Meet Jack Norwoth

"Katie Casey was base ball mad.
Had the fever and had it bad;"

Every herd this before? I didn't think so, neither had I until a few years back. :D What's this have to do with Jack Norworth? Well, he wrote this, it's part of a song. A song that every American has at least herd, if not know it...Rather know the chorus to it. Have you ever sung "Shine on Harvest Moon"? Then you have sung another of Jack Norworth's songs.

Yeah, I'm sure at this point I really have you confused, I'm good at that! lol Jack Norworth was a songwriter & vaudeville performer in the early 1900s. While riding a trolley to work one day in 1908 he saw a sign that read "Baseball Today at the Polo Grounds". Hespent the next 15 minutes writing a song that would been sung thousands of times every year for the next century (or more).

The interesting thing about this is that this song was written about a sport that Jack had never seen and would not get to enjoy for another three decades. He wrote two versions of this song, leaving only the chorus the same in both versions, the chorus the part of the song that everyone sings and thinks is the entirety of the song.

Do I have you really confused now or are you just dying to find out what song I'm talking about? (Or have you all ready Goggled the Katie Casey part and know the answer?) I promise you I did not make any of this up! Look it up yourself if you don't believe me. :D

1908 version of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"

Katie Casey was baseball mad,
Had the fever and had it bad.
Just to root for the home town crew,
Ev'ry 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]
Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd;
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,
I don't care if I never get back.
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don't win, it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,
At the old ball game.

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

[Chorus]