An earlier commenter asked if Steve Goodman's ashes are buried under home plate at Wrigley Field. They aren't, although that was the original plan. Instead, four years after Steve's death in Seattle following a last-ditch bone marrow transplant that didn't work, Steve's brother David, the marrow donor, and his pal Harry Waller, another Chicago musician, scattered his ashes from the left field bleachers out over the ivy-covered wall and back onto Waveland Avenue, just like in "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request." A few months later, his widow Nancy and his daughters went up to Cooperstown and sneaked onto Doubleday Field under cover of darkness. There, they scattered what remained of his ashes over home plate. So he got his "doubleheader funeral," the way he wanted.

All this is recounted in the definitive (and as far as I know, only) Steve Goodman biography by award-winning author Clay Eals, "Facing the Music." It's a beautiful and weighty tribute (you can order it online at clayeals.com) to a master craftsman who I'm so lucky to have known and called friend. One afternoon in June of 1984 when he was in New York for one of his chemo treatments at Sloan Kettering three months before he died, he called me up and asked me to go out to Shea with him to see a young fireballer named Dwight Gooden pitch. I told him I couldn't because I was already scheduled to umpire a Babe Ruth game (thirteen- and fourteen-year-olds) out on Staten Island that evening. So what do you think Steve did? He gave away his Mets tickets, took the ferry with me, and sat there in the stands at Great Kill with a bump on his forehead the size of a walnut from where the medicine got pumped into his body, rooting for the umpire. That's the kind of friend he was.

Goodman lives! Thanks for asking.

I invite everyone to visit my website, www.perrybarber.com, scroll down to the bottom of any of the pages, click on "Belle of the Ballfield," which is the title of my CD, then click on "Perry Barber." A list of tunes on the CD will appear.

Give a listen to "Baseball"; "Down on the Farm"; and "I Was There."

Happy auditing!

Perry Barber

I love the simplicity of Warren Zevon's look at the trials and tribulations of the Spaceman's career. It's even a great song to sing a capella in the car or the shower:

"You're supposed to sit on your ass and nod at stupid things

Man, that's hard to do

But if you don't they'll screw you

And if you do they'll screw you too

When I'm standing in the middle of the diamond all alone

I always play to win when it comes to skin and bone

And sometimes I'll say things I shouldn't

Like . . .la, la la la la lalala.

Hands down "Basketball Jones"!

Growing up in Los Angeles in the 1960's there was only one sports song that mattered...Danny Kaye's Dodger Song. It detailed an entire game, using all the players of the time, into a frantic word play, leading to the famous "Hiller, Haller Twist". There wasn't a child (or adult) who was a basball fan, who didn't love the song celebrating "our bums".

"The Yaz Song" by the late, great Jess Cain.

http://staffannouncer.com/blog/audio/yazsong.mp3

Many great hockey songs from a band called the Zambonis:

Leave Your Stink at the Rink

Hockey Monkey

Helmet Song (remix)

Break Away

Warren Zevon had a great hockey song too..possibly called The Hockey Song

Hockey Mama for Obama

Can't believe that nobody mentioned "It's a Beautiful Day for a Ballgame" by the Harry Simeone Songsters. They used to play it before Cubs radio broadcasts in the '70s. Sample lyrics:

"It's a beautiful day for a home run/but even a triple's okay/we're gonna cheer/and boo/and raise a hullabaloo/at the ballgame today"

Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXkPgjMHoQs

"get me on the courts and I'm trouble

last week f**ked around and shot a triple double"

and then later it's

something, something "....chronic

and the lakers beat the supersonics"

Written by Hall of Fame broadcaster Ernie Harwell, performed by Detroit Tigers pitcher (1972 - 1974) Bill Slayback.

Talk about your obscure baseball songs!

http://billslayback.com/baseball/stadium.htm

"If we're throwing in spoken word records, let's not forget "What It Was, Was Football" by Andy Griffith."

OMG! I had a 45 of that and listened to it all the time when I was growing up! Haven't thought about that in awhile.

(I still have my 45 of the great Bronco tribute: "Make Those Miracles Happen"--in honor of the Mile High Miracle of '77.)

About Willie Mays coming back to San Fran after they got rid of him and hitting a home run to win the game.

Great song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGObxbker5A

no one's ever heard of this guy (dan bern), which is a shame. i think his highest claim to fame was writing the songs for that john c. reilly movie "walk hard." but he's but he's a pretty talented writer, and does sports a lot. he sounds kind of like the love-child of bob dylan & elvis costello, who just listened to a bunch of springsteen. if anyone's interested, see if you can find these onlinse somwhere - they're all pretty good:

*this side of the white line

*cy young

*sammy's bat

*bower & felosa

*merkle (should've touched second base)

*tiger woods

*monica

*gamblin' with my love (pete rose)

*john mcenroe

*that goddam jack kramer wood f*cking racket

@christman-

If we're throwing in spoken word records, let's not forget "What It Was, Was Football" by Andy Griffith.

1. Pretty much everything from Chuck Brodsky’s album, “Baseball Ballads”, but especially “Dock’s No-No” and “Bonehead Merkle”.

2. “Ballad of a Ballgame” by Christine Lavin

3. “Dying Cubs Fan Last Request” by Steve Goodman

4. “Foggy Baseball” by Gordon Dills

5. “The Baseball Song” by Malahoff Sanderband

6. “Cubs in Five” by The Mountain Goats

7. “Bomb Ann Arbor Now” by The Dead Schembechlers

8. “Mudfootball” by Jack Johnson

9. “Unless the Laker Game Was On” by Say Hi To Your Mom

10. “Good Curling”, “Burnt Rock Blues”, and “Psycho Curler” by Steve Christman [note to King K: if you’re interested, I’ve written a whole suite of curling songs that be I’d be happy to send you on a CD; my email address is stephen.christman@utoledo.edu]

Bonus Spoken Word Section:

1. “Baseball, football” routine by George Carlin

2. “Baseball Canto” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti