Slide, Kelly, Slide

Slide, Kelly, Slide is a song published in 1889 about one of the most famous baseball players of its time, future Hall of Famer Mike "King" Kelly. The song's title was taken from the battle cry of Chicago White Stockings fans in appreciation of Kelly's daring feats of baserunning. It was composed by John W. Kelly for Maggie Cline, a popular vaudeville singer at the time. Both Kellys, the ballplayer and the songwriter, were of Irish background, as was Cline, so the song fit in well in an era when ethnic stereotypes were big sellers - although this particular number does not go overboard with them, as opposed to other numbers popularized by Maggie Cline.

In the days before mass media, it took a couple of years for the song to gain wide popularity, but when it entered the popular music charts on January 9, 1892, in a version recorded in 1891 for Edison Recordings by Irish-born tenor George J. Gaskin, it became the first baseball-themed song to do so. In fact, music historians consider it to be the first "pop" hit in American history, as recorded wax cylinders before that were usually limited to operas and patriotic songs. Gaskin went on to record a number of popular hits to become the most famous recording star of his time.

The song then gave its name to a 1927 movie directed by Edward Sedgwick and starring William Hayes about a ballplayer named "Jim Kelly". It is set in contemporary times and has nothing to do with the real King Kelly. And since this was still the age of silent movies, the song is not even heard in the soundtrack, although the fact its title was used was a tribute to its enduring popularity. The song's title was also used as the title of Kelly's biography written by Marty Appel in 1999.

Related Sites

• Lyrics and sheet music
• IMDB page for the movie