Another baseball season is upon us and we can look forward to fun at the old ballpark once again. Such thoughts bring to mind memories of the late Harry Caray.
Harry’s most endearing and enduring legacy is not a statue or a restaurant or the image of a regular guy with a can of beer. It was his way with words.
By way of the Cubs’ vast television network as well as the live events at the ballpark, Harry taught millions of people the wrong words to the song “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”–“Take me out with the crowd” rather than “Take me out to the crowd” are the correct words. And it’s “I don’t care if I never get back,” not “I don’t care if I ever get back.”
There could be no more fitting tribute to the lovable old master of mispronunciation than having a jam-packed Wrigley Field singing the wrong words. This tradition, although not very old, is in danger though. Every once in a while one of the guest singers gets it right.
Prospective seventh-inning-stretch guest singers should have to demonstrate that they can screw it up in order to qualify.
