God Bless America at baseball games
Earlier today, in fact a few minutes ago while watching Zooey Deschanel sing the song, I wondered when baseball teams started playing God Bless America during the 7th inning stretch at baseball games.
Immediately, five people told me, “9/11,” which made me feel dumb for asking.
Anyway, here is what the New York Times wrote about God Bless America at MLB games.
The national anthem has long been a pregame staple at sporting events. But after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Major League Baseball directed teams to play “God Bless America” before the bottom of the seventh inning at every game. Baseball scaled back the next season, telling teams they needed to play the song only on Sundays and holidays, which is still the case.
Only the Yankees continue to play “God Bless America” at every home game.
I watched dozens of baseball games this year; probably somewhere near 100. Maybe a little more. I watched much fewer games once the Dodgers were out of it.
Anyway, I rarely saw them sing the song; I would watch most games online at MLB.tv (a great deal for baseball fans, by the way, especially if you are out of market), and MLB.tv cut away for commercials (and the 7th inning stretch).
Of course, there is some controversy with the singing of God Bless America. Well, not the song itself, but… from the same NY Times story:
