At-Bat Music

The home team is down 3-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning. The mood is tense. With no outs and the bases loaded, the batter grounds into a double-play ball that doesn’t even score a run. Frustration looms. That’s when it hits.

“Brass monkey -- that funky monkey!”

As the Beastie Boys blast over the loud speaker at Greer Stadium, Chris Woodward steps to the plate and single-handedly changes the mood of the stadium.

“I get up to the plate, and I almost just start to laugh,” Woodward says.

In the press box during a recent home game, Woodward’s intro music started to play and a chorus line of singers chimed in with the "interesting" lyrics to the 1987 hit. That’s when Mark Photivihok, the Sounds human resources assistant, offered his suggestion for the next “Hardball Mystery:”

What exactly is a player thinking when selecting his at-bat music?

Woodward is past the days of pumping himself up with hard rock or rap music. For him, it’s pretty simple. “I’ve always been a Beastie Boys fan,” Woodward says. “It just keeps me loose.”

Believe it or not, Woodward is not the first to use “Brass Monkey” as his at-bat song. Third baseman David Wright rocked Mets fans at home games with the song before holding a fan poll to choose his at-bat music the next year.

For others though, deep thought and painstaking detail go into their selections. Take Tony Gwynn, Jr. for instance, who routinely changes his music on a weekly, if not daily, basis.

“I choose my music because of the kind of mood it puts me in when I step out there,” Gwynn says. “I also try to look for stuff that’s representative of where I’m from in California.”

But while some players might switch their songs because of a slump, Gwynn would still change his music even if he was in the middle of a 55-game hitting streak.

“I’m not a superstitious guy,” Gwynn said. “For me, it’s all about staying current with the music.”

Then, there’s the relief pitcher. Many of baseball's most memorable intro songs come from the bullpen.

At one point, there was even an uproar over New York Mets closer Billy Wagner using “Enter Sandman” by Metallica as his intro when a famous closer for another New York team already used the haunting tune as his message to hitters in the ninth inning. Then, there’s Ricky Vaughn, who made being “Wild Thing” a good thing as the heat-throwing ace for the Cleveland Indians in the movie Major League.

But if you ask the players around the Sounds clubhouse, one man stands alone with the perfect theme music blasting behind him: San Diego Padres closer Trevor Hoffman, who makes his walk from the bullpen accompanied by AC/DC's "Hells Bells."

“Hoffman stands out because it just fits him perfectly,” Gwynn says. “With him coming in the game in the ninth, closing it out, it just fits. I feel like he’s got the perfect song.”

Sounds reliever Tim Dillard agrees with Gwynn about Hoffman but added another name to the mix. “When Chipper (Jones) was re-habbing a couple years ago in Double-A, he came out to 'Crazy Train,' and that was pretty cool,” Dillard says. “Now, if another hitter comes out to that song, it’s like, ‘who do you think you are, Chipper Jones?”

Dillard understands the importance of the song choice for a reliever, especially the subtleties of the song’s lyrics. “One time I heard this ‘80s song, “You Spin Me Round,” and I thought, oh, that music would be cool,” Dillard says. “But then you don’t want to be getting ready to pitch and hear 'you spin me right round, baby.'

"I mean, you can’t come in to 'We Will Rock You,' if you’re a pitcher, even though it may sound cool, because the lyrics are about getting rocked," Dillard explains. "Most pitchers don’t want to get rocked, so it doesn’t really work.”

For the most part, it seems that the music being able to pump a player up is the most important factor in the song-choice decision, with lyrics taking a backseat. But for me, I would pick a song with lyrics that particularly reflect what I’m feeling as I walk to the plate.

That’s why I would choose, “Why Can’t We Be Friends” by War (with the added bonus of the irony created by the band name and their hit song…just think about it for a second). Or “Open Arms” by Journey, so that I could completely baffle the opposing pitcher with Steve Perry’s yearning vocals.

Or if I was a reliever, I’d want to come out to the “Price is Right” theme music, with the PA announcer telling me to “come on down!” Man, that would be awesome.

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I know you’ve thought about it. You know you’ve thought about it. Here’s your chance to tell everybody what your at-bat music would be. It can be serious. It can be funny. It can be just plain weird. Just bring you’re A-game, because the winner gets a prize.

Head on over to the comment section (directly below this post) and give us your answer, and we’ll announce the winner in the next post.


“Jonathan Gantt, come on down! You’re the next pitcher for the ninth inning!” ("Price is Right" theme plays while strobe lights flash and Jonathan runs onto the field with a shocked look on his face, giving high fives to the outfielders and infielders as he finds his way to the mound)

All-Star Nicknames

Welcome to the special All-Star Edition of Hardball Mysteries. To celebrate this year’s All-Star game (as if 15 innings wasn’t enough), we’re going to investigate some of the more clever nicknames for a few of this year’s All-Star selections. Because nicknames are fun names.

Lance Berkman – "The Big Puma" – I always find it satisfying to know that a major league baseball player doesn’t take himself too seriously. That’s why when I heard that Lance Berkman gave himself the nickname “The Big Puma,” he immediately earned my respect. Berkman, who stands 6’1 and weighs in at more than 220 pounds, is certainly not the most graceful player on the field. In fact, in an ESPN the Magazine interview with Dan Patrick, Berkman explained how his mother thought he looked like Elvis, and when Patrick asked whether he resembled the “fat one or the skinny one,” Berkman responded, “the fat one.” That led to his nickname being “Fat Elvis” for two years.

After eating a Twinkie that a Cubs fan threw at him during a game in 2006, Lance thought it was time for a change. No longer would he be viewed as the older, chubbier version of Elvis clubbing home runs and snatching low grounders to first base in between bites of a fried banana and peanut butter sandwich. In a 2006 radio interview, Berkman stated that he was unhappy with the “Fat Elvis” nickname because he was a sleek, graceful athlete. “I’m more like a puma, so I’m not sure why people call me ‘Fat Elvis,” Berkman said. Laughter erupted from the radio show hosts, and he was consequently re-named “The Big Puma.”

David Ortiz -- Big Papi -- At this point, more people probably know David Ortiz as “Big Papi” than by his own name. In fact, he could probably just do what rappers do and drop his birth name altogether. Ortiz was born in the Dominican Republic, where it is common for males to use the term “papi” the way they use the words “dude” or “buddy” in the United States. (Although I don’t recommend walking around the office calling other guys “papi.” People gave me strange stares.) When he first arrived in Boston in 2003 after being released by the Minnesota Twins, Ortiz had trouble remembering people’s names and just called his teammates by the generic term “papi.” Eventually, his teammates began calling him papi, which of course led to “Big Papi,” because quite frankly, David Ortiz is… big.

Derek Jeter -- Mr. November -- Thirty years from now when MLB is producing another video montage of Hall of Fame players and honoring them in another sappy ceremony, Derek Jeter will be the most revered player from the current generation of players. He doesn’t have the gaudy statistics of Alex Rodriguez or strike fear in opposing pitchers like Barry Bonds, but he has racked up a number of memorable postseason moments, including one that led to his nickname, “Mr. November.”

Baseball’s regular season ends in September. That means that the playoffs take place in October. Reggie Jackson, a Hall of Fame outfielder, was dubbed “Mr. October” because of his outstanding performance in postseason play, particularly the 1977 World Series in which he belted five home runs in six games.

Flash forward to the 2001 World Series, which was delayed because of the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and carried over into the month of November. Shortly after midnight on October 31 during Game Four of the World Series, Jeter knocks a game-winning home run off Diamondbacks reliever Byung-Hyun Kim, and a fan in the stands hold up a sign that reads “Mr. November.” Yankee broadcaster Michael Kay uses the term for Jeter, and the nickname sticks, despite the fact that he only batted 3-for-12 in November games that season.

Albert Pujols -- El Hombre – St. Louis Cardinals fans love Stan Musial. In fact, he’s arguably the most beloved player in Cardinals history. He even has his own statue outside Busch Stadium.

During his playing days, Musial earned the nickname “Stan the Man,” and he’s still known that way today. That’s why when Albert Pujols arrived in the major leagues in 2001 and proceeded to win every baseball award possible while leading his team to two World Series, it was hard to describe him as anything but “the Man.” Since that title was already taken by Musial, St. Louis reporter Bernie Miklasz dubbed him “El Hombre,” which means “the Man” in Spanish. “El Hombre” adds to the long list of nicknames for Pujols which include “Phat Albert,” “Prince Albert,” “The Machine,” and “Winnie the Pujols.”

Kevin Youkilis -- Greek God of Walks -- In Michael Lewis’s landmark book about Oakland’s stat-crazy GM Billy Beane, Moneyball, Youkilis is referred to as “Euclis: The Greek God of Walks.” Youkilis was the perfect example of a “moneyball” player who posts a high on-base percentage by way of collecting a large number of bases-on-balls (walks). Combine his ability to work pitch counts to the extreme with the fact that his last name sounds like it comes from The Iliad, and you’ve got yourself a nickname. But Red Sox manager Terry Francona begged to differ in a 2004 Boston Globe article: “I’ve seen Youkilis in the shower,” Francona said. “I wouldn’t call him the Greek God of anything.”

Five O'Clock Hitter, Around the Horn, and "Sweet Caroline"

After a brief hiatus, it’s time to open up the mailbag and answer a few more mysteries:

Joseph in Nashville: What does the term five o’clock hitter mean?

As the great philosopher James Buffet once said, “it’s five o’clock somewhere.” Unfortunately for some hitters, that’s just not comforting enough. When a player is dubbed a “five o’clock hitter,” it means he absolutely crushes pitches all over the field…during batting practice. When game time rolls around and he steps up to the plate, the results are far less appealing.

Several variations of the term are used including 10 o’clock hitter, four o’clock hitter, and a few others, depending on the start time of the game. Most games start around seven o’clock, so five o’clock is the usual time for batting practice.

Becca in Orlando: Where does the term “Around the Horn” come from?

Great question, Becca. Two scenarios can be described as throwing the ball “around the horn.” The first is when a double play is turned starting with the third baseman to second base to first base. The second comes after a pitcher records a strikeout with no runners on base, and the ball is thrown around the infield and eventually back to the pitcher in order to keep the infielders’ arms warm.

The term originally came from sailing, much like many old-fashioned baseball idioms. Before the Panama Canal was built, the fastest way to sail from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean was to go around Cape Horn, the southernmost tip of South America. So, when a baseball is thrown “around the horn,” it travels in a similar pattern to a ship traveling around Cape Horn. In addition, the shape of the baseball diamond could be viewed as an animal’s horn, but I prefer the sailing reference.

Danielle in St. Louis: Why do they play “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond during the eighth inning at Fenway Park?

It looks like Special Investigative Assistant Steve found a pretty good answer to this one in the Hardball Mysteries “Comments” section. He points us to this site for our answer: http://www.redsoxconnection.com/sweetcaroline.html. Thanks, Steve.

It turns out it was just a random song choice one night by the music director at Fenway Park that turned into a good luck charm after a few wins. When a new ownership group (apparently all members of the Neil Diamond fan club) took over in 2002, they asked for it to be played after the eighth inning during every game.

Not that this answer was boring, but was I the only one hoping for a bizarre story about Neil Diamond giving the Red Sox a song-filled pep talk while wearing one of his patented sequined shirts which led to the song being played every game after that? Hmm, maybe I was the only one. Ironically, the “Jewish Elvis” has publicly stated that he’s actually a lifelong Yankees fan.

But with the help of the movie "Fever Pitch" and the success of the Red Sox in the past few years, the song has become a staple of Boston baseball culture and has spread to other ballparks and sportings events, even our very own Greer Stadium during Sounds games. In fact, after his cell phone went off during a press conference in 2007, it was discovered that Detroit Tigers’ manager Jim Leyland’s ringtone is “Sweet Caroline.”

After keeping the inspiration for the song under wraps for more than 35 years, Diamond finally revealed that Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of John F. Kennedy, was the “sweet Caroline” that he was singing about in 2007. She was only 11 years old at the time the song was written in 1969.

I’m not gonna lie Neil, that’s kind of weird. But you’re still totally awesome in my book.

Just look at you.