Jack Norworth never cared much for baseball, but he wrote a song about the game that sports fans have been belting out for years.
Norworth was a vaudeville entertainer best known for his spirited hoofing and blackface routines. He also dabbled in songwriting. Was there a better example of a nationally shared experience than a ball game? Sheet music and piano rolls of the song flew out of music stores. What really knocked the song out of the park, of course, was its near instant ubiquity at baseball stadiums across the country.
But as the verse progresses, the clever set-up unfolds with the gal telling her fella to forget the show because she wants to go to a ball game. In time, fans would forget the verses in favor of the catchy refrain. Again, those words sat on the bench at games.
Decades before product placement kickbacks, Norworth did a huge favor for Fritz and Louis Rueckheim, who manufactured a popular mixture of caramel-coated popcorn and peanuts called Cracker Jack. The mention in the lyric ensured that it would be the snack of choice at ball games for years to come. In , legendary Chicago sportscaster Harry Caray lent his boundless enthusiasm and marginal musical talent to the song, establishing a sing-along tradition at both White Sox and Cubs games for three decades.
In , the song got another boost with a sultry version by Carly Simon that was featured in Baseball , the award-winning Ken Burns documentary series.
Norworth died in he finally made it to his first ball game in , Von Tilzer in It was so good that the song is probably familiar to out of every 1, persons in the United States. From Performing Songwriter Issue , May Category : Behind The Song.
It is part of the tradition of baseball to sing the chorus in the seventh inning. The inspiration for the tune is charming in its creation. It took him 15 minutes to write out the lyrics on a scrap of paper. His composer friend Albert Von Tilzer added the melody, which in turn was published by the New York music company. The baseball melody was an instant hit in Edward Meeker recorded the song for Edison Phonograph Company; it became the hit record top song in the country for seven weeks, and it was the most popular song of that year.
The song, although written by a man, is told from the perspective of a young woman asking for admission to a baseball game that at the time was considered a male recreation. The song is about a fictional young woman named Katie Casey who wants to go to the ballgame. Baseball cards of everyone's favorite players were given out in Cracker Jack boxes, which is why Cracker Jack is mentioned in the lyrics. The song has been considered the baseball anthem.
It was first performed at a baseball game in and then again later that year at a Major League Baseball game. The tradition of singing this baseball anthem in the seventh inning first took place in The band struck up the song during a game while fans stood for the seventh inning stretch. Chicago announcer Harry Caray occasionally sung the tune in the seventh inning.
On opening day in , Bill Veeck noticed fans singing along with Caray, so a secret microphone was placed in the broadcast booth the following day. Caray started singing the song over the microphone, and a tradition was born. Jack Norworth attended his first Major League Baseball game on June 27, , 32 years after writing the song.
On the 15th anniversary of his song, Major League Baseball, Inc. Hey, I didn't know the song had so many words. I guess they had to shorten it so it could be sung in a short period of time, that is, between innings.
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