Let’s talk about Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer. Without calling on Google or some other reliable source, just think about it for a moment.
Most people will fail to identify these gentlemen even though the song they wrote together is a most popular one, especially at this time of year — baseball season.
Jack and Albert are applauded for writing the song, Take Me Out to the Ball Game. The chorus of this song is traditionally sung during the seventh inning stretch, at which time fans are on their feet, singing loudly and clapping each other’s backs in friendly camaraderie. There might be beverages and hot dogs involved during this stretch.
Statisticians who chart such information suggest it is the third most popular song in the United States, following only Happy Birthday and the Star Spangled Banner. That’s an impressive achievement for two chaps who had never been to a ball game in person before they wrote the song about a girl captivated by the game. Not so bad for a song written in 1908.
Over the years Frank Sinatra, Liberace, LL Cool J, Harry Caray, Carly Simon, to name a few, have recorded the song, earning royalties for the estates of the writers.
Now that I’ve started thinking about the song, I cannot get the lyrics out of my head, words that take me back to Ross Wells Park as a child, with my dad. We weren’t there necessarily to cheer for the Moose Jaw Regals. Instead, my squeaky cheers could be heard whenever the Melville Millionaires were the visiting team.
My family had several relatives in Melville, so there was an affinity for the team, especially increased when two of my family members joined the team and became stars.
Whenever the Millionaires played in Moose Jaw, we would drive in from our village so we could have a visit with Mel and Doug Biro. They didn’t know us from a hole in the fence the first time we stood on the sidelines, and they were called over to have a chat. I recall no one saying much during that first conversation — until I shyly asked for an autograph. They obliged and were suddenly overtaken by other kids wanting something signed.
After that first encounter, they automatically came south of the first baseline to catch up on our families. Mel passed away in 2024 at the age of 84 years. Doug is still alive and maybe recalling his own baseball stories from the past.
With the Miller Express now carrying Moose Jaw’s banner in the Western Canadian Baseball League, I was interested in whether the seventh inning stretch included the singing of Take Me Out to the Ball Game. The person I asked looked at me in puzzlement and said, as far as he remembered, there was no stretch and no singing. Was he at the game or somewhere else?
Another fan I asked agreed, that to her knowledge, no one stretches or sings at the games. I turned to Google and learned that all teams in the league do indeed have a seventh-inning stretch and sing the famous ball game song.
Hmmmm. I guess some in-person sleuthing is required. Maybe one of these evenings I will head to the ball park and check out what happens, or doesn’t happen, at the games.
Regrettably, my Biro cousins will not be there to sign my autograph book.
Joyce Walter can be reached at [email protected]
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
