For those that don't know, my second major passion (other than music) is baseball. I am a HUGE Cardinals and a slightly less than huge Red Sox fan. And finally, after 4 months of waiting, real, honest-to-goodness baseball games are being played again.Ladies and Gentleman.....Your 2006 World Champs --------->
Spring Training games started yesterday and Fantasy Baseball drafts are in full swingSo, in honor of the optimism of a brand new season that's upon us, I've decided to give you my top songs that make me think of baseball. Here they are, in no particular order:
1. The Standells - Dirty Water: Red Sox Nation classic. This is played after every home win in Fenway Park.2. Belle and Sebastian - Piazza, New York Catcher: Does everything from quoting his batting average (.318) to questioning his sexuality. Though outdated, the title sounds better than "Piazza, Oakland Designated Hitter".
<---------No longer New York's catcher
3. Bob Dylan - Catfish: So, not only did Catfish Hunter have a Hall of Fame career, he also had a song penned in his name by arguably the greatest songwriter we're ever likely to hear.
4. Neil Diamond - Sweet Caroline: Thanks Fever Pitch.
5. John Fogerty - Centerfield: Quite possibly the best non-Take Me Out to the Ballgame baseball song ever written. And to be perfectly honest, if that jackass coach had listened to Mr. Fogerty in the first place, their outfield situation could have been solved a lot earlier.
Honorable Mention: Glen Frey - The Heat is On: Apparently the Cardinals used to play this song after every win back in the '80s. I didn't know that, but it allows me to give a shout-out to my boy Ozzie Smith!!!
Let me know if you can think of any I've forgotten.
RR
3 comments:
Great list..although I officially cannot recognize Neil Diamond thanks to an aversion created primarily by Gerdon.
How about Springsteen's Glory Days?
Widespread Panic has a few songs that reference baseball. Their short instrumental called Action Man was reportedly a tribute to John Rocker before that entire racist thing surfaced - now it's about a horse.
Go Cardinals; Cubs and Reds suck!
I can't believe I forgot about Glory Days. Damn, yeah, that's a good one.
I was also going to add anything by the group Fastball (I have a decent live version of their one hit wonder The Way). Plus, I think there's another song (NOT Mrs. Robinson) where Paul Simon mentions Joe Dimaggio.
I know this is a music blog, but since you mentioned it, did you get to check out the Mets lineup against the Cards on Friday?
4.Julio Franco, 1B
5.Ruben Sierra, DH
6.Sandy Alomar Jr., C
Is this for real? or did I just go back in time? Talk about the glory days.
As far as a baseball tune I will go with Randy Newman's "Burn On," not because it has anything to do with baseball, but it does however appear on the opening scenes to "Major League." Of course it's actually about the infamous night they burned old Cuyahoga River down.
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