Stop Asking Celebrities to Sing Our National Anthem

The moment was powerful enough that the band played “The Star-Spangled Banner” again at the second game of the series, and again at the third. When play moved to Boston, the band there played it, too — now at the beginning of the game, and accompanied, in one case, by the presentation of wounded soldiers who had been given tickets. The song has been played at every World Series game since. In 1931, it became the nation’s official anthem. By World War II, the spread of electronic public-address systems meant it could be performed — and eventually sung — at every professional baseball game, not just those where someone hired a band.