How did the tradition of playing "Sweet Caroline" start at Fenway Park?

It's actually not that exciting of an answer. A woman named Amy Tobey began working for the Red Sox through her job at BCN Productions, a film and video communications company, having interned for the Boston Bruins. Her assignment was to decide what music would be played at the park from 1998 to 2004.

She had noticed ''Sweet Caroline" was used at other sporting events, and she decided to send the sweetness over the Fenway speakers.

The song was picked up by fans, and the more it caught on, the more superstitious Tobey became about playing it.

Tobey would play the song somewhere between the seventh and ninth innings if the team was ahead, depending on whether she felt the team was going to win.

She didn't go by any specific margin of runs, but rather who the opponent was, and her gut instincts.

''I actually considered it like a good luck charm," Tobey says. ''Even if they were just one run [ahead], I might still do it. It was just a feel."

In 2002, when new management took over at the park, they requested that Tobey play the song during the eighth inning of every game.

''They liked it and they just loved the crowd reaction with it and stuff," she says.

The guy before me got it basically straight on. A couple of things to add:

1. The tradition started in 1997.

2. It is always played in the middle of the 8th inning.

There are some other stories/legends about how the song started but it is generally believed to be what "kevin c" described.

At Camden Yards in Baltimore, they play John Denver's "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" during the 7th inning stretch after "Take Me Out to the Ballgame". Never knew why.

who really cares, Red sox suck, New York New York Baby, gotta love Sinatra