Happy MLB Opening Day

Since I'm a huge baseball fan, Opening Day is one of my favorite days of the year. I know three games have already been played, but today is the first day with a full slate of games. Plus, almost every day from now until October should provide me with baseball to watch, so I'm in a good mood! A couple years ago, I wrote a post highlighting some baseball related music. That's certainly not the only time I've brought the sport up on this blog though. I figured I could add to those posts with a couple new items.

* The other day, Salon.com posted a list of baseball's 27 greatest songs. Check it out here.

* The Baseball Project, a supergroup comprised of members from R.E.M. and other bands, released their third album last week, the appropriately titled "3rd." The album contains songs about Babe Ruth ("The Babe"), the sad fall of Lenny Dykstra ("From Nails To Thumbtacks"), Dale Murphy's Hall of Fame candidacy ("To The Veteran's Committee"), and many more. The whole album is a lot of fun if you're a baseball fan. I mean it starts out with a voice just reading off numbers from famous baseball records over a driving electronic beat... Below I've included a song about the history of the Oakland A's. Since MLB.tv prevents me from watching Twins games in Iowa, I've adopted Oakland as my second team.



* Lastly, this connection is a bit more superficial, but Philadelphia-based pop punk/indie rock group Modern Baseball released an album earlier this year, that is an enjoyable listen. For a much longer write up on the band, you can read this post over on Grantland. If you'd rather just hear the music, below is a song of theirs.



Happy Opening Day!

A Tribute to Baseball Music

Besides music, my other big hobby that I waste my free time on (as well as plenty of time that probably shouldn't be free time) is watching/reading about/discussing baseball. Thus, when the two worlds collide, it seems only natural that I should highlight that collision.

On Monday, longtime Seattle Mariner Ichiro Suzuki was traded to the Yankees, seemingly out of nowhere. If you're a baseball fan, you know how big of a deal this was as he had been the face of the franchise for the last 12 years (even if his skills had declined in recent years). If you aren't a baseball fan, maybe Death Cab for Cutie / The Postal Service singer Ben Gibbard can help explain his significance:

I wrote this song a few years ago. Today seems like the best day to share it with you.Thank you so much, Ichiro. soundcloud.com/gibbstack/ichi…
— Benjamin Gibbard (@Gibbstack) July 23, 2012

The song that he mentions, embedded below, is an ode to Ichiro Suzuki and his strong arm, baserunning skills, hitting prowess, and overall awesomeness.

Just last week, in my post about the new Macklemore & Ryan Lewis song supporting same sex marriage, I included their ode to the late Seattle announcer Dave Niehaus. Baseball themed musical supergroup The Baseball Project also recorded an Ichiro themed song, "Ichiro Goes To The Moon" for their most recent album.

While you may be thinking that the Mariners hold a monopoly on being the target of baseball themed songs, there are plenty of others too. Craig Finn of The Hold Steady is an unabashed Twins fan (and even gave a shoutout to Twins' manager Ron Gardenhire who had just recently won manager of the year when I saw the band perform in Iowa). Last March, I posted his ode to Twins teams past and present, "Please Don't Call Them Twinkies."

My parents named me after former Cubs second baseman (and Hall of Famer) Ryne Sandberg, and I grew up a Cubs fan (although I have since reformed). One of the songs I recall listening to on car rides growing up was "A Dying Cubs Fan's Last Request" by Steve Goodman. The song is about a Cubs fan on his death bed (who would have thought from the title?) who can't help but be a diehard Cubs fan despite their years and years of failure. Cubs fans can get a bad rap sometimes, but it takes a lot to stick with a team after all those years of coming up short.

Yesterday, Stereogum had a post about 6 indie songs inspired by baseball featuring Eddie Vedder, Belle & Sebastian, The Mountain Goats, Dropkick Murphys, Todd Snider, and the Craig Finn song I mentioned above. Click the link to check out those along with their write up.

The music at baseball games has always been of interest to me as I'm sure it is for similar baseball / music nerds. Fortunately now, there is a website called Designated Hits that allows you to look up most current player's batting / pitching music. The website is complete with links to sample or buy the music as well. While my musical tastes don't mesh with those of most ballplayers (lots of hip hop, country, classic rock, hard rock, and metal), it's fun to look through and there are some hidden gems. Some highlights include Nationals pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg using "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes, Royals pitcher Greg Holland using MGMT's "Electric Feel," and Rockies OF/1B Tyler Colvin coming out to bat to "Holdin On To Black Metal" by My Morning Jacket. The site is still in the early stages, but the creator appears active on Twitter (@designatedhits) and seems intent on keeping it up to date.

I'm sure I could find plenty more baseball / music tie-ins to ramble on and on about, but I should probably stop before I get even more carried away. If you have any favorites I'm missing, I'd love to hear about them in the comments.

Don't Call Them Twinkies!

*If you don't care at all about baseball or the Minnesota Twins, you can probably skip this one, but I feel sorry for you.*

My plan was to hold off on posting this song until opening day of the baseball season, but Amazon currently has it available for free and at least Spring Training is underway, so I suppose there's no time like the present.

Twins fans may recognize the song, "Don't Call Them Twinkies" by The Baseball Project (featuring Craig Finn of The Hold Steady). It was recorded last year and made available to stream during the end of the season while the Twins were making a playoff push (and unfortunately subsequently getting pushed out of the playoffs far too quickly again). I may be biased since I am a huge Twins fan, but I don't think it's much of a stretch to call it one of the greatest songs ever to mention both Zoilo Versailles winning the MVP and Ron Gant foolishly falling off first in the '91 World Series.

Craig Finn, who guests on the track, is the lead singer for The Hold Steady. The rest of the group is from New York, but Finn grew up in Minnesota and liberally sprinkles Twin Cities references throughout his songs. I saw The Hold Steady perform here in Iowa City a few months ago and Finn even gave a shoutout to "AL Manager of the Year Ron Gardenhire".

The Baseball Project consists of Steve Wynn, Peter Buck of R.E.M., Scott McCaughey of The Minus 5, and Linda Pitmon of I'm not sure. They came together to write songs about baseball, which seems like a pretty easy idea to get behind. I didn't pay much attention to their first album, but their second album, Volume 2: High and Inside, was just released yesterday, and I definitely plan on checking out this one. ESPN had 6 of their songs available to stream before the release, and they were pretty enjoyable. But honestly, with song names like "Panda and The Freak" and "Ichiro Goes to the Moon" they are almost certain to be great.

Here's a video that a fan made with great pictures and videos to go along with the song. Play ball!



You can download the song free from Amazon here and pick up the rest of the album for $7.99 if you feel so inclined.

***UPDATE*** You can actually stream the whole album to give it a test run before you buy it at Spinner.com here

In 1965, I wasn't quite alive yet
But I'm told they gave the MVP to Zoilo Versalles
Oliva hit the singles and Harmon hit the homers
Mudcat Grant won twenty games and we didn't play in a dome yet
The Dodgers came to Bloomington to play for the World Series
The Twins took the first two, you can even ask Vin Scully
but Sandy Koufax proved to be a bit too much to crack
and the Twins went down in seven but they vowed that they'd be back

From Nicollet to Hennepin, from St. Paul to St. Cloud
The Minnesota Twins are making Minnesotans proud
and we don't buy our titles, so there's summers where we stink
But these are grown men, these are heroes
So please don't call them 'twinkies'

In the fall of '87 I was pretty much in heaven
I got my license and a girlfriend, the Twins had won the pennant
I prayed more in the dome than I ever did in church
Kirby Puckett had the smile, Kent Hrbek has the smirk
First we tamed the Tigers then we were dealt the Cards
And they came to the Twin Cities tried to make sense of our park
It was loud and it was close, and it went to seven games
But the Twins took home the title and that Sweet Music played

Edina to Duluth, from the south side of downtown
Minnesota Twins are making Minnesotans proud
so hear us make some noise, c'mon wave those Homer Hankies
These are grown men, these are heroes
please don't call them 'twinkies'

in 1991 the Twins were once again on top
we faced Atlanta in the series, and they thought that they were hot
And I ain't seen somethin' so lame as that Fonda-hawk Chop
But we were up against the ropes when Kirby called his shot
And as he ran around the bases, smilin', pumpin fist
We all knew that he had won it, and it was only just game six
And the next night Jack Morris came and made his hometown proud
You should watch it in slow motion:
Ron Gant was clearly out.

From Mankato up to Brainerd, from Burnsville to Bemidji
Now we're playing outdoor baseball and that's the way it should be
Raise a toast to Kirby Puckett, raise another to Tom Kelly
They're the Minnesota Twins
So let's not call 'em 'twinkies'

We got Justin, we got Joe, that's enough reason to party
We don't buy our titles but we still won two World Series
So grab yourself a 3.2 beer and raise a toast to Gardy
They're the Minnesota Twins
So please don't call them 'twinkies'