The Old Ball Game

Amidst all the celebration of the St. Louis Cardinals 2011 World Series victory (our home team’s 11th), I’d like to pause to recognize a somewhat obscure theatrical connection.

The team the redbirds beat, the Texas Rangers, turned 50 this year. This was also their first World Series, so even though they lost, Rangers fans can take some joy in simply getting the pennant for the first time. What’s interesting from a theatrical perspective, though, is that the Rangers began life in 1961 under a different name: the Washington Senators.

That name should ring a bell for you fans of musical theatre. The Senators are the team that beats the “Damn Yankees” in the 1955 musical of the same. The show was the second hit for the songwriting team of Richard Adler and Jerry Ross (their first was The Pajama Game). It was also, sadly, their last as Ross died of chronic bronchiectasis before the show’s opening.

“But wait,” I hear you cry, “how could the Senators appear in a 1955 show if the team has only been around since 1961?” The answer is that there was an earlier Washington Senators team that started out life in Kansas City in 1894, moved to Washington D.C. in 1901 and then, in 1960, pulled up stakes and moved to Minneapolis, where they became the Twins. The revised Senators were set up as an expansion team in 1961 and stayed in our nation’s capital until they, too, up and left for Texas ten years later.

So while I’m happy that our home team copped yet another trophy, I have to admit it would have been somewhat fitting if the name of the hard luck team from Damn Yankees would finally, however indirectly, have been associated with a World Series victory. But, hey: that’s show biz.

Casey at the Bat

Jack Norworth
Insert your own joke about
being married to Norah Bayes.

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As I’m writing this, everybody here in St. Louis has gotten World Series fever, the more acute version of the Pennant Fever everyone had while Just a Song at Twilight was enjoying a two-week run at the Missouri History Museum. Had I but known that was going to happen, I would have included that hymn to the National Pastime, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” in the show. Yes, it would have been pandering, but it would also have been a good fit. Here’s why.

To begin with, it’s a perfect example of one type of song that was central to the show: the old favorite for which everyone knows the chorus but almost nobody knows the verses. “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis” is a prime example (not only are there verses, there are a total of six of them – possibly more that were never published), but “Take Me Out” is a close second.

There are two verses to “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” and while the chorus is the same both times, the verses pretty much completely change the intent of the song. Here they are, from an original copy of the 1908 sheet music gleaned from Indiana University’s IN Harmony collection:

Katie Casey was baseball mad,
Had the fever and had it bad;
Just to root for the home town crew, every sou Katie blew.
On a Saturday her young beau
Called to see if she'd like to go,
To see a show but Miss Kate said "no, I'll tell you what you can do:"

[Chorus]

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 go,
Katie Casey knew what to do,
Just to cheer up the boys she knew,
She made the gang sing this song.

[Chorus]

Yep. In its original context it's a story song (as so many songs were a century ago) about a woman who is a die-hard baseball fan. And, like so many characters in songs of the Vaudeville era, she’s obviously Irish – a testament to how prominent Irish Americans had become in show business by then.

The other reason it would have been a good fit? Well, the music is by Albert von Tilzer. He and brother Harry (whom I reference in my opening monolog) were veritable hit song machines one hundred years ago. Albert’s list includes "(I'll Be With You) In Apple Blossom Time", "Oh By Jingo!", and "Put Your Arms Around Me Honey". His brother lays claim to "A Bird in a Gilded Cage", "Wait 'Til The Sun Shines Nellie", "I Want A Girl (Just Like The Girl That Married Dear Old Dad)", and a raft of others.

Even more interesting is that the lyrics are by Jack Norworth. That would be the same Jack Norworth who (as you’ll recall if you’ve seen the show) was the second of the five husbands of Vaudeville star Norah Bayes. He was definitely Second Banana to her when they were performing together, but after their divorce he went on to enjoy great success as both a performer and lyricist, eventually becoming an inductee in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Amusingly, “Take Me Out” was written the same year he married Bayes.

And, of course, it would have been a natural (if you’ll pardon the word) in the segment of the show that included “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis” and “Under the Anheuser Bush”.

Anyway: go, Cards! Here’s a 1908 recording of “Take Me Out” by Edward Meeker, whose voice shows up on a large number of Edison cylinders. Grab some Buds, a Ballpark Frank, and enjoy.