Music for missing baseball

Bill Knight column for 4-30, 5-1 or 2, 2020

Following April columns about baseball movies and baseball memories, this piece about baseball music is either the completion of a Triple Play or “Strike three!”

The National Pastime has a surprising connection with music, in length and depth, far beyond “Take Me Out to The Ballgame.” There have been hundreds of published tunes and dozens of records about baseball, many of which have been chronicled in James Mote’s 1989’s “Everything Baseball” compendium.

Familiar writers and composers who’ve taken a cut at the sport include Irving Berlin (“Along Came Ruth,” 1926), George M. Cohan (“March of the Cardinals,” 1937, and “Connie Mack is the Grand Old Name, 1941), Noel Coward (“The Baseball Rag,” 1919), George Gershwin (“I Know A Foul Ball,” 1933), Ring Lardner (“Gee! It’s A Wonderful Game,” 1911), and John Philip Sousa (three from 1888: “An Umpire I, Who Never Say Die,” “He Stands in the Box with The Ball in His Hands,” and “The Umpire and The Dude”), although the baseball champ of Tin Pan Alley must be Moe Jaffe, credited with writing more than 250 songs, including 14 about baseball.

In more recent years, Terry Cashman (composer of Spanky & Our Gang’s hit “Sunday Will Never Be the Same”) is the best known, Dubbed the “The Balladeer of Baseball,” he launched a series of “Talkin’ Baseball” singles with 1981’s “Talkin’ Baseball: Willie, Mickey and The Duke,” released the year of a baseball strike, and went on to pen versions for most MLB teams. Composer Jane Jarvis wrote six baseball songs, all about the Mets, but she’s less known than others (Alabama’s “Cheap Seats,” Teresa Brewer’s “I Love Mickey” [Mantle]), Kenny Rogers’ “The Greatest,” Paul Simon’s “Night Game,” Kanye West’s “Barry Bonds,” Warren Zevon’s “Bill Lee,” and The Baseball Project – a “supergroup” with musicians from R.E.M. and the Dream Syndicate – whose albums include “Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails” and “High and Inside.”

Besides the lineup below, there also have been recorded ballads about Roberto Clemente, Catfish Hunter, Satchel Paige, Fernando Valenzuela and Maury Wills, five different songs all titled “Say Hey,” about Willie Mays, and innumerable and forgettable one-shots about teams by some of their players.

These, however, are all unforgettable, like a real-life triple play:

“All The Way” (Pearl Jam); 2008. Cub fan Eddie Vedder wrote this upbeat tribute to his team.

“Centerfield” (John Fogerty); 1985. Nice metaphor of someone looking to come back after withdrawing from life – apt during this stay-at-home time.

“Daddy Played First Base” (Homer and Jethro); 1970. This country/comedy duo based this on Carl Perkins’ “Daddy Sang Bass,” and showed smarts about the sport as well as instincts about humor.

“Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball?” (Count Basie and His Orchestra); 1949. The lyrics from original artist Buddy Johnson (who had a hit the same year) show the excitement in the black community: “Satchel Paige is mellow,/ so is Campanella,/ Newcombe and Doby, too./ But it’s a natural fact,/ when Jackie comes to bat,/ the other team is through.”

“A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request” (Steve Goodman); 1981. Goodman’s “Go Cubs Go” is a familiar anthem, but this is heartfelt praise to devotion.

“Glory Days” (Bruce Springsteen); 1984. Nostalgic nod amid the high energy of “Born in the U.S.A.”

“Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio” (Les Brown and His Orchestra); 1941. This came out during the Hall of Fame Yankee outfielder’s 56-game hitting streak.

“Move Over Babe (Here Comes Henry” (Bill Slayback); 1973. Hall of Fame broadcaster Ernie Harwell wrote this appreciation of Hank Aaron with Slayback, a Detroit Tigers pitcher.

“Right Field” (Peter Paul & Mary); 1986. Anyone ever relegated to right field to minimize defense damage will relate to the lyrics, which move from fear to victory.

“When You Were Mickey Mantle and I Was Stan the Man” (Ken Carlysle); 1985. Downstate Illinois guitarist and bandleader of the country-rock Cadillac Cowboys wrote this terrific tune about growing up in the 1950s.

            “(You Gotta Have) Heart” (cast of “Damn Yankees”); 1955. Covered by many singers over the years, this Broadway classic about the hapless Washington Senators’ perseverance is fun as well as hopeful.

So: If you’re sheltered in place and long for baseball, do some online searches and crank up these numbers for a while.

Don’t go deaf.