The Real "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"

The New York Times reports today that among the treasures to be incorporated into the audio archives of the Library of Congress is a 1908 recording of the song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" that includes the song's rarely heard second verse. But even this doesn't tell the whole story. Turns out that the only part of the song we ordinarily hear is just the chorus. The whole song actually has TWO verses and tells the story of a woman who is baseball-mad and would rather attend a baseball game than do anything else. There is also a 1927 version, but that is simply too much information to absorb. Here, then, is the 1908 version of the song in its entirety. You will have to go to Wikipedia to get a feel for the melody and to learn why the verses shown below have been completely forgotten and are, thankfully, very rarely ever sung.

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:"

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:

[repeat Chorus]