2013 was supposed to be Clint Barmes year. After a dreadful campaign last season to start off his Pirates career, Barmes thought he was going to have a comeback season. Unfortunately, he didn’t improve and lost his starting position to Jordy Mercer. If you’ve noticed when Barmes comes to the plate, he now comes out to the tune of “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey. For any ballplayer, it can be a Journey to find the perfect walk-up song that suits them.
For years, it’s been the ritual that each player on a team will have their own music. It doesn’t matter if they are a position player or if they are a pitcher. Finding out where it started is the hard part. In many ways, it can be traced back to 1981 as The Haas family just purchased the Oakland Athletics, and wanted to lure back the fans there went astray due to the former regime. The A’s became the first team to play rock music throughout its stadium.
But can that be the actual start of it? Before the technological advancements that allow for a click of a button to play a full-length song, stadiums around the country were equipped with an organist. In fact, St. Louis Cardinals great Lou Brock asked the Cardinals organist to play the theme song from “Shaft” during his plate appearances during the 1970’s.
Yes, it’s evolved more and more throughout the years; the players are basically Casey Kasem as they select which songs will be played when they walk-up. From Jack Wilson’s “Jumping Jack Flash” walk-up song, to Matt Capp’s “Big Bull Rider” intro, every player takes pride in their choice.
“If you just talk around, walk up songs are pretty big,” said Pirates utilityman Josh Harrison.
Most players will select a song from current or past artists to use for their music. Harrison’s music may not be that well known, but it’s by his favorite artist.
“I’ve used so many different songs by him….I can’t think of the name of the one from this year, but he goes by Shay Hay or Verbal Assassin. Most people know him as Shay Hay,” Harrison said. “He’s from Cincinnati. He isn’t signed or anything like that, he does it in his free time. He’s actually a barber, but in his free time, he raps on the side.”
Shay Hay (real name Shay Harrison) is Harrison’s brother. Since Josh Harrison’s freshman year at the University of Cincinnati, his brother has provided him with a new song to use each year.
“My freshman year in college, he said he was going to make me a song. He made it, I played it and everyone loved it,” Josh Harrison said. “Ever since then, he’s made me a new one every year. Even when I got out of college, he made me one for pro ball.”
“Like Kemosabi, of course it’s me
I’m better known as the Master G”
Master G, a.k.a. Garrett Jones, comes out to a couple of different songs throughout the course of the ballgame. Like many, I relate the “Apache (Jump On It)” song by The Sugarhill Gang to Will Smith and Carlton Banks dancing on ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.’ Jones uses the party song as his walk-up music for his first plate appearance.
Not all walk-up songs have true meaning to them. When I asked Gaby Sanchez why he uses “Deliverance” by Bubba Sparxxx, he simply shrugged his shoulders and said that he liked it. For Jones, it was a former teammate that introduced him to the song.
“I heard it (“Apache”) a long time ago, I think Eric Hinske had it as his walk-up song,” Jones said. “It’s just kind of the way the beat had me nodding my head and the way the crowd was getting into it made me think that it was a good choice of a song.”
It was such a good choice that Jones’ then-fiance, Cassie, enjoyed it so much that the couple actually walked out to it at their wedding reception.
“Yeah me and Cassie walked out to “Apache” at our wedding (laughs),” Jones said with a smile. “She likes the song and picked it. We thought it would be a good way to get everyone at the wedding pumped up.”
Anytime the Jones family hears “Apache”, they’ll think of their wedding. Jones also uses another song that doesn’t have the fans as amped up or the visions of two childhood actors twirling their arms in the air. Instead, Jones went with the song “Whiskey In The Jar” by Metallica.
“For “Whiskey In A Jar” by Metallica, I’ve had that song since A-ball,” Jones said. “I’ve had some good seasons with it and I just like the song, so I decided to stick with that.”
“With the lights out, it’s less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us”
Ah yes, the famous lines of Kurt Cobain. When you think of music, one of the first places that comes to mind is Seattle, Washington. Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix, Alice in Chains, Bing Crosby and the list goes on and on. If makes sense then that some point the finger at the Seattle Mariners as being the innovators of the walk-up music. In fact, 20 years ago, the Mariners started playing walk-up music for every player and even for their closer entering the game.
Inspired by the movie Major League, perhaps? In the movie, Rick Vaughn, portrayed by Charlie Sheen, entered the game to the tune of “Wild Thing” by The Troggs. The movie did, after all, come out in 1989.
If it did, in fact, start in Seattle, it’s only fitting that one of their own would would pay respect to his town with his choice in music.
“I’ve always been a fan of Nirvana and in the past couple of years, Macklemore has really taken the scene by storm,” Snider said. “I heard that song (“Can’t Hold Us”) in spring training and wanted to keep the identity close to home. It worked perfectly with following up Nirvana with Macklemore. That’s the reason that I picked it.”
Snider is known as “Lunchbox” for his love of food. What people don’t know is, Snider is a huge fan of music. This season, he enters the batter’s box with Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Macklemore’s “Can’t Hold Us” blaring over the PA system. Like Snider, both Nirvana and Macklemore are from Seattle.
“I’d say in that genre, Nirvana was my favorite. I listen to a variety of from the 70’s, 80’s, to mainstream rap to old school rap. I don’t really have a favorite,” Snider explained. “I was really into the rap industry with Tupac in the early 1990s. I listened to his music a lot as a kid and even becoming a young man. There are a few groups that I enjoy that I could consider my favorite.”
Being from Seattle, not only did Snider enjoy Starbucks and Seattle’s Best coffee, but he had the chance to be surrounded by some legendary recording studios. Unfortunately, he was unable to visit any of them. He did, however, visit a place this offseason that he recommends to everyone.
“I have been to the Experience Music Project, which for anyone that goes to Seattle, I think it’s well worth the trip. It’s an incredible museum that they have set up. I had a chance to go this past offseason and got to see two pretty cool exhibits on Jimmy Hendrix as well as Nirvana,” Snider said. “It highlighted the start of grunge and punk music and how Nirvana was the start of the first wave of underground music transitioning to mainstream music.”
“I was able to learn the history of a couple of the famous musicians from the area that I’ve been a part of since I was a kid. Really, that’s the extent of my research, but at the same time, I’ve always been a fan of music as a kid. Growing up in Seattle was a great place to be.”
“Chasing dreams since I was 14 with the four track bussing halfway cross that city with the backpack, fat cat, crushing”
Yes, the players take their selections seriously, but they know that the music they pick won’t determine their play on the field.
“I normally just rock with it,” Josh Harrison said. “I don’t say that I didn’t get a hit because of the song or I just rock with it because it’s my brother and I like it.”
