Flu-Like Symptoms: The Seventh-Inning Stretch Poll Results

On Opening Day, I recapped the music that MLB teams play during the seventh-inning stretch in addition to “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” At the end of the article, I asked you to share your opinion of the three best and three worst seventh-inning stretch songs. You can click back and see all the songs, if you wish.

The candidates were:

• Nothing but “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” (A’s, Angels, Cardinals, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Giants, Marlins, Nationals, Padres, Phillies, Pirates, Rays, Red Sox, Royals, White Sox, Tigers)
• “God Bless America” (Indians, Yankees)
• “Deep in the Heart of Texas” (Astros, Rangers)
• “Okay Blue Jays” (Blue Jays)
• “Louie Louie” (Mariners)
• “Cincinnati, Ohio” (Reds)
• “Chicken Fried” (Braves)
• “Roll Out the Barrel” (Brewers)
• “24K Magic” (Twins)
• “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” (Orioles)
• “Lazy Mary” (Mets)
• “Hey Baby” (Rockies)

Before we get to the winners (and losers), I want to list some highlights of the voting.

Most Opinions: Four songs received votes from over half of all respondents: “24K Magic” (52 percent), “Roll Out the Barrel” (55 percent), “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” (67 percent), and “God Bless America” (72 percent). I’m not saying whether most of the people voting for these songs liked them or not—at least not yet—but they elicited the most responses.

Most Apathy: Two songs received votes from fewer than one-fifth of respondents: “Cincinnati, Ohio,” which is played in one of baseball’s smallest markets, received 18 percent. “Lazy Mary,” which is played in the largest, received 17 percent.

Most Unanimity: Again, I’m not going to say which way the votes went yet, but the votes for five songs were one-sided, with voters choosing them as favorite or least favorite at least four times out of five. They were: “Louie Louie” at 94 percent, “24K Magic” at 91 percent, “Roll Out the Barrel” at 86 percent, “Hey Baby” at 83 percent, and “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” at 81 percent.

Most Equivocation: Voters had a hard time making up their minds about “Cincinnati, Ohio,” “Lazy Mary,” and “Deep in the Heart of Texas.” For every other song, at least two-thirds of voters liked or disliked it. Of people voting for those three, 64 percent liked the Astros/Rangers song, 63 percent disliked the Reds song, and 61 percent liked “Lazy Mary.” The fact that the two songs with the least defined preference were also the two with the fewest respondents underscores how the voters really, truly, deeply didn’t care much about them one way or another.

And the Winners Are: This is the percentage of respondents listing each song as one of their three favorites.

• 59 percent: Nothing, just “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”
• 47 percent: Tie between “Louie Louie” and “Roll Out the Barrel”
• 24 percent: “Okay Blue Jays”
• 19 percent: “Deep in the Heart of Texas”
• 17 percent: “God Bless America”
• 13 percent: “Thank God I’m a Country Boy”
• 12 percent: “Chicken Fried”
• 10 percent: “Lazy Mary”
• 6 percent: “Cincinnati, Ohio”
• 5 percent: Tie between “24K Magic” and “Hey Baby”

And the Losers Are: There were strong opinions of the three best songs. There were also strong opinions about the three worst.

• 56 percent: “God Bless America”
• 54 percent: “Thank God I’m a Country Boy”
• 47 percent: “24K Magic”
• 29 percent: “Chicken Fried”
• 22 percent: “Hey Baby”
• 11 percent: Tie among “Cincinnati, Ohio,” “Deep in the Heart of Texas,” and “Okay Blue Jays”
• 7 percent: “Roll Out the Barrel”
• 6 percent: “Lazy Mary”
• 3 percent: “Louie Louie”

On a personal note, let me just say that the very first ballot I received for this poll—which asked respondents to list their three favorite and three least favorite songs, i.e. six altogether—listed no songs as favorite and only “Okay Blue Jays” as least favorite. I cannot understand that on any level.

Thanks to everyone for voting. I am highly confident that by expressing our opinions in this manner, we will have absolutely no influence whatsoever on the music any team plays during the seventh-inning stretch. Other than “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

Thanks to Patrick Dubuque for creating the poll, which is way above my pay grade.