Hey, everybody, I'm Justin McWire, and it's opening day 2021.

It's also the 300th episode of Baseball by the Book, the only podcast that matters.

To commemorate these two momentous events, I thought it would be fun to have an extra episode for you this week.

We're going to be taking an in-depth look at a song that will be heard at ballparks all over

America today. I'm talking, of course, about Sweet Caroline. No, no, I'm talking about Take Me Out to the

ball game. And we are joined by Tim Wiles to take a look at a book that he co-authored called Baseball's Greatest Hit.

Now, if you appreciate the effort that I put into this extra episode and the effort that I put into all the other episodes,

please consider supporting baseball by the book on Patreon.

The financial support of listeners like you will allow me to keep doing the podcast

through 2021 and beyond. All you have to do is go to patreon.com slash baseball by the book.

Once you're there, you can unlock various benefit levels for as little as $2 a month.

That includes access to our bonus episodes,

including the ones we have coming up in April. We will be taking in-depth looks at two classic

baseball books, baseball's great experiment and baseball in 41. Of course, new patrons will have

access to our previous bonus episodes as well.

Okay, let's get on to our special opening day episode.

Tim Wiles is the former director of research at the Baseball Hall of Fame.

He previously appeared on a bonus episode of Baseball by the book to discuss Casey at the Bat.

Today he's here to talk about baseball's greatest hit,

the story of Take Me Out to the Ball game. He co-authored this book with Robert Thompson and Andy Strasberg. Let's play ball. Hi, Tim. Welcome back to baseball by the book.

Hey, thanks, Justin. Glad to be here again.

There's a story that Jack Norworth, one of the co-authors of Take Me Out to the Ball Game,

...