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February 18, 2021
THE MUSIC OF BASEBALL, PART TWO
It started when I wrote a blog about baseball’s National Anthem, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” I followed it with another blog, highlighting the Music of Baseball, four classic tunes about our great game. But there were still more, so I decided to do it again and give you The Music of Baseball, Part Two. Here are four additional baseball songs that I think you’ll enjoy. You can not only listen, but you can see some great images as well. And this time we’re featuring a wide variety of performers. Whether you know them or not, I think you’ll thoroughly enjoy their offerings. So once again I play the role of disk jockey and here we go.
Leading off, the first selection is called VAN LINGLE MUNGO, written in 1969 and performed by the composer, Dave Frishberg. Mungo was a right-handed pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants who won 120 games between 1931 and 1945. But the song isn’t really about him. Rather, it’s about his name and the names of many other former ballplayers. So take a walk down memory lane with Frishberg and some great images to go with the names of the players.
Up next is a song of more recent vintage, but it still features some great images of the old game we all loved. It’s called CENTERFIELD and was written by John Fogerty in 1985 and also performed by him. For those who don’t remember or know him, Fogerty was the lead singer in the popular group called Creedence Clearwater Revival that had a number of big hits in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He finally left the group to perform as a single and this was one of his first solo hits. Again, there are some great old images along with the music.
In the third spot this time we have a song about a ballplayer we all know and love, Willie Mays. The Say Hey Kid will turn 90 years old in May and is currently baseball’s oldest living Hall of Famer, a guy many people now call the greatest ever. The song is aptly called, SAY HEY (THE WILLIE MAYS SONG) and is performed by the Treniers. The Treniers were an R&B and jump blues group that began performing back in 1947. The song was originally released in 1955 and includes some dialogue from Willie himself. It was also included on the soundtrack of the Ken Burns 1994 documentary, Baseball. So what else can we say except, Say Hey.
The cleanup hitter in our selection of four songs is a no-brainer. It’s the master himself, Frank Sinatra, and his hauntingly beautiful tribute to old ballparks everywhere that are no longer standing. It’s aptly called THERE USED TO BE A BALLPARK, and was written by Joe Raposo in 1973. Sinatra first recorded it for his album Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Back, also in 1973. Like so many of us, Frank was also a big baseball fan and he sings the song with his own special brand of emotion. (Yes, I’m a big Sinatra fan myself.) The song was used in the HBO documentary, Brooklyn Dodgers: Ghosts of Flatbush, and was also played over the PA system at the conclusion of the final Atlanta Braves game ever at Turner Field on October 2, 2016.
Bill Gutman
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