There's always a song that plays when the closer jogs in from the bullpen and takes his warm up throws from the mound. This song is usually hand-selected by the closer himself, and it's meant to serve as a form of motivation for the pitcher, and intimidation for the batter. It is, in effect, the closer's anthem. Who can forget "Wild Thing" playing every time Charlie Sheen's character took the mound in Major League? And, in real life, most baseball fans think of Mariano Rivera whenever they hear Enter Sadman by Metallica. For Phillies fans, this is particularly painful because it's the song that played just before MO closed out the World Series. It's a pretty intimdating song to hear come blasting out of a stadium's speakers. . .
The songs vary by pitcher. Our very own Brad Lidge chose "Soldiers" by Drowning Pool as his theme song during his brilliant 2008 campaign. The song is an homage to both our US service men and Lidge's love of metal. In 2009 he chose "No More Sorrow" by Linkin Park (which, frankly, sucks).
Jonathan Papplebon, Boston's steely eyed closer, chose "I'm Shipping Up To Boston" by the Dropkick Murphys for his entrance. This obviosuly keeps Boston's loyal Irish fanbase happy as hell.
Tom Gordon used to chug out to the mound while "The Flash Gordon Theme" by Queen blared throughout the stadium. (Flash! Ah-Ah! King of the impossible!). Jose Valverde used to strut out to "Big Poppa" by none other than the Notorious B-I-G. Now that's pretty badass. J.J. Putz made his entrance to AC/DC's "Thunderstruck". And big fat Eric Gagne used to enter to "Welcome To The Jungle". So you see, there's no real formula here. All pitchers try and pick a loud, intimidating song that will pump up both themselves as well as the fans.
I have a different theory.
Baseball, more than any other sport, is a mental game. It's a long season made up of long games and long traveling stretches. Much of a baseball player's time is spent inside of his own head - waiting in the dugout, waiting in between pitches, waiting in between innings, waiting for planes, waiting for a ball to get their way. All this waiting leads to thinking, and thinking is the death of any major leaguer. The more you think, the worse you are. Baseball, of course, is the only sport to have something known as the "Steve Blass Disease", whereby "talented players inexplicably and permanently seem to lose their ability to accurately throw a baseball" (via wikipedia).
So yeah, my theory is that closer's should try their damndest to screw with batters' heads. And they should do this by selecting seemingly strange entrance songs.
Reasoning: By now, all batters expect to hear something rageful like Enter Sandman or Thunderstruck, so they aren't phased when some sinister rock anthem echoes in their ears. The only way to really mess with his mind, then, is to surprise him with a non-traditional closer jam. So yeah, the wait is over. Here are the TOP TEN CLOSER SONGS (THAT WILL NEVER BE USED)
5.) Shiny Happy People by REM: Would you be able to concentrate after hearing Michael Stype blaring at full throttle amplification in a Major League Baseball stadium. The fans would have to be in on it - laughing, swaying and HOLDING FRIGGIN HANDS like psycho christians at one of those mega churches in Texas. And it would be doubly effective if the VERY awkward video played on the stadium's jumbotron. In 3 minutes the ambience would no longer be that of a baseball game, but rather that of a dorky early nineties keg party where guys were happy to wear big polka dot shirts and stupid floppy hats. Advantage, home team.
4.) Unskinny Bop by Poison: This song will creep out and confuse like none other. Imagine hearing this "Everytime I touch ya you get hot, I wanna make love you never stop!" and then looking up the mound and seeing K-Rod wink at you?? And then it just gets more confusing when you hear, "What's right? What's wrong? What's left? What the hell is going on?". Hade enough Unskinny Bop, Mr Batter? Okay, now here's a 95mph thrown right at your head. TAKE THAT!
3.) Wipe Out by The Surfaris: I dare you to listen that song. Now try and get it out of your head. You can't, can you? Now try hitting a slider. *Optional: Pitcher does Pee-Wee Herman dance in between warm up tosses.
The songs vary by pitcher. Our very own Brad Lidge chose "Soldiers" by Drowning Pool as his theme song during his brilliant 2008 campaign. The song is an homage to both our US service men and Lidge's love of metal. In 2009 he chose "No More Sorrow" by Linkin Park (which, frankly, sucks).
Jonathan Papplebon, Boston's steely eyed closer, chose "I'm Shipping Up To Boston" by the Dropkick Murphys for his entrance. This obviosuly keeps Boston's loyal Irish fanbase happy as hell.
Tom Gordon used to chug out to the mound while "The Flash Gordon Theme" by Queen blared throughout the stadium. (Flash! Ah-Ah! King of the impossible!). Jose Valverde used to strut out to "Big Poppa" by none other than the Notorious B-I-G. Now that's pretty badass. J.J. Putz made his entrance to AC/DC's "Thunderstruck". And big fat Eric Gagne used to enter to "Welcome To The Jungle". So you see, there's no real formula here. All pitchers try and pick a loud, intimidating song that will pump up both themselves as well as the fans.
I have a different theory.
Baseball, more than any other sport, is a mental game. It's a long season made up of long games and long traveling stretches. Much of a baseball player's time is spent inside of his own head - waiting in the dugout, waiting in between pitches, waiting in between innings, waiting for planes, waiting for a ball to get their way. All this waiting leads to thinking, and thinking is the death of any major leaguer. The more you think, the worse you are. Baseball, of course, is the only sport to have something known as the "Steve Blass Disease", whereby "talented players inexplicably and permanently seem to lose their ability to accurately throw a baseball" (via wikipedia).
So yeah, my theory is that closer's should try their damndest to screw with batters' heads. And they should do this by selecting seemingly strange entrance songs.
Reasoning: By now, all batters expect to hear something rageful like Enter Sandman or Thunderstruck, so they aren't phased when some sinister rock anthem echoes in their ears. The only way to really mess with his mind, then, is to surprise him with a non-traditional closer jam. So yeah, the wait is over. Here are the TOP TEN CLOSER SONGS (THAT WILL NEVER BE USED)
5.) Shiny Happy People by REM: Would you be able to concentrate after hearing Michael Stype blaring at full throttle amplification in a Major League Baseball stadium. The fans would have to be in on it - laughing, swaying and HOLDING FRIGGIN HANDS like psycho christians at one of those mega churches in Texas. And it would be doubly effective if the VERY awkward video played on the stadium's jumbotron. In 3 minutes the ambience would no longer be that of a baseball game, but rather that of a dorky early nineties keg party where guys were happy to wear big polka dot shirts and stupid floppy hats. Advantage, home team.
4.) Unskinny Bop by Poison: This song will creep out and confuse like none other. Imagine hearing this "Everytime I touch ya you get hot, I wanna make love you never stop!" and then looking up the mound and seeing K-Rod wink at you?? And then it just gets more confusing when you hear, "What's right? What's wrong? What's left? What the hell is going on?". Hade enough Unskinny Bop, Mr Batter? Okay, now here's a 95mph thrown right at your head. TAKE THAT!
3.) Wipe Out by The Surfaris: I dare you to listen that song. Now try and get it out of your head. You can't, can you? Now try hitting a slider. *Optional: Pitcher does Pee-Wee Herman dance in between warm up tosses.
2.) Jesus Is a Friend of Mine by Sonseed: This needs no explanation. . .
1.) International Delight by Wayne Brady: The batter will be too busy trying to understand if that was really a Wayne Brady commercial that he just heard - and, if it was, (which it WAS) he will be so baffled by the absurdity that he won't be able to touch bat to ball. Not even just the tip? No, not even the tip.
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