Music, baseball have long history together

A few weeks back, I was writing about Major League stadiums and made a comment about the first park I visited back so many years ago in Philadelphia. The comment had to do with how I was overwhelmed by the experience of finally being present at a bigleague game in person. The grass was so green, the stadium was so big and the music was so impressive.

Back in those days, most of the music came from someone sitting at a Wurlitzer organ and pumping out appropriate tunes. I liked the sound of the ball park organ and today prefer that kind of presentation over loud, canned songs piped over the stadium PA system. But I have heard others say just the opposite. I have always had weird likes and dislikes, I guess.

I was reading an article recently that emphasized that baseball has had a long and storied music tradition, which dates back to the Civil War era. The sport has inspired hundreds of songs over the years and some have become stadium favorites, while others have faded into obscurity.

The most noted baseball song is "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," which dates back to 1908. Tin Pan Alley lyricist Jack Norworth reportedly jotted down the lyrics while riding on a New York subway. His friend, composer Albert Van Tilzer, sat down at a piano and in a couple of hours had supplied the music.

I’m told that the complete song tells how Katie Casey, a baseball crazy fan, urges her beau (who uses that word anymore?) to take her to a game rather than a Broadway show. Music videos didn't exist in those years, but movie theaters (known as nickelodeons) soon began showing "lantern slides" of actors playing out the scenes of the song during intermissions. The song lyrics were shown at the bottom of the screen with theatergoers singing along, accompanied by the house pianist. Eventually, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" became a standard at the various ball parks. I remember standing in the seventh inning stretch and singing the song as it was played by the organist. It really became a big deal when White Sox owner Bill Veeck had Harry Caray, who was Sox play-by-play announcer in the early 1970s, stand up and belt out (in a horribly off-key rendition) the song during the seventh inning stretch. Caray moved from the White Sox crosstown to the Cubs broadcasting booth in 1982 and continued to lead the crowd in singing during the stretch inning. Caray passed away in 1998, but a Cub tradition now is to have special guests stand in the press box, lean out the window, and lead the crowd in singing.

I didn't know the full version of the song, so I had to look it up: Katie Case was baseball mad, Had the fever and had it bad. Just to root for the home town crew, Every penny 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." 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. VERSE TWO Katie Casey saw all the game, Knew the players by their first names Told the umpire he was wrong, All along, Good and strong. When the score was just two to two, Katie Casey knew what to do, Just to cheer the boys she knew, She made the gang sing this song: (return to chorus). I doubt if there is any chance singing the entire song will ever catch on.

But there were many baseball songs, other than Norworth's work, that have been that popped out between 1910 and 1920. George M. Cohan was inspired by "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," and wrote "Take Your Girl to the Ball Game." Other songs appeared such as "Follow the Crowd to the Ball Game", "Come to the Baseball Game" and two with the same title "I Want to Go to the Ball Game." All of these, including Cohan's effort, were huge flops.

Many teams developed their own musical traditions. At the outbreak of World War II, it became a tradition at every baseball stadium to play "The Star Spangled Banner" before each game. That tradition quickly spread to every sporting event. Something, that if I knew, I had forgotten, was that "The Star Spangled Banner" wasn't the official national anthem until 1931.

The live organ music that I love debuted in Wrigley Field, Chicago, in 1941. Some venues have done away with the organ music, and have gone to other sources. A few have come back to featuring an organist. Chicago White Sox fans enjoyed the organ music of Nancy Faust, beginning in 1970. Faust, who had been an organist at a Chicago luncheonette, was quite skilled in picking out appropriate songs to play as commentary on what was happening on the field. She is responsible for playing "Na Na Na Na, Hey, Hey, Goodbye" when an opposing pitcher left the game or when it appeared that the White Sox were going to win. That has become tradition, not only in Chicago, but across the nation. Faust only missed five games in her 40-year career as White Sox organist and that was to give birth to her son, Eric. Other Chicago sports teams, like the Bulls and the Black-Hawks hired her to play at their games. The White Sox owner, Bill Veeck, was known for his strange promotions. At one, he tried to give away a donkey. There were no takers among the crowd of 15,000. Faust said that she wanted the donkey and Veeck gave it to her. She later kept donkeys as pets and at one time had several.

Quite a few songs have been written over the years with a baseball motif. Irving Berlin wrote a song entitled "Jake, Jake, the Yadisha Ball Player". The wife of Hallof- Fame first baseman Lou Gehrig (Eleanor) wrote "I Can't Get to First Base With You." Other published songs included "The Glory of the Cubs", "They All Knew Cobb" (about Ty Cobb), "The Red Sox Speed Boys," "Don't Kill the Umpire," "Joltin Joe DiMaggio," the Mickey Mantle Mambo," and "Wow, Wotta Wallop." I don't think any really caught on.

The Red Sox have adopted a tradition that dates back to 2002 of singing Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" in the eighth inning. Jay Leno once did a bit where he asked Red Sox fans why they sing that song. None knew for sure. It really doesn't matter, it brings excitement to the game and draws fans together. I think that is why music has become such an integral part of Major League Baseball.

Music also has become popular at lower levels of baseball games. Usually there is a sound booth, where music is played between innings, or in slow parts of games. When I first started covering Ponca City High School baseball games, a standard to be played was John Fogerty's "Centerfield". One of the lines is "Put me in Coach, I’m ready to play" which reminded me of my playing days. That was always my hope, that sometime the coach would get me in the game. Whether I was ready to play, or not, that was another issue.