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In baseball in the United States and Canada, the seventh-inning stretch is a tradition that takes place between the halves of the seventh inning of a game – in the ''middle'' of the seventh inning. Fans generally stand up and stretch out their arms and legs and sometimes walk around. It is a popular time to get a late-game snack as well. Also vendors end alcohol sales after the last out of the seventh inning. The stretch also serves as a short break for the players. Most ballparks in professional baseball mark this point of the game by playing the crowd sing-along song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game". Since the September 11 attacks, many American ballparks complement or replace the song with the playing of "God Bless America," a practice increasingly being abandoned as the U.S. combat-troop withdrawal from Iraq has completed and that from Afghanistan nears completion. If a game goes into a fifth extra inning, a similar ''"fourteenth-inning stretch"'' is celebrated (as well as a possible "twenty-first inning stretch" or "twenty-eighth inning stretch"). In softball games, amateur games scheduled for only seven innings, or in minor-league doubleheaders, a "fifth-inning stretch" may be substituted. ==Origin== The origin of the seventh-inning stretch is much disputed, and it is difficult to certify any definite history. One claimant is Brother Jasper (Brennan) of Mary, F.S.C., the man credited with bringing baseball to Manhattan College in New York. Being the Prefect of Discipline as well as the coach of the team, it fell to Brother Jasper to supervise the student fans at every home game. On one particularly hot and muggy day in June 1882, during the seventh inning against a semi-pro team called the Metropolitans, the Prefect noticed his charges becoming restless. To break the tension, he called a timeout in the game and instructed everyone in the bleachers to stand up and unwind. It worked so well he began calling for a seventh-inning rest period at every game. The Manhattan College custom spread to the major leagues after the New York Giants were charmed by it at an exhibition game. 〔(http://www.si.com/vault/1990/04/16/121830/a-pause-that-refreshes-fans-let-loose-during-baseballs-seventh-inning-stretch )〕 In June 1869 the ''New York Herald'' published a report on a game between the Cincinnati Red Stockings and the Brooklyn Eagles (home team): "At the close of the long second inning, the laughable stand up and stretch was indulged in all round the field." 〔(http://www.si.com/vault/1990/04/16/121830/a-pause-that-refreshes-fans-let-loose-during-baseballs-seventh-inning-stretch )〕 Whether a stretch was observed nationwide is not known, but later in 1869 the ''Cincinnati Commercial'' reported on a game that was played on the West Coast between the Red Stockings and the Eagle Club of San Francisco: "One thing noticeable in this game was a ten minutes' intermission at the end of the sixth inning – a dodge to advertise and have the crowd patronize the bar." However, a letter written in 1869 by Harry Wright (1835–1895), manager of the Cincinnati Red Stockings documented something very similar to a seventh-inning stretch, making the following observation about the Cincinnati fans' ballpark behavior: "The spectators all arise between halves of the seventh inning, extend their legs and arms and sometimes walk about. In so doing they enjoy the relief afforded by relaxation from a long posture upon hard benches." Another tale holds that the stretch was invented by a manager stalling for time to warm up a relief pitcher.〔()〕 On October 18, 1889 Game 1 of the 1889 World Series saw a seventh-inning stretch after somebody yelled "stretch for luck". A popular story for the origin of the seventh-inning stretch is that on April 14, 1910, on opening day, 6'2" 350-pound President William Howard Taft was sore from prolonged sitting at a game between the Washington Senators and the Philadelphia Athletics and stood up to stretch, causing the crowd to feel obligated to join their president in his gestures.〔(http://www.baseball-almanac.com/articles/7th_inning_stretch.shtml )〕 This story is set at a far later date than the others, however, so he may only have given the presidential seal of approval to a longstanding tradition; the story that his physical problems forced him to stand up contradict this, but he might have just been waiting for the proper accepted time to relieve his pain; either way, he gave national publicity to the practice. As to the name, there appears to be no written record of the name "seventh-inning stretch" before 1920, which since at least the late 1870s was called the Lucky Seventh, indicating that the 7th inning was settled on for superstitious reasons.〔David Emery, (The Seventh-Inning Stretch; Origin (or not) of a baseball tradition ), About.com. Retrieved 2009.11.06.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Seventh-inning stretch」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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