Has Baseball Stumbled? Has America Stumbled?

“Take me out to the Ball Game”

Baseball’s (unofficial) National Anthem

Wikipedia Commons – 1924

The composer of the music to America’s beloved Baseball song, Take Me Out to the Ball Game, was Albert Von Tilzer.  His real name, Albert Gumm was shortened by his Jewish Polish immigrant parents from Gumbinsky. He changed it again for “professional reasons” to the non-Jewish-sounding name Albert Von Tilzer.  Albert was a successful popular song composer.

He was born in the heartland of America, Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1878.

I had never heard of Gumm or Von Tilzer.  Everyone who has ever been to a baseball game knows the song Take Me Out to the Ball Game.  I knew it and loved it, as do millions of American baseball fans.

I was introduced to Albert while brainstorming with the executive director of a large Indiana historical society about possible marker projects. Looking further into his story, I discovered that no baseball field, major, minor anywhere had an interpretive marker telling the story of Take Me Out to the Ball Game.

It was a no-brainer of an opportunity. As president of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation, we put up historical markers all over the country reflecting on the commonality of the American story and how Jews have been part of it from forever.

Vol Tilzer wrote the music to the song. His buddy, Jack Norworth, wrote the words.  Von Tilzer was Jewish.  Norworth was Protestant.  Take Me Out to the Ball Game brought them together.  Baseball brings all Americans of every shape, size, color, religion, or way they part their hair, together.

Calls went out to Ball Clubs, big and small, with an offer to be gifted an interpretive National Park Service table/kiosk marker that will proudly tell Ball Park visitors, game attendees, everyone, the story of the great American baseball song.

A big break came when the president of a major league team reviewed the idea and wanted a marker. He did not want it at his hometown stadium; he wanted it proudly displayed at his team’s museum.

I was ecstatic. This is what sports and baseball is all about, bringing Americans together even if they don’t agree if the Umpire is Blind or not.

The Museum Director returned calls and emails as the initial text was hammered out. Then silence.

Repeated contacts to the front and back offices of the baseball team went dead after the text was shared.  The gift to America’s game suddenly was ghosted.

I was not stubborn or took things personally. I had a career in sales; with lots of rejections, you move on. I contacted over 20 ball clubs, major and minor, and their stadiums; initial contacts went well, then ghosting. A friend contacted his childhood friend, the mayor of a major American city. The mayor rejected the gift outright.

Finally, the manager of a stadium agreed to meet me and discuss the idea.

It only takes one door to open before others might open.

We walked the grounds of his stadium and agreed on a site near the main gate for the marker. Back in his office, I reviewed the process and how JASHP will pay for everything. I showed him the text again.  He read it slowly, carefully.

He asked me one question. He was fine with the marker and the text, but… “Can I remove the word ‘Jew’?”  I told him, “No.”…

We said goodbye.  He asked for a few weeks. His PR people will get back to me.  They never did.

After twenty years of working on historical interpretive markers and projects in 43 states and eight countries, my experience has been a success ratio of 1:1—one success to one failure.

The ratio has changed dramatically since October 7. My ratio is now three failures to every one success.

Something fundamental has changed in America since the massacre of Israelis on October 7.  The word “Jew” has become toxic.

The word Jewish appears only once in the text of the proposed marker.

Is the text too Jewish?

Take Me Out To The Ball Game was the 1908 team effort of two friends, Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer. Both men had musical backgrounds; Norworth’s Dad was the Choir Director at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. Von Tilzer was a Jewish man from Indianapolis who composed popular songs.

Norworth, riding the subway to work, saw a sign, Baseball today – Polo Grounds. He imagined a story about Katie Casey. Katie was asked out on a date. She agreed, but only if she could go to the Ball Game. She wanted to root, root, root for the home team. She wanted to eat some peanuts and Cracker Jack.  She didn’t care if she ever came back. And if they didn’t win, it would be a shame because it was one, two, three strikes you’re out at the old Ball Game.

Katie was enthusiastic and knowledgeable about Baseball. She wanted to sit in the stands. She did not want to be left behind, only to mind the home. Norworth had thrown a societal curveball way ahead of its time.

Norworth asked Von Tilzer to put the lyrics to music. They promoted the song to singers, vaudeville theaters, and Silent Movie Houses. Audiences sang along.

It quickly became a national hit.

Baseball’s song has been featured in over 1,200 movies, television shows, and commercials. It’s been recorded by more than 400 artists in every musical genre.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game was first sung at a major league game during the 1934 World Series, the St. Louis Cardinals vs. Detroit. Cardinal outfielder Pepper Martin sang it to the thrill of the crowd. The Cardinals went on to win the series.

The 7^th inning stretch has been part of Baseball tradition since at least 1869. Bill Veeck owned the Chicago White Sox in 1976. He observed beloved Sox sportscaster Harry Carey silently singing the song during the stretch. His mike was off.  Veeck secretly rigged Carey’s booth. The next time Carey sang during the “Stretch,” his far-from-professional voice boomed across the stadium. The fans loved it.

Singing Take Me Out to the Ball game during the 7^th inning stretch has become a national tradition.”

Has Baseball stumbled?  Has America stumbled since October 7?