The Top 40

His hands are upside down! Say it ain't so, Joe!

He's a lefty, and the catcher insulted him, so he turned around to belt him and didn't change his hands.

Yeah, that's the story, and I'm stickin' wit it.

Well, the truth is that "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" is actually about a girl named Katie Casey, who was "baseball mad."

Released in 1908, it was a huge hit and did propel Crackerjack into a giant snack company. What made the song really take off in MLB games, though, was the late Haray Caray, who in 1971, "lent his boundless enthusiasm and marginal musical talent to the song, establishing a sing-a-long tradition at both White Sox and Cubs games" ever since. That the song had been in the public domain by then and so could be sung royalty-free was a big help.

A recording of the original release is at the link above.

I'm pretty sure Harry Caray first did it during his 25 years broadcasting Cardinals games, though...

I know he and Bill Veeck claimed that Veeck put a PA mike in the broadcast booth at a Sox game, but I musta learned it somewhere - and the Cards were my hometown (100 miles distant) club.

And I can still hear Harry Caray in my dreams.

Oh yeah, I forgot...

Another Harry Caray connection is a famous rant he delivered about the profound disappointment of finding no prize in a box of Cracker Jack (you can find it on utube.)

Wonder how much that cost'em in sales?

Rob, one of my father's favorite "when I was a kid" stories was him not getting a prize in his Cracker Jack box. He sent a letter to the company about it and in return, they sent him a box full of prizes with no Cracker Jacks. My "when I was a kid" story was getting an actual prize in the box (a plastic loving cup that came in two parts and needed to be snapped together), and not a clown sticker the size of a postage stamp the way my daughter did. That was the last box of Cracker Jack I've ever bought and that was ten years ago so the prizes have probably got even worse since then. Hard to imagine how that could be possible.

Cracker Jack's Prize In The Box Will Now Be Digitized
April 29, 2016

What do you get in Cracker Jack? A QR code, apparently.

The "Prize Inside" will no longer actually be inside the box, Frito-Lay has announced. Like so many other aspects of our lives, the prize will be digitized.

Download an app, scan a sticker inside the Cracker Jack box and access "baseball-inspired mobile digital experiences," the company said, launching the change ahead of baseball season. The packaging and logo will also be "contemporized."

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/29/476183872/cracker-jacks-prize-in-the-box-will-now-be-digitized

Cracker Jack is replacing toy prizes inside with digital codes

Surprise! According to a statement released Thursday, the 125-year tradition of including that toy prize is now ending. Going forward, Cracker Jackers will now find deep inside the sweetness ... a digital code.

"The Cracker Jack Prize Inside has been as much a part of the nostalgia and love for the brand as the unforgettable combination of caramel-coated popcorn and peanuts," Haston Lewis, senior director of marketing for Frito-Lay, said in the release. "The new prize inside allows families to enjoy their favorite baseball moments through a new one-of-a-kind mobile experience, leveraging digital technology to bring the iconic prize inside to life."

This isn't a total surprise. Trinket surprises were replaced a while back by paper prizes with riddles and jokes, and in 2013, Frito-Lay began rolling out codes for people to redeem on an app through Google Play. But now, that's expanding: All fans will have to download an app and scan the prize sticker to "enjoy bringing the ballpark to life on your mobile device."

In previous years, Cracker Jack prizes have included everything from wagons to beer mugs to dice to trading cards and whistles. (Larry White, who wrote two collectors' guides to the books, has many toys for viewing and sale on his website, with his most valuable Cracker Jack prize being a metal horse and wagon worth $295.)

MORE: Grab-and-go instead of a meal? 6 smart snack choices

In addition, the look of the Cracker Jack box and bag will change, with bolder red-and-white stripes and an updated image of Sailor Jack and dog Bingo on the cover.

So yeah, you'll still get a sugar shot of happiness from every container, but the whole thing seems like it'll have just a little less joy inside.

Aw, nuts!

http://www.today.com/food/cracker-jack-replacing-toy-prizes-inside-digital-codes-t87811