;)
April 4th, 2016
It's that time of year again! Baseball is officially back and many fans are looking forward to seeing what the 2016 season has in store for their favorite team. People think of many different things when reminiscing on America's favorite pastime. Perhaps it's attending an MLB game for the first time, playing the sport as a youngster, Buctober (Go Bucs!) or even just tossing a baseball in the backyard. When this author thinks of baseball, a famous song comes to mind- "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."
Singing the song while watching the Pirates Opening Day game brought on some curiosity about the history of the iconic song. It turns out that the word's author, Jack Norworth, didn't even like baseball. You're thinking, "Wait, what?" Well, Norworth was in the show business industry and in 1908, while riding a subway, he saw an advertisement for baseball in the city and pondered if there was a better way to promote the experience that came with the sport. He then thought about a title for the song and wrote his idea down. From there he took it to a music composer, Albert Von Tilzer. Together they created today's iconic baseball song.
About 40 years after the song was written and composed, a tradition was born. The unofficial anthem of baseball games ("Take Me Out to the Ball Game") would be played during the seventh inning stretch. Today, the tradition continues and the song is played at every MLB game. In fact, the song is so popular that it is in the top three songs sung by Americans- The National Anthem, Happy Birthday and Take Me Out to the Ball Game. There are different verses to the song, but the chorus is the most popular and preferred.
So get your tickets, get your sports gear, pack up your family and friends and head to your favorite baseball game and remember to sing along:
“Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd;
Just buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,
I don’t care if I never get back.
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don’t win, it’s a shame.
For it’s one, two, three strikes, you’re out,
At the old ball game.”
P.S. Incase you were wondering, Norworth did make it to his first MLB game...40 years after the song was written.
Here's to a great year of baseball, and most importantly, LETS GO BUCS!
