(Photo courtesy of Meet Boston) “Music plays a role in every MLB game, especially here in Boston at Fenway Park.”
Jake Messer
Connector Editor
Baseball has a way of capturing the hearts and minds of people all over the United States. The sights and sounds that one feels when attending a ball game evoke a sense of jubilant national pride. The players do their part in creating this nationalistic love for baseball, but the music that is played throughout the ballpark is often overlooked when discussing this hard-to-pin feeling.
The music that is played, whether a player is up to bat, a closer makes his walk to the mound or in-between innings, music is just as important to baseball as the bats are in creating action. Many ballparks have their own iconic sounds. However, there is one song that is different and has stood the test of time as the definitive song of American Baseball.
When asked what song defines American Baseball, the first song that comes to the minds of many is “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” which was first composed in 1908 by Albert Von Tilzer Jack Norworth, two Tin Pan Alley songwriters, who reportedly had never been to a baseball game before writing the now iconic song.
The song’s intended purpose was to sell a lot of sheet music, which is the physical notes and symbols of music on paper created to teach musicians how to play. Even if it wasn’t their intention, the two created a song that would go on to be sung by millions of Americans every year.
Rather than a rendition of a sporting event, the song actually has a story behind it, which is often overlooked by fans. The song is a depiction of one Katie Casey, a young woman who was a massive fan of baseball at the beginning of the 20th century.
One day, Casey is out and about with a man who insists that she come with him on a date to see a show at the local theatre. Casey, who does not like this idea of a boring show, suggests that they go to a baseball game instead, where she can root, root, root for the home team. He accepts, and they head off to the old ball game.
Not only is it an endearing story showcasing the love many express for American Baseball, but it also highlights the ever-growing Women’s Rights Movement of the early 20th century. Baseball, as well as other sports, were seen as mostly men-oriented, and women should only be seen in attendance in the company of a man.
With change needed, team owners saw this as an opportunity to grow the game of baseball and quickly began renovating their stadiums by including women’s restrooms and geared their marketing towards women and men alike, showcasing it isn’t a man’s game, but rather America’s National Pastime.
Surprisingly enough, it took almost a full decade for the song to see prominent use in ballparks. It began seeing use in the middle of the seventh inning, often referred to as the seventh inning stretch, where fans of all ages, genders, and races get out of their seats and sing in unison to the hymn of legendary song.
Not only is the song timeless, as many baseball fans can attest to, but it also bridges the generational gap in ways only baseball can. How many moments can truly bring a grandfather and granddaughter together and have them experience the same elation for two and a half minutes every single time?
