Take Me Out to the Ball Game (review)

It will doubtless come as a surprise to many young readers that the song they've known since early youth actually has verses as well as a chorus. Burke lays out the Jack Norworth lyrics in large print, casts the song's protagonist, rabid fan Katie Casey, as a preteen with a clean-cut, All-American beau, and sends the couple to the contested 1908 match-up between the Giants and the Cubs. This is more an imagining of the situation depicted in the song than a treatment of its history, but readers who accept this as a heartfelt tribute rather than historical fiction will be more than pleased to soak up the commentary in the boxed inserts of each spread and to follow the Giants' Christy Mathewson as he outpitches his rivals. Children who avoid closing notes had better read these, though, because the recalled final run and the reversed decision are only spelled out in "Extra Innings," and the celebratory final picture, which has the grateful Giants carrying their most appreciative fan around the field, doesn't presage the bitter (unless you're a Cub fan) truth. Figures are a bit waxy and overdramatized, but the over-the-top emotion is appropriate to an extraordinary, historic game. Readers who appreciated the blend of lyrics and historic atmosphere in Christopher Bing's version of Thayer's Casey at the Bat (BCCB 1/01) will relish the similar combination here. Sources for text and quotes are included, as is a reproduction of Norworth's original manuscript.