The “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” songwriters had never seen a baseball game.
historyfacts.com
The idea for the song came to the writer not while he was sitting in the stands, but instead, of all places, on the New York City subway.
  • xantoxis@lemmy.worldEnglish
    781·
    5 months ago

    That explains the second verse and the lyric “We’ll throw the ball and we’ll throw the bat / The baseball goalie has to be really fat”

    Not as well known, for obvious reasons.

    • WoahWoah@lemmy.worldEnglish
      71·
      5 months ago

      I realize you’re joking, but the lyrics most people know (“take me out to the ball game, take me out with the crowd,” etc. ) IS the second verse. The verse following that well-known section is:

      Katie Casey saw all the games, 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 up the boys she knew, She made the gang sing this song:

      Which is then followed by another verse of the well-known part of the song.

    • fahfahfahfahAEnglish
      25·
      5 months ago

      To be fair, bats definitely do get thrown, and there’s a fair amount of fat catchers…

  • BlueLineBae@midwest.socialEnglish
    381·
    5 months ago

    Anyone interested in American history should watch Ken Burns Baseball. It’s an excellent documentary series about baseball that’s packed full of fun facts like this. One of my favorite facts I learned was that people sang the Star Spangled Banner at baseball games before it was established as our national anthem. The documentary goes through the history of baseball and how everything that has happened to the sport beautifully depicts everything that has happened in the country’s history through the lens of baseball. For all the good and bad, it’s a great documentary series. 10/10 highly recommend!