These words have become synonymous for a
brief break from any long period of sitting. They come from baseball's
traditional seventh-inning stretch, which dates back to the late
nineteenth century. One theory credits the ritual to President William
Howard Taft, who is said to have stood up to stretch in the seventh inning
of a Washington Senators game, prompting the rest of the crowd to follow
suit. Better documented is the theory that the tradition originated at a
1882 game at Manhattan College in New York City. Manhattan College
baseball coach Brother Jasper, also the prefect of discipline, instructed
restless students in the stands to rise and stretch for a minute in the
seventh inning before the game continued. This seventh-inning stretch
became a ritual at all Manhattan College games and spread to the Major
Leagues during the 1880s when the college team played exhibition games
against the New York Giants in the Polo Grounds.