Play Ball (feat. Kerry Wood)

Walk-up and Walk-out songs

Our heroes wear pinstripes, heroes in blue

Give us the chance to feel like heroes too

Forever we'll win and if we should lose

We know someday we'll go all the way

-Eddie Vedder

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Pearl Jam lead singer, Eddie Vedder, is a lifelong Cubs fan and wrote the song, “All the Way,” in hopes of Chicago breaking the 100-year World Series drought since 1908. He first performed the song live in Chicago, which is a hint to introduce our bonus track writer this week... Cubs legend (see below).

Music and baseball make a good match. One example is the 7th-inning stretch; another is the walk-up song. (or walk-out for the pitchers on this Swap) Since the baseball season officially opened this week, we are all listing a song we would walk up to if (...when!) we played in the MLB. You only get about 30 seconds’ worth of a song, so it's a tough assignment.

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Slow Ride by Foghat (Kody)

I pitched in college and yes I’m using this newsletter to brag about my glory days. One of the coolest moments in baseball is when the closer comes out of the bullpen to his song of choice. Dim the lights everyone and listen to my song while I trot to the mound from the outfield. Have you ever witnessed a greater flex?!

“Slow Ride” has all of the ingredients of a winning walk-out song - starts with a slow drum beat…then the guitar comes in to build anticipation…everything gets loud…then everything smooths out to an I’m-a-bad-man pace. Just close your eyes and picture yourself sprinting out of the pen when the song gets to the words “Slow Ride.”

Also available on Apple Music.

Keep Your Head Up by Andy Grammer (Ben)

Had a tough time selecting a song. My sports glory days (90's) led me to think about Green Day or Beastie Boys, The Offspring, or even Rage Against the Machine. I didn't listen to a ton of this music, but did before playing sports. It was great pump-up music - even in my loose-fitting, foam-eared Sony headphones hardwired to my portable CD player. Instead of that hard vibe, I picked a song from my running playlist that my kids introduced me to. A feel good, don't-take-yourself-too-seriously, type of song. I think I'd need that if I played baseball.

Also available on Apple Music.

Sweet Emotion by Aerosmith (Jonathan)

Off their third album, Toys in the Attic, this 1975 classic track is sure to pump the weakest of hitters. Aerosmith is one of my favorite bands, and I think the “talk-box” intro to the song is perfect for the slow walk up to the batter’s box. 

Also available on Apple Music.

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Bonus Track: Walk-up and Walk-out Songs by Kerry Wood

Happy Opening Weekend! I was asked to be a part of this week’s Music Swap in honor of opening day/weekend. I’m excited to present a few of my favorites over the years.   

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE

I guess I should start with a brief story and background for the first one and my personal favorite. In the early 2000’s about 4-5 years into my career, we tried to talk to the “powers-that-be” about possibly having songs played for the starting pitchers or coming in out of the pen. (I didn’t really care if the hitters had songs) I was told that no player will ever dictate what music comes out of the speakers at Wrigley Field and that the fans love the old school organ.

Now I totally understand the history behind the organ and agreed it brought a certain feel to our historic stadium, but I still thought pitchers and players could use little extra hype or energy when it was their turn to perform and a great song could do the trick. Many stadiums were doing it and the fans loved it. We did not succeed in convincing management but we didn’t stop asking a few times every season.

Fast forward to 2008. I had just recovered from shoulder surgery and was breaking camp that season as our closer. Our last two exhibition games that year were held in Las Vegas. In game 2, when the 9th inning rolled around, it was my chance to come in for the save. To my surprise, the stadium blasted “Welcome to the Jungle,” a song that certainly always got me fired up. I had a 1-2-3 inning and my fastball was sitting at 100 and even topped 101 a few times!  

After that game, one of our starting pitchers that season, Ryan Dempster went to the front office on my behalf, to lobby for that song to play when I entered the game. After a few conversations, he was finally able to convince them and they agreed. They started for the first time ever at Wrigley to play that song when I entered the game. There was one problem though. This was before the renovations and we only had a couple of very weak indoor/outdoor speakers on the side of the iconic scoreboard so I couldn’t hear the music at all. I did hear from family and some friends that they could hear it in their seats but it just didn’t have the same effect that it did back in Vegas.

It is still one of my favorite songs and brings back some great memories.  

Also available on Apple Music.

ENTER SANDMAN, HELLS BELLS, THUNDERSTRUCK, CRAZY TRAIN 

The next 4 songs on the list were songs of other guys around the league, pitchers, and a couple of hitters:

-Mariano Rivera (Enter Sandman) 

-Trevor Hoffman (Hells Bells)

-A hitter I can’t remember (Thunderstruck)

-Larry Walker/Chipper Jones (Crazy Train)

Even being on the opposing team, these 4 songs always gave me chills and made me envious of their song choice. These songs also got their fans fired up as well.

TIL I COLLAPSE, BULLS ON PARADE, TESTIFY

The next 3 songs on the list weren’t necessarily walk-out songs but they were certainly pregame in the locker room songs worthy of blasting as loud as our sound system could handle. (I just threw those in for fun)

-Til I Collapse
-Bulls On Parade
-Testify

BEAUTIFUL DAY

Now the last song probably brings back some of my favorite memories. The Cubs started playing this in 2003, as the team took the field to start each game that season.  As a starting pitcher, this wasn’t a walk-out song but it was the team’s everyday song. We played mostly day games, the sun was shining and Wrigley was always packed and full of energy. There wasn’t a better place to be on the planet.  

The 2003 season was a great year for the club and, personally, a great year for me. This song still brings me back, standing on the mound at Wrigley, with the sun shining…it was always a “Beautiful Day.”

K Wood

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Have a big meeting coming up? Ready to crush that weekend house project? K Wood put together an Apple Music playlist for you featuring his favorite walk-up/walk-out songs. Also, we asked some friends on Twitter for their favorite intro songs. You can find those here. Get hyped! See you next week for Good Friday!

-TheMusicSwap