The 1st Baseball Song

[Paulwny]

It was a polka.

http://ampoleagle.com/the-first-song-written-about-baseball-was-a-polka-p12759-231.htm

[FielderJones]

Figures that the first baseball song is a polka.

Technically, Take Me Out to the Ball Game is a waltz.

[TDog]

Figures that the first baseball song is a polka.

Technically, Take Me Out to the Ball Game is a waltz.

You're right. I had never considered that it was written in three-four time. It was written for part of a vaudeville act, so it makes sense. It was decades the composers actually attended their first games, so maybe the subject was something of an accident.. I'm too lazy to figure out the time signature in my favorite adaptation of the song, done by the novelty band Bruce Springstone. Carly Simon preserved the time signature in her adaptation. I don't know if Dave Brubeck every experimented with the time signature of the song. Take Five Out to the Ballgame might have been interesting.

I have no idea what Harry Caray was doing, but it could have been a waltz.