| Artist |
Track |
Comments |
Year |
|
Adventures of Babe Ruth
|
CHICK FOSTER
|
Babe Ruth was, of course, the Tiger Woods of his day (and then some). From April to July of 1934, pretty much the height of his fame, this series was heard on the Blue Network 3 times a week. Naturally, that's not his voice, and he was probably too busy carousing and eating for crime-fighting and mystery unraveling. And where the hell were his lawyers during all this? This actually seems literate compared to the William Bendix movie and some of the other crap being flung in his name.
|
|
|
Harry Simeone Songsters
|
IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY FOR A BALL GAME
|
Harry was just another chorale director when a certain little drummer boy marched into his life. Harry got a co-writer credit for that and kept himself working as a result.
|
1960
|
|
|
Music behind DJ:
Ashley MacIsaac
|
RUSTY D-CON-STRUCK-SHUN
|
|
|
|
Jane Morgan
|
BASEBALL BASEBALL
|
Florence Catherine Currier (of the Currier & Ives Curriers) was born Xmas Day of 1920. She worked a lot with Roger Williams (of the zzzz Willams') and was one of the first artists to be featured on the Kapp label, a spinoff of Decca. She's still alive and is married to Big Movie Producer Jerry Weintraub and lives in Palm Springs and Malibu. The good life (for a song).
|
|
|
Mabel Scott
|
BASEBALL BOOGIE
|
Originally from Richmond, VA. Started out in gospel and then worked a lot with Wynonie Harris. Mostly known for kookie kinds of boogie woogie, like the "Elevator Boogie" or "Boogie Woogie Santa Claus." Eventually she got disillusioned with the rock n roll scene and went back to gospel.
|
|
|
Wynona Carr
|
LIFE IS A BALL GAME
|
She had her biggest hits on the Specialty label in the early 50s, produced by the Man Himself, Sonny Bono. After switching over to gospel, she grew disillusioned with the gosple scene and went back to good old rock n roll. Died in 1997 as a result of ill health caused in large part by depression.
|
|
|
DeWolfe Hopper
|
CASEY AT THE BAT
|
Written by Ernest Thayer of the SF Examiner, subtitled "A Battle of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888." Hopper was a well-known and respected vaudevillean (and apparently had all his marbles, despite what we're hearing). He claims to have recited the poem some 10,000 times in his lifetime (1858-1935).
|
|
|
Victor Lovera
|
NASHVILLE BATS
|
Victor was a good friend of R Stevie Moore's (the two met as neighbors in Nashville, when Lovera was playing the Firesign Theatre too loud. My kind of guy!) Unfortunately, Victor passed on in May of 1998.
|
|
|
Peter, Paul & Mary
|
RIGHT FIELD
|
This one really brings me back to my bench jockey days in Little League. I had a similar thing happen to me in a tight game, but the outcome was very different, causing me to live with the nickname 'Clumso" for the rest of the season. Peter Yarrow, Paul Stooky and Mary Travers are all still going at it today. [Update: Sadly, the day after this was written, Mary Travers died of leukemia at age 72]
|
|
|
Naturals [with Mel Allen]
|
BASEBALL DREAMS
|
No, not some sort of weird audio hallucination, but probably a result of tying Mel up in a studio. I refuse to believe he went along with this thing without a struggle.
|
|
|
Fool Brothers
|
BIRDS ARE ON TONIGHT
|
I've also heard these guys referred to as simply the Fools, and, assuming they're the same band, they're responsible for some good stuff (including a few Xmas tunes that'll fill your stocking). So, tell you what, Google Fools and see what you get. I do know the flip side of this single is the same song done in a more straight-up rock style.
|
|
|
Skip Batten
|
ST LOUIS BROWN
|
Speaking of Orioles, they were the St Louis Browns until 1953 and really were one of the worst teams ever allowed on a field (until the Mets). They were eventually bought by Bill Veeck, who made them famous with names like Pete Grey (one-armed outfielder). Eddie Gaedell (all 3 foot 7, 65 lb of him) and the ageless Satchel Paige. Never did they win a pennant and had only a handfull of winning seasons. Don't Believe me? Go to http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/al/stlouisbrowns/browns.html for a tale of woe that will keep even Mets fans up all night.
|
|
|
|
Music behind DJ:
George Harrison's Wonderwall Music
|
DRILLING A HOME/GURU VANDANA
|
|
|
|
Steve Goodman
|
DYING CUB FAN'S LAST REQUEST
|
Steve is probably best known for the hit (by Arlo Guthrie) "City of New Orleans." He was stricken by leukemia at age 20 and died at age 36 on Sept 20, 1984. It was pretty good timing, because his beloved Cubs would have surely killed him a few weeks later in a dramartic fold to the San Diego Padres in the NLCS (the Padres would later be swept by the Tigers, so it would have been moot anyway).
|
|
|
Dave Frishberg
|
DODGER BLUE
|
Yes they all wore Dodger Blue (even Juan Marichal - which is a real surprise to those of us who remember the John Roseboro incident).
|
|
|
Phil Foster
|
LET'S KEEP THE DODGERS IN BROOKLYN
|
Phil was born as Fival Feldman in Brooklyn in 1913 and grew up along Foster Ave. Later became a fixture as a "singer" for many bands and appeared in many films, typecast by his this Brooklyn accent. Probably best known as Laverne DeFazio's dad in Laverne and Shirley.
|
|
|
Tinklers
|
HANK GREENBERG AND JACKIE ROBINSON
|
From Baltimore, the Tinklers are Charles Brohawn and Chris Mason and they play cigar boxes and toy pianos with the best of them. Scuttlebut says that they also sing, but this has yet to be proven. Back in 2006 and 2007, film director Brian Averill tagged along after them and filmed them and interviewed their friends for a documentary called, ironically "Everybody Loves the Tinklers." This is a true story, by the way, Hank and Jackie remained close friends to the end.
|
|
|
Bob Peck
|
THE OLD BALL GAME
|
This is not the actor, who seems to have died in 1999, and he's not the Cape Cod musician, so who the hell is he? No info on Google, but the record covers (yeah, there are at least 2) show a guy with an eye patch sitting at a piano smoking a cigarette. I hope that is enough info, because I can't find either record. I fear the wires have eaten them.
|
|
|
|
Music behind DJ:
Dixie Power Trio
|
STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN
|
|
|
|
Count Bernardo
|
CHINESE BASEBALL
|
And on this one, the mighty KBC has struck out. Hint: he ain't royalty...
|
|
|
Wheaties
|
WHAT SPARKS A CHAMPION
|
|
|
|
|
BOGEY ON BASEBALL
|
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