The Lost Story of 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game'

There's a lot more to this baseball staple than you may know

Something happens to me in June.

I can’t explain why, but when June hits, I become a baseball fan.

I don’t have a team I necessarily follow, nor a player.

I just find myself excited about the idea of baseball when summer hits.

I want to hear the sound of a bat cracking against a ball.

I want to eat a hot dog.

And I want to watch Kevin Costner build it so they will come.

But it’s hard being a fan of American sports when you live in the UK.

Except…last weekend, Major League Baseball came to town!

Did I have any skin in the Mets vs the Phillies?

Nope.

But it didn’t matter.

I got to take my family to see the magic of an MLB game.

Our teams may not have been playing, but it didn’t matter. (Not pictured: My husband and daughter, who were waiting in line at the concession stand for “American” hot dogs)

And to prepare, I showed them a few clips of baseball games.

I told them about homeruns, and bunts and outs.

And I told them about the Seventh Inning Stretch — and the magical song that (almost?) every American knows — Take Me Out to the Ball Game.

But how did Take Me Out to the Ball Game become as familiar to Americans as songs like Happy Birthday and The Star Spangled Banner?

I was curious…

The story of Take Me Out to the Ball Game begins in 1908, with a 29-year-old songwriter and vaudeville performer named Jack Norworth who had a problem.

He needed a new song for his act at the Amphion Theater in Brooklyn. 

Jack Norworth had never seen a baseball game when he wrote his famous song.

And as he was riding the subway to Manhattan, he noticed a billboard that read:

“Baseball today—polo grounds.”

That sign inspired Jack.

In less than 30 minutes, he had written the lyrics to Take Me Out to the Ball Game on a scrap of paper.

His friend, composer Albert Von Tilzer, later added the melody.

But there’s so much more to the song than people know.

While most baseball fans know the song that begins ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’, that’s not the start of the song.

That’s the chorus.

Sheet music from the 1908 song

The song actually begins by telling the story of Katie Casey, a ‘baseball mad’ fan who wants to go to the ball game. 

Her boyfriend offers to take her to a show, but she says no. 

Instead, she says, ‘I’ll tell you what you can do.’

‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game…’

The second verse tells us even more about Katie and her love of baseball.

We learn that she ‘saw all the games’ and ‘knew the players by their first names.’

She also ‘told the umpire when he was wrong’, and when the game was tied, she’d ‘cheer up the boys’ by getting the gang to sing …

Take Me Out to the Ball Game…

The song – written in 1908 – is about a woman who loves baseball.

Let’s pause for a moment to acknowledge how interesting that is. 

Women couldn’t vote in the United States in 1908 – and they weren’t filling the ballparks, either.

Though I found records of girls’ baseball teams back then, baseball was dominated by men, as it still is today.

So, the fact that a man wrote a story about a ‘baseball mad’ girl who wanted to skip a show and instead watch a baseball game is interesting…

[OK, thanks for indulging me. Back to the story…]

Initially, Take Me Out to the Ball Game had a modest reception. 

Norworth and his then-wife Nora Bayes performed the song in their act, but almost immediately other vaudeville performers began incorporating the song into their acts, with performers playing the role of Katie Casey and her boyfriend.

Husband/wife team Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth performed Take Me Out to the Ball Game as part of their show

The song’s popularity grew quickly, and at least 30 variants of the sheet music for Take Me Out to the Ball Game were issued in 1908.

Edward Meeker recorded the song for Edison Phonograph Company that year – and it became a hit. 

Meeker’s version was the top song in the US for seven weeks, and the third most popular song in 1908. 

Billy Murray & Haydn Quartet’s version of Take Me Out to the Ball Game was the number one song that year.

In 1927, Norworth released a new version of Take Me Out to the Ball Game, where Katie Casey became Nelly Kelly, and other lyrics were also changed. 

But the song’s focus on a woman’s passion for baseball remained.

Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly sang the Nelly Kelly version of the song in the 1949 film ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’

But somehow, Katie (and later Nelly) were lost from the song.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game was first performed at a baseball game in 1934, and then again later that year at a Major League Baseball game. 

The chorus of the song is traditionally sung during the Seventh Inning Stretch – the time when fans stand up and stretch in the middle of the game’s seventh inning. 

Actor Nick Offerman sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” at the Cubs-Cardinals game in London (June 24, 2023)

Though the Stretch dates back earlier, the band at baseball games started playing Take Me Out to the Ball Game during the Seventh Inning Stretch in 1946.

Chicago sportscaster Harry Caray is credited with being the first to sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game at a Major League Baseball game in 1971. 

Though Caray first sang it in the broadcast booth, in 1976, he was convinced to turn on the microphone and allow all the fans to hear him sing – and join in.

Chicago White Sox owner Bill Veeck suggested that hearing Caray’s less-than-professional singing voice would make fans comfortable singing along.

And he was right.

Caray started singing the song during Chicago White Sox games — and carried on the tradition at Wrigley Field when he worked for the Chicago Cubs

Fans joined in and began singing Take Me Out to the Ball Game en masse.

Take me Out to the Ball Game is now sung at every Major League Baseball game, with enthusiastic baseball fans of all ages joining in and singing along. 

But while the chorus is an integral part of baseball games, the verses and the story of a ‘baseball mad’ young woman have somehow been lost…

(But hey, now you know!)

You can read both versions of Norworth’s lyrics here.

Here’s Harry Caray leading the fans during the 7th Inning Stretch:

One More Thing…

Jack Norworth attended his first Major League Baseball game on June 27, 1940 — 32 years after writing the song.

On the song’s 50th anniversary, Major League Baseball presented Norworth with a gold lifetime ballpark pass, in recognition of his creation and its important part of baseball history.

*Many thanks to the trailblazing journalist Melissa Ludtke who introduced me to the backstory of this song, and sent me down the curiosity rabbit hole.

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And just in time for Father’s Day…

While we’re talking about baseball, check out this piece I wrote that mixes baseball with communication, forgiveness — and joy.

The Best Father’s Day Gift of All Time

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-Beth

This is me (really writing and drinking coffee).