Tampabay.com
APRIL 25, 2008

Nine best songs about baseball

Centerfield The Rock-And-Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland opens an exhibit on Saturday called Take Me Out: Baseball Rocks, celebrating baseball and music. Check out the details here.

This calls for a list. Here are my top nine songs about baseball. Why nine? Nine innings, of course.

1. Centerfield -- John Fogerty
Favorite line: Just to hit the ball and touch 'em all -- a moment in the sun/(crack) It's gone and you can tell that one goodbye!

2. Catfish -- Bob Dylan
Favorite line: Used to work on Mr. Finley's farm/But the old man wouldn't pay/So he packed his glove and took his arm/An' one day he just ran away.

3. Joltin' Joe DiMaggio -- Les Brown Orchestra
Favorite line: From coast to coast that's all you'll hear/Of Joe the one man show/He's glorified the horsehide sphere/Joltin' Joe DiMaggio.

4. D-O-D-G-E-R-S (Oh Really? No, O'Malley) -- Danny Kaye
Favorite line: Maurey Wills draws a walk in the coach's box/Leo Durocher, Leo Durocher starts to wiggle and to twitch/A signal? No, an itch.

5. Right Field -- Peter, Paul and Mary
Favorite line: Playing right field can be lonely and dull/Little leagues never have lefties that pull/I dream of the day, when they will hit one my way/They never did, but still I would pray.

6. Glory Days -- Bruce Springsteen
Favorite line: Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture/a little of the glory of, well time slips away/and leaves you with nothing mister but/boring stories of glory days.

7. The Ball Game -- Sister Wynonna Carr
Favorite line: Jesus is standin' at home plate/Waitin' for you there/Life is a ballgame, but/You've got to play it fair.

8. A Dying Cubs Fan's Last Request -- Steve Goodman
Favorite line: Do they still play the blues in Chicago/When baseball season rolls around/When the snow melts away/Do the Cubs still play/In their ivy-covered burial ground.

9. Take Me Out to the Ball Game -- The Hold Steady
Favorite line: Well, the whole thing is great when it's The Hold Steady version.

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For sports talk filled with strong opinions, Tom Jones is here to give you his two cents -- and get yours as well. Tom might be commenting on the best coverage of TV sports, the dumbest thing said by sport announcers, the best sports trivia lists, or whatever three things just popped into his head. Want his ear?

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