Origins Of The 7th Inning Stretch

People partaking in the seventh inning stretch (image courtesy of Flickr)

The Seventh Inning Stretch. We do it at every baseball game. We get up, stretch and sing “Take Me Out To The Ballgame.” It’s a practice that seems to be as old as the game itself, and perhaps it is …

Michael Aubrecht is a historian. He is an expert on more traditional history such as the Civil War and American Revolution, but has also dedicated much of his scholarly life to the history of baseball. He wrote an essay for Baseball Almanac about the practice of the seventh inning stretch, one that declares its exact origin as unknown.

Aubrecht recalled that the first historical documentation of the practice goes back to 1869. It was recorded in a manuscript written by then-Cincinatti Red Stockings player Harry Wright. The Red Stockings were a part of the National Association of Base Ball Players, the first organization to govern baseball in America. The line of interest reads, ”The spectators all arise between halves of the seventh inning, extend their legs and arms and sometimes walk about. In so doing they enjoy the relief afforded by relaxation from a long posture upon hard benches.”

To me, this sounds rather familiar … quite evident that the seventh inning stretch was practiced as far back as 1869 … at least in the games in which Wright played.

President Taft was a large man, to say the least (image courtesy of Wikipedia)

The more popular story, but perhaps more based in lore, is the story that President William Howard Taft invented the practice by accident back in 1910. President Taft was an obese man, and his weight undoubtedly took its toll when sitting for long periods of time. It has been said that during the Opening Day game between the Washington Senators and Philadelphia Athletics, he stood up in the 7th inning to ease the pain. The act inspired the rest of the crowd to follow, standing up and stretching their legs.

Which story is the real first seventh inning stretch is not clear, but perhaps there is no way to ever know. Wright’s story is older, but even his does not give an origin necessarily. It does say it was done, but doesn’t reveal why or when the practice started. Perhaps this is why the story of the overweight President starting the practice is more popular … it gives us a why.

I would just wonder … what was happening between 1869 and 1910?