Take Me Out to the Ball Game for Some Hits of the Musical Sort

03 April 2011

Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Ryan Dempster delivers during the first inning of an opening day baseball against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Friday, April 1, 2011 in Chicago

BARBARA KLEIN: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Barbara Klein. Baseball is a sport that began in the eastern United States in the eighteen hundreds. It became known as the "national pastime," a game that millions of people continue to enjoy each spring and summer.

Major league baseball has just opened its new season. So this is a good time to explore the influence of baseball on popular culture, including music and poetry. Many songs and poems have been written about baseball, as we hear now from Ray Freeman and Shirley Griffith.

(MUSIC)

Los Angeles Angels players warm up before an opening day baseball game against the Kansas City Royals in Kansas City, Missouri

RAY FREEMAN: Baseball expert Warner Fusselle writes that there are probably more than one-thousand songs about baseball. The most popular is "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." It was written in nineteen eight by Jack Norworth. He wrote it after seeing a sign about baseball in an underground train in New York City.

His friend, Albert Von Tilzer, put the words to music. Mister Norworth reportedly had never seen a major league baseball game. He did not see one until thirty-three years after he wrote the song.