Take Me Out to the Ballgame

July 12, 2010 10:45 AM

Take Me Out to the Ballgame is an American classic, the "national anthem of baseball." Written by Jack Norworth, with notable versions by Harry Caray and friends. Norworth recently got a new gravemarker, but cemetery rules says no changes could be made without approval from his family. When no family could be found, an empty grave was purchased and set aside for some future "unfortunate soul," who will get a teeny, tiny place in baseball history.
posted by Cool Papa Bell (27 comments total)

Wow, what a story. I hope the empty grave goes to a baseball player or someone who really really loved baseball.
posted by amethysts at 10:52 AM on July 12, 2010

Now, Norworth has a monument befitting his place in history.

I really can't imagine a better monument for an artist of any kind than to create a song sung years after your own death and loved by millions. If I could imagine such a monument, I don't think it would be a fancy tombstone.
posted by 2bucksplus at 10:55 AM on July 12, 2010

The best part of the story is that they got Rollie Fingers's mustache to attend.
posted by Plutor at 10:58 AM on July 12, 2010

"They said, ' Carolyn Jones from the "Addams Family" is here,' '' Epting said. "I have nothing against Carolyn Jones, but, c'mon, Jack Norworth wrote a classic. I guess it says a lot about the pecking order of pop culture."

I can't quite explain why yet, but I keep returning to these 2 sentences. This is important. This means something.
posted by .kobayashi. at 10:58 AM on July 12, 2010 [3 favorites]

Singing that song at the 7th Inning stretch is like time traveling, to a special moment that exists simultaneously in the past, present and future. (I also love the tradition at Safeco Field of following it with "Louie, Louie." ) Thank you, Jack Norworth!
posted by bearwife at 11:00 AM on July 12, 2010

I don't care if I never get back.

I only now understood this line. He means he doesn't care if he gets back home from the game. This whole time I've been confused because why would somebody who loves baseball so much not care if they ever get back to the stadium?
posted by DU at 11:02 AM on July 12, 2010 [2 favorites]

Funny I thought the Wriggly version was:

...root, root, root for the Cubbies, if they don't win its the same...

[NOT-CUBIST]
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 11:03 AM on July 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

Of course it helps when you check your spelling of Wrigley before writing something like that.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 11:04 AM on July 12, 2010

True story: when I was a kid, I thought that anyone who attended a baseball game was morally required to root for the home team. Thanks, Jack Norworth!
posted by muddgirl at 11:06 AM on July 12, 2010 [5 favorites]

Of course, the real question is why do you sing "take me out to the ballgame" when you're already at the ballgame?

/super old joke

Wrigley's really is the best though. I went to a game at the Ballpark in Arlington and the 7th inning stretch rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" is a fucking canned instrumental. Of course, Arlington is pretty much the epitome of suburban hell, so it's not surprising they'd screw that up.
posted by kmz at 11:13 AM on July 12, 2010

Okay, so they couldn't make changes to his existing grave marker due to cemetery rules requiring the permission of a family member. So they bought a new, empty grave and put up the marker there. And then there's that bit about some unfortunate soul getting a free grave.

Here's what I'm not clear on. Did they move Norworth's remains to the new grave, leaving a now-empty grave to be eventually donated? That seems like it would fall under this cemetery's no-mucking-about-with-the-dead-without-a-permission-slip policy. Or did they just put the new marker on a grave that they're eventually going to fill? And if so, is there like an arrow carved on it: "Jack Norworth, buried just over there a skosh, [date]-[date], wrote a song everybody likes and is survived by apparently nobody."
posted by penduluum at 11:17 AM on July 12, 2010 [2 favorites]

In no other sport aside from baseball is it tradition to pause in the middle of the game to sing a song about how great the game is. Can you imagine doing this in hockey, or basketball? That sense of tradition and cultural significance is one of the things I love the most about baseball.
posted by notswedish at 11:18 AM on July 12, 2010 [6 favorites]

Or did they just put the new marker on a grave that they're eventually going to fill?

That's what they did.

And if so, is there like an arrow carved on it: "Jack Norworth, buried just over there a skosh, [date]-[date], wrote a song everybody likes and is survived by apparently nobody."

Cemeteries generally keep records of who's planted where.

Well, the good cemeteries do.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:24 AM on July 12, 2010

In no other sport aside from baseball is it tradition to pause in the middle of the game to sing a song about how great the game is.

Well, in our minor-league hockey games (yes, San Antonio has a minor league hockey team), they play Jughead's Hockey Song during the second break, and some people try to sing along...

I always liked Warren Zevon's Hockey Song a bit better, but maybe it's too long?
posted by muddgirl at 11:25 AM on July 12, 2010

kmz: Wrigley's really is the best though. I went to a game at the Ballpark in Arlington and the 7th inning stretch rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" is a fucking canned instrumental. Of course, Arlington is pretty much the epitome of suburban hell, so it's not surprising they'd screw that up.

We haven't had a live organist at RBiA in at least 5 years. Of course, you're still assuming we actually sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame at RBiA any more. The several times I've been during this season and last season, the 7th inning song has always been God Bless America.

NTTAWWT, I'd still rather hear Take Me Out to the Ballgame instead.
posted by fireoyster at 11:29 AM on July 12, 2010

Take Me Out to the Ballgame is an awesome song, I just wished they played the first part of the song, at least, because the story of a woman who is asked by her boyfriend to go see a show is all "Fuck that! Let's go see baseball!" is pretty great, and my kind of gal.
posted by Snyder at 11:32 AM on July 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

notswedish: "In no other sport aside from baseball is it tradition to pause in the middle of the game to sing a song about how great the game is. Can you imagine doing this in hockey, or basketball?"

When a game is as awesome as baseball, the only way to express it is recursively.
posted by Plutor at 11:33 AM on July 12, 2010 [3 favorites]

notswedish: In no other sport aside from baseball is it tradition to pause in the middle of the game to sing a song about how great the game is. Can you imagine doing this in hockey, or basketball? That sense of tradition and cultural significance is one of the things I love the most about baseball.

You know what I really wanted to have stuck in my head this afternoon; that damn Hank Williams Jr. "Are You Ready for Some Football?" song. Thanks. That is just what I was hoping would happen to me today.

Hamburger.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:46 AM on July 12, 2010

When I was a kid my parents were friends with an older, retired couple who had an old wurlitzer console in their rec room. As a kid when we visited their house my only entertainment was to sneak down and plunk around on that thing and see what sort of funky sounds I could make out of it.

Once we went to visit them and they had some visiting friends in from Canada, another old couple, yawn. My parents spent the day chit-chatting, drinking cocktails and having a grand old time. All day I was bored to tears. I just wanted to sneak downstairs and play around on that old thing. Finally, after dinner our hostess said with a wry smile, "dear, why don't you go see what you can play on the organ. Myrtle, why don't you go with him." Jeebus, was I to lose out on the one thing that I enjoyed from these visits, making that organ make weird noises?

Myrtle, not her real name because memory fails me, came down the stairs with me. She was old and frail. She said she might be able to play some tunes I would like. I thought, "sure lady" but helped her onto the bench anyway. I was expecting the latest hits from Lawrence Welk, but I was soon shocked.

Myrtle opened up the electronic stops on the old gal and soon began pumping out Van Halen and Michael Jackson, Prince and Madonna. I was blown away. How did this old lady know the latest top 40 tunes and how did she know how to crank them out like we were at a ballpark? Turns out the big secret noone had shared with me was that Myrtle had been the organist at Maple Leaf Gardens for years and though she'd retired, she still worked as the substitute at Leafs and Blue Jays games! Because she still ocasionally worked she had to stay current on the latest music. She knew all kinds of stories about big names from every team and the songs they wanted her to play, how she got the crowd pumped up when their tem was down or in lulls in the action, or how she would "accompany" (read: drown out the off key notes for) crappy singers who were invited to sing the national anthem. Needless to say the night turned into one of my fondest childhod memories!
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 11:54 AM on July 12, 2010 [26 favorites]

On Sunday, a new 5-foot-tall black granite monument was installed at the cemetery to honor Norworth's contribution to baseball.

Those are some hella tall kids you got out there in California...
posted by 1f2frfbf at 12:00 PM on July 12, 2010 [4 favorites]

All these years and I had no idea the song had more than a chorus. Wow.
posted by zarq at 12:59 PM on July 12, 2010

You know who should have paid for the gravesite? The Cracker Jack company. Talk about a fortuitous piece of accidental branding. You think Cracker Jack would even exist today, except possibly as a nostalgic curiosity (see: Abba Zabba, Sky Bar, etc.), if not for Take Me Out To The Ballgame?
posted by dirtdirt at 1:01 PM on July 12, 2010 [4 favorites]

I am glad that I attended a home game for the Cubs years ago and got to hear Harry Caray sing the seventh inning stretch in person. He sounded more than half drunk and I think the Cubs might have lost but it was a blast.

Why is it that watching baseball on TV bores me to tears when attending a game is so much fun?
posted by caution live frogs at 1:05 PM on July 12, 2010

Baseball Fans Don't Know Jack (Norworth).
posted by ericb at 1:44 PM on July 12, 2010

Goo Goo Dolls: Take Me Out to the Ball Game.
posted by ericb at 1:49 PM on July 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

Japanese baseball has cheerleaders?
posted by zarq at 2:08 PM on July 12, 2010

In no other sport aside from baseball is it tradition to pause in the middle of the game to sing a song about how great the game is.

Stompin' Tom graces every hockey game I've ever been to.
posted by emeiji at 4:08 PM on July 12, 2010