National Museum of Play Online Collections

Take Me Out to The Ball Game.

sheet music

1908

A streetcar ad inspired songwriter Jack Norworth to pen the words to the song "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in 1908 - and he had never been to a game in his life! Albert von Tilzer wrote the music, and the two scored an instant hit. Destined to become one of the most well-known songs in American history, it became a sensation when, sung by the legendary Broadway performer of the day, Bill Murray, it accompanied a set of picture slides in nickelodeons across the country. It was boom time for baseball: attendance at major-league games climbed from just four million in 1903 to a record 10 million by the end of the decade. Teams erected new stadiums across the country to accommodate the growing number of fans - all to the accompaniment of Norworth and Von Tilzer's now-legendary song. Fans still sing the chorus during the seventh-inning stretch at most ballparks throughout the country. What began with inspiration has become tradition.

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