Mar
10

Take Who Out to the Ball Game?

Baseball fan or not, you know this song…or at least, you think you do. “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” is one of the top three most recognizable songs in the country, next to “The Star Spangled Banner” and “Happy Birthday.”

In this episode of Sidedoor, we explore long-forgotten lyrics that reveal a feminist message buried amid the peanuts and cracker jack.

While sports fans eagerly await the start of baseball season, we’re revisiting a Sidedoor episode from season five that will transport you to the stadium musically—through one of the most recognizable American songs of all time: “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”

But there’s a catch. The song we know as “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” is only the chorus of the song. The long-forgotten lyrics to the full song reveal exactly who “me” is… and it’s not who you’d think.

Sepia photo of fans at early baseball game
Casey saw all the games / Knew the players by their first names / Told the umpire he was wrong / All along good and strong.” This lantern slide, one of a set that accompanied the original publication of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” shows the song’s protagonist rooting in the stands of the baseball grounds. Photo Credit: National Baseball Library

Guests

  • Dan Piazza, curator at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum 
  • Andy Strasberg, co-author of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game: Baseball’s Greatest Hit” 
  • George Boziwick, retired Chief of the Music Division of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and co-founder of the Red Skies Music Ensemble
  • Nancy Faust, retired organist for the Chicago White Sox

Listen Now

Baseball stamp
The United States Postal Service issued this stamp on July 16, 2008 to commemorate the centennial of the song. Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum

Links and other fun stuff

  • If you’re wondering about that Trixie Friganza… you can read more about her life in this Smithsonian Magazine article. You’ll also find the song’s original lyrics, complete with stick figure illustrations!
  • For more great photos, check out this article by George Boziwick, which delves deeper into his theory about the feminist message of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” It features more details about Jack Northworth and his various romantic entanglements, as well as the music industry around the turn of the 20th Century.
  • Harpo Marx plays “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” on I Love Lucy, 1955. This video gives me goosebumps every time.
  • Jerry Lee Lewis’s bonkers piano-on-a-piano stunt on Shindig! Have you ever seen someone play drums with two baseball bats?! And oh boy, the dancing…
  • If pinstripes and tap dancing are your thing, you’ll definitely want to see this clip of Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly in Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949). Note: this is Jack Norworth’s second version of the song, in which he changed “Katie Casey” to “Nellie Kelly.”
  • In April, Baseball: America’s Home Run will open at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum. The exhibition will feature the “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” stamp, among other unique objects that tell the story of American baseball through the lens of the postal service and philately.

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Posted: 10 March 2022
About the Author:

Jessica Sadeq has worked in the Central Office of Public Affairs since June 2007. She is the Marketing Manager for the Office of Communications and External Affairs.