For sports fans, August means different things.
For those who follow American football, August is traditionally when players begin training.
For tennis lovers, the United States Open begins on August twenty-eighth in New York City.
For basketball fans -- well, they have a little time. The National Basketball Association just released its full list of games for the coming season. Opening night is October thirty-first.
Fans of stock car racing just had one of the major events of the NASCAR season, the Allstate Four-Hundred at the Brickyard.
So what have we left out? Oh yes, the boys -- and girls -- of summer. Little League baseball. Their World Series is August twenty-seventh in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
As for the major leagues, their World Series is not until October. So we still have time to bring you some music and poetry of America's traditional pastime. Here are Shirley Griffith and Ray Freeman.

Baseball expert Warner Fusselle writes that there are probably more than one thousand songs about baseball. The most popular is "Take Me Out to the Ball Game. " It was written in nineteen-oh-eight by Jack Norworth. He wrote it after seeing a sign about baseball in an underground train in New York City.
His friend, Albert Von Tilzer, put the words to music. Mister Norworth reportedly had never seen a Major League Baseball game. He did not see one until thirty-three years after he wrote the song.

People still sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during baseball games. Near the end of the game, people become tired of sitting on the hard seats. So, during a special time in the game, everyone stands up and stretches their arms and legs. This tradition is called "the seventh inning stretch. "
Everyone sings a song together. Most often, it is "Take Me Out to the Ball Game. " Here, it is sung by the National Pastime Orchestra and singers.


Baseball expert Richard Miller writes that many songs about other subjects -- such as love --use words and expressions from baseball. For example, in a song written in nineteen twelve, a woman tells her boyfriend that she will not like him unless he is a good baseball player. The song is called "If You Can't Make a Hit in a Ball Game, You Can't Make a Hit with Me. "

In nineteen forty-three, George Moriarty wrote a song designed to support American forces fighting in World War Two. Mister Moriarty was a former baseball player and manager for the Detroit Tigers team. His song is called "You're Gonna Win That Ball Game, Uncle Sam. "
It is performed here by the National Pastime Orchestra and singers.