Spring training sets the stage for America’s favorite pastime, baseball! Summer is filled with exciting match-ups between our favorite teams, comparing player stats, and heading out to the local ball field to play or cheer on our favorite players.
Set up an MP3 playlist of your favorite baseball songs to help get you in the mood for baseball season. The following are ten of the songs I consider to best represent baseball and the spirit of baseball. Some are more commonly known than others.
Links are provided so you can check out the songs on YouTube or listen to or download an MP3.
Centerfield – John Fogerty
If you are looking for a baseball song to add to your MP3 playlist that will get you juiced up for the game, there is no better son than John Fogerty’s American favorite Centerfield. Fogerty’s gravelly voice accompanied by driving, classic rock music lifts your spirits and gets you ready to enjoy America’s favorite pastime.
Talking Baseball – Terry Cashman
Terry Cashman summed up the feelings of many long time baseball fans in what has now become a classic baseball song and often rewritten for specific clubs. This song is also known as Willie, Mickey, and the Duke. Cashman recorded a tribute to the great baseball players of the 50s. It’s a swinging, folksy song, but has earned its place among my top ten baseball songs. Any true baseball fan will enjoy Talking Baseball.
Load up the Bases – Whiskey Falls Load up the Basesby Whiskey Falls will add country rock to your MP3 baseball play list. Written from the perspective of a big league heavy hitter this is a rollicking baseball song with new country sound.
Tessie – Dropkick Murphys
No, I’m not a Red Sox fan, but Tessie has to make the top ten list of baseball songs. It is the battle cry for the Red Sox. Honky-tonk from the early 1900’s, Tessie was recorded by Dropkick Murphys in 2004. It is a juiced up baseball song founded on the original bar style tonk. It is to listening fun and every Red Sox fan will sing along.
Baseball Song – Kenney Rogers Baseball Songis a folksy country song about a little boy learning the joys of playing baseball. One of the great things about this song is that it touches the dreams of little boys’ hearts who just know they’ll grow up to play professional baseball. It’s an uplifting song by Kenney Rogers accompanied by acoustic guitar.
America’s Favorite Pastime – Todd Snider
Todd Snider’sAmerica’s Favorite Pastime is another folksy style song, in which Snider accompanies himself with a bluesy guitar. This is a story song and it happens to be a true story. It is the day Doc Ellis of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitched a no-hitter high on LSD. He went to the ballpark not expecting to pitch, but the coach called him in. Doc Ellis pitched the no hitter in 1970, as high as a kite on LSD. It’s an entertaining and I consider it a folksong about baseball, rather than exalting drugs.
Cheap Seats – Alabama
There is a lot more to baseball than the Major League. Small towns across the United States enjoy being home to Minor League farm teams. It’s one of the best places to get autographs, mingle with like-minded baseball fans, and meet players who are headed for the Majors. Alabama’s baseball song Cheap Seatspays tribute to baseball and Americana in their distinctive country style.
Losing – Pondering Judd
Pondering Judd provides an easy rock song to lament those long losing streaks that only the most dedicated baseball fans endure. I can rile my husband by playing Losing when the Atlanta Braves get on a losing streak, but we’ve ridden them out for years. I guess that is one reason I have this song on my MP3 playlist.
A Perfect Day for Baseball – Jason Siemer A Perfect Day for Baseball is the perfect baseball ballad. Baseball fans will enjoy this song that reminds us of the perfect day, the weather, and the fun of getting out on the field with a ball and glove and playing baseball. Jason Siemer, a relatively new artist, performs a song that is classified by the artist as folk pop. That sounds like how we could describe baseball, doesn’t it?
Swing – Trace Adkins
Even thought Trace Adkins uses baseball as a metaphor in his hit song Swing, the tempo and lyrics take your mind straight to the days of summer and thoughts of baseball, even if the men in this song have something else on their minds. Trace Adkins performs Swing with rocking, new country style.
