THE BASEBALL MUSIC PROJECT Bob Thompson, conductor ...

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