Singing at the Ball Game

After the first half of the seventh inning of every baseball game (the “stretch”) from the college level up, fans stand up and sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game. Some find it peculiar that we only sing this song when we’re already at a ballgame, still nearly everyone in the park sings it.

Baseball is nothing if not traditional.

People who wouldn’t be caught dead singing anywhere else in public sing it. People who can’t sing sing it. People who sing well sing it loudly to show off, but we all sing it.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game was written by Jack Norworth in 1908. He also wrote Shine On, Harvest Moon. He wrote an updated version in 1927, but the plot is the same. A guy asks Katie out on a date but she'll only go if he takes her to a ball game. (My kinda gal.)

The part we actually sing at the stretch is the chorus:

Nelly Kelly love baseball games,
Knew the players, knew all their names,
You could see her there ev'ry day,
Shout "Hurray," when they'd play.
Her boy friend by the name of Joe
Said, "To Coney Isle, dear, let's go,"
Then Nelly started to fret and pout,
And to him I heard her shout.

"Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.
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."

Nelly Kelly was sure some fan,
She would root just like any man,
Told the umpire he was wrong,
All along, good and strong.
When the score was just two to two,
Nelly Kelly knew what to do,
Just to cheer up the boys she knew,
She made the gang sing this song.

"Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.
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."

There are two common modifications of the lyrics at the ballpark. First, a small part of the crowd always wants to change “Let me root, root, root for the home team” to “root for the Tar Heels” or “root for the Wildcats”. And second, no one ever sings “cracker jack”. They always make it plural.

About half the crowd sings “ever get back” instead of “never get back”, but that’s a nit.

UNC’s Boshamer Stadium has a cool additional tradition. After every game, as the fans are leaving the stadium, they play James Taylor’s Carolina In My Mind on the PA system.

If you want to sing at a ball game at any time other than these two, that's cool. 

But please don't sit near me.