Best Baseball Songs of All Time

'Take Me out to the Ball Game' by Jack Norworth

Everybody knows this one, especially if you've ever been to a baseball game, where it's sung in the middle of the seventh inning. The original has more lyrics than just the verse that's sung by the masses during the stretch, though.

(Link is to Harry Caray singing it at Wrigley Field.)

Lyrics:

Take me out to the ball game
Take me out with the crowd
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack
I don't care if I never get back
Let me root, root, root for the home team
If they don't win it's a shame
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out
At the old ball game

'Centerfield' by John Fogerty

The 1985 hit by John Fogerty, "Centerfield"—honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame on its 25th anniversary in 2010—is a song just about everybody knows. It came from a No. 1 album of the same name from a solo album by Fogerty, who was the lead singer of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band Credence Clearwater Revival.

Sample lyrics:

Well, I spent some time in the Mudville Nine, watchin' it from the bench;
You know I took some lumps when the Mighty Casey struck out.
So Say Hey Willie, tell Ty Cobb and Joe DiMaggio;
Don't say "it ain't so," you know the time is now.

'Glory Days' by Bruce Springsteen

The 1984 song by The Boss "Glory Days," from the "Born in the USA" album, uses baseball to introduce a song about reminiscing and trying to recapture youth. It hit No. 5 on the charts.

Sample lyrics:

I had a friend was a big baseball player back in high school
He could throw that speedball by you
Make you look like a fool boy
Saw him the other night at this roadside bar
I was walking in, he was walking out
We went back inside sat down had a few drinks
But all he kept talking about was

Glory days
well they'll pass you by
Glory days
in the wink of a young girl's eye
Glory days, glory days

'Say Hey' by the Treniers

"Say Hey" by the Treniers is a rock and swing classic from the 1950s about the great Willie Mays.

Sample lyrics:

He runs the bases like a choo-choo train
Swings around second like an aeroplane
His cap flies off when he passes third
And he heads home like an eagle bird.

Say hey, say who?
Say Willie
Say hey, say who?
Swinging at the plate
Say hey, say who?
That Giants kid is great

'All the Way' by Eddie Vedder

The Pearl Jam frontman wrote "All the Way" in 2007 about being a Cubs fan. The team made the playoffs that year but was eliminated shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, it would take another nine years for the Cubs to reach that pinnacle.

Sample lyrics:

Don’t let anyone say that it’s just a game.
For I’ve seen other teams and it’s never the same
When you’re born in Chicago, you’re blessed and you’re healed
First time you walk into Wrigley Field

Our heroes wear pinstripes; heroes in blue
They give us the chance to feel like heroes too
Whether we’ll win, and if we should lose
We know someday we’ll go all the way
Yeah! Someday we’ll go all the way

'Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball' by Woodrow Buddy Johnson

This 1949 song, "Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball," later recorded by the legendary Count Basie, was about Robinson's historic debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Sample lyrics:

Satchel Paige is mellow
So is Campanella, Newcombe, and Doby, too
But it's a natural fact
When Jackie comes to bat
The other team is through.

Did you see Jackie Robinson hit that ball?
Did he hit it? Yeah, and that ain't all
He stole home.
Yes, yes, Jackie's real gone

'Talkin' Baseball' by Terry Cashman

The folksy hit song "Talkin' Baseball" from 1981 filled a void for baseball's yesteryear during an unpopular players' strike and struck a chord. Terry Cashman recorded a version of the song for seemingly every team, as the song became ubiquitous.

Sample lyrics from the original:

I'm talkin' baseball
Kluszewski, Campanella
Talkin' baseball
The Man and Bobby Feller
The Scooter, the Barber, and the Newc
They knew 'em all from Boston to Dubuque
Especially Willie, Mickey, and the Duke

'Tessie' by Dropkick Murphys

In 2004, the punk rock group Dropkick Murphys brought back a 1904 song that became a Red Sox anthem and featured backing vocals from players Johnny Damon, Bronson Arroyo, and Lenny DiNardo. It must have worked, as they ended a historic drought that year by winning the World Series.

Sample lyrics from "Tessie":

Tessie, Nuff Ced McGreevy shouted
We're not here to mess around Boston
you know we love you madly
Hear the crowd roar to your sound
Don't blame us if we ever doubt you
You know we couldn't live without you
Boston, you are the only, only, only
Don't blame us if we ever doubt you
You know we couldn't live without you
Red Sox, you are the only, only, only

'Cheap Seats' by Alabama

The popular country band Alabama recorded "Cheap Seats" in 1993 about going to minor-league games where you don't know the players' names, don't know how the team is doing, but love to just go to the game.

Sample lyrics:

This town ain't big
this town ain't small
It's a little of both they say
Our ball club may be minor league
but at least it's Triple-A

We sit below the Marlboro man
Above the right field wall
We do the wave all by ourself
Hey ump, a blind man could've made that call

'Joltin' Joe DiMaggio' by the Les Brown Orchestra

The nation got caught up in Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak in 1941, and the song "Joltin' Joe DiMaggio" became part of the craze.

Sample lyrics:

He started baseball's famous streak
That's got us all aglow
He's just a man and not a freak
Joltin' Joe DiMaggio

Joe, Joe DiMaggio
We want you on our side

'Right Field' by Peter, Paul & Mary

"Right Field" is a wonderful little tongue-in-cheek song from Peter, Paul & Mary, one of the most popular groups in the 1960s, about the position that the important kids play. It can be found on their 1987 album "No Easy Walk to Freedom."

Sample lyrics:

Playing right field, it's easy you know,
You can be awkward, you can be slow,
That's why I'm here in right field,
Just watching the dandelions grow.

'The Greatest' by Kenny Rogers

"The Greatest," a cute song from the popular country artist Kenny Rogers, is from 1998 and is about a little boy's imagination while throwing the ball up and trying to hit it. Find it on the "She Rides Wild Horses" album.

Sample lyrics:

Little boy, he adjusts his hat
Picks up his ball, stares at his bat
Says, "I am the greatest​ when the game is on the line"
And he gives his all one last time

And the ball goes up like the moon so bright
Swings his bat with all his might
And the world's as still as still can be
And the baseball falls, and that's strike three

Now it's suppertime and his mama calls
Little boy starts home with his bat and ball
Says, "I am the greatest, that is a fact,
But even I didn't know I could pitch like that!"

'Subway' by Jim Nuzzo

"Subway," a little-known (and underrated) song, is about New York baseball and a Subway Series, which is the term for when the Yankees play the Mets. The tune is from 1998.

Sample lyrics:

I'm gettin' on a subway tonight
I'm headin' to the stadium, that's right
The city's gonna rock tonight as we make history
Can't you smell the hot dogs, taste the beer
Take me back in time to yesteryear
I wouldn't trade this ticket for the world oh not today
I'm gettin' on the subway

'Catfish' by Bob Dylan

"Catfish" is a song from music legend Bob Dylan that went unreleased until a 1991 bootleg set. It's about the former A's and Yankees great Catfish Hunter and (indirectly) baseball free agency.

(Link is to iTunes.)

Sample lyrics:

Lazy stadium night
Catfish on the mound
“Strike three,” the umpire said
Batter have to go back and sit down

Catfish, million-dollar-man
Nobody can throw the ball like Catfish can
Used to work on Mr. Finley’s farm
But the old man wouldn’t pay
So he packed his glove and took his arm
An’ one day he just ran away