The players on the Chicago Cubs garner my deepest sympathies.
No, not because they play on one of Major League Baseball’s perennial losers or the fact that they have to endure playing in the most top heavy division in baseball.
My sole reasoning is that they are the only team in baseball that doesn’t get to pick the music they walk up to as they begin an at-bat or enter the game from the bullpen.
Though I find baseball to be the most interesting sport on this planet and love observing the game, I often find myself analyzing what song a player started his at-bat to rather than paying attention to game itself.
Covering Ohio’s baseball team, I began hearing each player’s walk-up song in my sleep and did not even have to listen look at the lineup to know who was coming to bat.
I’d always reach for my sunglasses when outfielder Nick Squires came to the plate to B.o.B’s “Ray Bands” and can still hear the creaky, squeaky beginnings of Drake’s “Joker” when first baseman Jake Madsen came to the plate.
And Dan Schmidt will always be imprinted in my memory as whenever I hear “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore on the radio — which is seemingly once every 10 minutes — I can’t help but immediately associate it with the former Bobcat shortstop.
When I went to my first Detroit Tigers game of the season, I was bewildered, befuddled, bemused and just about every other synonym for confused when portly power-hitter Prince Fielder came to the plate to the dulcet tones of Mozart’s Requiem from the distant past of 1791.
While many players choose something from the genres of hip-hop, country or Latin music, Fielder went a different route.
Instead of using the lyrical musings of Snoop Dogg and C-Murder like he had in the past, Fielder decided that the calming influence of classical music would enhance his ability at the plate, according to a Detroit Free Press article by John Lowe.
And often times, the songs players choose often plays a role in their image around the league.
The intimidation factor of Mariano Rivera and former closer Trevor Hoffman was cranked up several notches when they entered to the ominous sounds of “Enter Sandman” by Metallica and AC/DC’s “Hells Bells.”
Taking an interest in what other players choose has pushed me on a fruitless quest to think what my walk-up song would be for my MLB at-bat that would never happen. That is, unless some team is looking for a 5-foot-5, 135-pound utility man with no discernable skill.
Thinking of it would be has occupied my brain for the greater part of two years, taking precedence over something like school. As it turns out, this process is entirely more difficult than I had thought.
First, you have to think of all the songs you like and condense it down to each of the songs that would still sound cool if it was cut down to a 15 second snippet. From there, I boiled it down what songs would actually get me and all of the fans pumped when I came to the plate.
I received good suggestions on the journey to my ultimate conclusion along the way. I received a vote for our country’s national anthem as well as the guitar solo from Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Freebird”.
But the song hit me today as I was driving home from work today. As I was drumming along to the drum solo in Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight,” the stars had aligned. The ageless classic that links generations would be my calling card.
So when I round the bases for a walk-off grand slam during Game Seven of the World Series in my one and only professional at-bat, that song will be the sole reason.
Christian Hoppens is a junior studying journalism and a staff writer for The Post. Email him at ch203310@ohiou.edu.
