Take Me Out To The Ball Game

This morning as I sat down to drink my morning coffee I decided to check out what was on the TV. Of course there was absolutely nothing except those annoying info commercials. Blaaa!! I ended up on our local PBS station. I know, I was really bored! To my amazement it was an interesting story about the song Take Me To The Ball Game and the song's history. I thought I'd share the history that I discovered to day. Enjoy!

One hundred years ago, on the 2nd of May, 1908, the United States Copyright Office received two copies of a new song titled Take Me Out to the Ball Game, submitted by composer Albert von Tilzer and lyricist Jack Norworth. This musical work, affectionately referred to over the century as the "other" national anthem, baseball's national anthem, has become the grand-slam of all baseball songs. It has been ranked in survey polls as one of the top ten songs of the twentieth century and is second only to "Happy Birthday" and "The Star Spangled Banner" as the most easily recognized songs in America.

Few musical creations embody such significance in American musical culture or rise to the stratum of Americana as Take Me Out to the Ball Game. Just why the song has enjoyed such lasting popularity has been the topic of sports commentators, journalists, and popular music historians for decades. After all, one author quips, "Stardust it ain't." Critics have described the lyrics as crude, but singable, and puzzle over the chartbuster's instant success. Fans of the song, however, insist that it is the sheer simplicity and straightforwardness of the words, gender-neutral and shrewdly crafted so as not to name or favor any one team, coupled with von Tilzer's luring waltz-like rhythms and unforgettable melody that sealed the baseball ditty's success.

Only a handful of fans realize that the two verses of the song are about Katie Casey (later changed to Nelly Kelly), a girl who was mad with baseball fever as she asked her young beau to take her to a ballgame rather than a show. This faint whiff of romance added to the song's success on vaudeville, where singers (including Norworth's wife and star, Nora Bayes), actors, even acrobats, incorporated the hit into their acts. Also adding to its immense popularity, the song was featured during intermissions at the early twentieth-century nickelodeons where it was accompanied by "lantern slides," photos touched up with paint that provided the audience with a visual component to the song as the lyrics scrolled across the bottom of the screen. This way, when Katie Casey made the pitch to her date, everyone in the audience could respond in song: "Take me out to the ball game..."

Like no other American sport, baseball has been glorified and preserved in musical form by inspired songwriters and poets since its beginnings. In 1858, the year when amateur baseball teams in the northeast established the first league, the National Association of Base Ball Players, one player from the Base Ball Club of Buffalo published the first piece of baseball music - The Baseball Polka. Since then hundreds of songs have followed, some composed by the players themselves, some by their sponsors, several by well-known musicians, others by unknown fans. And, it cannot be mere coincidence that all of their baseball songs generally avoided baseball issues: integration, free agency, players' strikes, drug use, salaries, etc., never appear in the lyrics; rather, they instinctively focus on the glory, the heroes, or the past traditions of the game. Back in 1951, radio broadcaster and journalist Walter Winchell asserted that Take Me Out to the Ballgame epitomized that focus, that it embodied baseball's lure and essence, where the ball park becomes an "island of innocent excitement in a world of wild despair."

For over fifty years, there has been a quasi-official history of baseball's anthem, much of it gleaned from an interview with the lyricist, Jack Norworth (1879 - 1959), who claimed that he scribbled the words on an envelope after seeing a sign on the subway that read: "Baseball Today -- Polo Grounds." Today, this scrap of paper is included in the permanent collection of baseball memorabilia at the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Norworth also maintained that he had never attended a professional baseball game before penning those sixteen lines, which were set to music by songwriter and publisher Albert von Tilzer (1878-1956), who also had never seen a baseball game. This anniversary year, as this classic song enjoys a guaranteed resurgence, new research on its origins and one-hundred year history will undoubtedly emerge in the books, articles, and radio commentary appearing throughout the 2008 baseball season. It will even be honored this summer with its own first-class stamp! The song's success has also benefited future generations of American songwriters as the royalties from all of Norworth's hits (including his second most famous song Shine on Harvest Moon) were donated to the ASCAP Foundation. In every sense, Take Me Out to the Ball Game is, in the words of Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame broadcaster Harry Caray, "a song that reflects the charisma of baseball," a song that makes the game even more magical and allows you, the young or the old observer, to raise up your voice and become part of it.
Did You Know...

Cracker Jacks were an instant hit when introduced at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair by a local popcorn company and were first sold at some ballparks in 1907; once the product was inexplicably linked with baseball in Norworth's 1908 lyrics, sales of the crunchy concoction skyrocketed.

The Easter Bunny

The bunny as an Easter symbol seems to have its origins in Germany, where it was first mentioned in German writings in the 1500s. The first edible Easter bunnies were made in Germany during the early 1800s. And were made of pastry and sugar.The Easter bunny was introduced to American folklore by the German settlers who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country during the 1700s.

The Easter bunny has its origin in pre-Christian fertility lore. The Hare and the Rabbit were the most fertile animals known and they served as symbols of the new life during the Spring season.

The Easter bunny was introduced to American folklore by the German settlers who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country during the 1700s.

The arrival of the "Oschter Haws" was considered "childhood's greatest pleasure" next to a visit from Christ-Kindel on Christmas Eve. The children believed that if they were good the "Oschter Haws" would lay a nest of colored eggs.

The children would build their nest in a secluded place in the home, the barn or the garden. Boys would use their caps and girls their bonnets to make the nests . The use of elaborate Easter baskets would come later as the tradition of the Easter bunny spread through out the country.

Happy Easter to all my family and friends.

Thanks to www.holidays.net for the fun facts.

My Genealogy

For the past 12 years I have have been researching my families history. The first few years I just dabbled with it. Then at the end of 1999 I started having equilibrium problems and panic attacks. These medical issues made me really dive into trying to find things out about my family and their medical history. I knew lots of things about my mothers side but when it came to my fathers side I was lost. My dad was adopted so we knew nothing about his biological parents. I really want to know about my dad's side since I look more like him and now my daughter looks just like me. I did learn that that I am part Cherokee Indian and that my great great grandmother walked the Trail of Tears and survived. Which really fascinated me. I have come to a dead end with this Cherokee research. But I will continue my search. I'm so driven about this. Searching for your Cherokee ancestors is difficult. Many records were lost when the Americans took over Cherokee lands and started building the railroads in 1838. The Cherokee Nation will not recognize you as a Cherokee if you can not prove it. Which of course I can't. So that made my search more difficult. I think I may also be Irish. I eventually did find my dads biological fathers family tree online and purchased it. My dad as an adult eventually got in contacted with his biological parents. He kept in contact until their passing. It seems he had more contact with his mother than his father. There really wasn't much of a relationship, just contact. I eventually got to meet my biological grandmother. She was very nice but just a stranger to me. Though I remember her being as tall as me, which would explain why me and my sister are tall girls. Especially since my mother and her family are very short. I never did get to meet my grandfather. We were suppose to back around 1991 or 1992 but he never showed up for the reunion. I was very disappointed. I did learn that they both lived to be in their 80's. My grandmother passed away around 2005 or 2006 and my grandfather passed away in 2000. I was lucky enough to have found his obituary online. I learned so much from that obituary. My sister and I are planning a trip to go visit the Cherokee reservation down south. Hopefully sometime this summer. She is as curious as I am about all this history. When I was a kid my grandmother on my mom's side would always tell us stories about her family. I used to think it was so boring and why was she telling me all this. Now I think why didn't I listen. They were great old stories. Just a word of advise. Listen to the elderly people in your family. One day you may regret not listening. I'll keep everyone updated on my progress.
Trail of Tears 1838