Why Do We Sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” When We’re Already There?

Welcome to the latest edition of The Why.

Everywhere you look the media is pushing you telling you who to follow, what to watch and when to watch it.   You’re even sometimes told how to do it all.  Truth is, here at American Live Wire we do a bit of that too.  The big difference is we also tell you why.

You ask the questions.  We provide the answers.

“Why do we sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ when we’re already there?” you ask?  You think you got us with one of those one-liners again.  Nah. Your investigative author loves George Carlin.  The line goes back to at least 1995.

Why do we sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ when we’re already there?/Image: NIUEdu

So, why do we sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ when we’re already there? For readers who aren’t hardcore baseball fans, let’s review first. Wikipedia and other sources reveal that “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” is a Tin Pan Alley tune composed in 1908 by Albert Von Tilzer and Jack Norworth.

Interestingly, they wrote it before ever having gone to a game and yet their song went on to “become the unofficial anthem of baseball.” The tune is usually sung by the crowd “during the seventh-inning stretch of a baseball game. “ At some ball parks, the phrase “home team” are replaced with the name o0f the team. This is true of the Philadelphia Phillies, the L.A. Dodgers, the Atlanta Braves, the Milwaukee and several other teams.

Now that we’re all up to speed, why do we sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ when we’re already there?  One Yahoo poster, “thankyoumaskedman”, has attended one or two less than spine tingling games and suggested that people sing the song at a game because “they are trying to imagine a ballgame that is more fun and interesting than the one they are at.”

Why do we sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ when we’re already there?/Image: AmericasWhiteBoy

Sorry. Thanks for playing.   You get the home version of “The Why’ for a consolation prize.

Why do we sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ when we’re already there? One need only consider the lyrics of the song itself. Whether you reference the 1927 re-write or the original 1908 version the answer quickly becomes crystal clear.

Witness the opening lyrics to the original:

“Katie Casey was baseball mad.
Had the fever and had it bad;
Just to root for the home town crew,
Every sou Katie blew.
On a Saturday, her young beau
Called to see if she’d like to go,
To see a show but Miss Kate said,
“No, I’ll tell you what you can do.”

People are in actuality singing a song about a woman who wants to be taken to the ballgame.   The chorus is merely a quote of her request.  Our question focuses solely on the chorus:

“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.”

Why do we sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ when we’re already there?/Image: DulceCandy

The song is actually perfect for a ballgame when taken as a whole. Perhaps that is why it has become a tradition.

Why do we sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ when we’re already there? Now you know.

You ask the questions.  We provide the answers.