9 worst 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' performances, ranked from Ozzy Osbourne to Jeff Gordon
Every once in a while, though, performances at baseball games don't go so well, becoming well-known for the wrong reasons. Everybody remembers the ... interesting rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" that came from Ingrid Andress at the 2024 Home Run Derby.
However, it's "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" that usually draws the more high-profile performers, whether they're singers or from other genres of entertainment. When a celebrity is in the building, chances are, they could get invited to perform during the seventh-inning stretch. Sometimes, those performances are oddly thrilling, like Bill Murray singing as Daffy Duck during the 2016 World Series. Other times, things go south for varying reasons, like the performer forgetting the words.
Here are the nine worst performances of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at MLB stadiums — most of which are from Wrigley Field, a historic site for the seventh-inning stretch anthem.
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9. William Hung, Rogers Centre, May 2004
William Hung's fame spawned in 2004, when he auditioned for the third season of "American Idol" and drew heavy criticism from the judges. Still, he built a significant following and became somewhat of a celebrity despite not having the best singing skills.
By May 2004, he had already appeared on everything from "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" to "Dateline NBC," and he was even brought back for a special "American Idol" episode at the request of fans. In the prime of his brief music career, Hung took his talents to Toronto for an MLB game.
Singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" in front of Blue Jays fans, Hung didn't stumble ... for the most part.
English was not Hung's first language, as he's from Hong Kong and moved to the U.S. when he was young. But he happened to mispronounce perhaps the most important word to get right in the traditional baseball song: Peanuts. You get the idea.
Otherwise, Hung put on a nice show for the Canadian crowd, even throwing in a "it's time to" in front of "root, root, root."
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8. Mr. T, Wrigley Field, May 2009
In May 2009, former actor and occasional pro wrestler Mr. T took the stage at Wrigley Field for the seventh-inning stretch.
"Alright Cubs fans, let me hear it!" he said.
Mr. T did not butcher any lyrics, so this one isn't too bad. In fact, the way he yells "One, two, three strike you out," was pretty funny. But he also didn't have much of a tune throughout the song, seeming to just scream his way through each word.
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7. Conor McGregor, Wrigley Field, September 2021
Even non-UFC fans are familiar with Conor McGregor's loud, outgoing personality. He's hard to ignore.
In 2021, "The Notorious" took a trip to Wrigley Field, throwing out a first pitch and stepping up to the mic for the seventh-inning stretch.
"What's up, Chicago?" McGregor began. "Let's go Chicago Cubs."
The Irishman didn't have a terrible start to "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," but the more time that passed, the more out-of-tune he got. It sounded like Conor never heard the rhythm of the song before he decided to sing it in front of thousands of people.
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6. Scottie Pippen, Wrigley Field, October 2016
Scottie Pippen is a Chicago sports legend. You would think that at least once or twice throughout his Hall of Fame basketball career, he stopped over at Wrigley Field for a Cubs game. But when he began to sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the 2016 NLCS, poor Scottie sounded like he was a newbie to the song.
Pippen kept a smile on the whole time he sang during the Cubs playoff game, but when he got to the second line, it went south.
"Take me out to the ball game, take me out to the ball game," Pippen repeated. "I don't care if I never ..."
The Bulls Hall of Famer took a few lines off from there, although Pippen did get back into the song and went mistake-free the rest of the way, to his credit.
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5. Alex Cooper, Wrigley Field, July 2025
Alex Cooper, the host of the popular podcast "Call Her Daddy," also took the mic at Wrigley Field for "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." And to be fair, she at least put some effort into trying to have a good performance.
With two of her friends acting as "background dancers" while she was on the camera, all wearing sunglasses, Cooper initially sang the tune in a deep voice, laughing along the way.
The crowd's reaction to her performance was pretty bad, though. Boos rang through Wrigley Field so loud that it was hard to hear Cooper sing.
No, Cooper didn't mess up the words, and she also incorporated more choreography than most performers. But getting the crowd to sing along is part of the fun of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," and Cooper certainly did not do that.
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4. Jeff Gordon, Wrigley Field, May 2005
Jeff Gordon is one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history, but nobody should credit him as a great performer when it comes to singing.
In 2005, Gordon appeared at a Cubs game, asking the crowd, "You guys ready to do this?" before his rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."
Maybe he's not completely to blame for this, but Gordon could barely get through the first line before he was no longer lined up with the organ player. By the time he was at "buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks," the crowd was singing a completely different part of the song than Gordon.
Eventually, he got booed as he stopped for bits of the song.
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3. Warren G, Wrigley Field, April 2016
Warren G is a producer and music artist. So you'd think he knows the basic lyrics to "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," right? Wrong.
"Cubbie fans!" he said to the crowd, then began singing. "Take me to the ballgame."
No, he didn't say "out" at the beginning, removing one of the main words in the title of the song. That turned the crowd off from the start, and Warren G got a few boos in Chicago.
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2. Mike Ditka, Wrigley Field, July 1998
Chicago fans certainly enjoy Mike Ditka, a longtime Bear and NFL champion with the team in 1963, prior to the Super Bowl era, also bringing the team a title in 1986's Super Bowl XX as a head coach. But on July 5, 1998, the fans in Chicago had a legitimate reason to boo Ditka.
He was tabbed to sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," and not only was Ditka late to the mic, causing fans to wait impatiently as he eventually scrambled into the booth, but his performance was sub-par.
The former football player and coach sped through the song at a rapid pace, so much so that the organ player couldn't keep up with the song. Maybe he just wanted to get out of Wrigley Field, but Ditka barely made the song last longer than 20 seconds as he yelled.
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1. Ozzy Ozbourne, Wrigley Field, August 2003
Ozzy Osbourne was a rock legend, but he was also quite the character. One of the all-time moments from Ozzy came in August 2003, when he sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" in front of Cubs fans.
He knew how to put on a show, at least. "I want to hear a real crazy crowd, start singing with me. Are you ready?" Ozzy asked thousands at Wrigley Field.
With Sharon Osbourne by his side, Ozzy then proceeded to mumble his way through the entire middle portion of the song. He got out, "Take me out to the ball game" and "Two, three strikes you're out at the old ball game," but that was about it.
To give him some credit, Ozzy got the whole tune right, but it was almost all gibberish.
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