The Baseball Project Vol. 1 is out.

by pdb on Jul 16, 2008 4:06 PM PDT

Do you like baseball? I know you do because you're here. Do you like good music? That's definitely a more subjective question. But sitting squarely at the intersection of baseball and good music is The Baseball Project, Vol. 1 - Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails.

Headed by ex-Young Fresh Fellow Scott McCaughey, this band also features some dude named Peter Buck, and also features Steve Wynn (not the casino guy). But really, all you need to know is that McCaughey wrote all the songs; Scott McCaughey is one of the best pop songwriters the NW has ever produced.

If you've never heard or heard of the Young Fresh Fellows, by the way, go find their music NOW. Especially The Men Who Loved Music. And when you're done with that, go get every Fastbacks record ever made. And then Girl Trouble. And Flop. And...but I digress. Start out by getting The Baseball Project.

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I just got this

“Satchel Paige Said” and “Pasttimes” are pretty good. I’ll have to listen to the rest more…
I just love that they made a song about Harvey Haddix.

by marc w on Jul 16, 2008 4:21 PM PDT 0 recs

Yeah, there's some great stuff on there

I’ve only listened to it once so far but it’s definitely a good record, and avoids the novelty-type sound of a lot of sports-themed records.

Nice Guys Finish Third - Hopelessly lost, but makin' good time.

by pdb on Jul 16, 2008 4:25 PM PDT up 0 recs

Me too - just did a once through. I'll check it out again soon

Not novelty-sounding, though it’s clearly only intelligible to baseball fans. That will certainly hurt sales, but I think it’s cool.

Still waiting for more bands to do baseball themed songs or albums. Centro-Matic’s Will Johnson is a huge baseball (and Cardinals) fan, and he’s also one hell of a prolific songwriter (singer/songwriter in three separate ‘bands’). Geddy Lee too, though I must confess I don’t think I’d go out and buy his stuff. Joe Pernice of the Pernice Bros. and Scud Mountain Boys. Gotta be tons more.

Pernice did a song about Manny Ramirez once, but it wasn’t his best effort, shall we say.

by marc w on Jul 16, 2008 4:45 PM PDT up 0 recs

Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee were at a game I was at a few years back.

I was in a huge Rush phase at the time (I used to smoke a lot of weed) and thought it was pretty cool that Geddy appeared to be keeping score.

by acblue on Jul 16, 2008 7:11 PM PDT up 0 recs

Geddy Lee just donated 200 autographed baseballs by various stars living and deceased to the Negro Leagues Museum

Link.

I think it’s safe to say he’s a pretty hardcore fan.

I root for the two worst teams in baseball, non-ironically.

by esoteric on Jul 16, 2008 10:27 PM PDT up 0 recs

Plus, there are Rush baseball jerseys.

by JI on Jul 17, 2008 8:12 AM PDT up 0 recs

Hey, we're not here to start no trouble

We’re just here to do the Super Bowl Shuffle.

by G_ on Jul 16, 2008 4:46 PM PDT up 0 recs

Just picked up my new favorite novelty record of all time

it’s a tribute, of sorts, to the 1982 Scotland world cup side (A young Gordon Strachan singing along with Graeme Souness, Jock Stein, Kenny Dalglish).

I’m still trying to wrap my mind around it.

by marc w on Jul 16, 2008 4:51 PM PDT up 0 recs

If you have an mp3 of that I'd love to hear it...

Nice Guys Finish Third - Hopelessly lost, but makin' good time.

by pdb on Jul 16, 2008 6:38 PM PDT up 0 recs

I'll get one soon...

by marc w on Jul 17, 2008 8:12 AM PDT up 0 recs

Just ripped and sent to your NGFT account

It’s a quick and rough take. Just to give you a sense of the barmy genius of the thing…

by marc w on Jul 17, 2008 10:25 PM PDT up 0 recs

Is that Ally's Army?!

I really struggle to get my head around some of your associations, Marc!! Not unusual for a Spurs fan, mind ;o)

By the way, in answer to your message the other day… I got heavily confused and have found out what’s actually going on re: UK Baseball. Too dull and long-winded to go into here, but if you’re interested, drop me an email to mark@mtedwards.co.uk and I’ll fill you in.

The english Mariner who isn't EnglishMariner --- P3 W1 L2 (.333)
Sponsor of Jamie Burke's baseball-reference page

by MarkE on Jul 18, 2008 6:09 AM PDT up 0 recs

Hey -

No, it’s not Ally’s Army – that was 1978. This is the next world cup, thus, you get Gordon Strachan and Jock Stein and lose Ally McLeod.

I’ll drop you an e-mail re: UK baseball…

by marc w on Jul 18, 2008 9:21 AM PDT up 0 recs

Ah, fair enough

Both were before my time. My first WC memory was having an incredible wallchart that I could use to plot the progress of each team with the cunning use of flag stickers.

Awesome.

I’m now slightly freaked out by the idea of Gordon Strachan singing. He’s an analyst on BBC Football progs and indecipherable at the best of times…

The english Mariner who isn't EnglishMariner --- P3 W1 L2 (.333)
Sponsor of Jamie Burke's baseball-reference page

by MarkE on Jul 18, 2008 9:43 AM PDT up 0 recs

Well, he's just part of a group - along with the rest of the team

you can’t pick out the red-headed elf’s dulcet tones from the din.

by marc w on Jul 18, 2008 10:48 AM PDT up 0 recs

Thanks for the heads up

This is perfect for the guy I share tickets with. He was a huge YFF fan.

by Sec 108 on Jul 16, 2008 4:46 PM PDT 0 recs

I'll have to check this out, it sounds pretty cool.

AKA "BRO-RAY" according to drunk Graham...

by Thingray on Jul 16, 2008 4:54 PM PDT 0 recs

Utterly OT, but whatever

Onion makes fun of Jamie Moyer.

by Paytheline on Jul 16, 2008 6:16 PM PDT 0 recs

Heh, that was pretty good.

by joof on Jul 16, 2008 7:12 PM PDT up 0 recs

147 seconds to home plate....

“Moyer later revealed the pitch was a fastball.” Ouuu La La…

Your favorite meme is dead

by Edanger6 on Jul 16, 2008 9:56 PM PDT 0 recs

The Baseball Project...

> But really, all you need to know is that McCaughey wrote all the songs; Scott McCaughey is one of the best pop songwriters the NW has ever produced.

Not to take anything away from Scott, but Steve “not the casino guy” Wynn also had a rather influential group himself by the name of the Dream Syndicate. And the songs are collaborations. Steve has done some sportswriting himself in his day as well.

Anyway, thanks to pdb for mentioning this! A very cool record. Gotta love a song that gives a shout-out to Ray Fosse.

by wlad-o-matic on Jul 17, 2008 12:46 AM PDT 0 recs