Take Me Out to the Ball Game - EdukayFUN

***Take Me Out to the Ball Game - EdukayFUN***is part of a series of educational videos created by EdukayFUN.

## Plot

The story takes place in two acts.

In the first act, a packed crowd of baseball fans fervently await the start of the baseball game. Nine Red Baseball Johnnies, each wearing a brown leather baseball glove on their left hand, emerge from their dressing room and onto the field, all singing in unison to the classic baseball song *Take Me Out to the Ball Game*. Nine Blue Baseball Johnnies, each equipped with a brown wooden baseball bat, also emerge from their dressing room and onto the field, joining in with the Red Baseball Johnnies to serenade the crowd with the beloved baseball anthem. Alongside their recital, one Red Baseball Johnny extends his arm across the baseball diamond and into the crowd, from whom he collects three unshelled peanuts. He generously offers up one peanut to each of three eagerly awaiting Red Baseball Johnnies. Similarly, one of the Blue Baseball Johnnies reaches across the field and into the crowd, who supply him with three boxes of Cracker Jacks, which he immediately feeds to his awaiting teammates.

In a display of good sportsmanship, both Red and Blue Baseball Johnnies set aside their sporting rivalry and march together around the field as they continue to delight the crowd with their musical performance. They are abruptly interrupted however, as Johnny Johnny storms the field and hijacks their recital, bellowing out the lyrics over top of the Baseball Johnnies. Johnny's tomfoolery is short-lived as Papa's arm can be seen stretching out from the stands and snatching Johnny off the field, presumably to impose a terrible punishment upon Johnny for his violation of baseball decorum. With the unplanned interference cleared up, the Baseball Johnnies conclude their production with an exciting finale of marching, jumping, spinning and singing, resulting in a show of sustained cheering and thunderous applause from the adoring sports fans.

In the second act, the baseball game is about to begin. The Red Baseball Johnnies have have taken their positions on the field, and a Blue Baseball Johnny has taken up his position at bat. The dramatic intensity of the scene is overwhelming as the pitcher and batter stare each other down. The pitcher attempts to bamboozle the batter by burping a blazing fastball out of his mouth and over the plate. The batter quickly recovers from the unexpected pitch and executes an exquisitely timed pirouette, perfectly contacting the ball and knocking it into the sky. The ball soars through the air, finally falling back to the earth just shy of the outfield fence as the batter scrambles past first base. A Red Baseball Johnny outfielder catches the ball on the first bounce. Rather than waste precious time transferring the ball from his glove to his throwing hand, the outfielder shrewdly exploits the momentum stored in the ball to return the ball directly from his catching hand. The Blue Baseball Johnny rounds second base as the ball sails towards home plate. As the batter charges between second and third base, the baseball is seen to transition from its inanimate form to its living form, acquiring eyes, a nose, ears, and a mouth stretched into a devious grin. The vivified baseball continues to streak towards home plate as the Blue Baseball Johnny rounds third base. As he charges towards home base, the baseball descends from the sky, having grown to enormous proportions. With its mouth now stretched wide open, the baseball devours the Blue Baseball Johnny just as he begins to slide across the plate, thwarting his home run attempt. The crowd erupts in a riot of shouting and chaos as the catcher, unable to disguise his morbid delight, transforms his eyeballs into living baseballs and the scene fades to black.

## Cast

* Johnny Johnny as himself, Blue Baseball Johnny and Red Baseball Johnny (disputed)
* Papa as himself
* Baseballs as themselves

## Themes and analysis

The song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is normally sung during the seventh-inning stretch; however, the Baseball Johnnies appear to prefer to sing the song during their pregame warm-up instead. In keeping with the spirit of the original cherished tradition, they can be seen stretching themselves several hundred feet into the crowd in order to fetch snacks for their teammates.

Whereas the crowd seems to willingly furnish the Red Baseball Johnnies with baseball snacks, Blue Baseball Johnnies appear to confront the crowd with their baseball bats in-hand, suggesting that the Blue Baseball Johnnies may be coercing the sports fans into giving up their snacks under threat of a severe bludgeoning. Researchers speculate that the Blue Baseball Johnnies must be the visiting team, and are unpopular with the local sports fans, making them reluctant to offer up any snacks. Thus, the Blue Baseball Johnnies are forced to intimidate the spectators with threats of brutal violence in order to extort them into handing over their refreshments.