Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Lore & Background

Jack Norworth, while riding a subway train, was inspired by a sign that said "Baseball Today – Polo Grounds". In the song, Katie's (and later Nelly's) beau calls to ask her out to see a show. She accepts the date, but only if her date will take her out to the baseball game. The words were set to music by Albert Von Tilzer. Norworth and Von Tilzer finally saw their first Major League Baseball games 32 and 20 years later, respectively. The first known public performance of the song was by vaudeville singer Blanche Ring, and it was popularized by many other vaudeville acts. It was played at a ballpark for the first known time in 1934, at a high-school game in Los Angeles; it was played later that year during the fourth game of the 1934 World Series. Norworth wrote an alternative version of the song in 1927. Its use became popularized by Harry Caray, the announcer of the Chicago White Sox, when he began singing it during the seventh-inning stretch in 1976. He continued the tradition when he became the announcer for the Chicago Cubs in 1982.

In Their Own Story

The late afternoon sun casts long shadows across the pristine infield dirt as the seventh inning begins. The crowd noise is a low, electric hum, but it quickly shifts into a unified roar as the familiar piano intro fills the air. A sea of pinstripes rises in unison. An old man in the upper deck grips his grandson's shoulder, pointing toward center field where the ghost of DiMaggio seems to linger in memory. "Now go get 'em," the grandfather whispers, but the crowd sings louder, drowning out individual voices with a collective chant that echoes off the concrete walls of the stadium, bridging the gap between 1927 and today.

Reader's Guide

The song (or at least its chorus) has been recorded or cited countless times since it was written. The original music and 1908 lyrics of the song are now in the public domain in the United States (worldwide copyright remains until 70 years after the composers' deaths). The copyright to the revised 1927 lyrics entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2023. It has been used as an instrumental underscore or introduction to many films or skits having to do with baseball. The first recorded version was by Edward Meeker. Meeker's recording was selected by the Library of Congress as a 2010 addition to the National Recording Registry.

Did You Know?

• The song is one of the three-most recognizable songs in the US, along with "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "Happy Birthday."
• Most people are only familiar with the chorus; the verses likely failed to gain popularity due to being in third person.
• The most famous recording of the song was credited to "Billy Murray and the Haydn Quartet", even though Murray did not sing on it.
• In 2008, the song won the Songwriters Hall of Fame Towering Song Award.