* RK Review: Baseball's Greatest Hit

The Story of Take Me Out to the Ball Game

by Andy Strasberg, Bob Thompson, and Tim Wiles. Hal Leonard, 2008.

This year marks the centennial of what baseball fans believe to be the true “national anthem” and this trio of authors have done the ditty proud.

Baseball’s Greatest Hit is an “everything you always wanted to know” about the song, and then some. The curious reader will learn how the team of Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer joined forces to collaborate on the tune which by the authors’ count amounts to hundreds of versions. They explore the mythos of creation: what were the circumstances under which it was created? Were both men equally responsible, or was there an about understanding about credit between partners?

Among the other highlights of the book:

A team-by-team appraisal on how they handle their seventh inning stretches. Prior to 9/11, Take Me Out was standard fare. For a time afterwards, that was replaced by God Bless America. While many ball clubs have returned to the Norworth-Von Tilzer song, some, notably the Yankees, still tug at the patriotic heartstrings.
A look at the eponymous movie, starring Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Esther Williams, and Betty Garrett.
An extensive time line of the song
A tribute to Harry Caray, the Chicgao announcer who “gave it back” to the fans
Collectibles on the TMO theme
A discography of myriad artists and formats who have recorded the song
A list of”all commercially printed music about baseball in the collection of the Library of Congress”
Some punchy parodies (my favorite is the Passover seder version)
“Professor Hedlam’s Formal Musical Theoretical Analysis of Take Me Out to the Ball Game” which comes with a “warning” for those with a less than serious approach: stay away.

The book includes a bonus CD with several versions of the song.

When I first heard about this book, I didn’t have high expectations. A few years ago the University of Wisconsin Press published Baseball and Country Music, an unimpressive little paperback. Frankly, I was thinking along those lines. I’m happy to see how wrong I was. The authors each have bona fides which well-qualify them to write on this topic. Strasberg is acknowledged as one of the foremost authorities on and collectors of the song. Thompson is co-producer of the Baseball Music Project, a series of theatrical concerts with the national pastime as its theme. And Wiles is director of research at the baseball Hall of Fame. Together they make up a Tinkers-Evers-Chance combination, each using his particular specialty to produce the final product, tremendously enhanced by the work of graphic designers Bernadette Malavarca and Damian Castaneda, whom Wiles called unsung heroes (unfortunately, Damian’s name is misspelled on the book jacket).

In a telephone conversation, Wiles noted that even after the manuscript was completed, more information kept coming in. He discovered that in addition to his musical skills, Norworth was an inventor, responsible for the device that gave the impression of movement in old films. He was also a serious collector of miniatures. “We’re still finding stuff out,” Wiles said. “I’d love to do something biographical about Norworth and Von Tilzer, but I think the moment might be now…and we’re a little tied up right now.

“A lot of the things we’d like to do, we just don’t have time to do.”

CBS Sunday Morning will feature a segment on the centennial of Take Me Out To the Ball Game, on March 30. As the saying goes, check local listings.

The Amazon Report:

Baseball’s Greatest Hit: The Story of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”