Monday, March 7, 2011

The Top 10 Baseball Related Songs of All-Time


I'm not going to sugarcoat any of this: The following list may alienate a few of you from me. But with baseball right around the corner, I figured it's time for another list.

I had originally wanted to go with "The Top 10 Baseball Songs of All-Time" as a title to this blog post, but  flat-out labeling each one of these as baseball songs would be a bit drastic. So we'll stick with a friendlier, all-encompassing title as you see above.

Without further adieu, I present to you the reader, my list of the Top 10 Baseball Songs Of All-Time Baseball Related Songs of All-Time.

10. Reckless Kelly - April To October
I can't find a link to provide you with the baseball-licious harmonies of this tune, but a song about relationships with the opposite sex that's filled with nothing but baseball analogies belongs on a list of mine.

9. Dropkick Murphys - Tessie
I don't like the Red Sox, and Red Sox fans tend to grate on me worse than the baby that won't shut up on the plane ride home from out of town. But in my opinion, any song so cool that it makes me almost wish I was a fan of the team that's being sung about is A-OK in my book.

8. Alabama - The Cheap Seats
Leans a little more to the minor league baseball variety, but hey, that's okay. It's also one of those fun, I-don't-care-that-we-suck-and-have-lost-17-games-in-a-row songs.

7. The Treniers - Say Hey! (The Willie Mays Song)
Quick Willie Mays story: We saw him at Don & Charlie's, a very well-known restaurant and pretty big hotspot this time of year in Scottsdale, AZ over the weekend, and even though the man was charing $200 a pop (for the "Say Hey" Foundation), the man had an aura around him. Nolan Ryan, to me, has an aura around him as well - but for different reasons.

That's not to say I wouldn't want to sit down and have a meal with Nolan Ryan, but to be in the same room as Willie Mays, the Say Hey kid, was really wild.

So there you go. Say Hey! checks in at number seven on the countdown. I felt like Casey Kasem just now.

6. Bruce Springsteen - Glory Days
I wish there was a blood pressure monitor nearby every time I was at The Ballpark and heard that guitar to kick the song off, followed by the "WHOOOO!" and then the organ. It would shoot through the roof with sports filled excitement.

5. Steve Goodman - Go, Cubs, Go!
Once again: I'm not a Cubs a fan, but any song cool enough to make me wish I was a fan of that team definitely belongs on a list.

4. Terry Cashman - Talkin' Baseball (Willie, Mickie, and The Duke)
One of those songs that will never fade away. Of course, everybody knows The Simpsons version (Homer, Ozzie, and The Straw), but in addition to that, a quick search of YouTube reveals that practically every single MLB team has some sort of version of this song created by some fan.

3. Randy Newman - The theme from "The Natural"
(Sorry about the creepy guy at the beginning of the clip. I didn't feel like finding a different version.)
If you're playing the game - any version of it, be it video game, Adult-League softball, backyard with your kids - and someone hits a ball over something, you know you're going to be thinking about this song. You may just think about it in your head or you may sing it out loud, but you know it'll be there.  \

2. Take Me Out To The Ballgame 
Any version. But if I have to pick one, I'd go with the Carly Simon version of it. Sadly, I don't have a link to it outside of this link where you can listen to either some or all of it before you buy the song on Amazon.

This version of this song has sentimental meanings to me because it takes me back to being a kid, going to games at the old stadium and remembering all those special times I had when baseball was just coming into my sports consciousness. I know some might be insulted that this song isn't at number one, but come on, that'd be too obvious.

(Sidenote: I just now read up some on Carly Simon through a Q&A on her website and discovered that, in an answer to a question in 2002 she is NOT a fan of baseball anymore because, in her words, "there is so much trading of players". )

(Really, Carly??? Of all the things that are wrong with the game in its current state - performance enhancing drugs, ridiculous contracts - you chose TRADES as the reason you've lost interest in baseball? Okay.)

1. John Fogerty - Centerfield
My all-time favorite. You bet your you-know-what this song will be fired up on Opening Day.

There you have it. Go sports.

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