team of Hall of Fame pitchers Sandy Koufax Don Drysdale (and possibly Johnny Podres if he gets voted in next year) and Hall of Fame centerfielder Duke Snider. That team won three pennants (1963, 1965, 1966) and two World Series (1963, 1965).<\/p>\n
I rate this episode 5 hits.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n [si-contact-form form=’2′]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [AdSense-A] By William Kozy At bat this week is \u201cThe Mighty Casey\u201d which avoided getting shut out, receiving only 3 votes in the survey that asked \u201cWhat is your favorite episode of the original Twilight Zone series?\u201d This put it in a tie with 6 other episodes for 133rd thru 139th place\u2014too many games out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[24683],"class_list":["post-97698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-the-twilight-zone-review-the-mighty-casey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=97698"}],"version-history":[{"count":-3,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97698\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=97698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=97698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=97698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}