With spring comes crisp blue skies, green rolling hills, and, of course, baseball. Whether or not you agree that baseball warrants its status as the national pastime, there’s no denying the sport has inspired the writing of some terrific songs. Below are nine dingers, along with one foul ball tossed in for good measure.
“Glory Days” (1985) – Bruce Springsteen
This serio-comic Bruce Springsteen song centers on a former high school baseball star who’s filled with nostalgia for his youth. In his shows, Springsteen often extends the track — which is one of his favorites — to more than 10 minutes.
“Take Me Out to the Ball Game” (2007) – The Hold Steady
Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn is one of the most devoted Minnesota Twins fans on the planet. When the team’s music director approached Finn about recording the game’s trademark tune, the singer gathered his ’mates and entered the studio immediately. The result? A perfect baseball anthem done in the Hold Steady’s gritty bar-band style.
“Catfish” (1991) – Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan’s tribute to A’s/Yankees pitching great Jim “Catfish” Hunter captures perfectly baseball’s transition from a pastoral blue-collar game to a profession staged in facilities with names like “3-Com Stadium.” Though it wasn’t released until 1991, the song was written in 1975, 14 years before Hunter died from injuries suffered in a fall at his North Carolina home.
“(Love is like a) Baseball Game” (1968) – The Intruders
Philly Soul writers Gamble and Huff, who later gave us “Love Train” and “Me and Mrs. Jones,” used baseball as a metaphor for romance on this early soul classic. “Three strikes you’re out / Whether you win or lose” was the key line. Gamble and Huff wrote another Intruders classic — “Cowboys to Girls” — but far as anyone can tell, that song had nothing to do with the Dallas football team.
“Beat on the Brat” (1976) – The Ramones
Okay, so it isn’t exactly a song about baseball. No matter. Any pop-punk tune that’s this catchy, and that sports an exultant chorus with the line “Beat on the brat with a baseball bat,” deserves special mention.
“Tessie” (2004) – Dropkick Murphys
Dropkick Murphys recorded this song in June 2004 and promptly gave it to the Boston Red Sox, telling anyone who would listen that the song guaranteed a Red Sox World Series victory. The result? The tune ridded the team of its infamous 86-year-old Curse of the Bambino (which was triggered by the sale of Babe Ruth), and the Sox indeed went home wearing World Series rings that year.
“A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request” (1983) – Steve Goodman
This epic about Steve Goodman’s beloved Chicago Cubs is commonly played in the Windy City’s bars and taverns at the start of each season. Sadly, Goodman died of leukemia the year after he wrote the track, just before the Cubs clinched the Eastern Division title. Some of the singer’s ashes were scattered across Chicago’s Wrigley Field.
“Piazza, New York Catcher” (2003) – Belle & Sebastian
This strummy Belle and Sebastian folk-pop ditty pays tribute to Mets catcher Mike Piazza and (indirectly) to Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax. Buried between the baseball references resides a beautiful love song.
“Night Game” (1975) – Paul Simon
Leave it to sad sack Paul Simon to invoke the national pastime in the service of depressing imagery. The man who once angered Yankees great Joe Dimaggio (by referring to the slugger in “Mrs. Robinson”) loves the game, but you would never know it based on this song about a pitcher who dies on the mound.
“Centerfield” (1985) – John Fogerty
Amazingly, this quintessential baseball song never cracked the Top 40 and in fact was relegated to B-side status on a single (the A-side was “Rock and Roll Girls”). No matter. Even after thousands of airings in stadiums around the country, the Fogerty tune brims with all the optimism embodied by the sport itself.