Baseball Tunes: Wild Thing

In the 1989 film Major League, protagonist relief pitcher Rick Vaughn (played by Charlie Sheen) adopted "Wild Thing" as his theme song, to play over the PA system whenever he came into a game from the bullpen.  The movie used a cover version by the punk band X, rather than the better-known Troggs recording.

I don't know if entrance music was a big thing in baseball before the movie but the idea has certainly taken hold since.  These days, it seems half the players - both batters and pitchers - have a song that plays when they enter a ballgame.  I actually think it's highly inappropriate for a team sport but I suppose the marketing people know what they're doing.

The song itself was first recorded by The Wild Ones in 1965.  However, it was the Troggs' 1966 cover that went to the top of the charts.  The middle instrumental section features an ocarina - certainly unusual for a pop song.


My Baseball Fantasy

Vermont League: won, 7-3 (112-67-11 overall, 1st place out of 12 teams)
Maryland League: tied, 5-5 (99-81-10, 4th of 10)
Public League: 81.5 Rotisserie points (4th of 12)
My Player of the Week: Jason Heyward (Right Fielder, Braves) with 3 home runs, 5 runs, 4 RBI and a .385 batting average

via New York State of Sports

Baseball Tunes: Don't Stop Believin'

Millennia from now, cultural historians will ponder the eternal appeal of two songs released in 1981.  The first they will know because it never truly died.  As long as there are dance clubs in the universe, Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" shall live forever (Dr. Who fans know this to be true but I actually had the theory first - wife will confirm). The second one they'd forgotten about for a time.  In fact, it had a funny habit of disappearing for years, even centuries at a time.  Then it would emerge again to capture the imagination of a new era.  It is a song of hope, of determination, of destiny used to inspire athletic heroes and angst-ridden preteens alike.  Even the name of the band suggests epic adventure.  That second song, of course, shall be...

"Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey



As far as sports go, my strongest association with the song is Detroit Red Wings hockey games.  The sound system cuts out so the crowd can yell the "born and raised in south Detroit" line.  Never mind the fact that there is no south Detroit.  Or, there is but it's more commonly known as Windsor, Ontario.

Other teams frequently co-opt the song, though.  In recent years, baseball's Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants have all used it as an inspirational anthem.  Lead singer Steve Perry is himself a native Californian and a die-hard Giants fan.  Apparently, he didn't like the Dodgers using it one bit!

"Don't Stop Believin'" was one of three top 10 singles released from the band's most successful studio album, Escape.  Both "Open Arms" and "Who's Crying Now" charted higher but 32 years on, there's little doubt as to which track has the strongest legacy. 

I must credit Suze with finding this one a while back - definitely worth sharing:

Some will win.

Some will lose.

Some were born to sing the blues.

Oh, the movie never ends.

It goes on and on and on and on...

My Baseball Fantasy

Vermont League: won, 9-1 (105-64-11 overall, 1st place out of 12 teams)
Maryland League: lost, 4-5-1 (94-76-10, 4th of 10)
Public League: 82 Rostisserie points (4th of 12)
My Player of the Week: Anibal Sanchez (Starting Pitcher, Tigers) with 1 win, 19 strikeouts, a 2.45 ERA and a 0.75 WHIP

via Wikipedia

Sad tale: I lost to my daughter in the Maryland league this week - my daughter who stopped paying attention to her team almost the same instant she started, back in March.

Baseball Tunes: Build Me Up Buttercup

"Build Me Up Buttercup" was written by Mike d'Abo and Tony Macaulay and released as a single by the Foundations in 1968.  The song made it to #3 on the Billboard charts.  Side note: d'Abo is most famous as the lead singer for Manfred Mann but he's also the father of Olivia d'Abo, whom Wonder Years fans will remember as Karen, Kevin's older sister.

"Build Me Up Buttercup" is the seventh-inning stretch song for the Los Angeles Angels of Anahaeim (most cumbersome name in American sports?).  It is played right after "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."


My Baseball Fantasy

Vermont League: won, 7-3 (96-63-11 overall, 1st place out of 12 teams)
Maryland League: lost, 4-6 (90-71-9, 4th of 10)
Public League: 83 Rotisserie points (tied for 2nd of 12)
My Player of the Week: Dustin Pedroia (Second Baseman, Red Sox) with 2 home runs, 8 RBI, 5 runs and a .233 batting average

Photo via BlackSportsOnline

Baseball Tunes: Cleveland Rocks

Ian Hunter rose to fame as lead singer of the glam rock band Mott the Hoople.  The band split in 1974 but Hunter kept writing songs.  He wrote "Cleveland Rocks" in tribute to a city he felt was undeservedly the butt of jokes.  An earlier version was called "England Rocks" in order to get the song released as a single but Hunter claims it was always Cleveland's song.  "Cleveland Rocks" is best known to those outside of Ohio as the theme song for The Drew Carey Show (covered in this case by The Presidents of the United States of America).



Almost immediately upon its release in 1979, "Cleveland Rocks" became the city's unofficial anthem.  All of Cleveland's professional teams, including baseball's Indians, use the tune as a victory song.  Then-mayor Dennis Kucinich gave Hunter a key to the city in 1979. 

Full disclosure: my mother is from Cleveland so while I've never lived there myself, I do have some affection for the old rust belt town.  I haven't been back since my grandmother died in '97 and have never visited either the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or Jacobs Field, the two crown jewels of the city's modern renaissance.  There are quite a lot of other places I'd like to visit first but a pilgrimage might be in order someday.


My Baseball Fantasy

Vermont League: won, 7-3 (89-60-11 overall, 1st place out of 12 teams)
Maryland League: tied, 5-5 (86-65-9, 4th of 10)
Public League: 83 Rotisserie points (3rd of 12)
My Player of the Week: Jon Lester (Starting Pitcher and Cancer Survivor, Red Sox) with 2 wins, 16 strikeouts, a 1.35 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP

Photo via PlayerWives.com

Baseball Tunes: Detroit Rock City

"Detroit Rock City" was the third single released from Kiss's 1976 album Destroyer. While the single did not sell well initially, the long-term legacy is a strong one.  VH1 featured it at #6 on their Greatest Metal Songs countdown.  Baseball's Detroit Tigers often uses the song at the beginning of games as the team takes the field.  Hockey's Red Wings also make frequent use of the tune.


My Baseball Fantasy

Vermont League: lost, 4-6 (82-57-11 overall, 1st place out of 12 teams)
Maryland League: won, 7-3 (81-60-9, 4th of 10)
Public League: 78 Rotisserie points (4th of 12)
My Player of the Week: Kenley Jansen (Relief Pitcher, Dodgers) with 4 strikeouts, a 0.00 ERA, a 0.00 WHIP and 2 net saves plus holds

Photo via Wikipedia

Baseball Tunes: Let's Go, Go-Go White Sox

 

The cumbersomely titled "Let's Go, Go-Go White Sox" was written in 1959 by Al Trace and Walter "Li'l Wally" Jagiello.   The emergence of the college-fight-song style tune coincided with Chicago's American League pennant that same year, the team's first since the scandal-ridden squad of 1919.  The song essentially disappeared until an unearthing on the JumboTron in 2005, the next year the team won its league and, in fact, went on to win the World Series.  It is now used quite often when the team is rallying.


My Baseball Fantasy

Vermont League: currently leading, 5-4-1 (2-week matchup) (78-51-11 overall, 1st place out of 12 teams)
Maryland League: currently leading, 7-3 (74-57-9, 4th of 10)
Public League: 81 Rotisserie points (3rd of 12)
My Player of the Week: Adrian Beltre (Third Baseman, Rangers) with 3 home runs, 8 RBI, 4 runs and a 1.245 OPS

Photo via Saber Analysis

Baseball Tunes: High Hopes

"High Hopes", written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn, was an Oscar-winning song in 1959, featured in the movie A Hole in the Head.  The most popular version was sung by Frank Sinatra.



Harry Kalas, the longtime play-by-play announcer for the Philadelphia Phillies, sang the song after the team won the National League Championship in 1993 and again when they won the World Series in 2008.



Since Kalas's passing in 2009, fans at Citizens Bank Park sing the song after every Phillies home run while a video of Kalas plays on the scoreboard.


My Baseball Fantasy

Vermont League: lost, 4-5-1 (70-49-11 overall, 1st place out of 12 teams)
Maryland League: won, 8-2 (67-56-7, 4th of 10)
Public League: 90 Rotisserie points (2nd of 10)
My Player of the Week: Buster Posey (Catcher, Giants) with 4 home runs, 6 RBI, 4 runs and a 1.742 OPS

Photo via Celebrity Net Worth

Baseball Tunes: We Are Family

The disco classic "We Are Family" by Sister Sledge was released in September of 1979, right in the middle of baseball's pennant race.  Willie Stargell, star of the Pittsburgh Pirates, claimed the song as an anthem for his team.  The Pirates went on to win their division by two games, sweep the NLCS and beat the heavily-favored Orioles in the World Series in seven games.  Memories of the '79 Pirates are forever inextricably linked to the song.



My own favorite use of the song is the opening shot of The Birdcage. Pure cinema magic:




My Baseball Fantasy

Vermont League: won, 5-4-1 (66-44-10 overall, 1st place out of 12 teams)
Maryland League: tied, 5-5 (59-54-7, 4th of 10)
Public League: 85.5 Rotisserie points (2nd of 12)
My Player of the Week: David Wright (Third Baseman, Mets) with 3 home runs, 5 RBI, 5 runs and a .361 batting average

Photo via DraftStreet.com

Baseball Tunes: Go, Cubs, Go

Steve Goodman, folk singer and lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, wrote the song "Go, Cubs, Go" in 1984 at the request of WGN, the team's broadcast partner.

 

In 1981, Goodman had written "A Dying Cubs Fan's Last Request" about the team's long history of futility (last World Series championship in 1908 - the longest title drought of any team in US professional sports).  Baseball people being notoriously superstitious, the Cubs had banned him from performing it at Wrigley Field.  In the video, he is playing from one of the nearby "Wrigley rooftops" - not actually on stadium grounds:

 

In September of that same season of '84, Goodman died of leukemia at the age of 36.  Four days later, the Cubs clinched their first playoff berth since 1945.  In the years since, "Go, Cubs, Go" has at various times been the official team song and the official victory song.  In April 1988, some of Goodman's ashes were scattered at Wrigley Field.


My Baseball Fantasy

Vermont League: won, 6-4 (61-40-9 overall, 1st place out of 12 teams)
Maryland League: lost, 3-7 (54-49-7, 5th of 10)
Public League: 87 Rotisserie points (2nd of 12)
My Player of the Week: Carlos Gonzalez (Left Fielder, Rockies) with 3 home runs, 6 runs, 8 RBI, 1 stolen base and a .476 batting average

Photo via Colorado Pro Sports

Baseball Tunes: O Canada

"O Canada" is, of course, Canada's national anthem. The music was composed by Calixa Lavallée in 1880.  The French lyrics were written that same year by Adolphe-Basile Routhier, the original English lyrics in 1908 by Robert Stanley Weir.  The English lyrics have since been revised twice, adopted in their present form in 1980 when the song officially became Canada's anthem.

"O Canada" is performed at every game played by the Toronto Blue Jays, home or away.  The song is also performed, along with "The Star-Spangled Banner," at the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.  Sarah McLachlan in 1996:



My Baseball Fantasy

Vermont: won, 7-3 (55-36-9 overall, 2nd place out of 12 teams)
Maryland: won, 6-4 (51-42-7, 4th of 10)
Public: 86 Rotisserie points (2nd of 12)
My Player of the Week: Jordan Zimmerman (Starting Pitcher, Nationals) with 1 win, 12 strikeouts, a 0.00 ERA and a 0.60 WHIP

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Baseball Tunes: Here Come the Yankees

"Here Come the Yankees" has been the official song of the New York Yankees since 1967.  It was composed by Bob Bundin and Lou Stallman, recorded by the Sid Bass Orchestra and Chorus.  I mean no disrespect to Messrs. Bundin and Stallman, who were just doing their job.  However, this is the city that spawned Tin Pan Alley, Broadway, The Cotton Club, Aaron Copland, the Met and Leonard Bernstein.  And, love 'em or hate 'em (for me, it's the latter), this is one of the greatest sports franchises in the world.  Something classier than a 1960s ad jingle is in order.



No doubt thinking along the same lines has led the following to become the Yanks' unofficial song, also quite fittingly played by teams in the organization's farm system.



Sinatra was a Jersey native and a devoted Yankee fan.

My Baseball Fantasy

Vermont League: won, 6-4 (48-33-9 overall, 1st place out of 12 teams)
Maryland League: won, 7-2-1 (45-38-7, 4th of 10)
Public League: 84.5 Rotisserie points (2nd of 12)
My MVP for the Week: Jarrod Parker (Starting Pitcher, A's) with 2 wins, 11 strikeouts, a 1.35 ERA and a 0.75 WHIP

Photo via The Afroed Elephant

Baseball Tunes: Tessie

"Tessie" has been associated with Boston baseball since the 1903 World Series.  The team then known as the Boston Americans came from behind to win that year's championship with the support of their Royal Rooters who bellowed the song from the stands.  The song itself comes from a long-forgotten Broadway musical called The Silver Slipper.
 

The Dropkick Murphys, a Boston institution in their own right, updated the song in 2004:



The song more closely associated with the Red Sox these days is "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond.  After the Boston Marathon bombing in April, the song was played and sung in baseball stadiums across America in tribute to the victims.  Most notably, the song was played at Yankee Stadium, home to the Red Sox' hated arch-rivals.  I really want the following video to be more than it is but it's the best recording I could find of that moment:



More satisfying is the following from the Salt Lake City Marathon:



Eyes still dry?  This one might do the trick. Neil Diamond himself showed up at Fenway in Boston to show his support and lead the crowd in a rousing rendition:



The lesson is clear.  Music can heal and small gestures are powerful.  "Where it began, I can't begin to knowin'..."

 
My Baseball Fantasy

Vermont League: won, 6-2-2 (42-29-9 overall, 1st place out of 12 teams)
Maryland League: won, 4-3-3 (38-36-6, 4th of 10)
Public League: 84 Rotisserie points (2nd of 12)
My Player of the Week: Anibal Sanchez (Starting Pitcher, Tigers) with 1 win, 12 strikeouts, a 0.00 ERA and a 0.44 WHIP

Photo via Bleacher Nation

Sanchez only had one start last week but it was a beauty: a one-hit, complete game shutout against the Twins.  It wasn't even the best game of his career.  He pitched a no-hitter in just his 13th Major League start on September 6, 2006.  I've got him in both the Vermont and Maryland leagues. 

Baseball Tunes: Thank God I'm a Country Boy

Since the glory days of the 1970s, the Baltimore Orioles have played John Denver's "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" during the seventh-inning stretch.  I have never understood this tradition.  I grew up in Maryland - granted DC area, not Baltimore.  I know the town well enough to say that it's about as urban as an American city can be.  How anyone in Baltimore can claim to be a country boy (or girl) is beyond me.  Maybe Earl Weaver was a John Denver fan.

At any rate, it's a fun song.  My favorite rendition, however, is Jim Nabors's performance on The Muppet Show:



Nabors is actually quite an accomplished singer - his recordings a fair sight better than the usual celebrity vanity project.  He made his television singing debut as Gomer Pyle - his career-defining role - on The Andy Griffith Show:




My Baseball Fantasy

Vermont League: won, 6-4 (36-27-7 overall, 1st place out of 12 teams)
Maryland League: lost, 3-6-1 (34-33-3, 4th of 10)
Public League: 84 Rotisserie points (2nd of 12)
My Player of the Week: Carlos Gonzalez (Left Fielder, Rockies) with 3 home runs, 8 RBI, 8 runs, 3 stolen bases and a .375 batting average

Photo via Denver Westword Blogs

Baseball Tunes: God Bless America

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, "God Bless America" has become the seventh-inning stretch song of choice at many American ballparks, supplanting "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."  Tin Pan Alley legend Irving Berlin wrote the song in 1918 while serving in the Army.   While the song does have a verse, most performers skip it and go straight to the chorus.


My Baseball Fantasy

Vermont League: tied, 5-5 (30-23-7 overall, 1st place out of 12 teams)
Maryland League: won, 6-3-1 (31-27-2, 4th of 10)
Public League: 85.5 Rotisserie points (3rd of 12)
My Player of the Week: Evan Longoria (Third Baseman, Rays) with 3 home runs, 11 RBI, 8 runs and a .464 batting average

 Photo via Tumblr

Baseball Tunes: Centerfield

John Fogerty's 1985 single "Centerfield" had only modest chart success, topping out at #44 on the Billboard Hot 100.  28 years later, it is on the must-play list at every baseball game with an adequate sound system.  The song references players both real - Mays, Cobb and DiMaggio - and fictional - Casey at the Bat.  Part of Fogerty's inspiration came from a Chuck Berry song, "Brown Eyed Handsome Man."  The following lyric was lifted directly from the Berry tune:

Rounding third he was headed for home,
It was a brown eyed handsome man.

To me, "Centerfield" is so much more than a baseball song.  No rock tune better encapsulates the pure joy of a beautiful summer day.  Eat your hearts out, Beach Boys!

Wanna get your music geek on/drive yourself insane?  Try to do the claps and sing the guitar riff at the same time without messing up the rhythm of either.  It's a cross-rhythm.  If you can do it, go sign yourself up for percussion lessons right now!


My Baseball Fantasy

Vermont League: lost, 4-5-1 (25-18-7 overall, 1st place out of 12 teams)
Maryland League: lost, 1-9 (25-24-1, 6th of 10)
Public League: 80.5 Rotisserie points (3rd of 12)
My Player of the Week: Mike Trout (Center Fielder, Angels) with 3 home runs, 10 RBI, 7 runs, 1 stolen base and a .313 batting average

Photo via The Sports Quotient

I am playing in three very different fantasy baseball leagues this year.  This is my fourth year in the Vermont league with Mock and his cousins.  It's a live online draft, head-to-head league.  I am commissioner and three-time defending champion (coincidence, I swear).  The Yahoo! public league is live online draft, Rotisserie.  New this year is the Maryland league, started by a high school friend who wanted a league his kids could join - an auto draft, head-to-head league. 

My daughter technically has a team in the Maryland league, too, though she is essentially a non-participant.  Her one parameter as I helped her set up for the auto-draft was that she didn't want any Yankees on her team.  She has ignored her team ever since.  Oh well, free win for everyone else.

For the most part, all three teams are doing well.  My Maryland league team survived a weak start - partially due to not entirely understanding the league rules - to climb to second place as recently as a week ago.  As you can see, though, I had my hat handed to me in my most recent matchup and my standing tumbled.

Mike Trout, one of last year's wunderkinds, also started the season slow but has been a beast of late.  I had first pick in the public league draft and grabbed the Angel outfielder, Yahoo!'s top-rated fantasy player heading into the season.  His performance will be key to my own success.

My Baseball Fantasy: Thrice Champion

Private league: won, 5-4-1 (league champion)
Public league: lost, 9-1 (4th place finish out of 12 teams)
My MVP for the Year: Giancarlo Stanton (Outfielder, Marlins) with 37 home runs, 86 RBI, 75 runs, 6 stolen bases and a .290 batting average

I have won my private league for the third year in a row.  I am genuinely worried they won't let me play anymore.  At least they get to beat up on me during football season.

In the public league, I finished just out of the medals.  I think for my public endeavors, I may switch back to Rotisserie next year.  I was better at that.  Head-to-head is more sociable but that's unimportant in a league of complete strangers.

Photo via Facebook

Giancarlo Stanton had a strange season, at times magnificent - he was NL Player of the Month in May - but also was out for a stretch with an injury.  In fact, he finished with the fewest at-bats of anyone on my team with 449, but still the most home runs with 37.  He was chosen as an All-Star but missed the game due to knee surgery.  He is only 22 and, as long as he stays healthy, seemingly has Cooperstown written all over him.

My Baseball Fantasy: Ian Desmond

Private League: won, 6-4 (advanced to final)
Public League: lost, 7-2-1 (relegated to 3rd place game)
My Player of the Week: Ian Desmond (Shortstop, Nationals) with 1 home run, 5 runs, 3 RBI, 2 stolen bases and a .474 batting average

Photo via Emerald Gardens

It's strange.  I've generally had a much easier time of it in the public league this season but now I am guaranteed a stronger finish in the private one.  Desmond made the All-Star Game for the first time this year - yet another cog in the surprising DC juggernaut.

My Baseball Fantasy: Alex Rios

Private League: won, 6-4 (advanced to semifinals)
Public League: won, 7-3 (advanced to semis)
My Player of the Week: Alex Rios (Right Fielder/Center Fielder, White Sox) with 1 home run, 4 RBI, 5 runs, 2 stolen bases and a .364 batting average

Photo via noahhunt.org

I picked up Rios in the 20th round of the public league draft.  I didn't play him much in the early part of the year but he was a great one to have in my back pocket for the late-season push.  At 31, he is having a breakout year, his ninth in the Majors.  He is dramatically up statistically in nearly every offensive category from last year and well above his career averages.

My Baseball Fantasy: LaRoche

Private League: won, 9-1 (111-104-5 overall, 6th place out of 10 teams)
Public League: won, 5-4-1 (113-90-17, 4th out of 12)
My Player of the Week: Adam LaRoche (First Baseman, Nationals) with 5 home runs, 8 RBI, 6 runs and a .444 batting average

Photo via SB Nation DC

The fantasy regular season is over and I've managed to make the playoffs in both leagues.  While I'd been fairly confident of that in the public league, I really had to scratch and claw for it in the private one.  Now, everything rides on the next three weeks.

At 32, LaRoche is having one of the best seasons of his career.  He is likely to top 30 homers and 100 RBI.  He has done both before, but never in the same year. His success has been a big part of the extraordinary story that is the 2012 Nationals.

My Baseball Fantasy: Aramis Ramirez

Private League: won, 5-4-1 (102-103-5 overall, 6th place out of 10 teams)
Public League: won, 10-0 (108-86-16, 3rd out of 12)
My Player of the Week: Aramis Ramirez (Third Baseman, Brewers) with 3 home runs, 12 RBI, 4 runs and a .346 batting average

Photo via Stltoday

Seeing Ramirez in anything but a Cubs uniform is sad for me.  Obviously, they couldn't afford to keep him in the Epstein led club remodeling.  He started off the season slowly but has come on strong in the home stretch.