THE BASEBALL MUSIC PROJECT Bob Thompson, conductor ...

The Baseball Music ProjectBob Thompson, conductor | Dave Winfield, host and narratorWith the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra | Steven Larsen, music directorFriday, November 12, 2010, at 7:30pmFoellinger Great Hall

exploration. exuberance. inspiration. reflection.[a message from the director]Busey Bank • Busey Wealth Managementthe act of givingIt is a great pleasure to welcome you to KrannertCenter, one of the world’s finest performing artscomplexes and a vibrant cultural public square.Its history is rich with meaningful moments ofshared experience. Moments of pure exuberance.Powerful inspiration. Courageous exploration.Soulful reflection.I hope you will find yourself here often this seasonwith family, friends, and colleagues or on your ownto celebrate and carry forward the Center’s lifeaffirmingmission. Our doors are open wide.All good things,We honor Corporate Platinum SponsorBusey for this gift and 21 previousones. Because of this stalwart support,everyone in our community can share inmore moments of joy, introspection, andtransformation. We are grateful for suchoverflowing generosity.Throughout the 2010-2011 season, you will findartists from around the world, across our campus,and within our community bringing the Center tolife with their creative gifts and the human impulseto connect. To be with you. To share in the moment.Fully.Mike RossDirectorwork hard. play hard. experience deeply.Corporate Platinum Sponsor WCIA 3 hasbeen an outspoken advocate of the arts.With 18 previous sponsorships and twocurrent ones, it demonstrates with actionthat music, theatre, and dance are vital tothe growth and health of our community.23

Krannert Center recognizes with gratitude these forward-looking supporters. Their unwavering belief inthe transformative potential of the arts creates moments of joy, power, and exploration that everyone inthis community can share.the act of givingDixie & Evan Dickens*Nineteen Previous SponsorshipsFour Current SponsorshipsCorporate Silver SponsorFive Previous SponsorshipsMaxine & Jim Kaler*Eight Previous Sponsorshipstwo Current SponsorshipsThe Baseball Music ProjectPresented in association with the National Baseball Hall of Fame and MuseumDave Winfield, Hall of Fame narrator and hostChampaign-Urbana Symphony OrchestraSteven Larsen, music directorRobert Thompson, conductorMisty Castleberry and Forrest Mankowski, soloistsMichael Mushalla and Robert Thompson, producersFred Sturm, artistic directorMaury Laws, chief arrangerRob Hudson, research directorMadeline Sturm, design directorNathan Heleine, multimedia directorJenny Goelz, production and stage managerChris Ericson, sound engineerDavid Warfel, lighting supervisorEd Rosenberg, show controlAustin Switser, video supervisorMichael Cooney, company managerA Thompson Music Group/Double M Arts & Events ProductionDouble M Arts & Events, LLC is the exclusive representativeof the Baseball Music Project.The Baseball Music Project, LLCwww.baseballmusicproject.com4 * photo credit Illini Studio5

in the lobbyPopcornGet your free popcorn here before the show and atintermission (sorry—no munching inside the theatre).Adrian BurgosThis University of Illinois associate professor is ondeck for book signings and informal discussions ofPlaying America’s Game: Baseball, Latinos, and theColor Line.Illini Union BookstorePick up University of Illinois baseballs plus booksby Dave Winfield, Bob Thompson, LeAnne Howe,Adrian Burgos, and other regional authors.Graphic Design Class ProjectUniversity of Illinois students under the direction ofAssistant Professor Eric Benson created banners,projections, videos, and other media inspired by TheBaseball Music Project.Baseball DisplaysSee our local baseball history and the story ofthe professional women’s league with displays,photographs, and baseball memorabilia.The baseball panel exhibition was created by theEarly American Museum, Champaign County ForestPreserve District, funded in part by a grant from theIllinois Humanities Council. The “Dorothy ‘Dottie’Schroeder: All-American Girls Professional BaseballLeague Shortstop“ exhibition was curated by theSousa Archives and Center for American Music withspecial thanks to the Walter E. Schroeder Family forthe temporary loan of these objects for this exhibit.Thank YouWe give a special cheer to Professor Emeritus AlanNathan and the coaches and players of IllinoisBaseball for joining in the pre-show activities.Star-Spangled BannerJohn Stafford Smith and Francis Scott Key(Arr. by Maury Laws)The National GameJohn Philip Sousa(Arr. by Maury Laws)The Baseball PolkaJ. R. Blodgett(Arr. by Maury Laws)Slide, Kelly, SlideJ. W. Kelly(Arr. by Maury Laws)Misty CastleberryThe Umpire Is a Most Unhappy ManJoseph E. Howard(Arr. by Maury Laws)Misty Castleberry and Forrest MankowskiCasey at the BatMaury Laws and Ernest Lawrence ThayerDave WinfieldHeavy Hitters Medley(Arr. by Fred Sturm)Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball?Woodrow “Buddy” JohnsonAlways (from Pride of the Yankees)Irving BerlinJoltin’ Joe DiMaggioAlan Courtney and Ben HomerMisty Castleberry and Forrest MankowskiprogramTake Me Out to the BallgameAlbert Von Tilzer and Jack Norworth (Arr. by Maury Laws)Audience sing-along20-minute intermission6 7

champaign-urbana symphony orchestraSteven LarsEn, music directorForever SpringFred Sturm(Text compilation by Paul S. Kitzke)Let’s Keep the Dodgers in BrooklynRoy Ross (Arr. by Fred Sturm)Misty Castleberry and Forrest MankowskiVan Lingle MungoDave Frishberg (Arr. by Fred Sturm)Forrest MankowskiNolan Ryan’s FastballDianna Quinn (Arr. by Fred Sturm)Misty CastleberryFinale(Arr. by Robert Thompson)1. From Altitude, the Diamonds2. The Miracle of Light3. A Place Where It Would Always Be Spring4. When the Grass Was Real5. Night Game6. Time Is of the Essence . . .7. The Green Fields of the Mind8. The Empty Playing Field9. Baseball’s TimeDave WinfieldMusic from Field of DreamsJames HornerMusic from The NaturalRandy NewmanViolin IDorothy Martirano, ConcertmasterIgor Kalnin, Acting ConcertmasterYuan Wu, Acting AssociateConcertmasterAdrienne BarryHyunjung ChoiArmine MortimerCamille RoseAnastasia TumanovaViolin IIAaron Jacobs, PrincipalArmgard Haken, AssociatePrincipalTirzah AsireChristine ChengRachel KingBarbara LatawiecGeoffrey MuckenhirnFrances SunViolaRobin Kearton, PrincipalLois Gullerud, Associate PrincipalAshley EtzkornElaine FineTatiana KotovaKelli McQueenLauren MitchellEmma StrohbuschCelloBarbara Hedlund, PrincipalFrances Reedy, Associate PrincipalBeau CommandayMandy DennisKarin HendricksLisa MomentAnn ZettervallBassAlex McHattie, PrincipalDaniel BergrenTodd GallagherKelly SchmidtJose Roberto ViannaFluteMary Leathers Chapman, PrincipalAi YamaguchiPiccoloEllen ElrickOboeJohn Dee, PrincipalMargaret GrossmanEnglish HornAaron JakubiecClarinetMarina Antoline, PrincipalPamela ShulerBass ClarinetSolomon BaerBassoonTimothy McGovern, PrincipalKevin Larson, Acting PrincipalChih-Wei ChangContrabassoonSara AmidonHornMarc Zyla, PrincipalNatalie Douglass, Acting PrincipalCandace ThomasSonja KassalBeth McDonaldTrumpetSidney Shuler, PrincipalTracy ParishRobin ThomasJeremy McBainTromboneAlex Moraru, PrincipalG. David PetersBass TromboneBenjamin YatesTubaMark Moore, PrincipalTimpaniWilliam Moersch, PrincipalPercussionRicardo Flores, PrincipalSam CarrollSpencer MurrayChris VanderwallHarpShirley Blankenship, PrincipalKeyboardsDebra Sutter, PrincipalDaniel Pierson, Acting Principal8 9

the baseball music projectBaseball and music have been indelibly intertwined since the sport’s inception. Nearly 100 songs werewritten about baseball between 1858 and 1900 alone, and the major collections of baseball music in theUnited States (the Library of Congress, the Newberry Library, the Lester S. Levy Collection at Johns HopkinsUniversity, and the Margaret and Franklin Steele Sheet Music Collection at the National Baseball Hallof Fame) contain nearly 1,000 works written about the sport, commencing with the first known piece ofbaseball music, J. R. Blodgett’s “The Baseball Polka,” composed in 1858.Founded in 2004 by a group of music professionals with a nearly uncontainable love and passion for bothbaseball and music, The Baseball Music Project is dedicated to fostering greater awareness of the culturallineage and historical significance of music written about baseball, through concerts, recordings, and relatedoutreach events and projects.Dave Winfield (Host and Narrator),a 12-time All-Star, is the only athleteever to have been drafted by theNBA, NFL, and MLB. Currently a vicepresident/senior advisor with the SanDiego Padres and a studio analyst forESPN’s Baseball Tonight, Dave wasinducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in2001—his first year of eligibility.His 22-year professional baseball career began withthe San Diego Padres in 1973, followed by the NewYork Yankees, California Angels, Toronto Blue Jays(for which he drove in the winning run of the 1992World Series), and Minnesota Twins and ended withthe Cleveland Indians in 1995.Dave was the first active athlete to create a charitablefoundation. The Winfield Foundation provided healthcare, scholarships, holiday dinners, and substanceabuse prevention to children throughout the UnitedStates. His philanthropy earned him numeroushonors, including the YMCA Brian Piccolo Award, theBranch Rickey Community Service Award, and MajorLeague Baseball’s Roberto Clemente Award.Winfield has served on the boards of PresidentClinton’s National Service Program, the MorehouseSchool of Medicine, Hackensack Medical Center, theMajor League Baseball Players Trust, and the PeaceCorps.Topping off Dave’s career are his numerous literaryaccomplishments. His autobiography, Winfield: APlayer’s Life, was a New York Times best-seller. Healso wrote a drug education book, Turn It Around!There’s No Room Here for Drugs; an acclaimed howtobook called The Complete Baseball Player; and,most recently, Dropping the Ball, an in-depth look atthe issues facing baseball today.Dave resides in Bel Air, California, with his wife,Tonya, and their twins, Arielle and David.profilesRobert Thompson (Music Director, Founder, andProducer) grew up in Hawthorne, New York, theresting place of Babe Ruth. Bob’s claim to fame isthat he played trumpet at George Steinbrenner’sdaughter’s wedding, for which George gave himtwo crisp 100-dollar bills, which Bob in turn blew onYankees’ tickets. He is the co-author of Baseball’sGreatest Hit: The Story of “Take Me Out to the BallGame,” for which singer Carly Simon wrote theforeword and Commissioner of Baseball Bud Seligwrote the introduction, and is currently co-authoringa book with former New York Yankee Bernie Williamscalled Rhythms of the Game (Hal Leonard, 2011),which explores the parallel mindsets of greatballplayers and musicians.The recipient of two National Endowment for theArts Awards, Bob is a former professor of music atthe University of Kentucky and Hope College, wherehe taught trumpet and jazz studies, and the formerdean of music at the State University of New Yorkat Purchase College. He holds a Doctorate in Musicfrom the Eastman School of Music, University ofRochester. Bob produced the Grammy-nominatedrecording Allegresse by the Maria Schneider JazzOrchestra and produced and performed in the worldpremiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s La Pasión según SanMarcos (“a magnificent triumph of Latin-Americanmusic,” according to the Los Angeles Times) forwhich the live recording also received a Grammynomination. As a conductor, he has conducted theHouston, Seattle, Detroit, and Phoenix Symphonies,among others.Bob likes to think of himself as the world’s foremost“baseball musicologist,” despite the fact that theAmerican Musicological Society has yet to recognizebaseball musicology as a legitimate field of studyworthy of post-doctoral research.10 11

Misty Castleberry (Soloist), with a voice describedas “breathtakingly beautiful,” has entertainedaudiences from coast to coast. A specialist in themusic of Kurt Weill, she has presented several recitalsof Kurt Weill’s music at Lincoln Center and sang thesoubrette role in Mahagonny Songspiel at the KurtWeill Festival in 1998. Equally proficient in oratorio,Misty was the featured soloist in Haydn’s LordNelson Mass and Harmoniemesse; Bach’s Cantata140 (“Wachet auf”), St. Matthew Passion, and St.John Passion; and Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, SolemnVespers, and Requiem. Her favorite musical theatrecredits include Lily in The Secret Garden, Clara inPassion, and Maria in The Sound of Music. Misty’ssinging has been hailed as “ever-expressive” onstageand off, and she is equally at home in the recordingstudio. She is the featured soloist on Ike Sturm’sJazz Mass, which received outstanding reviews fromsome of the world’s top music journals. Her latestproject is an album entitled Songs for the Centuries,recorded live at St. James’ Church in New York City,in which she indulges her passion for choral musicin the Anglican tradition. Misty’s voice can be heardbeyond the walls of traditional performance venuesin frequent national television and radio commercials.A fair-weather fan of the Atlanta Braves, Mistycouldn’t stick out the tough years in the late 1980sand early 1990s. However, when they won theWorld Series in 1995, she didn’t miss a wink of it.Misty fondly remembers family baseball gamesevery summer, and although she never played inan organized league, she still loves the feeling ofrounding third base, knowing you’re almost home.Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Misty now lives withher loving husband and two beautiful daughters inthe Hudson Valley.Forrest “Woody” Mankowski (Soloist) has beenperforming professionally since age 12. In additionto singing, he plays tenor, alto, and sopranosaxophones, as well as clarinet and flute. He is agraduate of the University of Wisconsin-Green Baywith a BA in music performance. He lived in NewYork City for two years, playing regularly with theband New York City Swing and composing andarranging music for the off-Broadway theatre groupProject 400.Woody has also done a lot of recording as acommercial singer/instrumentalist. You may haveheard him on television or radio singing/playing leadon literally hundreds of jingles for clients such asTurner Classic Movies, Simplicity Lawn Mowers, andMiller Lite.As a freelance musician, Woody has backedup popular artists such as Aretha Franklin, TheTemptations, The Four Tops, and James Ingram. Hehas played in pit orchestras for touring Broadwayshows including The Producers, Chicago, andHairspray.Woody taught jazz saxophone at Lawrence Universityfor six years. He has written more than 100 musictranscription books for the Hal Leonard Corporation.Woody leads a jazz quartet and frequently performsand records with other musicians abroad. He hasbeen a featured soloist with the Boston Pops, theDetroit Symphony, and the Seattle Symphony, amongseveral other major US symphonies.Concerning baseball, Woody says: “Growing up inWisconsin, I got to play a lot of softball with my dad,who was in a tavern league. It’s one of my favoritechildhood memories.”Maury Laws (Chief Arranger) is one of the toporchestra arrangers in the country. During the 1950sand 1960s, he wrote for many recording artists andcreated numerous national television commercials.Laws’ first job as a musical director was for theanimated production Rudolph the Red-NosedReindeer, which has aired on network televisionevery year since 1964. He went on to compose,arrange, and conduct music for many populartelevision specials and films, including The Hobbit.Among his recognitions are a Peabody Award and anEmmy nomination. Laws has also composed for off-Broadway theatre and has scored symphonic worksfor orchestras in this country and in Europe.Fred Sturm (Artistic Director) received grants fromthe NEA and the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fundto compose “A Place Where It Would Always BeSpring,” a nine-”inning” baseball symphony withformer Yankee great Tony Kubek as narrator. Arenowned composer, arranger, author, and educator,Fred is a professor at Lawrence University, previouslyserved as chair of the Jazz Studies and ContemporaryMedia Department at the Eastman School of Music,and received the prestigious 2003 ASCAP/IAJECommission in Honor of Quincy Jones. Fred lives anddies with the fortunes of his beloved Chicago Cubs.The Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra,the professional orchestra-in-residence at KrannertCenter, has been an advocate for classical music formore than 50 years. Under the direction of StevenLarsen, the orchestra enriches the communitythrough innovative educational outreach programs,intriguing public engagement activities, and stellarlive performances. Its driven, ethnically diverse, andspirited musicians bring wide-ranging programs tothe general public and to hundreds of schoolchildreneach season as part of its KinderKonzerts series andthrough 15-20 performances in schools.The staff of The Baseball Music Project gratefullyacknowledge the support we have received from thefollowing individuals, without whose help this concertwould not have been possible:The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museumin Cooperstown, New York, especially Jeff Idelson,President; Bill Haase, Senior Vice President; TedSpencer, Vice President and Chief Curator; JimGates, Librarian; Tim Wiles, Director of Research;Pat Kelly, Director of Photograph Collection; JeremyJones, Manager, Recorded Media Collection; MiloStewart Jr., PhotographerTony Kubek, Dave Frishberg, Diana Quinn, GilbertGia, Lynn Rudy, Camille Gavin, Chris Brewer, JenniferLeinung, Julie Averill, Bill Dority at Chernay Printing,Matt Clowney, Deborah Ory, Susan Clermont atthe Library of Congress, David Rosner at BicycleMusic; Dave Olsen at Warner Bros./Alfred Music;Hal Leonard Music Corp.; Jeff Campbell at DiamondCuts/Hungry for Music; Jane Cross at The President’sOwn Marine Band; Tom Washatka at Steel MoonRecording, Oshkosh, Wisconsin; the ShreveportSymphony; Mount Pleasant Central School District;Hawthorne Elementary SchoolAll images in this production are used by permissionof the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museumor Corbis, Inc. All copyrighted music used in thisproduction was arranged by permission of therespective music publishers. All text reprints andprogram notes are reprinted by permission.Booking Agent:Double M Arts & Events, LLCPO Box 206City Island, NY 10464-0206Phone: 917/864-4137E-mail: mushalla@gmail.comWeb: www.double-m-arts.comTo learn more about the Hall of Fame, please visitbaseballhalloffame.org or call 888-HALL-OF-FAME.12 13

program notesRob Hudson, Assistant Archivist, Carnegie HallThe Star-Spangled BannerAs most any school kid could tell you, the wordsto “The Star-Spangled Banner” were penned byFrancis Scott Key in 1814, while watching the Britishbombard Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor duringthe War of 1812. If the soldiers of the fort hadn’t hadtheir hands full with the British, they may well haveamused themselves in their off hours with the stillevolvinggame of baseball—researchers have foundreference to a game of that name as early as 1791!“The Star-Spangled Banner” wasn’t officiallydesignated as our national anthem until 1931—untilthen, it shared “unofficial” anthem status with “MyCountry ’Tis of Thee,” although in 1916 PresidentWoodrow Wilson ordered that it be played atmilitary events. Its debut at a baseball game cameduring the 1918 World Series, when it was sungduring the seventh-inning stretch to honor Americanservicemen.The National GameThe name of John Philip Sousa, the March King, ispractically synonymous with American music—bandmusic in particular—in the hearts and ears of manythroughout the world, thanks to such marchesas “The Stars and Stripes Forever” and “TheWashington Post.” He composed well over 100other marches, as well as 15 operettas and dozens ofsongs. Sousa was also a world-renowned bandleader,and the Sousa Band was immensely popular in itsday, playing more than 15,000 concerts all overAmerica and Europe between 1892 and 1932. Then,as now, touring musicians often turned to baseballfor amusement in their leisure time on the road, andSousa’s band had its own baseball team—Sousa wasthe pitcher—that played teams from “rival” bands.Sousa was a true patriot—he spent 19 years withthe US Marine Band, both as a player and as itsconductor, and he volunteered for service in the USNavy at the age of 62 during World War I. Sousa’slove for America and for America’s pastime workedtogether in 1918, when he auctioned his conductor’sbaton to raise funds for baseball equipment forthe sailors at the Great Lakes naval training stationoutside Chicago. The baton, which he had usedsince it was presented to him by members of theUS Marine Band in 1870, sold for $120, roughlyequivalent to $1,500 today.In 1925, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, majorleague baseball’s first commissioner, asked Sousa tocompose a baseball march. Sousa responded with“The National Game,” which he dedicated to Landis.The Baseball Polka“The Baseball Polka,” the earliest known piece ofmusic specifically written about the game, datesfrom 1858. This was also the year of the first “allstar”game, a match between players selected fromamong the member clubs of the newly formedNational Association of Base-Ball Players.Slide, Kelly, SlideMichael J. “King” Kelly was the kind of athlete tailormadefor baseball legend. Flamboyant, fast-living,hard-drinking, Kelly was the most popular ballplayerof his day and possibly the most colorful and wellknownbaseball figure of the pre-Babe Ruth era. Kellyentered the majors in 1878, playing two seasons withthe Cincinnati Reds, and by 1886 he had made suchan impression that the Boston Beaneaters paid theChicago White Stockings (forerunner of the ChicagoCubs) $10,000 for Kelly’s release. He was alreadyknown as the “King of the Diamond,” and the dealearned him the new nickname “Ten-Thousand DollarBeauty.” It was a smart move for the Beaneaters:in 1887, Kelly hit .394 and stole 84 bases. He oncereportedly stole six bases in one game, and he wasone of first to steal third and home. Such feats led tothe coining of the expression “Slide, Kelly, Slide!”Kelly was the author of the first baseballautobiography, Play Ball: Stories of the Ball Field,published in 1888. He retired from playing in 1893and opened a saloon in New York, but he apparentlypreferred consuming drinks to serving them, and thebusiness didn’t last. King Kelly died of pneumoniaat age 36 in 1894, while on his way to Boston tojoin the London Gaiety Girls Theatrical Company toperform small comedy parts.The song “Slide, Kelly, Slide” was written in 1889 byvaudeville comedian J. W. Kelly, no relation to MikeKelly. According to one contemporary who heardJ. W. sing the song on the burlesque stage, “whenKelly sang the chorus it made one almost slide out ofhis seat trying to get to first base, so realistic did hemake it.”The Umpire Is a Most Unhappy ManMy favorite umpire is a dead one.—Hall of Fame Second Baseman Johnny EversAn angry player can’t argue with the back of anumpire who is walking away.—Hall of Fame Umpire Bill KlemKlem began his career in 1905, the year “TheUmpire Is a Most Unhappy Man” was written. Theflamboyant Klem is credited with introducing theinside chest protector and was among the first to usearm signals with his calls. Along with Tom Connolly,Klem was the first umpire inducted into the Hall ofFame in 1953.“The Umpire Is a Most Unhappy Man” comes froma 1905 musical called The Umpire, with music byJoseph E. Howard and book and lyrics by Will M.Hough and Frank R. Adams. Composer Joe Howardlived an amazingly varied and colorful life, and hadhe not ended up as a songwriter you could easilyimagine him on the ball field alongside a King Kellyor a Bill Klem.Howard was born in 1867, in the back room of hisfather’s saloon on Mulberry Street in New York City—in the notorious “Five Points” district brought to lifein Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York. Orphaned atage seven, he sold newspapers, rode the rails, touredthe minstrel circuit as a boxer and wrestler, and gotmarried and divorced in the same day—all by age17! He began writing songs and musical comedies,opened his own theatre, and started producing hisown shows. In 1899, Howard penned his first bighit, “Hello, Ma Baby,” the earliest well-known songto mention the telephone. He went on to write 28musical comedies and more than 500 songs.Howard died at age 94 in 1961, in the one place he’dprobably hoped he’d die: on stage, in Chicago, thescene of most of his musical theatre successes. Afterleading the audience in a sing-along of “Let Me CallYou Sweetheart” at a benefit performance at theCivic Opera House, he collapsed of a heart attack asthe curtain closed.Casey at the BatOn June 3, 1888, a poem entitled “Casey at the Bat:A Ballad of the Republic, sung in the year 1888”appeared in the San Francisco Examiner, its authoridentified only as “Phin.” That was the nickname of24-year-old Ernest L. Thayer, who no doubt didn’trealize he’d just penned an American classic. “Caseyat the Bat” perfectly captures the myth and themania that surrounded the game already more thana century ago. Although many ballplayers namedCasey came forward claiming to be the inspirationfor the poem, Thayer finally admitted in 1935 thathe’d based his fallen hero on a high school classmatenamed Daniel Casey. Really, his archetypal sluggercould have been modeled on any number of Irishathletes who dominated the game in the 1880s,such as Boston’s flamboyant Mike “King” Kelly orPhiladelphia’s “Big Ed” Delahanty (one of five majorleague brothers!), both members of the NationalBaseball Hall of Fame.14 15

Heavy Hitters MedleyDid You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball?Anybody who isn’t old enough to remember it canprobably imagine the impact—both on the gameof baseball and on American life in general—ofBrooklyn Dodgers president Branch Rickey’s decisionto sign Jack Roosevelt Robinson to his team in 1947.Rickey knew that bringing a black ballplayer to themajor leagues would be extremely controversial, buthe also knew Robinson’s skills justified the decisionand, moreover, that Robinson could withstand theimmense pressure that breaking this color barrierwould entail. Rickey told him he would simply haveto silently endure whatever mistreatment came hisway. And it came—as Mickey Mantle later noted,Robinson “without a doubt suffered more abuse andmore taunts and more hatred than any player in thehistory of the game.” Probably only those closestto Robinson realized how hard it was for this deeplyproud man to turn the other cheek. To the teenageHank Aaron, “Jackie Robinson was such a hero . . .that I couldn’t do anything but gawk at him.” BuddyJohnson’s 1949 song “Did You See Jackie RobinsonHit That Ball?” pulses with the sheer joyful pride thatAaron and millions of others felt when they watchedRobinson play.Always (from Pride of the Yankees)He was a symbol of indestructibility—a Gibraltar incleats.—Sports columnist Jim Murray on Lou GehrigLou Gehrig never thirsted for the limelight. Heshowed up to work faithfully every day and didhis job and was happy to do so. That some of histeammates, first Babe Ruth—no shrinking violet—andlater Joe DiMaggio commanded greater attentiondidn’t bother Gehrig. He said Ruth’s big shadow“gave me lots of room to spread myself.”Gehrig began spreading himself soon after he wassigned to the Yankees organization in 1923. Whenhe was called up from the Hartford farm team thatSeptember, he hit .423 in 26 at bats. In 1925, his firstfull season as a Yankee, he batted .295, but for thenext 12 seasons he hit .300 or better, scored morethan 100 runs, and knocked in over 100 RBIs, everysingle year. In fact, he averaged 147 RBIs a year, astandard unsurpassed for 40 years, and his AmericanLeague season record of 181 RBIs set in 1931remains unbroken. A two-time American LeagueMVP, Gehrig won the Triple Crown in 1934 when heled the league with his .363 average and 165 RBIs.He holds the record for the most career grand slams,with 23.Gehrig was nicknamed “Iron Horse,” and it’s not hardto see why. He played through back pain, brokenbones in his toes and fingers—in fact, his doctorslater found evidence of 17 different hand fracturesthat Gehrig never bothered to mention. His streakof 2,130 consecutive games set a work standardnot equaled until Cal Ripken Jr. passed that mark in1995. A Gibraltar in cleats indeed.Yet, like the lyrics penned by Ira Gershwin in 1938,“in time the Rockies may crumble, Gibraltar maytumble,” that same year, Gehrig, who fell below.300 for the first time since his rookie season 13years earlier, seemed to falter. His hitting lacked itsusual power, and his teammates noticed shufflingfeet and uncharacteristic clumsiness on the field.It was clear to Gehrig that something was verywrong, yet even by the time he took himself out ofthe lineup in May 1939, the disease eating away athis nervous system—amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,or ALS—remained undiagnosed. His simple, yetheartbreakingly eloquent farewell speech that Julywill forever be one of the most powerful moments inbaseball history. That same summer, he was inductedinto the National Baseball Hall of Fame and becamethe first athlete ever to have his jersey—number4—retired. Gehrig died less than two years lateron June 2, 1941, just two weeks short of his 38thbirthday.Joltin’ Joe DiMaggioThe year 1941 was an emotional one on and offthe baseball diamond. The war in Europe grewever worse, threatening to draw the United Statesinto the conflict. On the field, the highs and lowswere dramatically illustrated by the lives of twomen who had stood next to each other in the NewYork Yankees’ batting lineup, one already a legendand the other on his way. Just as Joe DiMaggio’sunstoppable bat began threatening old records andinching fans toward the edges of their seats, onJune 2, Lou Gehrig, the Iron Horse, succumbed tothe debilitating disease that today bears his name.A few weeks later, the records started crumblingas DiMaggio’s hitting streak continued, surpassingGeorge Sisler’s 41-game feat of 1922 by the end ofJune. On July 3, his streak hit 45 games, beating theall-time major league record of 44 set in 1897 byWillie Keeler. The Yankee Clipper just kept right ongoing, seemingly against all the odds, connectinggame after game. Finally, his whirlwind ride wasbrought to an end on July 17 after 56 games, butnot before he had wracked up one of the mostastonishing feats in all of baseball history.Les Brown and His Orchestra immortalized the wholeamazing escapade with their hit song “Joltin’ JoeDiMaggio,” written by Alan Courtney and the aptlynamed Ben Homer.Take Me Out to the Ball GameEveryone knows “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” Ordo we? We only sing the refrain at ball games, butthere’s a verse that tells the real story. The song isactually about a girl, Katie Casey, who spends everylast penny to cheer for her favorite baseball team ateach game. When her boyfriend asks if she wants tosee a show, she replies, “No, [but] I’ll tell you whatyou can do . . . [cue the organist!]: Take me out tothe ball game, take me out with the crowd . . .” Ifyou didn’t know that part of the song, you’ll learn ittonight!Of course, one of the best parts of the “Take MeOut” story is the now-familiar legend of lyricist JackNorworth’s flash of inspiration for a new song in 1908as he rode a New York City subway. A sign inside thesubway car advertising a game that day at the oldNew York Polo Grounds prompted him to take outa piece of paper and pen the lyrics. Oddly, neitherNorworth nor Albert Von Tilzer (who wrote the music)had ever been to a ball game at the time they wrotebaseball’s greatest hit.Forever SpringComposer Fred Sturm provided the followingcommentary about Forever Spring:Baseball and music have intertwined throughoutmy life. Dad was a Chicago Symphony cellist witha knuckleball that fooled me until I was 17, andopera diva Mom never missed any of my games.My rural boyhood home was filled with the soundsof string quartets, CSO recordings, and Cubsgames on WGN. While the folks and I sufferedthrough my music lessons, I dreamed of my heroErnie Banks and me battling the ’61 Yankees inthe World Series. Long after I realized I’d havean address in music rather than at Wrigley Field,my wife Susan and I built a backyard diamondfor our two bonus babies and coached boys’ andgirls’ baseball in the summertime. Playing hookyto cheer for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers isnow a fixture in my teaching life at the LawrenceUniversity Conservatory of Music.While living in New York in 1994, I wascommissioned to compose A Place Where It WouldAlways Be Spring, an original work for orchestraand narrator celebrating baseball. Former NewYork Yankee shortstop and NBC sportscasterTony Kubek narrated the first performances anddelivered a copy of the recording to Mickey Mantlein the hospital only weeks before Mickey died.16 17

The Baseball Music Project provided the catalystfor the creation of Forever Spring, composed asan extension of my symphonic efforts a decadeearlier. Washington editor and college roommatePaul Kitzke compiled the text, finding the perfectprose and poetry to capture the universal magicof America’s fields of dreams. Richard Hugo’s“Altitude, the Diamonds” provided a nostalgicview of the game from above. A citation fromThomas Wolfe’s Of Time and the River portrayedthe majesty of the major league stadium in “TheMiracle of Light.” Douglass Wallop’s Baseball:An Informal History recalled a boy’s Saturdaymorning games and described “A Place WhereIt Would Always Be Spring.” Baseball greatPete Reiser’s sweetest memories, preserved bywriter Donald Honig, were quoted in “When theGrass Was Real.” The poetry of Rolfe Humphriesdescribed the mood, tempo, and rhythm ofbaseball in “Night Game” and “Time Is of theEssence . . .” Former Baseball CommissionerA. Bartlett Giamatti’s “The Green Fields of theMind” promoted the playing of the game in theonly place it will last. “The Empty Playing Field”accompanied W. P. Kinsella’s loving recollections ofan empty fall stadium (from Shoeless Joe). RogerAngell’s The Summer Game delivered a plan tokeep the rally alive forever in “Baseball’s Time.”Forever Spring is dedicated to my Dad. Though I’llalways be grateful for the countless musical eventsthat he shared with me, I treasure most his imagebehind home plate (in chest protector and facemask) calling balls and strikes at my little leaguegames. He died just two months after the premiereperformance of the work, with the musical scoreand his umpire’s counter together on his desk.Let’s Keep the Dodgers in Brooklyn“Say, did you hear the news about what’s happenin’in Brooklyn?” asked Phil Foster in this 1957 song.The news was that Brooklyn Dodgers owner WalterO’Malley was planning on moving his team toCalifornia—plans that made him something akin toPublic Enemy No. 1 for fans of Dem Bums.For well over 100 years, at least since the formationof the Excelsiors club in 1854, legions of little RogerKahns had been pressing eyes to outfield fenceknotholes or mounting neighborhood rooftops towatch baseball games in Brooklyn. Already by 1860the Brooklyn Daily Eagle could write, “Nowhere hasthe now National game of Base Ball taken firmerhold than in Brooklyn, and nowhere are there betterplayers.” Brooklyn loved baseball—in 1884, theyeven played a game there on ice skates. Besides theExcelsiors, Brooklynites cheered on such teams as thePutnams, the Eckfords, the Stars, the Bridegrooms,the Superbas, and the Trolley Dodgers, who laterbecame simply the Dodgers. They came to watchplayers like Oyster Burns, Wee Willie Keeler, ZackWheat, Deacon McGuire, Casey Stengel, DazzyVance, and Van Lingle Mungo.In the modern era, Brooklyn teams had mixedfortunes, but the fans witnessed some remarkableevents. They viewed the longest major league gamein history, a 26-inning tie between the Dodgersand the Braves, in 1920. They saw Jackie Robinsonbreak baseball’s color barrier by joining the teamin 1947. And they finally watched the Dodgers wintheir first World Series in 1955, following seven failedattempts, five of them against the cross-town rivalYankees. In that series alone, the fans were treatedto Duke Snider’s double home runs in Game 5 and toSandy Amoros’ running one-handed catch and relaythrow to Pee Wee Reese for a spectacular gameclinchingdouble play in Game 7.The Bums were finally on top! No wonder that thefans felt betrayed by O’Malley’s decision to relocatethe Dodgers to Los Angeles. He wanted a newstadium to replace the aging, cramped—albeit muchbeloved—Ebbets Field, but the city had failed tocome up with a feasible plan. Even though whenPhil Foster recorded “Let’s Keep the Dodgers inBrooklyn” he could still sing “it ain’t official yet,”by the end of the year it was. The Boys of Summerwould play in Brooklyn no more. Since the New YorkGiants announced their move to San Francisco thatsame year, 1957 truly marked the end of an era forbaseball in New York City.Van Lingle MungoWho better to tell the story of a song than thecomposer himself? We may not be able to ask JackNorworth and Albert Von Tilzer about “Take Me Outto the Ball Game,” but we can ask Dave Frishbergabout one of his most popular songs, which alsohappens to be a classic baseball tune. Below,Frishberg talks about how he came to write “VanLingle Mungo.”In 1969, I was working as a pianist in New York Cityand beginning to write songs. I composed a ratherbrooding melody in what I considered a “BossaNova” style—a wide ranging melodic line and awandering tonal center. I equipped the melodywith two different lyrics; one was an angry satiricalmessage to Richard Nixon; the other was called“Don’t Look behind You” and soberly implored thelistener to face the future. Neither lyric seemed tomatch the fancy melody line.One night I was paging through the newlypublished Macmillan Baseball Encyclopedia andmy gaze fell on the name Van Lingle Mungo, starfireball pitcher with the Brooklyn Dodgers and NewYork Giants during the 1930s and World War II.“Van Lingle Mungo”—the name scanned perfectlywith a recurring melodic figure in my song, andI instantly sang it out loud. I knew then that thelyric had to be only names—not names of famousstars, but names that evoked musty memories andilluminated some fragments of forgotten baseballhistory. I dived into the book assembling namesthat scanned, rhymed and related loosely to thoseyears, the years of my childhood passion for thegame. Within a couple of hours I had a completelyric.About a month later I recorded an album of mysongs including “Mungo,” and that turned out tobe the only track that got any airplay.I edited the lyrics in subsequent years and, in myopinion, improved the song. I took out certainnames from the original lyric and replaced themwith names from an earlier (wartime) era so thatthe nostalgic focus would be sharper.Johnny Kucks and his rhyme mate Virgil Truckshad to go and were replaced by Lou Boudreauand Claude Passeau. The replacement of RoyCampanella’s conveniently rhyming name wasnecessary because he was too recent. So I changedit to Art Pasarella (an umpire), and that seemed todo the job: Gardella, Pasarella, and Estalella.I subsequently learned that Bob Estalella’s namedidn’t rhyme in the first place, because it waspronounced as in Spanish: Esta-leya. So thewhole rhyme scheme should have been scrapped,starting with “Danny Gardella.” What did I know?I grew up in a minor league town and never heardEstalella’s name uttered, only saw it in print. Samegoes for Johnny Gee, whose name I mangled onthe record with a soft “g.” There may be othernames I’m mispronouncing, but at this stagefurther corrections would only confuse me.In my search for names that scanned, “JohnAntonelli” was an unfortunate choice, and it’sannoying that he’s in the song, because thereturned out to be two John Antonellis whose majorleague careers nearly overlapped. I was thinkingof the third baseman Antonelli who was up brieflywith the Cardinals and Braves during the war. Iwasn’t even aware of the more famous JohnnyAntonelli—the left hander for the Giants. By thetime Antonelli #2 came along I had traded DukeSnider for Duke Ellington.18 19

Nolan Ryan’s FastballNolan Ryan’s fastball indeed. The Guinness Book ofWorld Records once listed Ryan’s 100.9-mile-per-hourbullet fired in 1974 as the fastest pitch ever thrown.Of course, Ryan had the advantage of pitching inthe presence of a radar gun, which such pitchinglegends as Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, andChief Bender did not. Sports fans, writers, statisticshounds, and experts will continue to debate thisforever, but one thing is certain: no one yet hasthrown so hard, for so many years, as Nolan Ryan.He hurled his 5,000th strikeout at age 42, amassinga staggering 5,714 by the time he retired at age 46in 1993. Ryan pitched his record-breaking seventhno-hitter at age 44—his last pitch of that game wasclocked at 93 miles per hour. Earlier that day, Ryanhad told Texas Rangers pitching coach Tom House, “Ifeel old today.”An eight-time All Star, Ryan set the record for singleseasonstrikeouts when he fanned 383 batters in1973, and he passed the 300 strikeout mark in sixseasons, also a record. The National Baseball Hallof Fame notes that 1,176 different players werevanquished by the Ryan Express. Sportswriter JackCurry called him “John Wayne with a baseball capand a magnificent arm.”A Musical Tribute to the National BaseballHall of FameTo close tonight’s concert, we turn to the musicfrom two of the most beloved baseball films—Fieldof Dreams and The Natural with scores by RandyNewman and James Horner, respectively—to helpus pay tribute to all 259 members of the NationalBaseball Hall of Fame.Themes of redemption and natural genius havealways resonated deeply in the human heart, andsports of all types have been a wellspring of thesethemes at least since the time of ancient Greece.Baseball players are as human as all of us, capableof both exalted and occasionally lowly actions, yetBaseball—with a capital “B”—has always remainedsomehow pure, a remarkably resilient vessel intowhich we pour all of our dreams of perfection andbeliefs in the higher aspects of human nature.Countless books like The Boys of Summer, poemslike “Casey at the Bat,” and songs—nearly 1,000, atiny fraction of which you’ve heard tonight—showhow we Americans turn to our national pastime againand again to search for some deeper truth about whowe are.Baseball spoke profoundly enough to authors W. P.Kinsella and Bernard Malamud for each of themto turn to the sport for their first novels, ShoelessJoe (upon which Field of Dreams is based) and TheNatural. The baseball diamond Ray Kinsella buildsin his Iowa cornfield offers a glimpse of redemptionfor Shoeless Joe Jackson and his discredited WhiteSox teammates—for a moment, we’re permittedto remember these men for the great athletesthey were, rather than for the terrible scandal thatdestroyed their reputations. The Natural offersredemption of a different sort for Roy Hobbs. Cutdown just as his uncanny innate talent is about tobe discovered, Hobbs vanishes for 16 years beforehe shows up to play in the major leagues at an agewhen, as the completely skeptical Pop Fisher notes,most ballplayers retire. Who among us doesn’t dreamof a second chance, the “do over” we demanded askids, at least once in our lives?Program Notes © 2006 by Rob HudsonSlide, Kelly, SlidePlay’d a game of baseball, I belong to Casey’s nine!The crowd was feeling jolly and the weather it wasfine.A nobler lot of players I think were never found,When the omnibuses landed that day upon theground.The game was quickly started, they sent me to thebat;I made two strikes, said Casey, “What are you strikingat?”I made the third, the catcher miff’d and to theground it fell.Then I run like a devil to first base, the gang beganto yell:Slide, Kelly, Slide! Your running’s a disgrace!Slide, Kelly, Slide! Stay there and hold your base!If the pitcher doesn’t nail ya, and your battingdoesn’t fail ya’They’ll take you to Australia! Slide, Kelly, Slide!’Twas in the second inning they called me in, I think,To take the catcher’s place while he went to get adrink.But something was the matter sure I couldn’t see theball,And the second one that came in broke my muzzle,nose and all.The crowd up in the grandstand, they yelled with alltheir might;I ran towards the club house, I thought there was afight.’Twas the most unpleasant feeling I ever felt before.I knew they had me rattled when the gang began toroar:lyrics and textSSlide, Kelly, Slide! Your running’s a disgrace!Slide, Kelly, Slide! Stay there and hold your base!If the pitcher doesn’t nail ya, and your battingdoesn’t fail ya’They’ll take you to Australia! Slide, Kelly, Slide!They sent me out to center field, I didn’t want to go.The way my nose was swelling up, I must have beena show!They said on me depended vict’ry or defeat.If a blind man was to look at us he’d know that wewere beat.Sixty-four to nothing! Was the score when we gotdone,And everybody there but me said they had lots offun.The news got home ahead of me, they heard I wasknock’d out.The neighbors carried me in the house, and thenbegan to shout:Slide, Kelly, Slide! Your running’s a disgrace!Slide, Kelly, Slide! Stay there and hold your base!If the pitcher doesn’t nail ya, and your battingdoesn’t fail ya’They’ll take you to Australia! Slide, Kelly, Slide!20 21

The Umpire Is a Most Unhappy ManAn umpire is a cross between a bullfrog and a goat.He has a mouth that’s flannel lined and brass tubes inhis throat;He needs a cool and level head that isn’t hard to hit,So when the fans beat up his frame, they’ll have anice place to sit.The only job that’s worse is driver on a hearse.How’d you like to be an umpire, work like his ismerely play,He don’t even have to ask for all the things thatcome his way.When the crowd yells, “Knock his block off!”“Soak him good,” says every fan,Then who wants to be an umpire,The brickbats whiz when he gets hisFor the Umpire Is a Most Unhappy Man.Napoleon and Washington were generals of old,Their lightest word moved regiments and armies weare told;Where ’er they led men followed them, but onlycame for hire,Just think of all that gratis come, to follow the boldumpire;He leads them with his vim, because they’re chasinghim.How’d you like to be an umpire, work like his ismerely play,He don’t even have to ask for all the things thatcome his way.When the crowd yells, “Knock his block off!”“Soak him good,” says every fan,Then who wants to be an umpire,The brickbats whiz when he gets hisFor the Umpire Is a Most Unhappy Man.For the Umpire Is a Most Unhappy Man.Casey at the BatThe outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine thatday:The score stood four to two, with but one inningmore to play,And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows didthe same,A pall-like silence fell upon the patrons of the game.A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. TherestClung to that hope which springs eternal in thehuman breast;They thought, “If only Casey could but get a whackat that—We’d put up even money now, with Casey at thebat.”But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,And the former was a hoodoo, while the latter was acake;So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat,For there seemed but little chance of Casey gettingto the bat.But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,And Blake, the much despised, tore the cover off theball;And when the dust had lifted, and men saw what hadoccurred,There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-huggingthird.Then from five thousand throats and more there rosea lusty yell;It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;It pounded on the mountain and recoiled upon theflat,For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.There was ease in Casey’s manner as he stepped intohis place;There was pride in Casey’s bearing and a smile litCasey’s face.And when, responding to the cheers, he lightlydoffed his hat,No stranger in the crowd could doubt ’twas Casey atthe bat.Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed hishands with dirt;Five thousand tongues applauded when he wipedthem on his shirt;Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball intohis hip,Defiance flashed in Casey’s eye, a sneer curledCasey’s lip.And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtlingthrough the air,And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeurthere.Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheededsped—“That ain’t my style,” said Casey. “Strike one!” theumpire said.From the benches, black with people, there went upa muffled roar,Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern anddistant shore;“Kill him! Kill the umpire!” shouted someone on thestand;And it’s likely they’d have killed him had not Caseyraised his hand.With a smile of Christian charity great Casey’s visageshone;He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the dunsphere flew;But Casey still ignored it and the umpire said, “Striketwo!”“Fraud!” cried the maddened thousands, and echoanswered, “Fraud!”But one scornful look from Casey and the audiencewas awed.They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw hismuscles strain,And they knew that Casey wouldn’t let that ball goby again.The sneer is gone from Casey’s lip, his teeth areclenched in hate,He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate;And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he letsit go,And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey’sblow.Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shiningbright,The band is playing somewhere, and somewherehearts are light;And somewhere men are laughing, and somewherechildren shout,But there is no joy in Mudville—mighty Casey hasstruck out.22 23

Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball?Did you see Jackie Robinson hit that ball?It went zoomin’ cross the left field wall,Yeah boy, yes, yes, Jackie hit that ball.And when he swung his bat, the crowd went wild,Because he knocked that ball a solid mile,Yeah boy, yes, yes, Jackie hit that ball.Satchel Paige is mellow, so is Campanella,Newcombe and Doby too,But it’s a natural fact, when Jackie comes to bat, theother team is through.Did you see Jackie Robinson hit that ball?Did he hit it? Yeah! And that ain’t all. He stole home!Yes, yes, Jackie’s real gone.Satchel Paige is mellow, so is Campanella,Newcombe and Doby too,But it’s a natural fact, when Jackie comes to bat, theother team is through.Did you see Jackie Robinson hit that ball?Did he hit it? Yeah! And that ain’t all. He stole home!Yes, yes, Jackie’s real gone, yes,Jackie is a real gone guy. He stole home!Always (from Pride of the Yankees)Everything went wrong, and the whole day long I’dfeel so blue.For the longest while, I’d forget to smile, then I metyou.Now that my blue days have passed, now that I’vefound you at last.I’ll be loving you always, with a love that’s true,always.When the things you’ve planned, need a helpinghand,I will understand, always, always.Days may not be fair always, that’s when I’ll be therealways.Not for just an hour, not for just a day, not for just ayear, but always.Dreams will all come true, growing old with you, andtime will fly.Caring each day more, than the day before, ’til springrolls by.Then when the springtime has gone, then will mylove linger on.I’ll be loving you always, with a love that’s true,always.Not for just an hour, not for just a day, not for just ayear, but always.But always.Joltin’ Joe DiMaggioHe started baseball’s famous streak that’s got us allaglow,he’s just a man and not a freak, JOLTIN’ JOEDIMAGGIO.Joe, Joe DiMaggio we want you on our side.He tied the mark at forty-four, July the first you know,since then he’s hit a good twelve more, JOLTIN’ JOEDIMAGGIO.Joe, Joe DiMaggio we want you on our side.From coast to coast that’s all you hear, of Joe theone man show,he’s glorified the horsehide sphere, JOLTIN’ JOEDIMAGGIO.Joe, Joe DiMaggio we want you on our side.He’ll live in baseball’s hall of fame, he got there blowby blow,our kids will tell their kids his name, JOLTIN’ JOEDIMAGGIO.We dream of Joey with the light brown bat.Joe, Joe DiMaggio we want you on our side.And now they speak in whispers low, of how theystopped our Joe,one night in Cleveland oh, oh, oh, goodbye streakDiMaggio.Joe, Joe DiMaggio we want you on our side. Wewant you on our side.Forever Spring1. From Altitude, the DiamondsYou can always spot them, even from high up,the brown bulged out trying to make a circle of asquare,the green square inside the brown,inside the green the brown circle you know is moundand the big outside green rounded off by a roundline you know is fence.And no one playing . . .When air settles, the white beneath you opensand far below in some unpopulated region ofwhatever state you are over . . .you spot a tiny diamond,and because you’ve grown far sighted with age yousee players moving,the center fielder running the ball down deep,two runners rounding third,the third base coach waving hard and the hitter onhis own not slowing down at second,his lungs filled with the cheers of those he has lovedforever,on his magnificent tiny way to an easy stand-upthree.—From Altitude, the DiamondsRichard Hugo2. The Miracle of LightThe scene is instant, whole and wonderful.In its design that vision of the soaring stands,the pattern of forty thousand empetalled faces,the velvet and unalterable geometry of the playingfield,and the small lean figures of the players,set there, lonely, tense and waiting in their places,bright, desolate solitary atoms encircled by that hugewall of nameless faces, is incredible.And more than anything it is the light,the miracle of light and shade and color—the crisp blue light that swiftly slants out from thesoaring stands and,deepening to violet,begins to march across the velvet field and towardsthe pitcher’s box,that gives the thing its single and incomparablebeauty.—Citation from Thomas Wolfe’sOf Time and the RiverIn The Glory of Their TimesLawrence Ritter3. A Place Where It Would Always Be SpringOnly yesterday the fan was a kid of nine or tenbolting his breakfast on Saturday morning andhurtling from the house with a glove buttoned overhis belt and a bat over his shoulder, rushing to thenearest vacant lot, perhaps the nearest alley, wherethe other guys were gathering, a place where itwould always be spring.For him, baseball would always have the soundand look and smell of that morning and of othermornings just like it.—From Baseball: An Informal HistoryDouglass Wallop4. When the Grass Was RealThe great ballplayer Pete Reiser once said thatone of his sweetest memories was of “. . . the kidstanding out on the grass in center field, with thewinning runs on base, thinking, Hit it to me, Hit it tome.”—From Pete Reiser’s reminiscence in Baseball Whenthe Grass Was RealDonald Honig5. Night GameAnd after the ninth, with the crowd in the bleachersthinning,And the lights in the grandstand dimming out behindus,And a full moon hung before us, over the clubhouse,I drifted out with the crowd across the diamond,24 25

Over the infield brown and the smooth greenoutfield,So wonderful underfoot, so right, so perfect,That each of us was a player for a moment,The men my age, and the soldiers and the sailors,Their girls, and the running kids, and the ploddingold men,Taking it easy, the same unhurried tempo,In the mellow light and air, in the mild cool weather,Moving together, moving out together,Oh, this is good, I felt, to be part of this movement,This mood, this music . . .—From Rolfe Humphries’ poem “Night Game”In The Armchair Book of BaseballJohn Thorn, editor6. Time Is of the Essence . . .Time is of the essence.The rhythms break,More varied and subtlethan any kind of dance;Movement speeds upor lags.The ball goes outin sharp and angular drives,or long, slow ones,Comes in againcontrolledand under aim;The players wheel or sprint,race,stoop,slide,halt,Shift imperceptibly to new positions,Watching the signs,according to the batter,The score,the inning.Time is of the essence . . .—From Rolfe Humphries’ poem “Polo Grounds”In Collected Works of Rolfe Humphries7. The Green Fields of the MindIt breaks your heart. It is designed to break yourheart.The game begins in the spring, when everything elsebegins again,and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoonsand evenings,and then as soon as the chill rains come,it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage oftime,to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive,and then just when the days are all twilight, whenyou need it most, it stops.Today . . . it stopped,and summer was gone.Somehow, the summer seemed to slip by faster thistime.Maybe it wasn’t this summer, but all the summersthat . . . slipped by so fast.There comes a time when every summer will havesomething of autumn about it.Whatever the reason, it seemed to me that I wasinvesting more and more in baseball, making thegame do more of the work that keeps time fat andslow and lazy. I was counting on the game’s deeppatterns, three strikes, three outs, three times threeinnings, and its deepest impulse, to go out and back,to leave and to return home, to set the order of theday and to organize the daylight . . .It was the playing of the game in the only place itwill last, the enclosed, green field of the mind. There,in that warm, bright place, what the old poet calledMutability does not so quickly come.—From The Green Fields of the MindA. Bartlett Giamatti8. The Empty Playing FieldAs I look around the empty park, almost Greek inits starkness, I feel an awesome inarticulate lovefor this very stadium and the game it represents. Iam reminded of the story about the baseball fansin Milwaukee, and what they did on a warm fallafternoon, the day after it was announced thatMilwaukee was to have a major league team thenext season. According to the story, 10,000 peoplewent to County Stadium that afternoon and sat in theseats and smiled out at the empty playing field—satin silence, in awe, in wonder, in anticipation, in joy—just knowing that soon the field would come alivewith the chatter of infielders, bright as bird chirps.—From Shoeless JoeW. P. Kinsella9. Baseball’s TimeBaseball’s time is seamless and invisible, a bubblewithin which players move at exactly the same paceand rhythms as all their predecessors. This is the waythe game was played in our youth and in our fathers’youth, and even back then—back in the countrydays—there must have been the same feeling thattime could be stopped.Since baseball is measured only in outs,all you have to do is succeed utterly;keep hitting,keep the rally alive,and you have defeated time.You remain forever young.—From The Summer GameRoger AngellLet’s Keep the Dodgers in BrooklynSay, did you hear the news about what’s happenin’ inBrooklyn?We really got the blues about what’s happenin’ inBrooklyn.It ain’t official yet. We hope official it don’t get,but beware my friend and let me warn ya,they’re thinkin’ a takin’ the Bums to California.Let’s keep the Dodgers in Brooklyn.A house is not a home without some love.Don’t let them leave our premises, L. A. would betheir nemesis,’cause Brooklyn fits the Dodgers like a glove.Mister Walter O’Malley, we always called you “pally,”we stuck with you through thick and thin.But if you take away the Dodgers,guys like Campy, Newk, and Hodges.We ain’t your pal no more the way we been.Say, let’s keep the Dodgers in Brooklyn.A house is not a home without some love.Don’t let them leave our premises, L. A. would betheir nemesis,’cause Brooklyn fits the Dodgers like a glove.We offer our bridges. You can take ’em wid yez.We have a couple we could spare.But we’d all feel so glum, widout the Duke andGilliam.We’d need one left to jump off in despair.What Would Brooklyn Be without the Dodgers?Like a pair of socks that’s holey widout Jackson andCimoli.Like a bed widout a pillow widout Oiskine andFurrillo.Like a ship widout a harbor widout Podres and theBarber.Like the sun when it don’t shine widout Zimmer andLabine.Like the boids widout a bee widout Alston andPeewee,and here I am a poet and I didn’t even know it!26 27

So send the Phils to Trenton the Giants to St. Paul,but keep the Bums in Brooklyn, the greatest boroughof all!So, let’s keep the Dodgers in Brooklyn.A house is not a home without some love.Don’t let them leave our premises, L. A. would betheir nemesis,’cause Brooklyn fits the Dodgers like a glove.Let’s keep the Dodgers in Brooklyn.You’ve heard our plea, at last we had our say.Your mind is in a fog, if you take them to that smog.Leave the Dodgers in Brooklyn U. S. A., we reallylove ’em.Keep the Dodgers in Brooklyn U. S. A.Van Lingle MungoHeenie Majeski, Johnny Gee, Eddie Joost, JohnnyPesky, Thornton Lee;Danny Gardella,Van Lingle Mungo.Whitey Kurowski, Max Lanier, Eddie Waitkus, andJohnny Vandermeer;Bob Estalella,Van Lingle Mungo.Augie Bergamo, Sigmund Jackucki,Big Johnny Mize, and Barney McCosky,Hal Trosky.Augie Galan and Pinky May,Stan Hack and Frenchy Bordagaray;Phil Cavaretta, George McQuinn,Howie Pollet, and Early Wynn.Art Pasarella,Van Lingle Mungo.Augie Bergamo, Sigmund Jackucki,Big Johnny Mize, and Barney McCosky,Hal Trosky.John Antonelli, Ferris Fain,Frankie Crosetti, Johnny Sain,Harry Bracheen and Lou Boudreau,Frankie Gustine and Claude Passeau.Eddie Basinski, Ernie Lombardi, Hughie Mulcahy,Van Lingle, Van Lingle Mungo.Nolan Ryan’s FastballThere’s a train right out of Texas, blasting throughthe night,A powerful steam engine burning fast and burningbright.Hear the whistle blowing, it doesn’t get a rest,Announcing the arrival of the Ryan Express.Standing on the pitcher’s mound a hero of the game,He’s the newest member of the Baseball Hall ofFame.A human locomotive, the brightest of the best,They call him the Nolan Ryan Express.Twenty-seven years, more than three hundred ballgames won,Seven big no hitters, no one got a run.But the most astounding stat, was in the strike outrace,More than fifty-seven hundred batters never reachedfirst base.Batter after batter, he always sets them down,Nolan Ryan’s wearing the Strike Out King’s crown.A hundred miles an hour, that ball is sprouting wings,When he throws his fast ball, everybody swings.The former Texas Ranger, Angel, Astro, New YorkMet,Faced the greatest hitters, Mays, Rose, and Brett.Baseball will remember the great pitcher Nolan Ryan,Now he’s one of Cooperstown’s Class of Ninety-nine.A fireball in Texas, the hero of the game,Lays them down the strike zone, the ball is setaflame.He’s the all time no hit strike out king,Cuz when he throws his fastball, everybody swings.Cuz when he throws his fastball, everybody swings!Reprint Permissions: “Altitude, the Diamonds” byRichard Hugo from Making Certain It Goes On:The Collected Poems of Richard Hugo (used bypermission of W. W. Norton & Company Inc). “TheMiracle of Light” by Thomas Wolfe from Of Time andthe River (used by permission of Simon & SchusterInc). “A Place Where It Would Always Be Spring” byDouglass Wallop from Baseball: An Informal History(used by permission of W. W. Norton & CompanyInc). “When the Grass Was Real” by Donald Honig(quote by Pete Reiser) from Baseball When the GrassWas Real (used by permission of the University ofNebraska Press). “Night Game” by Rolfe Humphriesfrom Forbid Thy Ravens: Didactic and Lyrical Poems(used by permission of Amherst College). “PoloGrounds” by Rolfe Humphries from CollectedPoems of Rolfe Humphries (used by permission ofAmherst College). “The Green Fields of the Mind”by A. Bartlett Giamatti (used by permission of ElenaGiamatti-Rossman). Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella(used by permission of Houghton Mifflin). “Baseball’sTime” by Roger Angell from The Summer Game(used by permission of Viking Press). “Did You SeeJackie Robinson Hit That Ball” with words and musicby Woodrow “Buddy” Johnson (used by permissionof Sophisticate Music). “Always” with words andmusic by Irving Berlin (used by permission of HalLeonard). “Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio” with words andmusic by Alan Courtney and Benjamin Homer (usedby permission of Alan Courtney Music). “Let’s Keepthe Dodgers in Brooklyn” with words and musicby Samuel Denoff, William Persky, and Roy Ross(used by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation).“Van Lingle Mungo” by Dave Frishberg (used bypermission of Kohaw Music c/o The Bicycle MusicCompany). “Nolan Ryan’s Fastball” by Diana Quinn(used by permission of Diana Quinn).Get More BaseballSousa and His League of Players: America’sMusic and the Golden Age of BaseballNow through July 2011Sousa Archives and Center for American MusicHarding Band Building1103 S. Sixth St., ChampaignBaseball and music exhibits with materialsfrom the Smithsonian InstitutionFilm screening of Bernardo Ruiz’sRoberto ClementeWednesday, January 19, 20117:30pmAlice Campbell Alumni Center601 S. Lincoln Ave., UrbanaMartin Luther King Jr. CommemorationCo-chairs: Alicia Rodriquez and Adrian BurgosFireside Chat and Panel with Bernardo Ruizand Fernando PerezThursday, January 20, 20117pmAlice Campbell Alumni Center601 S. Lincoln Ave., UrbanaMartin Luther King Jr. CommemorationCo-chairs: Alicia Rodriquez and Adrian Burgos28 29