Seventh-Inning Stretch

A blog post about baseball and music.

Greetings friends!

Around this time last summer, I was traversing the UK and Ireland, bringing you blog posts about sightseeing, festivals and Oasis.

Chronic health problems have sadly prevented me from seeing as much travel and live music this year as I would’ve liked, but I’ve been leaning into another passion of mine: baseball.

Growing up in the home of baseball (Cooperstown, NY), I would spend a lot of time working in my dad’s baseball memorabilia shop and/or an inordinate number of ice cream shops that exist in that town. I played softball for 10 years in high school and summer leagues, and have been an avid Phillies fan since the mid 2000s, going to Clearwater Threshers games in Florida when visiting my grandfather.

My dad’s shop.

So with my more stationary role this year, I’ve tried to be a bit more connected to my youth and the perks of my sports-fanatic city. I copped the MLB.TV package and have spent a lot of evenings yelling at the TV or cheering when somehow we come back after being down in the 9th inning with two outs and two strikes. I’ve also attended a few games, taking advantage of the great sports complexes we have in Philadelphia.

The MLB All-Star game was hosted in Philadelphia this year, and with that came a lot of great opportunities to lean into America’s favorite past-time. My brother and I donned some of our vintage baseball shirts from my dad’s store (some of them may be coming back here) and attended the All-Star Village at the Convention Center, checking out the exhibits and numerous queues for freebies. The next day, I spontaneously attended the All-Star Futures game, which was followed by the 3x3 tournament, featuring Phillies legends like Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins and incorporating non-MLB players like Jordan Mailata from the Eagles and Antonio Cipriano from Off Campus and Broadway. They had a lot of really cool fan experiences, like filming your own Field of Dreams segment (of course I delivered a bunt), and printing your own trading card. And because I was riding solo, I struck up conversations with strangers, exchanging passionate stories about our connections with baseball, and scratching that itch that I have been missing from solo traveling this year.

And probably most exciting for me, I got to meet my favorite player of all time, Chase Utley. Sometimes being addicted to social media pays off, and I saw a story posted that Chase was going to be set up at Sarcone’s Bakery in my neighborhood the following day. And just like Oasis last summer, there was no question of if or when I was going to be there; I was going to be there, no matter the cost.

Memories flooded in of watching the 2008 World Series, purchasing my first Phillies shirt with Utley’s name and number on the back, and being one of the few upstate New Yorkers that didn’t support a NY team. Later on I would cheer for the same team with my college roommate Megan, who was from outside the Philadelphia area, and brought me down to see some games with her family. When he went to the Dodgers, I attended a game in LA to see him. When he had his retirement in Philly, I also showed up, watching him play catch with Mac from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

While growing up in Coop awarded me the opportunity of meeting a few baseball Hall of Famers - Bob Feller, Ozzie Smith, Goose Gossage, etc. - Chase Utley has always been my white whale and the one I’ve wanted to meet most.

So I queued up on a hot summer day, pushing past any heat exhaustion or herniated disc pain and got to meet a hero of mine. And he was so kind and personable!!! Did my heart flutter and eyes quickly divert away when he first looked at me? Yes! Because I felt like that 16 year old again in 2008, achieving a dream of mine that had always felt a little far away. Anyways, here’s a picture of me meeting “The Man” himself, Silver Fox Chase Utley.

Okay, okay, I also said this was going to be about music. What does music have to do with baseball? Music has always been tied to baseball. Since the 1800s, music at the ballgame has evolved from singing in the stands to live musicians to the classic organist you hear pumping out tunes to hype up the fans. In modern years, players have used walk-up songs for their at-bats, with some becoming intrinsically linked in history (for example, Mariano Rivera and “Enter Sandman”). Music can become a rallying call, a tradition/superstition, or even a form of celebration. After a Phillies victory, the speakers broadcast Frank Sinatra’s “High Hopes” via a recording of Hall of Fame broadcaster Harry Kalas singing the chorus.

Baseball and music also co-exist off the fields. Songs have been written specifically to celebrate certain players or teams, such as Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Nolan Ryan (He’s A Hero To Us All)”, "Willie, Mickey and the Duke (Talkin' Baseball)" by Terry Cashman, and “Tessie” by Dropkick Murphys. Other songs use baseball imagery or nostalgic stories of playing the game, such as John Fogerty’s “Centerfield”, Nelly’s “Batter Up”, and Pinegrove’s “Intrepid.” Some songs have appeared on soundtracks of iconic baseball movies, like the use of “Green Onions” in The Sandlot. And other songs reference baseball in the name, like “Ode To The Mets” by The Strokes, and “Piazza, New York Catcher” by Belle and Sebastian.

In preparation for this post, I set out to gather some songs, and requested some help from some friends and trusted music lovers. I’m gonna pick out a few of my favorite finds below, but check out the playlist at the end for a full list of tunes.

The Intruders - “Love Is Like A Baseball Game”

Thanks to Bruce Warren for this rec! This my first listen but what a timeless classic from the Philadelphia soul group.

The Baseball Project - “They Are The Oakland A’s”

Multiple of my sources asked if I knew about The Baseball Project, and I feel like a fake fan because I did not! This super group features members from R.E.M. and they deliver a highly entertaining baseball-centric discography.

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin- “Cardinal Rules”

I grew up with this indie pop group from Missouri, and the bonus track from their 2010 album features some organ-like sounds that immediately transport you to the ballpark.

Fall Out Boy - “Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet”

Of course I’m going to talk about this one! In 2008, I was browsing CDs in FYE, and noted that a new Fall Out Boy album came out. When I turned over the case to read the track listing, my soul almost left my body when I read this title featuring the name of my hometown. Since then, it’s become my absolute anthem.

Little Big League - “Sportswriting”

I like doing articles like this because it forces me to find new-to-me music, and often let’s me stumble upon a band from the past that I missed. While I snagged this artist only for their name, I found out they were a Philadelphia indie rock band from the early 2010s, featuring Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast. I’m late to the game, but there are still a few innings left :)

The Lonely Island - “Let’s Bash”

I think baseball has a lot of whimsy and tomfoolery at times, and it makes absolute sense that those situations should be treated with a sense of humor, as The Lonely Island does with Jose Canseco and Marc McGwire in The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience. I still think that the team name rap in this song is one of the most creative forms of lyricism from this comedy group.

Annie DiRusso - “Derek Jeter”

People on the Internet love to tell me that baseball is a dying sport, but the fact that new indie musicians are still producing music that references the game shows that it is absolutely still living on. I love that this song features a voice note from her father, showing how many people celebrate baseball with their families.

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You can check out the entire playlist on Spotify and Apple.

Long live baseball, Go Fightins, and FTM! <3

x Erin