In the wake of the continually unraveling steroid mess and the pain of last year’s 0-3 divisional series loss for the Chicago Cubs, I am trying to awaken my baseball passion for the 2009 season. But for the love for the history of the game, and perhaps more specifically, a love for the history of the radio broadcasting of the game as currently exemplified by the Cubs booth team of Pat Hughes and Ron Santo, I don’t know if I would be back.
However, I can’t imagine spring/summer nights without the sound of baseball on the radio in the background while driving in the car, working in the garage, or watching the evening settle in around the house.
2008’s The Baseball Project release Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails by Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate, Steve Wynn and the Miracle 3), Scott McCaughey (Young Fresh Fellows, Minus 5, and R.E.M), Linda Pitmon (Miracle 3), and Peter Buck (R.E.M.) might help as well.
A collection of songs in what I’d call the American Band Rock tradition retells stories from baseball’s history, folklore, and has-been woe-tales. Sounding much like Jonathan Rundman at times, the songs craft these tales in a way that still pulses with the energy of rock ‘n’ roll as evidenced on “Ted F*@&ing Williams” with its pounding, stadium drums.
2008 also saw the release of Pillar’s album, For the Love of the Game, a hard rock Christian album seemingly tailored for a minor league stadium tour circuit. While yielding pulsing exuberance for gameday with a ready-made Jesus analogy, that album evokes more ESPN than baseball history. It’s highlight montage music whereas The Baseball Project could accompany any good baseball historian’s tale and interviews of the greats.
Pillar landed upon the excitement—perhaps even overlooking the little-turned-huge men behind the curtain named Rodriguez, Bonds, Clemens, and McGwire. The Baseball Project looks them square in the eye and wonders why. It’s music for everyone who bemoans the asterisks that have to be added to many personal records.
So as The Baseball Project kicks off with “Past Time” saying, “You can get tangled up in a ball of rubber bands and twine, the cowhide and pine tar, snuff, spit, and chalk dust lines/…So long ago, so long, Pasttime are you past your prime?” I have entered the 2009 Major League Baseball season with hopes only in Pat, Ron, The Baseball Project—along with an incurable just-below-the-surface belief that the Cubs will win it all only to lose it before they can win it.
My enthusiasm for this season was also incredibly pushed along by a recent visit to Milwaukee’s Miller Park where friends on the Brewers staff treated me to a great seat, my name on the billboard, and a step inside the visitor’s dugout. Behind all of the drama and money, there are a lot of great people that make baseball work.
Steve Wynn
Yep Roc Records
Pillar
Essential Records
