Bill Murray sings ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ to full house at Wrigley

CHICAGO — All is well in the world. Wrigley Field was at full capacity Friday, and Bill Murray was at the microphone for the seventh-inning stretch.

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Murray, the actor-comedian who is a die-hard Chicago Cubs fan, delivered an enthusiastic rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” at the Friendly Confines.

“This is what it feels like to be 100%!” Murray yelled at the crowd of 35,112 -- the first time Wrigley Field has been at full capacity since the coronavirus pandemic. “We’re gonna be louder from right now until the last out in the top of the ninth inning. Understood?

“Let’s scare the hell out of these Cardinals!”

It must have worked. The Cubs, who rallied from a 5-1 deficit to tie the game by the time Murray took the microphone, went on to defeat the St. Louis Cardinals 8-5.

Chicago scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and one in the eighth inning to seal the victory.

>> Bill Murray sings ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ to Cubs fans via video

Murray has been a seventh-inning conductor before. In July 2020 he sang “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” from home while holding on to a giant stuffed bear.

There were no fans in the stands that day, but the Cubs played Murray’s socially distanced performance over Wrigley Field’s Jumbotron.

Before the pandemic, Murray was a frequent visitor to Wrigley Field and sang baseball’s traditional anthem several times to the crowd. That included the Cubs’ 2012 home opener and the team’s first World Series home game since 1945 in October 2016, Rolling Stone reported.

Singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the seventh-inning stretch was started by legendary broadcaster Harry Caray in 1976 when he called games for the Chicago White Sox. When Caray moved to the North Side of Chicago in 1982 to broadcast Cubs games, he brought the song with him.

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