0:00

Before we get started, I want

0:02

to recommend another show, though it's not

0:04

really a podcast in the traditional sense.

0:07

It's called 12-Hour Sound Machines, and

0:09

it was created by a dad who was trying to

0:11

help his baby fall asleep at night. He

0:13

wanted relaxing sounds that would last the

0:15

whole night, without any fades or loops.

0:18

When he couldn't find any, he started making these sounds

0:20

himself. Today, over 1.3

0:23

million people use these sounds to relax

0:26

and fall asleep to. Recently, 12-Hour

0:28

Sound Machines made a custom sound

0:30

for 20,000 hertz. It's called Purple

0:32

Noise, which is inspired by our swirly

0:35

purple icon. To hear a taste of

0:37

some soothing purple noise, stick around

0:39

until the end of the episode.

0:48

You're listening to 20,000 hertz. Safe!

0:54

Nothing says summer quite like the crack of a

0:57

baseball bat. Like

1:00

most major sports, baseball is full of iconic sounds.

1:02

There are the calls of the umpire, To

1:04

your right! the

1:07

vendors selling popcorn and hot dogs, Not a ball game without

1:09

a hot dog. Who wants a hot dog? the

1:13

commentary from the announcers, It's at hard

1:15

to right field. This ball is back and it is gone.

1:21

But

1:23

there's one sound that's completely unique

1:26

to baseball. Or should I say, one song.

1:29

This song is so well known that virtually

1:32

every American can sing it, whether we

1:34

like baseball or not. At least, we

1:36

can sing the chorus. The verses,

1:38

well, that's another story.

1:41

Here's Lizzie Peabody, host of the Smithsonian

1:44

Side Door podcast.

1:48

On July 16th, 2008, Dan

1:50

Piazza got up from his desk at the Smithsonian's

1:53

National Postal Museum and left work

1:55

early. He hopped on the metro and set off

1:57

across town. Tucked in his bag,

1:59

a personal invitation to

2:02

an event at the White House. Well,

2:04

you had to be on a list and have an invitation.

2:07

Anyone who had an invitation had to submit

2:09

their social security number in advance before

2:13

coming on to the South Lawn of the White House.

2:17

There on the lawn, he joined the gathering

2:20

crowd and took a seat under the glaring

2:22

summer sun. It was hot.

2:25

It was very hot. They gave out

2:28

little fans because it was so hot.

2:31

And how many people, about how many people were

2:33

there, do you think? I'm certain there were

2:35

hundreds. There might have been thousands of people

2:38

on the South Lawn of the White House watching

2:40

this T-ball tournament.

2:42

Hundreds, maybe thousands of

2:44

people gathered in 90-degree heat to

2:47

watch T-ball. It's kind of like watching the

2:49

pite-sized World Series. I mean, these

2:51

were really little kids. As

2:54

delightful as it is to watch six-year-olds heave

2:56

bats and try to hit dingers, that's not

2:58

the reason Dan was there.

3:05

At long last, during the seventh inning stretch,

3:07

came the moment he'd been waiting for. President

3:09

George W. Bush stood with the Postmaster

3:11

General. Between them, an easel

3:14

draped in a blue cloth bearing the U.S.

3:16

Postal Service insignia.

3:19

The Postmaster said a few words. I

3:21

can't think of a better venue than right here in the White

3:23

House. It's the most prestigious

3:25

field. And then at the appointed time, all

3:27

the dignitaries sort of tugged on me

3:30

on the covering and it came down and the design

3:32

of the stamp was revealed for the first

3:34

time. We're going to unveil

3:37

the stamp. They unveiled the U.S. Postal Service's

3:39

newest stamp. Did

3:42

everyone ooh and aah applaud? Yes.

3:44

Oh yes. It was quite a moment. This

3:49

is a local news report from that day. The

3:52

100th anniversary of baseball's

3:54

anthem, the United States Postal Service

3:56

issued the Take Me Out to the Ball

3:58

Game stamp.

4:00

The Take Me Out to the Ballgame stamp showed

4:02

an old-timey baseball player, front

4:05

and center. And then behind

4:07

him you see the diamond. It says

4:09

Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and there

4:11

are a few bars of musical

4:13

notes. I can't read music, so I assume it's the song.

4:16

But then very patriotic

4:19

red, white, and blue shields in the corners. And

4:21

I see in the bottom left corner it says 1908, and

4:23

in the bottom right corner it says Right,

4:26

yeah, marking the centennial of the song itself.

4:29

And there on the White House lawn, all

4:31

the T-ball players and the spectators and the

4:33

president himself sang together.

4:36

Because wherever there's baseball, there's Take

4:38

Me Out to the Ballgame. The song is ranked in

4:40

the top three most recognizable tunes

4:43

of the 20th century,

4:44

next to the national anthem and Happy

4:46

Birthday.

4:47

Baseball fan or not, you know this

4:49

song. Or at least,

4:51

you think you do.

4:53

Because the song you think of as Take Me

4:55

Out to the Ballgame

4:56

isn't the full song anyway.

4:58

It's just the chorus to the song. The

5:01

full song tells the story of a woman

5:04

named Katie Casey. Katie

5:06

Casey was baseball man,

5:09

had the fever and

5:11

had it bad. Just

5:13

to root for the hometown

5:16

crew every suit, Katie

5:18

blew.

5:20

This is George Boswick, retired

5:22

chief of the music division for the New York

5:24

Public Library for the Performing Arts.

5:27

And he also has a very nice singing voice.

5:29

He says the gist of the song is this. It's

5:32

about an independent woman

5:34

who wants to go to the

5:36

ballgame. Here's an early recording

5:38

of the song, recorded by the Haydn Quartet

5:40

in 1908. Katie Casey

5:42

was

5:42

baseball man, had

5:45

the fever and had it bad.

5:47

Just to root for the hometown

5:50

crew every suit, Katie

5:52

blew. George

5:55

showed me some pictures that went along with the song

5:57

that sort of illustrate the story it tells.

6:00

In the first picture, you've got Katie

6:02

Casey's bow coming to her house

6:04

and knocking on the door, and she's reading

6:07

this newspaper that says in

6:09

big letters, baseball extra, and she's

6:11

totally immersed in the sports pages.

6:14

And he comes to the door, and you

6:16

can see that they're talking.

6:18

And the words to the song say, on

6:20

a Saturday, her young bow called to see

6:22

if she'd like to go to see a show. But

6:25

Miss Kate said, no. I'll

6:29

tell you what you can do. Take

6:30

me out to the ballgame.

6:42

And then you see Katie Casey in the stands,

6:45

you know. And then you see Katie Casey

6:47

getting all riled up and putting her fist

6:49

in the air and shouting. One, two,

6:52

three, break her out at the all-a-more

6:55

game.

6:56

And she's surrounded by men. And they

7:00

show scenes of the field and the players.

7:02

She's got the two and

7:03

two. Katie Casey knew

7:06

what to do. No, just to

7:08

cheer up the boys she knew. She

7:10

made the gang sing this song. She

7:13

made the gang sing this song.

7:16

So it's a gang. So

7:18

she's already in tight with the gang. You

7:20

know what I mean? Yeah. So there it is. There

7:23

it is. She's in with the crowd, but

7:25

she's making them do what she wants.

7:40

Now, today, the idea of a woman hollering

7:42

at a baseball game isn't unusual. I've

7:44

done it myself.

7:45

But at the turn of the 20th century, it

7:47

was.

7:49

Ballparks were rough and rowdy places. And

7:51

George told me many men objected to having

7:53

women there at all. So why would some

7:56

men have resented the idea of women

7:58

at the baseball game?

7:59

all because they were encroaching onto

8:01

the grounds of their

8:03

so-called exclusive men's club,

8:06

you know? And that, to have

8:08

a woman doing that in 1908

8:11

was not the usual thing.

8:13

Songwriter Jack Norworth wrote the lyrics

8:16

to Take Me Out to the Ballgame in 1908. It

8:19

was the year the model T Ford came out. Well-to-do

8:21

ladies carried parasols, wore sweeping

8:24

skirts, and truly enormous hats,

8:27

which probably didn't help their popularity at the

8:29

ballpark. Women were also becoming

8:31

more independent, gaining more access to education

8:33

and the workforce.

8:35

George Boswick believes Jack Norworth's

8:37

Katie Casey had all the qualities

8:39

of a modern woman, and the song itself

8:42

carried a feminist message. But

8:44

not everyone agrees.

8:46

He was not a crusader.

8:48

He was a man

8:51

who understood that his livelihood

8:53

was dependent on selling

8:56

sheet music.

8:56

This is author Andy Strasberg.

8:59

He literally wrote the book on this song, along

9:02

with co-authors Tim Wiles and Robert Thompson.

9:04

It's called Baseball's Greatest Hit,

9:07

the story of Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Let's

9:09

go back a little bit. So

9:11

who was Jack Norworth? Jack

9:14

Norworth was a composer.

9:17

He was an entertainer. He was a singer.

9:20

Jack wrote tens of thousands

9:22

of songs.

9:23

And Take Me Out to the Ballgame was

9:25

just one of them.

9:26

Norworth claimed he'd never even been to a baseball game when

9:28

he wrote the song. He was just rumbling

9:30

along on the New York City subway one day when

9:32

he saw a poster advertising a baseball

9:34

game. And all of a sudden, the idea

9:37

hit him. And on the back of an envelope,

9:39

he scribbled the lyrics. But

9:41

the song was never intended for

9:44

the ballpark.

9:44

Most everyone is going to think

9:46

that, well, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, it's

9:49

sung at a baseball game. Well, that's

9:51

not how it began. It began

9:54

in vaudeville.

10:00

of American entertainment in the early 20th century. They

10:03

were like variety shows, featuring theatrical

10:05

acts, comedy, musical performances,

10:08

and dancing. Andy says to

10:10

make his song a hit, Jack Norworth

10:13

wanted to get his music into as many vaudeville

10:15

acts as possible, and he was good at that.

10:17

I think he was a marketing genius,

10:20

and maybe the best example that

10:22

I can give of that is that

10:25

on the sheet music of Take Me Out to

10:27

the Ballgame, there is a space

10:30

on the cover of that sheet music that

10:33

a photograph representing

10:35

a popular vaudevillian would

10:38

be seen.

10:39

So he printed sheet music showing

10:41

photos of over 30 different vaudeville

10:44

performers. He worked out a

10:46

deal with these different vaudevillians,

10:49

I'll promote you if you promote

10:52

my song.

10:53

These vaudevillians would incorporate the song

10:55

into their acts, and those acts

10:57

toured the country. Some of

11:00

these vaudeville shows actually featured professional

11:02

baseball players. Since playing baseball

11:05

was seasonal work, some players would join

11:07

these tours to make money in the off-season.

11:09

Even Babe Ruth got in on the action. At

11:12

these shows, the players would wow the

11:14

audience with stories from their career, and

11:16

sometimes even sing and dance. And

11:19

since Take Me Out to the Ballgame was a vaudeville

11:21

hit, it seems plausible that you could go

11:23

to a show and hear the song performed

11:25

by these ballplayers.

11:30

Meanwhile, you could also hear Take Me

11:32

Out to the Ballgame in silent movie houses

11:35

during intermission.

11:37

While the projectionists changed the film reels,

11:39

the pianist would play the song, and slides

11:41

projected on the film screen showed the lyrics

11:43

so everyone could sing along to the chorus.

11:50

The

11:50

spotlight was now on the people

11:53

who were in the audience. And that,

11:55

I think, was a good part of why

11:57

it became so popular.

11:59

and just covered the United

12:02

States. The song went viral.

12:04

Within months of its publication, three different

12:07

recordings of it broke the top 10 in

12:09

the music charts. It spread across the

12:11

country.

12:16

Here's one version performed by Edward

12:18

Meeker. Hey, D.K.T.,

12:20

so how the game? Do

12:23

the players buy their first name?

12:25

Oh, the umpire, he was wrong

12:28

all along. Good and strong.

12:31

When the...

12:32

So in 1908, there's no Spotify,

12:34

there's no Internet, there's no vinyl records,

12:37

commercial radio isn't a thing yet. How

12:39

did a song go viral in those days?

12:42

First of all, you have to understand the business

12:45

of music. A music store

12:47

had sheet music

12:48

that surrounded an

12:51

upright piano in the middle of a store.

12:53

In those days, if you wanted to listen to music at

12:55

home, you pretty much had to play it yourself on

12:57

the piano.

12:58

So if you heard a song that you liked, say

13:01

at a show or at a movie theater, you'd

13:03

go to a music store and look for

13:05

it amid the shelves of colorful sheet

13:07

music. Which

13:08

was designed in order to capture

13:10

people's attention. Like wine

13:13

labels. Exactly. So people

13:15

would go in and pick out some of the

13:17

sheet music and then they'd walk to

13:19

the middle of the store

13:21

and hand it over

13:23

to somebody who was playing their piano

13:25

and then they would listen to it.

13:27

And if they liked the song, they'd pay ten cents and

13:29

take it home with them.

13:30

And a lot of people went home with Take

13:33

Me Out to the Ball Game.

13:35

Over six million, to be exact.

13:42

Now,

13:42

it's entirely possible that Jack Norworth wrote

13:44

a song he thought would be a hit with no feminist

13:47

message at all. But George Boswick,

13:49

who sang for us earlier, says, there's one

13:51

more piece of the puzzle

13:53

called Trixie for Gansa.

13:56

In 1907, the year before he

13:59

wrote Take Me Out to the Ball Game,

13:59

Norworth runs into Trixie

14:02

for Ganza, who was a very

14:04

well-known vaudeville star.

14:06

Here's a recording of Trixie performing a

14:08

vaudeville number with a double bass. A little

14:12

girl named Lula went down

14:14

to hum the Lula to learn to

14:16

do the hula, hula hula. Besides

14:20

being a vaudeville star, Trixie for Ganza

14:22

was a huge activist,

14:25

feminist in the suffrage movement.

14:27

Remember, this was the early 1900s.

14:29

The women's suffrage movement was gaining momentum

14:31

in New York City,

14:32

and Trixie was part of it.

14:34

She was attending rallies at City

14:36

Hall. She was giving speeches, and

14:38

they began a heated affair.

14:45

Norworth may not have been a known women's

14:48

rights activist, but he was definitely

14:50

keeping amorous Congress

14:53

with a woman who was at the time

14:55

that he wrote Take Me Out to the Ballgame.

14:57

And the independent vocal

14:59

politically-minded Trixie for Ganza, like

15:01

Katie Casey, would probably have

15:04

felt pretty comfortable at a ballgame.

15:11

They say imitation is the highest

15:14

form of flattery. And if that's true,

15:16

Jack Norworth must have felt pretty

15:18

flattered. Because Take Me Out to the Ballgame spurred

15:21

the production of 22 new baseball

15:23

songs the year after it was published. And

15:26

a lot of those songs seized

15:28

on the theme of Ladies at

15:30

the Ballpark. It

15:31

unleashed a flood of baseball

15:34

songs about taking your girl

15:36

to the game. George

15:46

rattled just a few examples off the top of his head. You

15:49

have Take Your Girl to the Ballgame in 1908,

15:51

the baseball game of love

15:53

in 1909. Then you have two

15:56

songs called I Want to Go to the Ballgame.

15:59

song Back to the Bleachers for Vine,

16:02

then 1911, I'm baseball

16:05

crazy too. You've made a home

16:07

run with me. I've been making

16:09

a grandstand play for you.

16:12

I've been making

16:14

a grandstand play

16:17

for you.

16:20

But these copycat songs all feature

16:22

romance at the ballpark.

16:24

The women aren't there because they love baseball. They're

16:26

there

16:27

for a man. They're all about,

16:29

I want to go to the ballgame with you, my

16:31

boyfriend, because I love what

16:33

you love, you know? And you look so

16:36

great when you're at the ballgame. I want to be in the ballpark

16:39

with you. They basically

16:42

wrote love songs set at a baseball

16:44

game, but it's still about getting the girl or

16:46

getting the guy, as opposed to a woman

16:49

in a position of leadership. Yeah, absolutely.

16:51

Maybe the best example of this is a song by George

16:54

M. Cohan, which came out just days

16:56

after Take Me Out to the Ballgame.

16:58

It's called

16:59

Take Your Girl to the Ballgame.

17:01

At the shout of play ball,

17:04

I'm just daffy that soul as

17:06

I sit with my queen like

17:09

a king with her

17:11

pencil in hand.

17:12

She's got a scorecard in

17:14

her hands and a pencil. He's

17:17

going to teach her to keep score.

17:21

Take your girl to the ballgame,

17:25

any old ass or new.

17:30

And the later verses say that

17:32

he wants 10 kids and he wants

17:34

nine of them boys so he can have a baseball

17:36

team. And by the

17:38

time his wife's name is 80

17:41

years old, she's still going to be grateful

17:43

for that day at the ballpark

17:45

when she was taught the rules of the game.

17:48

Wow. It's a crazy

17:50

song, you know.

18:00

all the other songs about women at the ballpark. There

18:02

was not another song that was written

18:05

with the same message of

18:07

Take Me Out to the Ballgame. It gave empowerment

18:10

in a song for a woman to

18:12

attend the game, not only as

18:14

an equal participant, but

18:17

in leading the crowd rooting

18:19

for the home team.

18:20

It's a very powerful message.

18:23

Whether it was savvy marketing, its

18:25

feminist message, or the catchy sing-along

18:27

chorus, Take Me Out to the Ballgame struck

18:29

a chord with Americans.

18:45

George says the baseball-mad Katie Casey

18:48

was the first person ever to sing the song

18:50

at the ballpark. She did it in

18:52

the song. But it would take a few more

18:54

decades for everyone else to catch up.

18:56

So how did this song go from

18:58

being a vaudeville hit to a staple

19:01

at Major League Baseball games? And

19:03

what about that other famous baseball tune?

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22:28

Take Me Out to the Ball Game is the most

22:31

well-known piece of baseball music, but

22:33

it's not the only one. For instance,

22:36

there's the classic Charge Fanfare, which

22:38

was composed in 1946 by a junior at

22:41

the University of Southern California.

22:45

That Little Diddy was written on the fly by Thomas

22:48

Walker, who played trumpet in the marching band.

22:50

It was likely inspired by the first called

22:52

bugle piece that's used in horse racing and

22:55

by the US military.

23:03

Pretty soon, the Charge Fanfare became

23:05

a staple at USC football games.

23:08

Then in 1959, the general manager of

23:11

a new football team went to one of their games.

23:13

When he heard the chant, he liked it so

23:16

much that he decided to name his team

23:18

the Chargers. The Chargers in their

23:20

first year won the Western Division Championship.

23:23

These days, that fanfare is commonly played

23:26

on the organ at hockey and baseball games.

23:28

It usually starts with an ascending intro

23:31

that ramps up into the main melody. Here's

23:33

organist Nancy B. Heffley playing

23:35

it at Dodger Stadium.

23:53

But while shouting Charge with the crowd is

23:56

great, it can't compete with belting

23:58

out the chorus of a song.

26:05

Jerry Lee Lewis played

26:08

take me out to the ballgame in

26:10

a rocking Way that

26:13

is still to this day So

26:15

incredibly hip

26:25

And when the camera pulls out You

26:28

can see Neil Sedaka playing take

26:30

me out to the ballgame on a piano.

26:32

That's on top of Jerry

26:35

Lee Lewis's Piano, it

26:38

doesn't get any better than that

26:44

But it wasn't until 1977 the

26:47

take me out to the ballgame Transformed from

26:50

American classic to ballpark

26:52

ritual with

26:53

the help of a woman named Nancy

26:56

Nancy

26:58

Faust was 23 years old when she started

27:00

playing organ for the Chicago White Sox And

27:03

you've actually been hearing her play all throughout

27:05

this episode

27:06

and she says she feels a bit of kinship

27:09

with the fictional Katie Casey

27:11

I can relate a little bit because when I got my job

27:13

in 1970 There was a petition

27:16

circulated that this is

27:18

not the place for a woman the role

27:20

of a woman should have really Yes,

27:23

what would a woman know about baseball and they were kind

27:25

of right I mean I did learn though Nancy

27:29

is a legend among ballpark Organists

27:32

and has been called the greatest of the last half

27:34

century

27:35

But when she first got the job, she didn't

27:37

know a whole lot about baseball What she did

27:39

know is how to play just about any song

27:41

she'd ever heard by ear and this

27:43

talent along with her sense of Fun was a big

27:45

part of what made her so good at her job

27:48

It became a game to associate players

27:50

names with songs like

27:52

what's an example Well,

27:54

let's say if the pot players name was juicy

27:56

I played the theme from I love Lucy or

27:59

I say a player dated Madonna, so I play Madonna

28:02

songs. Speaker ran out in the field,

28:04

I play Is That All There Is. Cat

28:06

runs out in the field, I catch Scratch Fever.

28:09

So it was just something in a lyric,

28:11

I pick out a word in a lyric, that was associated

28:14

with whatever was happening.

28:15

Nancy was playful and she used the organ to

28:18

add her own musical commentary to the games.

28:20

A year after Nancy started playing ballpark

28:22

organ, the White Sox hired legendary

28:25

baseball commentator, Harry Carey.

28:27

I knew how popular he was, so I

28:29

was out in center field bleachers and I brought a small

28:32

radio so I could listen to his broadcast

28:34

during the game and maybe gain some insight,

28:37

you know, just to terminology. And

28:39

you were still learning about the game at that point too,

28:42

right? Exactly, exactly. But

28:44

I remember hearing him on the radio

28:46

say, oh my gosh, this game is going so

28:48

slowly. They're gonna have to carry

28:50

me out of here, he said. And when I heard that,

28:52

it was just a knee-jerk reaction.

28:55

Was I played carry

28:57

me back to Old Three Chinnies?

29:01

And when he heard that, he said, oh, listen to the organist, White,

29:04

even the organist wants to get out of here. Well,

29:06

he didn't even know who I was at the time.

29:14

Nancy got Harry Carey's attention that day and

29:17

he told management to move her from way

29:19

out in center field to directly behind

29:21

home plate. That's when he said, why don't

29:23

we bring her back where she can be enjoyed

29:26

and seen more?

29:27

From her new vantage point, Nancy could see

29:29

into Harry Carey's booth and the two could

29:31

play off each other. The owner of the White

29:33

Sox, Bill Vek, noticed that whenever

29:35

Nancy played Take Me Out to the Ball game, Harry

29:38

Carey sang along to himself. That's

29:40

how it started. Harry

29:42

would sing along with Nancy Faust. But

29:45

owner Bill Vek, new announcer Harry Carey,

29:48

wouldn't agree to sing in front of the whole stadium.

29:50

So he got sneaky.

29:53

Bill Vek snuck a microphone in

29:55

there. And the next thing

29:57

Harry Carey knew is when he started to sing

29:59

along. singing, it was going out over

30:01

the PA and the fans

30:04

joined in. And

30:10

as soon as Harry Carey heard

30:13

himself, he couldn't stop and everyone

30:15

was looking at him.

30:16

That sounds like a new version

30:18

of my worst nightmare. They

30:27

heard this fella thing that was not intimidating,

30:29

it wasn't that good, but he conveyed this hearty

30:32

atmosphere and convinced everybody they're

30:34

having a

30:34

good time. And

30:41

it just stopped, that whole atmosphere changed. It

30:43

was very electric. That's what made

30:46

it such a tradition. Pretty soon people

30:48

are saying, well, I can't leave even though we're losing 12

30:50

to 1, gotta wait to sing with Harry, then I'll

30:52

go home. When Harry left the White

30:55

Sox and went cross town and started doing the games

30:57

for the Chicago

30:58

Cubs,

31:07

that was broadcast nationally.

31:10

They would not go away for a

31:12

commercial.

31:13

The whole country could hear him sing. And

31:16

I think that just was contagious. It's

31:18

a song that belongs, in a sense, to

31:20

the entire game, not to a particular

31:23

league or a particular team or even a particular

31:26

player.

31:27

Smithsonian's National Postal Museum Chief

31:29

Curator Dan Piazza again.

31:31

Do

31:31

you know of many other postage stamps that

31:33

feature songs? I

31:36

can't really think of any.

31:39

No, no, this is probably

31:41

the only US postage stamp that honors

31:44

a specific song.

31:49

From its earliest days, Take Me Out to the Ballgame

31:52

was a song meant for many voices. And

31:55

Andy Strasberg thinks that's a big part of why

31:57

it's lasted so long.

31:58

a ballgame

32:01

or a movie, now

32:03

the audience gets to be the star.

32:05

And so the spotlight is shine

32:08

on them.

32:08

And just like that, Strangers

32:11

become an ensemble. That

32:14

was the great thing about the song is that no matter

32:16

what our differences were, this is something we

32:18

could all agree on. It just unified everybody.

32:20

It

32:21

was very positive.

32:24

Of all the baseball songs, and we know

32:26

now there were many, this

32:28

is the one that has endured, from

32:30

the vaudeville stage to the White House lawn.

32:33

George Boswick says the original verses

32:35

to the song may have faded away, but

32:38

it still carries a message.

32:40

It has this democracy built

32:43

into it. It's an invitation for

32:45

everyone to be part of the game.

32:58

Take us home, Nancy.

33:10

That story came from Side Door, a podcast

33:12

from the Smithsonian. On that show,

33:15

host Lizzie Peabody sneaks listeners through

33:17

the Smithsonian's side door to search for

33:19

stories that can't be found anywhere else.

33:22

In recent episodes, they've investigated

33:24

a mysterious note hidden in a violin

33:26

case and explored the impact of

33:28

a groundbreaking emoji. To hear

33:30

more, subscribe to Side Door right

33:33

here in your podcast player.

33:34

Extra special thanks to the magnificent

33:37

Nancy Faust, who scored today's

33:39

episode with her organ playing. Thank you

33:41

to the Red Skies Music Ensemble for

33:43

sharing their recordings of those early baseball

33:46

songs you heard. This episode was produced

33:48

by Justin O'Neil, James Morrison,

33:50

Natalie Boyd, Ann Canannan, Caitlin

33:52

Shafer, Jess Soddick, Lara Koch,

33:55

Sharon Bryant, and Tammy O'Neil. Extra

33:57

support comes from John, Jason, and Genevieve.

33:59

at PRX. Our show

34:02

is mixed by Tarek Fuda. 20,000 Hertz

34:06

is produced out of the sound design studios of De facto

34:08

Sound. Hear more at de facto

34:10

sound dot com. Additional

34:12

material for this episode was written and produced

34:15

by Andrew Anderson and Casey Emerly.

34:17

It was sound designed and mixed by Brandon

34:19

Pratt. I'm Dallas Taylor. Thanks

34:22

for listening.

34:31

The doorbell to my home plays

34:33

Take Me Out to the Ball Game. Wait

34:35

a minute. Doesn't everybody's

34:37

doorbell play Take Me Out to the Ball Game?

34:40

Beeping.

34:57

Congratulations to Davis Caraway for

34:59

correctly guessing last episode's mystery

35:01

sound.

35:06

That's the Major League Baseball theme on

35:08

Fox Sports. It was written by Scott

35:11

Schrier who also composed the NFL

35:13

theme for Fox.

35:18

In 2010, the NFL theme actually

35:21

replaced the official theme for all Fox

35:23

Sports broadcasts, including

35:25

the MLB theme, for nine years. After

35:28

almost a decade of sitting on the bench, the

35:30

MLB theme made a triumphant comeback in 2020.

35:33

And here's this episode's mystery

35:35

sound.

35:36

Howdy, dude. This is Peter McCallister.

35:39

If you know what that sound

35:41

is, submit your guess to the web address

35:43

mystery dot 20k dot org. Anyone

35:46

who guesses it right will be entered to win a super

35:48

soft 20,000 Hertz t-shirt. If

35:51

you're not really a t-shirt person, we have some

35:53

pretty slick 20k hats in the store right now. They

35:55

have our cool logo on it, and you can choose between

35:58

a classic cap, a flat brim cap, and a hat.

35:59

and even a beanie. Check them out

36:02

at 20k.org slash

36:03

shop.

36:07

As promised, here's some relaxing purple

36:09

noise from the 12-Hour Sound Machines podcast.

36:15

Purple noise is a carefully blended mix of

36:17

two of the most popular sounds on 12-Hour

36:20

Sound Machines. The first is a deep,

36:22

soothing tone called brown noise. The

36:25

second is called violet noise, which

36:27

is meant to cover up the ear ringing that people

36:29

with tinnitus experience. The

36:32

result is full-frequency sound that should

36:34

help you unwind no matter what's going on around

36:36

you. So take a deep breath and let

36:38

yourself relax.

36:59

To hear the full 12-Hour version along

37:01

with lots of other sounds like this, subscribe

37:04

to 12-Hour Sound Machines right here in your

37:06

podcast player.