Baseball Boogie

Opening Day!!!!  My beloved Pirates may (or may not, gotta cover our, ahem, bases) not suck for a second straight year!

Baseball is a weird thing...so many hopes and dreams caught up over a 162-game slog...it's the beauty of the game.  We root for that which identifies us on almost every night of the Spring/Summer/Fall.  It's a long, protracted demand on our attention span.  Yet we identify, whether it be the lovable losers or the ascendant team with money and talent to burn (but always fails expectation).  Somewhere there is a magical formula, and nobody has quite figgered it our yet.

The green grass, the clean, for now, uniforms, the tiny white ball that can perform magic in the air when released.  A bat and a person, standing with purpose, defying the laws of gravity.  The mystical catch, sliding and glove up.  The sailing home run, beyond the reach of fans.  The small ball glory of a grounder into a double or triple play.  The bloop that sends a runner home. The slide and hustle of a stolen base. The fans, hats turned upside down and backward, believing, as if the very collective can will the course of fate.

And, of course, we all hate the Yankees, except, of course, for the great players they've fielded...them we jealousy respect.

Baseball.  The stuff of fields of dreams.  No time clock, no metronome.  Just the moment...batter vs. pitcher...the age-old conflict.

The tip of the hat, then.

A Six Pack, then (because baseball and beer are eternally entwined).  Some of our favorites.  Enjoy.

And Roberto Clemente will always be the greatest Baseball player who ever lived!

The Baseball Project: Chin Music (mp3)

Treniers: Say Hey! (The Willie Mays Song) (mp3)

Del Reeves: Philadelphia Fillies (mp3)

Marah: Rain Delay (mp3)

Billy Bragg and Wilco: Joe DiMaggio Done It Again (mp3)

Mabel Scott: Baseball Boogie (mp3)


Support your local farm team!  Who knows what legend will arise!