Higgeldy-piggeldy, and So On

CarolinaC had "this bit of doggerel...running through [her] head" recently: "Higgeldy-piggeldy, St. Athanasius.." and was trying to find the author. The poem's spiritual theme ("A saint! A well-known late 4th early 5th century bishop! The word 'hagiographically'!") prompted to ask an online forum of such things. She also had the inkling it from a John Bellairs novel - and she was right.

The House Goes Formal
 In a post entitled "Scary Books That Will Scare The S and Three Asterisks Out Of You" we note Bellairs isn't mentioned but that someone brings him up in the blog's comments.  A person named violet_fade responds with her connection:

Bellairs is from my hometown, and my friend lived in the mansion form “The House With A Clock In Its Walls”. I have pictures someplace from a high school formal where we are posing in the library before the dance.

Book Questions
Someone at Amazon's AskVille asks about:

Children’s chapter book about a boy who gets cursed and goes to a baseball game. He notices a homerun or foul ball coming at him and he wishes to catch the baseball and he does. Only it hits him right in the face and he is knocked out. I remember the cover of the book showing him at a baseball game with the ball heading at him. I’m guessing this book was published sometime in the 1990s or maaaybe early 2000s.

Someone suggests The Sign of the Sinister Sorcerer - and that’s about it.