Seventh Inning Stretch

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The origin of the seventh-inning stretch is much disputed, and it is difficult to certify any definite history. One claimant is Brother Jasper (Brennan) of Mary, F.S.C., who called a timeout during a hot game in June 1882 to let restless student fans stand up. Another early report appeared in the New York Herald in June 1869, describing a 'laughable stand up and stretch' after the long second inning. In 1869, the Cincinnati Commercial reported a ten-minute intermission at the end of the sixth inning in a Cincinnati game. A popular story involves President William Howard Taft standing up on April 14, 1910, but this date is later than the other accounts. As to the name, the term 'seventh-inning stretch' appears in print as early as 1914.

In Their Own Story

In modern baseball, standing up and singing 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' during the seventh-inning stretch is a popular tradition. It was first played at a ballpark at a high school in Los Angeles, California in 1934. The composers, Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer, had both never attended an actual baseball game prior to writing this popular song. Norworth only attended his first Major League game much later in 1940. The practice gained exceptional popularity from broadcaster Harry Caray. Caray would sing the song to himself in the broadcast booth during the stretch while a play-by-play announcer for the Chicago White Sox. After hearing him sing one day, White Sox owner Bill Veeck Jr. had Caray's microphone turned on so that the ballpark could hear him sing. When Caray moved into the Chicago Cubs broadcast booth, he continued the practice, sparking what has become a Cubs tradition by regularly leading the crowd in singing the song in every seventh-inning stretch.

Reader's Guide

In modern baseball, standing up and singing 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' during the seventh-inning stretch is a popular tradition. It was first played at a ballpark at a high school in Los Angeles, California in 1934. The song gained exceptional popularity from broadcaster Harry Caray, who sang it in the broadcast booth for the Chicago White Sox and later for the Chicago Cubs, sparking a tradition of leading the crowd in singing. Many teams also play local traditional songs. For example, the Baltimore Orioles play 'Thank God I'm a Country Boy', the New York Mets play 'Lazy Mary', the St. Louis Cardinals play 'Here Comes the King' and 'Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis', the Toronto Blue Jays have stretching exercises led by Health Canada officials, the Texas Rangers play 'Cotton-Eyed Joe', the New York Yankees play 'God Bless America', and the Minnesota Twins play 'Little Red Corvette'.

Did You Know?

• In Japan, the seventh-inning stretch consists of two parts: one after the end of the 6th inning, where the away team's fight song is played, and a second part after the top of the 7th inning, when the home team's fight s
• If a game goes into a fifth extra inning, a similar 'fourteenth-inning stretch' is celebrated.
• In softball games, amateur baseball games scheduled for only seven innings, or in minor-league doubleheaders, a 'fifth-inning stretch' may be substituted.
• The composers of 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game', Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer, had both never attended an actual baseball game prior to writing the song.