AT LAST, A PERSONAL
LIST OF THE BEST OF THE FILMS ON BASEBALL
MAR2014: THE 131ST ARTICLE FOR BASEBALL GURU
ONEMOREINNING
..PUT ME IN COACH, I'M READY TO PLAY TODAY .
BASEBALL SONGS BESIDES YOU KNOW WHAT
.....and there are plenty of them. We'll spend the next few months looking at them, seeing who wrote the lyrics, and getting some information about the way they came to be written & yes somewhere down the line we'll get peanuts & crackerjacks & not care if we never come back.
CENTERFIELD: John Fogarty:
Centerfield is often played at ballgames and has been inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Fogarty included this in his comeback album.
Joe Dimaggio, Willy Mays, and Ty Cobb are mentioned in the lyrics.
It's featured throughout BULL DURHAM
Oh, put me in Coach, I'm ready to play today.
Put me in Coach, I'm ready to play today
Look at me, I can be Center field.
JOLTIN' JOE DIMAGGIO: Alan Courtney, Ben Horner:
Written in 1941 to commemorate DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak.
It was recorded By Les Brown and his Orchestra of Renown and sung by Betty Brown.
A filmed version can be seen on You-Tube:
He started baseballs famous streak,
that's got us all aglow.
He's just a man and not a freak
Joltin' Joe DiMaggio.
A DYING CUBS FAN LAST REQUEST: Steve Goodman:
One of three songs that Goodman wrote about the Cubs. All three were created while he was suffering from Cancer.
General Manager Dallas Green wouldn't allow it to be played at the ballpark. He claimed it was too sad.
Do they still play the blues in Chicago,
when baseball season rolls around?
When the snow melts away,
do the Cubbies still play,
in their ivy covered burial ground?
DID YOU SEE JACKIE ROBINSON HIT THAT BALL? Buddy Johnson:
Written in 1949, two years after Robinson's debut in the Major Leagues. Recorded by the Count Basie orchestra and it became one of the most popular songs of that year.
Dodgers didn't start playing it at home until two years after.
Did you see Jackie Robinson hit that ball,
It went zoomin cross the left field wall
Yeah boy, yes, yes, Jackie hit that ball
TALKIN BASEBALL: Terry Cashman:
The song appeared in early 1981 and detailed the history of Major League baseball from 1950 until 1980.
Ii appeared in 1981 during the baseball strike.
It became so popular that Cashman wrote versions of the song for all the teams in the Major's back then.
The original sheet music is in the Hall Of Fame collection.
We're talkin baseball
Kluzuski, Campanella
Talkin the man, and Bobby Fella,
the Scooter, the Barber, and the Newc,
They know them all from Boston, and Dubuque,
especially Willie, Mickey, and the Duke.
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART: Jerry Ross, Richard Adler:
The song appeared in the huge Broadway hit, Damn Yankees.
It was a takeoff on the Faust legend but in this case it has a Baseball plot. The song itself was used as a motivation for the Washington Senators to go out and beat the hated New York Yankees.
Songwriter Adler died shortly after from Acute Bronchietis at the age of 29.
You gotta have heart,
miles and miles of heart.
Oh its fine to be a genius of course,
but keep that old horse before the cart,
First you've gotta have heart!
GLORY DAYS: Bruce Springsteen:
In 1984 Springsteen had a huge success with his album Born In America, Glory days was in it and has remained as one of his biggest hits.
The song itself is loosly based on one of his friends from High school who he met again later on in life.
Had a friend was a big baseball player back in Highschool.
He could throw that speedball by you make you look like a fool boy
Saw him the other night in this roadside bar,
I was walkin' in, he was walkin' out.
We went back inside, sat down and had a few drinks
All he kept talkin' bout was
glory days, well they'll pass you by,
glory days, glory days.
NEXT MONTH MORE OF THE SAME.
READ ..PART II .
