March 2009
Walk Up Songs
Correct me if I’m wrong, but baseball is the only sport where each individual on a team is introduced to the game by a song of his choice. I’ve really tried to think of other instances, but can’t seem think of any.
For those who haven’t experienced it, it’s a pretty powerful moment. Everyone knows Trevor Hoffman’s “Hell’s Bells” by ACDC. His strut in from the bullpen wouldn’t be the same without it. Or what about Rick Vaughn in Major League? His “Wild Thing” entrance totally defined his character in the movie. There is nothing like a bada** walkup song to pump the crowd, the team, and, maybe most importantly, yourself up.
Throughout my career I’ve heard some different opinions on the songs I have chosen. Sometimes I’ll get to first base and the first baseman will say, “Wow. That’s a rad song. Who is that?” Buuuuuttttt sometimes I’ll get the opposite. “Are you serious with that song? Clean it up.” You see, I’ve never wanted to have the same walkup song as someone else in the league. Being unoriginal is just not my thing. With that being said, lets just say the songs I have chosen aren’t your run of the mill, average walk ups.
Here is a list of my walk up songs, dating back to my first pro year in Elizabethton, Tennessee:
2004 Elizabethton : “Misty Mountain Hop” by Led Zeppelin
2005 Beloit: “Greatest Hits” by Sublime
2006 Fort Myers: “Any Colour You Like” by Pink Floyd (by far the most controversial)
2007 New Britain: “Calm Like A Bomb” by Rage Against the Machine
“Can’t Tell Me Nothing” by Kanye West
2008 New Britain: “The Lemon Song” by Led Zeppelin
2008 Rochester: “Doin’ 78″ by The Soundbakery (my friend Rob Duran’s Production Label)
As you can see, I’ve had some pretty unique songs. The Kanye West song was kind of a spur of the moment decision, and didn’t last long.
Check this Pink Floyd song out. You’ll probably understand why it was the most controversial right away. It’s a great tune from Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album.
I’m still deciding on what this year’s song will be. My lifelong friend Rob has some stuff in the works for me, so it may be something from him. Here is the track that he made that I used in Rochester last year.
I’m definitely interested in what other people would use as their walk up song. Get back to me and share what you think yours would be.
That’s all for now. Next time I’m going to tackle the “Unwritten Rules of Baseball”, with special emphasis on the “Clubhouse Music” rule.
Hope to hear back about your songs. See ya, Trevor.
Band Practice
As hard as we work, especially in the Twins organization, we as baseball players have a lot of free time. A typical day in Spring Training has you showing up to the field around 7:30 – 8:00 a.m., and has you leaving by about 4:30 p.m. That’s a good 6 or 7 hours a day to just chill.
I would venture out to say that the most popular way of passing time for players is playing video games. I’ve never really understood why. I personally hate playing them, and am glad that I do. The same goes with watching T.V. Something inside of me, probably stemming from growing up in Castaic, CA, just won’t let me sit around inside. Most of my free time goes to fishing, bothering Delmon to do something, and, now that the season is nearly here, making (trying to make) music.
With that being said, it’s time to introduce you to the most kick a** band of all time. Well, besides Led Zeppelin of course.
Last year Dustin Martin, Drew Butera, Toby Gardenhire, and myself formed a supergroup for the ages………. (Actually we just started messing around and ended up sounding pretty cool). We named ourselves The Beach Bums, drawing influence from the way Drew and I decorated the basement where we lived. The chemistry was there right off the bat, and let’s just say that New Britain had no idea what hit them.
We’ve been going strong ever since, and today we had our second band practice of the year. Dustin and I strummed the guitar, while Toby, our singer/lyricist, conjured up some verses. Drew is more of an off the stage band member. We call him our manager, but I wouldn’t hesitate for one second to bring him on stage with some bongoes and/or cowbell.
All in all it was a great day. Here’s a small sample of a song we are working on called “Wave”. I’ve just recently discovered the software GarageBand on my Mac, so we are going to start recording more and more. Wave.mp3
So that’s pretty much it for today, let me know what you think of the music. This is just a rough cut, but you should be able to get the picture.
And in case you were wondering, Delmon doesn’t play video games either, and he told me today that he wants to start fishing. Wish me luck.
Just a Little Introduction…
So let’s just get one thing straight right off the bat. I’m not your typical blogger. I was pretty hesitant about doing this, and still kind of am. It’s not that I’m too cool for it, or too private of a person, it’s just that I don’t think I’ll be any good at it. Hopefully I’m wrong.
They’ve given me free reign to write about whatever I want, and I think that’s what I’m going to do. I know baseball is the main theme here, but there’s other stuff to talk/write about too. For instance, I’m definitely going to be adding pictures and video links of an up and coming band destined for stardom (more to come). Throw in some off the field stories and some thoughts on the universe, and that will pretty much sum it up.
To kick things off, I want to thank my roommate and friend Delmon Young for embarrassing me in the clubhouse today. Although I can’t and won’t go into details, let’s just say he got my pretty good. So rather than sit and pout about it, I thought I would get a little revenge. Delmon and I have been friends since about 1998. We played travel ball together and always have just gotten along. I’ve seen him go through some awkward stages for sure, and I always laugh when people picture him as mean and aggressive. Truth be told, Del is just a giant teddy bear. His most recent endeavor, illustrated beautifully here, is a great example of this.
So just in case you see Delmon roaming the streets, keep the potato chips, french fries, and white bread away. He’s watching his figure.
Until next time, Trevor.
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