The GRAMMY Museum has announced its upcoming exhibit "Take Me Out To The Ball Game: Popular Music And The National Pastime" opening on March 14 and running through the end of baseball season in fall 2019. The history of this deep connection is represented by the emblematic song played at the seventh-inning stretch, referenced in its title. The 1908 Edison recording of "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" by Edward Meeker with the Edison Orchestra was one of the 2019 inductees to the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame. But there is so much more to explore.
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"Baseball and popular music have been practically inseparable for the past century and a half," said Bob Santelli, the exhibit's curator and Founding Executive Director of the GRAMMY Museum. "Hundreds of songs have been written about the national pastime. And today, with ballplayers personally selecting walk-up-to-the-batter’s-box-music and with retired players like Barry Zito and Bernie Williams actually launching music careers, the baseball-music connection is stronger than ever."
A guitarist, singer/songwriter and legendary all-star pitcher, Zito and Santelli will open the exhibit together on March 14 with a discussion of that connection's historical lore, at the Museum's Clive Davis Theater. Two weeks later, March 28 is Opening Day on MLB's 2019 schedule.
But our journey starts before the 20th Century began, when baseball-themed sheet music started building the connection. By the early 1900s, baseball songs had become part of the game in the popular imagination and now, players take the field to their personally selected walk-on music.
"Take Me Out To The Ball Game: Popular Music And The National Pastime" includes prominent examples of game-themed sheet music, handwritten lyrics such as James Taylor's "Angels Of Fenway," the microphone used by MLB sportscaster Harry Caray, and the brand new Jackie Robinson Telecaster as well as other themed Fender special edition guitars.
Visit the Museum's website for details and enjoy the 2019 MLB season, with or without "peanuts and Cracker Jack."
