Neal Cassady Pitcher

Neal Cassady

Beatnik, Prankster, Writer, Talker, Driver

Neal Cassady met Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg in December, 1946 while the latter two were attending Columbia University. Kerouac's novel On The Road, written in 1951 and published in 1957 is about Neal Cassady, who is Dean Moriarty in the book. From Neal Cassady, according to one of Kerouac's biographers, Jack learned that fiction isn't always false.

In 1958, Cassady was arrested and sent to the San Quentin jail for smuggling marijuana. Paroled in 1960, he then met Ken Kesey and his countercultural band of Merry Pranksters. Cassady joined the group and became "Speed Limit" the never-braking driver of the cruise bus, Furthur, that transported the Pranksters in their wild and psychedelic romps.

Cassady died in 1968 of "general congestion" after having collapsed by some railroad tracks in Mexico.

Cassady's influence on the culture is significant considering very little of what he wrote has been published. It is not very clear that he wrote very much anyway. His association with the Beat Generation writers and the Merry Pranksters has enshrined Cassady in the pantheon of "hipsters" and we delight more in the legend that is Neal Cassady, and less, perhaps, then in the man himself.

Neal Cassady

YEAR TEAM ERA IP Won Lost Win Pct SO ---- --------------- ------ ---- ------ ------ --------- ------ Cassady, Neal 1983 Beats 4.39 84 4 9 .308 31 1984 Beats 3.26 232 18 9 .667 192 1985 Beats 3.53 97 5 4 .556 37 1987 Beats 4.42 214 14 14 .500 0 1995 Beats 3.35 193 10 11 .476 110 TOTALS 3.79 820 51 47 .501 370

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Neal Cassady- 1996 Dharma Beats
URL http://www.cosmicbaseball.com/ncassad6.html
Published: January 27, 1996
Copyright © 1996 by the Cosmic Baseball Association
Email: editor@cosmicbaseball.com
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