This song is another “oldie” but a goody. Almost every game, usually around the seventh inning the announcer leads the audience in this, the national Baseball anthem. It is a great little story of the game’s fanatical follower. You would be hard pressed to hear this on a radio station, but you would not be considered an authentic American if you couldn’t repeat the chorus.
The underlined words are non-standard English. Here are some notes (by line number) about them:
1 mad - crazy is the more common term used for a sports fanatic today
2 the fever - almost addiction for something
2 bad - a strong affinity (exaggeration)
3 root - cheer for
4 ev'ry - poetic form of every
4 sou - not used today, one would say cent or penny
4 blew - spent
5 beau - boyfriend, girlfriend, sweetheart
12 Cracker Jack - Brand name of candy
13 never - used here as double negative, should say ever
16 strikes - baseball term for missed attempt to hit a ball
16 "out" - also the term for having missed three times... you lose your turn
20 umpire - official rule enforcer at game
25 gang - popular term for the group you are with