Although we may be living in Bud Selig’s Golden Age of Baseball (trademark pending), there is one area of our culture baseball has not pervaded in some time: music. Try and think of a song about baseball that has come out in the last 20 years. You can’t do it. Sure “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” is as familiar to most Americans – even non-baseball fans – as nearly any other standard. But popular music used to have a place for baseball and its icons. Joe Dimaggio (“Joltin’ Joe Dimaggio”), Jackie Robinson (“Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit that Ball?”), Willie Mays (“Say Hey”) and Catfish Hunter (“Catfish”) all had songs written specifically about their baseball prowess. Others made their way referentially into songs more (“Centerfield”) or less (“Mrs. Robinson”) about baseball. Some songs simply rhapsodized the game itself (“Right Field,” “Glory Days,” “Cheap Seats”). But one thing all these baseball songs have in common? They’re all decades old, many of them more than a half century.
Meanwhile, basketball’s stars past and present literally litter the verses of hip hop in recent years. And I’m not even counting Shaq’s classic “Kobe, Tell Me How My Ass Tastes.” As an aside, my personal favorites (because when is the next time I am going to get to talk NBA-themed hip hop lyrics on this site?):
Pharoahe Monch, “Push”
My accurate jabs connect like rotary
Make you notice me,
Be like, “Damn, dudes on some totally
When he rides the bass line like Ginobili”
Joe Scudda, on Pete Rock & Little Brother’s “Bring Y’all Back”
What up, hello
Smooth type fellow
Go hard in the paint, like the young Carmelo
Pete Rock, “Don’t Be Mad”
Don’t be mad cause you can’t do what I can
Like that time Jordan went up, took that shot and switched hands
Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, a big baseball fan, is bringing baseball back into the conversation, though. In response to Ichiro being traded from his Mariners to the New York Yankees, Gibbard released a song called “Ichiro’s Theme” that he had written awhile ago. In the spirit of those mid-20th century swing classics, “Ichiro’s Theme” is upbeat and adulating, a celebration of a player and the significance of that player rather than a mere clever reference. And while it may not be entirely realistic in baseball terms (“When he’s at the plate with the game on the line the M’s are gonna win it every time”? If that’s the case, Ichiro must not have had many game-on-the-line plate appearances in the last few seasons), it is possessed of that inescapable catchiness that attaches to much of Gibbard/Death Cab’s catalog. Check it out:
In case you have trouble with the player, here’s the link:
A set of special dedications on this particular post:
To my sister, Alicia, a longtime Gibbard/Death Cab fan
And to Buzz and Rebecca, my two favorite Mariners fans (although Buzz will undoubtedly roll his eyes at Gibbard’s earnest sentimentality. His response to the Ichiro trade: “Good move!”)
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