TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME^©

Live 13 Jun 1973 version

Spoken intro: There I was, in right field. There was a make-up game. It was a nice sunny morning... I had just rolled out of bed... I was standing out there thinking, "I hope nothing comes to me." No sooner did I saw that, than whssh, ooh! Here it came, highest ball I've ever seen in my life. It was scary. So I started running for it... Got underneath that devil... Down it came, glanced off my glove, and hit me in the head. Very embarrassing. I made believe I was knocked out and they carried me off the field. I'm wearing earphones up there, so take!

Me out to the ballgame (you can all sing, you know all the words)
Take me out to the crowd
Go buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks
I don't care if I never get back
So we root (root) root root for the home team (home team)
If they don't win it's a shame (it sucks!)
'Cause it's one
Two (two)
Three strikes you're out at the old ball game

Page last updated: 03 Mar 2008

Lyrics by Jack Norworth and music by Albert Von Tilzer, this famous baseball song dates back to 1908. For more history, check out the song's original version.

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band played a snippet of TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME on 13 Jun 1973 at Broome County Arena, Binghamton, NY, and the above lyrics are for that renditions. That was a double bill show with Bruce and his band opening for headliners Chicago -- their 10th of 12 consecutive shows opening for Chicago. A poor quality audience recording of this performance is circulating.

After that sole 1973 performance of TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band would perform the song again three decades later, three times during The Rising Tour:

• 06 Aug 2003 at PNC Park, Pittsburgh, PA
• 06 Sep 2003 at Fenway Park, Boston, MA
• 07 Sep 2003 at Fenway Park, Boston, MA

On these these three dates, TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME opened the show. It was an instrumental with only Danny Frederici on organ -- the Pittsburg performance had Nils Lofgren, Roy Bittan, and Danny, all on accordion.

Audio for the 07 Sep 2003 performance was included on "Night Of The Living Boss", a bonus feature on the Live In Barcelona DVD.

A Springsteen-styled TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME was recorded and released by Bruce Springstone. For more details, check out Bruce Springstone's version for more details.

List of available versions of TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME on this website:

• Live 13 Jun 1973 version
• Original version
• Bruce Springstone's version

Thanks Jake (ol'catfishinthelake from BTX and Greasy Lake) for the lyrics help.