A baseball song from 1890
Words and music by Monroe H. Rosenfeld
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by Denese Coulbeck:
Lyrics
- Michael Finnegan one day
When the boys began to play
Was dressed as fine as any duke or lord
He wore a new silk hat
And an elegant cravat
And he swung his bat just like a marshal’s sword
‘Twas O’Maraon first base, he had just began to chase
When the short-stop sent the ball in with a howl
But ’twas such a splendid curve
That Fin’gan lost his nerve
And before he caught his breath
He yelled out, “Foul”
Chorus:
One strike, two strikes
The third one knocked him out
“You’re off your base, go hide your face”
The gang began to shout
They lit his whiskers with a match
And set his beard a fire
Sure they nearly murdered
Finnegan the Umpire
- Then Duffy took the bat
And he knew what he was at
He sent a daisy-cutter whizzing by
And intent to see the play
Fin’gan got into the way
And it landed in the middle of his eye
Then for “judgement” someone called
And a dozen ’round him bawled
“Let’s tie his bloomin’ whiskers to his hair”
And his heart began to quake
And his knees began to shake
And to satisfied the gang
He yelled out, “Fair” - In the melee that occurred
Fin’gan couldn’t say a word
Tho’ he tried to smile a sickly giggle when
From the bat in center field
A ball his nozzle peeled
And struck him squarely in the abdomen
Yet they saw he wasn’t dead
So they stood him on his head
And for his whiskers quick they made a dive
When with one accord the crowd
Shouted out in glee aloud
“Oh! hurry up and roast the Mick alive” - When he got in town that night
Mickey was an awful sight
He looked as if he’d struck a train of cars
And his tall and shiny hat
looked just like a baseball bat
And his whiskers dangled like a flag of stars
Now he never reads the score
To the “diamond” goes no more
Mention “umpire” if you want to hear him growl
T’other day he said to me
“Why, they’ll slaughter you,” says he
“No matter if you sing out Fair or Foul”
Sung by Laurence Rubenstein: