“Take Me Out to the Ball Game“ is a 1908 Tin Pan Alley song by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer….which has become the official anthem of baseball all over the world….although neither of its authors had attended a game prior to writing the song….as the song’s chorus is traditionally sung during the middle of the seventh inning of a baseball game….which is known as the seventh inning stretch…. while fans are generally encouraged to sing along….where at most ballparks, the words “home team” are replaced with the home teams’ name.
The chorus to the song has been recorded or cited countless times in the 112 years since it was written…. as the first verse of the 1927 version is sung by Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra at the start of the MGM musical film, Take Me Out to the Ball Game in 1949….which was a movie that also features a song about the famous and fictitious double-play combination of O’Brien to Ryan to Goldberg. Bing Crosby included the song in a medley on his album Join Bing and Sing Along in 1959…..and in the mid-1990’s….a Major League Baseball ad campaign featured versions of the song performed by musicians of several different genres….with an alternative rock version by the Goo Goo Dolls was also recorded. Multiple genre Louisiana singer-songwriter Dr. John and pop singer Carly Simon both recorded different versions of the song for the PBS documentary series Baseball, by Ken Burns.
In 2001, Nike aired a commercial featuring a diverse group of Major League Baseball players singing lines of the song in their native languages and accents…..which featured Ken Griffey Jr. in English….Alex Rodriguez in Dominican Spanish….Chan Ho Park in Korean…Kazuhiro Sasaki in Japanese….Graeme Lloyd in Australian English….Éric Gagné in Québécois French….Andruw Jones in Dutch…John Franco in Italian….Iván Rodríguez in Puerto Rican Spanish….and Mark McGwire in American English.
In this video herewith…..a wonderful version of “Take Me Out To The Ballgame”….of whom we do not know who the singer is….but we do know that the singer has an outstanding orchestra accompanying him as this rendition of the great baseball song…..plus, our viewers get to see a collection of photos of fans at MLB ballparks…..as they enjoy attending games around the league.
