Based on its use before sporting events, an old joke goes that the second stanza of the "Star Spangled Banner" is the chief umpire's call: "Play Ball!" The real flag depicted in the poem has survived, and it is rather huge even now. Francis Scott Key writes a poem that is eventually put to music and becomes America's national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," on this day in 1814. After witnessing the British attack of the Maryland fort during the War of 1812, Key wrote "The Defence of Fort McHenry."