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June 14, 2008

America's Baseball Anthem Celebrates 100th Anniversary 
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'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' hit at every American ballpark 

"Baseball's Greatest Hit: The Story of Take Me Out to the Ball Game" was
published earlier this year to celebrate the song's centennial"Take Me
Out to the Ball Game" is among America's favorite songs and is the third
most frequently sung tune in the U.S. after "Happy Birthday" and the
national anthem. In its centennial year, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"
is celebrated in a new book that traces the history of this icon of
American popular culture.

Jack Norworth had never been to a baseball game, but on the New York
subway one day in 1908, the vaudeville actor and lyricist saw a poster
promoting the sport. He took out a pencil and wrote the words to "Take
Me Out to the Ball Game." When he got to work his partner, composer
Albert Von Tilzer, supplied the music.

Sheet music helped popularize 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' in living
rooms across America in 1908Tim Wiles is director of research at the
Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New Yorkand co-author of
Baseball's Greatest Hit: The Story of Take Me Out to the Ball Game. He
says there is more to the song than its famous chorus. "The first line
of the first verse is, 'Catie Casey was baseball mad, had the fever, and
had it bad.' So, it is a song sung from the point of view of a young
woman." 

Vaudeville entertainer and actor Jack Norworth (left) wrote the lyrics
to "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"Catie tells her young "beau" that she
wants to go to the ballpark, a place very few women were seen in 1908. 

An eager public bought sheet music, player piano rolls and cylinder
recordings of the song. Tim Wiles says "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"
was even played at the movies to occupy down time when camera operators
changed reels. "This was [a] perfect [time] for the house pianist to
play a song, try to get theatergoers to sing along. And they projected
these lantern slides, a kind of a very, very primitive music video up on
the screen." 

Mets fans enjoy a game at the Polo Grounds, 1963, the ballpark that
inspired Jack Norworth to write "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"The
illustrated story of Catie Casey helped put "Take Me Out to the Ball
Game" on the top of the music charts late that year after the 1908 World
Series. While the song has been played at American baseball games ever
since, it wasn't until the mid-1970s that it became a popular sing-along
ritual. Today it is heard at every park in the nation during the break
in the seventh inning. Wiles says that time is often called the happiest
moment in sports. "You are outside, you are sitting there with family
and friends and all of a sudden, the organ cranks up and you are
singing. It is not what you think you would do at a sporting event, but
it is a lot of fun."

Lantern Slides were shown during intermission at movie theatres and
helped market sheet music, National Baseball Hall of Fame Library,
Cooperstown, New York"Take Me Out to the Ball Game" has inspired
television shows, movies and hundreds of recordings in many different
styles, from symphonic to rap and jazz. Wiles and his co-authors
reviewed 550 versions before choosing 16 for the CD included with the
book. He says each one reflects the spirit of Catie Casey's simple
request. Today nearly half the people who attend major league baseball
games are women. 


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