Baseball Song Reincarnated as Postage Stamp

Unveiling Set For Wednesday at Powerball Park

CHARLESTON, WV — When the Columbus Catfish take on West Virginia Power at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday, July 16 at WV Powerball Park, minor league fans will be in for a nostalgic baseball treat.

A 42-cent stamp honoring the legendary song — “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” — will be unveiled by Charleston Postmaster Jon Litton during the game. The song is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

One of the most popular baseball songs of all time, the Postal Service used a vintage 1880 “trade card” to create this timeless treasure honoring the game of baseball and its seventh-inning tradition.

The song, with its catchy chorus, has a wonderful story. Its lyrics were born on a New York City train ride by Jack Norworth, a song writer who had never attended a major league ball game. He saw a sign about an upcoming game, took out a scrap of paper and began dashing off lines about a fictional fan he called Katie Casey. Katie was a baseball fanatic and when asked to go and see a show by her beau, she replied, “Take me out to the ball game / Take me out with the crowd…”

Joining Litton at the unveiling will be Matthew Long, a 14-year-old who was one of 28 boys picked nationally to participate on the Coast-to-Coast Baseball team; Roy Brown, a retired school teacher who started playing semi-pro baseball at the age of 15 and played professional ball for several years; Cleon Ferrell, who dedicated over 50 years to the District Three Little League ensuring the tradition of baseball for young people; and Mike Whiteford, a sports reporter for the Charleston Gazette for the past 36 years.

During the game, District 3 Little League will be collecting gently used baseball equipment for area disadvantaged children, which will perpetuate the game of baseball.

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Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/welcome.htm.

An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits every address in the nation — 146 million homes and businesses. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses, not tax dollars. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.