The baseball song you didn't know you knew

from King Kaufman's Sports Daily:

June 19, 2007 | Ever heard of Katie Casey? Even if you haven't, you've probably sung a song about her dozens if not hundreds of times. In fact, you probably know the lyrics of that song by heart, or at least the chorus of it.

"Katie Casey was baseball mad/Had the fever and had it bad/Just to root for the hometown crew/Every game Katie blew," it begins.

Familiar? No? Here's the rest of the verse: "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.'"

In "The Baseball Songbook," musicologist and folk singer Jerry Silverman collects Katie's tale and 40 others from the first half-century or so of baseball history. The book features sheet music from songs written between 1867 and 1922, as well as an introduction to each song by Silverman and a CD of him singing unadorned versions of the first verse and chorus of each, accompanying himself on the guitar.

It's a fascinating look at a time when baseball songs were a staple of mainstream popular music, none more popular than that one about Katie Casey. And what is it that Katie wanted her beau to do? Let's go to the chorus:

"Take me out to the ballgame ..."

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