Knuckleball Catcher

In this installment of Aural Pleasures, we switch from songs performed by baseball players to a song about a baseball player.  An unreleased track from Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, titled "Knuckleball Catcher." 

Arthur Lee Maye and the Crowns

"I feel like I am the best singing athlete that ever lived.  I'm not bragging, it's just a fact." - Lee Maye

Ballplayers

In addition to being obsessive about baseball, I also collect records. It is not all that often that these two disparate wolds collide, but when they do, it sets off all kinds of bells and whistles in the pleasure center of my brain.  This is something I'd like to dig into on this blog as an ongoing series of sorts, exploring both music recorded by baseball players and music about baseball.  This is by no means meant to be an exhaustive study, as there are a fair amount of baseball players that have recorded some terrible music (Bronson Arroyo, I'm looking at you), but rather to bring to light some lesser known artists or songs that have at least some sort of redeeming value. The first installment in this series will explore the works of the group Ballplayers.

The Best of Waite Hoyt in the Rain

The Best of Waite Hoyt in the Rain Volume 1

Personality Records - 1963

The first athlete-turned-broadcaster, Waite Hoyt enjoyed a 20 year Hall of Fame career as a pitcher (Yankees, Dodgers, Giants, Athletics, Red Sox, Tigers), and then became the play by play voice for the Cincinnati Reds. In his 24 years calling games for the Reds, Hoyt was well known for his anecdotes (mostly recalling his playing days with the Yankees) during rain delays. Two volumes of selected anecdotes were collected on record albums. Bust this out the next time you are stuck in a rain delay.

Volume 1 - Side 1

Volume 1 - Side 2