With Spring comes hope. It is a new baseball season. No matter what team you root for, an official game that counts is yet to be played. If your team didn't win it all last year, that's okay. Right now, so far this year, they are tied for first place. Baseball is a microcosm of life and death in North America. It encompasses hope, anticipation, expectation, surprise, luck, success, failure, adulation, despair, team work, individual achievement, management, strategy, wealth, human frailty, stealing, injury, loss, renewal, resurrection, patience, inspiration and perspiration. It requires mental and physical effort and you are great if you can safely hit a third of the time. Baseball also has a soundtrack. Every Major League Baseball game starts with "The Star Spangled Banner" or "The Canadian National Anthem", announces every home team batter with a dedicated snippet of a popular song, and hosts a community choir experience with either (or both) "God Bless America" or "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" during the Seventh Inning Stretch. As the game ends, depending on the outcome and the city, you might hear Queen's "We Are The Champions", Tony Bennett singing "I Left My Heart In San Francisco", Frank Sinatra's version of "New York, New York", or any other adopted song that signals and celebrates that the home team has prevailed. It is not just the game that hosts music. Baseball is as American as rock 'n roll and there are a plethora of songs that venerate baseball. From John Fogerty's "Centerfield" to Terry Cashman's "Talking Baseball" there has been no shortage of modern musical explications on the American sport. To get you ready for Opening Day here are five songs that you may not have known actually involve America's Pastime. 1. Bruce Springsteen - "Glory Days" Springsteen starts his song of youthful yearning with these lyrics: I had a friend was a big baseball player back in high school He could throw that speedball by you Make you look like a fool boy Saw him the other night at this roadside bar I was walking in, he was walking out We went back inside sat down had a few drinks But all he kept talking about was Glory days well they'll pass you by Glory days in the wink of a young girl's eye Glory days, glory days
With Spring comes hope. It is a new baseball season. No matter what team you root for, an official game that counts is yet to be played. If your team didn't win it all last year, that's okay. Right now, so far this year, they are tied for first place. Baseball is a microcosm of life and death in North America. It encompasses hope, anticipation, expectation, surprise, luck, success, failure, adulation, despair, team work, individual achievement, management, strategy, wealth, human frailty, stealing, injury, loss, renewal, resurrection, patience, inspiration and perspiration. It requires mental and physical effort and you are great if you can safely hit a third of the time. Baseball also has a soundtrack. Every Major League Baseball game starts with "The Star Spangled Banner" or "The Canadian National Anthem", announces every home team batter with a dedicated snippet of a popular song, and hosts a community choir experience with either (or both) "God Bless America" or "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" during the Seventh Inning Stretch. As the game ends, depending on the outcome and the city, you might hear Queen's "We Are The Champions", Tony Bennett singing "I Left My Heart In San Francisco", Frank Sinatra's version of "New York, New York", or any other adopted song that signals and celebrates that the home team has prevailed. It is not just the game that hosts music. Baseball is as American as rock 'n roll and there are a plethora of songs that venerate baseball. From John Fogerty's "Centerfield" to Terry Cashman's "Talking Baseball" there has been no shortage of modern musical explications on the American sport. To get you ready for Opening Day here are five songs that you may not have known actually involve America's Pastime. 1. Bruce Springsteen - "Glory Days" Springsteen starts his song of youthful yearning with these lyrics: I had a friend was a big baseball player back in high school He could throw that speedball by you Make you look like a fool boy Saw him the other night at this roadside bar I was walking in, he was walking out We went back inside sat down had a few drinks But all he kept talking about was Glory days well they'll pass you by Glory days in the wink of a young girl's eye Glory days, glory days