2008 Take Me Out To The Ballgame

2008 Take Me Out to the Ball Game

On July 16, 2008, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 42-cent commemorative stamp celebrating the 100th anniversary of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” President George W. Bush and Postmaster General John Potter unveiled the stamp on the White House South Lawn during an All-Star Tee Ball game featuring young players representing all fifty states and Washington, DC.

Jack Norworth wrote the lyrics in 1908, reportedly inspired by an advertisement for a game at the Polo Grounds that he saw while riding a New York City train. Albert Von Tilzer composed the music. Neither man had attended a major league baseball game when they created the song, which was submitted for copyright on May 2, 1908.

Although fans usually sing only the chorus during the seventh-inning stretch, the original verses tell the story of Katie Casey, an enthusiastic baseball fan who asks her boyfriend to take her to a ballgame rather than a show.

Avery Dennison printed the self-adhesive stamps using gravure, and they were issued in panes of twenty. A total of 75,000,000 stamps were produced at 42 cents each, representing a combined original face value of $31,500,000. The stamp is cataloged as Scott 4341.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game Gold Stamp

The Postal Commemorative Society (PCS) produced a 22-karat gold foil replica of the 2008 Take Me Out to the Ball Game commemorative stamp as part of its Golden Replicas of United States Stamps collection. The replica recreates the original stamp design in gold, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the beloved baseball anthem written by Jack Norworth and composed by Albert Von Tilzer in 1908. The gold version retains the original 42-cent denomination and honors a song that has become an enduring tradition at ballparks across America.

From Tobacco Trade Card to Postage Stamp

The stamp’s artwork originated on a Victorian-era advertising trade card issued circa 1888 by American Eagle Tobacco Works of Detroit, Michigan, to promote National League Fine Cut tobacco. Lithographed by the Calvert Lithographing Co., the card depicts an unidentified nineteenth-century baseball player holding a ball, with a game in progress behind him. Company management details appear near the bottom, including M.S. Smith, President, and Chas. B. Hull, Secretary & Treasurer.

120 years later, stamp designer Richard Sheaff of Scottsdale, Arizona, selected the card from his personal collection. He retained its illustrated player, ballpark scene, and decorative framing, replacing the tobacco advertising with the song title, musical notes, the 42-cent denomination, and “United States of America.” The baseball at the top originally carried the word “Chew,” creating the advertising phrase “National Chew League.”

Sheaff described the stamp as essentially a “Photoshop enhancement” of the original card, giving a nineteenth-century baseball advertisement a new role celebrating one of the twentieth century’s most familiar songs.