THE BASEBALL MUSIC PROJECT Bob Thompson, conductor ...

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