We are perpetually molded by our ecosystems. We are not today who we will be in ten years.
Baseball is a teacher. Among the many gifts our sport has provided me, country music stands out as perhaps the most unexpected. As I make my way to Nashville, I’m reminded that I never thought I’d have a genuine appreciation for the genre.
I often ponder how baseball has shaped my paradigms. Most notably and critically, it altered the way I approached my nutrition and training. Because I was never the most skilled player on the field (even in high school), I knew I’d have to separate myself through my athleticism and physicality. As such, I trained and ate with the purpose of becoming bigger, stronger and faster and subsequently adopted the approach as a lifestyle. This commitment to strength and power was unequivocally the most obvious fallout from my growing up in clubhouses and on buses and planes, but not the only one. Meat and potatoes (analogous to my lifestyle lesson taught by baseball) on a plate without greens (the marginal value of other lessons, like music) lacks some degree of nutritional density.
Those aforementioned clubhouses, in towns like Fayetteville, North Carolina and Huntsville, Alabama, featured country music frequently blaring from the speakers and inspired my good ol’ boy teammates two steppin’ in front of their lockers. Stadiums in the south pumped George Strait and Rascal Flatts, making it impossible to avoid becoming accustomed to the music of middle America. From Don Cusic’s Baseball and Country Music:
There is nothing more quintessentially American than baseball and country music. Each has it’s roots in England…but each was developed in the United States…’The story of baseball is also the story of…myth and the nature of heroes, villains, and buffoons’ The same can be said for country music.
Growing up in Los Angeles, raised on rap, punk and metal that poked fun at the pop-driven (and sometimes sappy) lyrics and simple chords that exemplify country music, I closed my mind and denounced any hooks related to dogs and pickup trucks as beneath me. What a fool I was (you were too at 15, stop judging). I had no clue what I was missing.
It was 2004 on a plane with the Boston Red Sox before I realized that I had made a tangible transition to becoming a country music fan. My teammates and I played poker and drank whiskey on a cross country flight en route to kick somebody’s ass. Our catching tandem, Jason Varitek and Doug Mirabelli, was in control of the music. They were playing Tim McGraw and Toby Keith, to name a few. I found myself intoxicated (not by the booze) and in a trance. I have always had a passionate love affair with my music, but country had always been on the outside looking in. That night, it burrowed into my circle.
Since then, when the topic of music arises in conversation, I muse glowingly about the musicians I’ve come to appreciate. Johnny Cash has become one of my all-time favorite artists. That’s an easy one. JC’s a genius. Listening to him live at Folsom Prison is a weekly ritual.
I recall being in West Virginia in 2007 in the middle of May, managing the Greenville Drive and standing at third base between innings. It was a stunning sunny day, dark green, spicy scented pine trees everywhere. Tim McGraw was playing and I absorbed his content.
I had a barbeque stain on my white tee shirt, she was killing me in that miniskirt,
Skippin’ rocks on the river by the railroad tracks,
She had a suntan line and red lipstick,
I worked so hard for that first kiss,
And a heart don’t forget something like that.
When I was a teenager, I would have scoffed and rolled my eyes. That day, I let myself enjoy it. I have baseball to thank.
Strong mind,
Kap
Timothy Speakman says
Great imagery Kap! Baseball and country music… I could smell the fresh cut infield grass as I read.
Nakedgun says
I’m right there with you, Kap! Growing-up in the OC, we were bombarded by punk and surf-rock. I even went so far as to speak-out against Jimmy Buffett, who would soon become one of my favorite artists (and author!). After I finally opened my ears and listened to the lyrics, I discovered the joys of country music. It took hearing it being played over the loudspeakers at the ballpark, and discovering my new favorites such as Dierks Bentley, Kenny Chesney, and Luke Bryan!
Our Sunday-league dugout usually has a country playlist going during the games.
bill says
I can’t think of a better illustration of why it’s a good idea to keep an open mind…something you appreciate more and more as time goes by. We’re taught this as generations pass by-my father loved the big band sound, played in a jazz band. I never cared for it, but grew up with the Beatles, Stones, Aerosmith, Moody Blues and the like. I think music changed dramatically with the advent of MTV, as expression incorporated video with the message. Geographic location also contributes greatly. I’ve never lived on the West Coast, so perhaps that contributes to my lack of interest in Rap and Hip Hop. For a long time, could never understand how anyone could enjoy it, but then I think of my father and the problems he had with Rock ‘n Roll. Ultimately it teaches us the beauty of diversity as it adds color and depth to the landscape. Music in its many forms speaks to us all in a personal, private language. Now when asked what kind of music do I like, the answer is simple-the music that makes me feel good. And as Steve Martin once said, ‘You can’t play a sad song on the banjo!”
Hollie Hamilton says
Where the green grass grows. It’s one of my all time favorite songs. I was a music major and there is something wonderful about all music, you just have to listen.
gavin says
Interesting. But I believe you forgot to note the author of this guest post.
lien says
love this post, thanks for sharing 🙂 … i was introduced accidentally to the wonderful world of baseball by a friend last year from a facebook post on a great catch by cespedes … i am now a fan of the Dodgers and following almost every game (the bullpen is doing great!) 🙂 … about country music, i grew up in Viet Nam so i love vietnamese country music and when i came over here i love jazz, and classical … but haven’t been able to appreciate american country music so far … will give it another try :-). Best.
~Al~ says
I grew up in the country, spent my late teens and most of my 20’s in the city, now that 40 is in my cross hairs, I can’t move deep enough into the woods.
Music is only as good as the person delivering it to you, no matter the genre. When the artist can touch your soul it’s a powerful feeling that can’t be described.
Country music has many great songs by many different artists, but few great albums that can be played from the first track to the last track without getting sick of hearing what is essentially the same thing over and over. I relate it to putting on your favorite flannel on the first cool fall day, but you get real sick of that shit and want some warmer weather sooner than later.
There’s a ton of songs and artists, but here’s a sample playlist:
Hank Williams Jr.
A Country Boy Can Survive, Family Tradition, Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound
David Allan Coe
“You Never Even Called Me by My Name”
I was drunk the day my mom got out of prison
And I went to pick’er up in the rain
But before I could get to the station in my pickup truck
She got runned over by a damned ol’ train
Waylon Jennings
Good Ol’ Boys – Who doesn’t like the Duke Boys???
Jerry Reed
East Bound and Down. Anyone else like Smokey and The Bandit???
Merle Haggard
Okie from Muskogee
Modern country on my playlist:
Eric Church
I’m getting Stoned, Smoke a little Smoke
Big and Rich
Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy
Brad Paisley
Water
Brooks and Dunn
Hillbilly Deluxe
Garth Brooks
Mama loved Papa, Friends in Low Places
~Al~