Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Something for the weekend.  Take Me Out to the Ballgame.  My secretary’s two young sons have donned their uniforms and begun participating in their baseball league and that caused me to think of what used to be called our National Pass-time.  I have never been a fan of any sports, but my sainted father was, especially baseball.  I can still see him in his easy chair watching one game on TV and listening to another on a transistor radio plugged into his ear.  He was a Cardinal’s fan, which made sense.  His father had given him the middle name Dean after the immortal Cardinal pitcher Jay Hanna “Dizzy” Dean.

The anthem of baseball, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, was written in 1908 by two Tin Pan Alley composers:  Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer.  Ironically, neither of these worthies had attended a ball game prior to composing the song which became such a part of the game.  The video at the beginning of the post is the original 1908 recording.  Below is one of my favorite renditions:

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