Why do people sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” when they're already AT the game?
The answer to that question, along with anecdotes involving Yogi Berra, the Marx Brothers, “The X-Files” and many more can be found in a new book, “Baseball's Greatest Hit,” celebrating the song's 100th anniversary.
Its rich history might be a revelation to the millions of Americans who will start singing “Take Me Out” this week as major league teams start their 2008 seasons.
For example, few realize that they're only singing the refrain – the full song is about a young woman. Its two verses tell the story of baseball-mad Katie Casey, whose beau invites her to the theater. She says “No, I'll tell you what you can do: Take me out to the ball game” and so on. In the second verse, she yells at the umpire.
“The refrain, as great as it is, is fairly light,” says Tim Wiles, director of research at the library of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and a co-author of the book. “But when you flesh it out with the full story, there's a lot there.”
Another surprise is that the song became a hit long before it was sung at baseball games. Written in 1908 by composer Albert von Tizler and lyricist Jack Norworth, “Take Me Out” was sung during reel changes in movie theaters to promote sales of the sheet music.
Whose stall in the home clubhouse at Yankee Stadium has remained empty and unused for nearly 29 years?
DID YOU KNOW?
You likely know that UCLA's standout freshman Kevin Love, who helped lead his Bruins to their third consecutive Final Four yesterday, has a famous uncle in Mike Love of Beach Boys fame. But did you know his aunt, Kathleen McCartney Hearst, won the 1982 Ironman Triathlon and was inducted into the U.S. Triathlon Hall of Fame?
Dave Letterman, offering one of his Top Ten Signs You've Been Watching Too Much NCAA Tournament:
“At a dinner party, you make guests tip off for every pork chop.”
PARTING SHOT II
Comedian Argus Hamilton, with the John Daly excuse of the day: “Has willed his entire body to science, and he's preserving it in alcohol until they need it.”
Thurman Munson, who died in a plane crash on Aug. 2, 1979.
– FROM NEWS SERVICES