“Take Me Out” to the Stamp Dedication Ceremony Postal Service to dedicate baseball-themed stamp

This 2008 stamp issuance commemorates the 100th anniversary of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” one of the most popular baseball songs of all time. For decades, the song’s catchy chorus has been part of the musical tradition at ballparks around the country, especially during the seventh-inning stretch.

This 42-cent stamp was created by Richard Sheaff. Since 1983, he has been a design consultant to the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee, and in that capacity has been responsible for the design or art direction of more than 300 U.S. postage stamps.

Jack Norworth, a successful vaudeville entertainer and songwriter, wrote “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” in 1908 on some scrap paper on a train ride to Manhattan. Norworth provided those paper scrap lyrics to Albert Von Tilzer, who composed the music, which in turn was published by the York Music Company. Before the year was over, a hit song was born.

Jack Norworth spent 15 minutes writing this classic, which today is sung during the seventh inning stretch at nearly every ball park in the country.

The original, handwritten lyrics of Norworth and Von Tilzer’s most celebrated collaboration now reside among the treasured collections of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.