If you have been to a baseball game, you are guilty. You did it. What did you do, you ask? Well, you probably sang a song. You might have danced, even. Maybe you got up for your last beer and/or peanuts. You may have gotten out of your seat to go to the bathroom before the lines got too long. Or, you might have gotten up to go home (shame on you!). You know what I am talking about now, don’t you? That is right, it is the seventh inning stretch. That little (commercial) break for players and fans alike in the middle of the seventh inning, that is widely recognized as one of baseball’s great traditions.

Most baseball fans are probably so used to the seventh inning stretch, that they don’t even question, Why? Why do we do the seventh inning stretch? And, when did we start doing it? That, dear readers, is an excellent question. I am ever so happy you asked, because the origin on the seventh inning stretch, or perhaps, one proposed explanation of it, is exactly what today’s Throwback Thursday concerns.

But, as I said before, the question of how the traditional seventh inning stretch was started is an excellent question. And like all excellent questions, such as: “Where did we come from?” And: “Why are we here?” This one has no definite answer. In fact, no one knows for certain when and why the seventh inning stretch came to be. Stories about the origin of the seventh inning stretch have been chalked up to myth, or urban legend, even. I think this mysterious aura is part of baseball’s allure, something that, as fans, we all appreciate and share.

For today’s Throwback Thursday, we will look at the most common explanation of the origin seventh inning stretch, a story that I find quite amusing. It stars with a man you might have heard of.

His name was William Howard Taft. » Continue reading “Throwback Thursday: On The Origin Of The Seventh Inning Stretch”