• LIFE

When Chickens Play Baseball, Everybody Wins

1 minute read

Baseball, as it’s played and understood by millions of men, women and children in every corner of the globe, has been around for about two centuries. The first game was reportedly played in Hoboken, NJ, in June 1846; that’s a lot of history. Right now, somewhere in the world, someone is catching a pop fly, or missing a grounder, or sliding into third, or hitting another round of 20 balls in a lonely batting cage. Baseball is America’s national pastime, of course, and it even rivals soccer in popularity in more than a few other countries around the world.

It’s a marvelously nuanced game — played without a clock — and at its best it has a kind of geometric perfection and a dramatic tension that no other sport can match.

And then there’s baseball as played by chickens back in 1953. Indian River hens, to be exact. The geometric perfection might be missing, as well as the nuance. But dramatic tension? Yeah. It’s got that in spades. Read the captions to the photos in this gallery — and marvel at the earnest lunacy that is fowl ball.

A chicken plays a game of baseball for food, 1953.
Caption from LIFE. "Casey, an Indian River hen, has been trained to play baseball by psychologist. She pecks at rubber loop which activates bat which hits baseball."Al Fenn—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
A chicken plays a game of baseball for food, 1953.
Caption from LIFE. "A line drive is hit sharply to right center field. If the ball is stopped by one of the fielders, Casey is forced to begin her pecking all over again."Al Fenn—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
A chicken plays a game of baseball for food, 1953.
Caption from LIFE. "The batter runs down the third base line to get a few grains of corn spilled when the ball hits the fence for a home run. Next batter is now up."Al Fenn—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
A chicken plays a game of baseball for food, 1953.
Caption from LIFE. "Casey Number Two, who is more temperamental than her colleague, jumps on the playing field to peck at the first baseman who has blocked her hit."Al Fenn—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
A chicken plays a game of baseball for food, 1953.
Caption from LIFE. "Temper rising, the hen pecks furiously at the ball, drives it across the fowl [sic] line and stands beating her wings while she stares balefully at it."Al Fenn—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
A chicken plays a game of baseball for food, 1953.
Caption from LIFE. "Out of the game goes Casey II. She is one of 16 hens now touring the country in teams of four. It takes two months to teach a hen to hit."Al Fenn—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

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