Seventh-inning stretch

In baseball in the United States and Canada, the seventh-inning stretch is a long-standing tradition that takes place between the halves of the seventh inning of a game. 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 or an alcoholic beverage, as alcohol sales often cease 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". If a game goes into a fifth extra inning, a similar "fourteenth-inning stretch" is celebrated (as well as, in theory, a possible "twenty-first-inning stretch" or even "twenty-eighth-inning stretch"). In softball games, amateur baseball games scheduled for only seven innings (little league plays usually six), or in minor-league doubleheaders, a "fifth-inning stretch" may be substituted.