So how big a baseball fanatic am I? Pretty big… but I never got over the 2001 World Series where my beloved Yanks lost to fucking Randy Johnson (that arrogant prick who smelled up the Stadium) and uber-Yankee killer right wing redneck nutcase Curt “not a full” Schilling in 7.
And how big a fan am I of Pete Buck of REM… moving right along I always loved Steve Wynn of the Dream Syndicate and have been reading about the band they’ve formed The Baseball Project wherin they sing of all things baseball.
Their first album is called Volume One: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails which has gotta give you pause and the song I’ve heard is OK nothing great but they have song whose chorus goes “Ted Fucking Williams” which I may invest in if I ever get home again.
This is off their PR stuff but it is real interesting: “The end result is an album that impresses not only with its depth of both widely known and obscure baseball lore, but with its melodic sensibility, walls of guitars, and catchy choruses. No, Frozen Ropes & Dying Quails does not require a PhD in pitching mechanics or membership in three fantasy leagues to enjoy on a purely musical level. The joyous chorus of “Ted Fucking Williams” would probably compel Babe Ruth to sing along. “Broken Man” is about slugger Mark McGwire, yet anyone can identify with the semi-tragic tale of being built up and then being humiliated in public in such a brief span of time. And in “Jackie’s Lament”, Mr. Robinson’s trials while breaking baseball’s color barrier become an anthemic call to anyone who overcomes life’s obstacles….
Wynn cites “Harvey Haddix” as perhaps the most difficult song to finish. The track makes the case for the Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher to be credited with a perfect game (no hits, no base runners over nine innings) after he lost one in the 13th inning. The chorus names all 17 pitchers in history that are officially recognized with the rare feat–alas, the names of Randy Johnson, Addie Joss and Dennis Martinez aren’t really found in rhyming dictionaries. Wynn explains, “It was like lyrical Sudoku. We had to somehow fit in all 17 pitchers. The last piece of the puzzle was a visit to Wikipedia and finding that Catfish Hunter threw his for the A’s–I knew that already–and that Len Barker threw his against the Blue Jays. I didn’t know that, and a natural rhyme was born!”
Wynn and McCaughey also take time to pay tribute to their favorite baseball players of all time. McCaughey’s “Sometimes I Dream of Willie Mays” blends personal memories of his hero into a psychedelic time-warp. For Wynn, “Long Before My Time” marks the amazing career of Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax, who quit at his peak in 1966. Wynn says, “He had such an incredible five year run and then he just walked away. He was in the Hall of Fame at an age where most players are renegotiating their contract”‘
Ps? I still thinking Helen cheated when she won our Red Sux Vs THE YANKS!!! bet