On June 3, Major League Baseball will celebrate the 119th anniversary of "Casey at Bat." After nearly 120 years, Casey still rocks.

When Ernest L. Thayer wrote the baseball ballad in May of 1888, which later published in the San Francisco Examiner on June 3 of that same year, it didn't become a literary classic right away.

The help of local playhouses, a Hollywood movie in 1927 and even a Walt Disney cartoon helped make the poem a Hall of Fame entry.

So just who was the mighty Casey? And what about the Mudville Nine?

Thayer never disclosed what team or city served as the model for the Mudville Nine. But two cities lay claim to be the basis of Thayer's poem -- Stockton, Calif., and Holliston, Mass. The debate goes on and will likely never be answered.

As for whether or not Casey was based on a single player or a combination of players during the 80s, Thayer mentioned a Bostonian slugger named Mike 'King" Kelly as a model for the ballad. According to Howard W. Rosenberg, who in his 2004 book, Cap Anson 2: The Theatrical and Kingly Mike Kelly: U.S. Team Sport's First Media Sensation and Baseball's Original Casey at the Bat, reprints a 1905 Thayer letter to a Baltimore scribe who was inquiring about the poem's roots. Thayer singled out Kelly in the letter.

As for a modern day Casey. The options are limited. There are players that have his swagger, have his charisma and have . Just four active players share the same first name and just one with a last name -- Detroit Tigers first baseman Sean Casey.

But Thayer didn't use a Casey for his ballplayer, "King" Kelly was his model. There is only one player that can be today's Casey. I've narrowed it down with the help of three passages from Thayer's poem:

Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt;
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt.
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance gleamed in Casey’s eye, a sneer curled Casey’s lip.

Boston designated hitter David Ortiz, San Franciso's Barry Bonds and St. Louis first baseman Albert Pujols each have the ability to brings thousands to there feet before each at bat. There was a time when Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and even Ken Griffey walking from the batter's circle to home plate would cause a wave of anticipation. But there can only be one Casey.

There was pride in Casey’s bearing and a smile on Casey’s face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt ’twas Casey at the bat.

There are hundreds of active players that have Casey's charisma, including Sean Casey but still we need to narrow our list to one.

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out.

And with those five words, "mighty Casey has struck out" we now know the answer -- Alex Rodriguez.